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[Tamba]

Yes, this really did happen on BBC 2 last night, as he went to Australia as part of the 'Who do you think you are' programme. It was touching to see how moved he was to discover that his great, great....... Grandfather was a champion clogger and naturally when he had a go himself, accompanied by a Castagnari and fiddle (name that hornpipe anyone?), he was fa-bu-lous darling! Now available to watch on the BBC iplayer.

[Steve_freereeder]

Here's the link. Not sure how long it will be available for, or what countries out side the UK it can be viewed in.
But the clogging sequence starts towards the end at about 55 minutes in.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08y6ct1/who-do-you-think-you-are-series-14-2-craig-revel-horwood

[ACE]

I looked up quickly when I heard a box playing on the telly. It would be nice if the player frequents this forum.

[smiley]

Hi, I can't see the episode via the BBC player in Oz, so I'm hoping my playing turned out ok. It was an interesting experience anyway.

The stepdance tune I played was collected from Kath McCaughey by Dave de Hugard, and it could well have been played for the bloke's grandfather when he was a champion clog dancer. I played it with a more dotted hornpipe feel than Kath's original, to better suit the dancers on the day.

Cheers, Ian

[Julian S]

Great - would have liked to hear more - I always wonder how much filming was edited down to a few minutes...
Now, when will there be a clogging round on 'Strictly'...?

J

[smiley]

If anyone would like to learn the tune we played for the dancers then you can hear a 1980's recording of Kath McCaughey's playing it here

Description from the linked page at http://www.colonialdance.com.au

We were fortunate to have available a step dance tune that would very likely have been around when Harry was in Emmaville. The tune, known as ‘The Breakdown’ was collected by the folklorist Dave de Hugard from the New England [region in NSW] button accordion player, Kath McCaughey (1901 – 1989). Kath had learnt the tune from her parents who were both fiddlers and who had played together for local dances in the New England area and Glen Innes in the latter part of the 19th century. 

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Incidentally, I've noticed that a lot of the old box players (including Kath in this recording) liked to play in the top octave. It might've just been because the tune needed notes that weren't available in the lower octave on a one-row box, but I wonder if they found the shrillness of the high notes carried better in a noisy environment?

[Malcolm Clapp]

Now on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLodPBFbQlk from around 44.50

[Steve_freereeder]

Now on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLodPBFbQlk from around 44.50

I think you mean 54:30 -ish?

[Malcolm Clapp]

Now on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLodPBFbQlk from around 44.50

I think you mean 54:30 -ish?

Well yes, the melodeon/fiddle bit, but the previous 10 minutes or so give it a bit of context, and is not uninteresting imho 

[smiley]

An interesting bit for me occurred after the cameras were turned off. Craig kept us playing the tune while he worked at improving his stepping and we all began to enjoy ourselves!