Topic: Do you have a musical accent ? (Read 11672 times)

Martin J · « **on:** August 05, 2008, 07:24:10 PM »

I just replied at http://forum.melodeon.net/index.php?topic=742.0 and it raises the question of whether we have a musical accent developed by where and when we learnt to play. Possible who we learnt from and what sessions we have attended.

I have a Nottingham/Devon school accent with Irish intonations and Scottish ancestry overlaid with Dorset Hardy and a dash of French/Italian.

Bit of a musical tart really !

Martin

Nick Hudis · « **Reply #1 on:** August 05, 2008, 08:06:22 PM »

I grew up with a suffolk accent but years of teachers telling me off for saying "I int not done nothing Sir!" followed by three years at Cambridge University reduced me to boring plain English.

Likewise with music, a classical training is not good for ones accent and rather late in life I'm trying find one. I Learned to sing traditional music in the 70s by listening to Martin Carthy and June Tabor and find myself relearning by listening to Harry Cox and Walter Pardon.

With the Melodeon its early days but listening to Percy Brown etc and Tony Hall's wonderful Norfolk inflection is bringing out my East Anglian roots levened with a bit of Elizabethan care of Playford.

meltzer · « **Reply #2 on:** August 06, 2008, 11:03:04 AM »

Sat in with a ceili band for a couple of years, and played for longsword, rapper & ladies' garland & clog. All this in East Yorkshire. Which probably gives me a bit of a different accent to the poster above. Plus I went to Oxford, not Cambridge.

joe · « **Reply #3 on:** August 06, 2008, 11:15:03 AM »

I suppose a lot of my playing is similar to other Bampton Morris musicians (Oxfordshire), but with that youthful bad habit of playing too fast!

Martin J · « **Reply #4 on:** August 06, 2008, 11:59:07 AM »

Years ago at the first Dawlish festival I spent an afternoon in the pub with George Le Faux (as he was then) He was great at demonstrating a tune as played in Northumbria and then contrasting it with how they would play on the borders and then again how it would be played in say Dundee.

Oh, if you don't know him he's a great fiddle player and is now a girl so I should say she is a great fiddle player but had to say he was a great fiddle player cause he was then !?? Wish people would stay as they are, much less confusing.

So if regional accents on the fiddle can be copied what about the melodeon.

Is there a Katie House school of playing ? Do you have a favorite ?

Does Billy McComiskey have a style or musical accent that sets him apart from his contemporaries living in ireland ?

Stiamh · « **Reply #5 on:** August 06, 2008, 01:03:06 PM »

Quote from: No Strings Attached on August 06, 2008, 11:59:07 AM

Does Billy McComiskey have a style or musical accent that sets him apart from his contemporaries living in ireland ?

That's a complicated question, but as far as his speaking accent goes, he certainly does: a magnificent Brooklyn drawl you could cut with a knife. :)

mikesamwild · « **Reply #6 on:** August 06, 2008, 07:35:38 PM »

Just as Blackbirds sing millions of year-long evolved generic or specific Blackbird tunes but with local and regional accents ( which may include phrases from whistling milkmen or mobile phones) , so do we. It's the first step towards specific differentiation, speciation, diversity and uniqueness.

In the late 60s Pete Wood, an old mate of mine from school in Manchester and Sheffield University Folk Club, who now lives in the North East, came to Grenoside nearSheffield, for the sword dance on Boxing Day and then to a session in the pub.
He said we were evolving a fusion of English country tunes, North East, Morris, Irish and Scottish and Irish music flavoured with the local carols and sword dance tunes.
I always felt that the Northumbrian pipes and tune books had held onto what we were at and only later found that pipers and fiddlers were common in our area in the C18th Century. Crowther (Fiddler) and Piper are common names.
At the time we were new to this playing together, stimulated by the Second and Third Revivals - all bringing what we had from our home traditions and folk clubs and records and doing what we felt comfortable with. There was a tremendous energy to it and lots of arguments and even competition.

It was quite fast and not dotted and reflected local dances at hops that still existed here and in the Dales and Lakes where we went at weekends. It was off the beat and lifted you in the air.

Funnily enough, as people started discovering Pennine Yorkshire and Lancs tunes from MS books in the 70s onwards we found that it was like that was the feeling that pertained. We strengthened it at dance clubs like Hefts and Blades and put it through the 'Folk/Dawkins' process and it generated a body of tunes that still permeate the local repertoire. Now of course there are Franglonavian incursions to be taken on board but we'll probably claim them as norman and viking influences!

I think certain individuals were visionary and instrumental but I won't mention any names as others my feel left out - but the session scene, ceilidhs and dance teams honed the tunes and fed them back into the local dialect. We felt we were 'reclaiming what was ours' to quote Leon Rosselson's 'Diggers' song
Does this mean that there is a local spirit? Or is it another aspect of seeking to recreate what we feel belongs to us and to which we feel we belong.

I know I'm comfortable with it but so are my sons with the Dub Step, Niche and Grime they are involved with in the club scene locally, although they do throw in a bit of local stuff.

Mike

Martin J · « **Reply #7 on:** August 06, 2008, 11:47:08 PM »

Hey Steve, in England we would say you ducked that one. Why not drop Billy an email and get his take on this ?

Mike - er yeh - keep it going - 1649 was a good year. Not sure what you;re doing now, but uniting the Roses has to be good. Would that be classed as a fourth revival ? Local spirit and energy are also good - can you Youtube it ?

mikesamwild · « **Reply #8 on:** August 07, 2008, 06:39:51 PM »

Hi
I'm not quite up to videos but could put up a recording if someone could tell me what to do!

As far as revivals go I think here in England we are into another wave, so it's Wave 5. I find that nowadays youngsters are using records from the 1960s onwards as "Source singers and musicians". I say get out and meet real singers and musicinsd. they are still there.

When I was a lad in 1957 I got a copy of 'The Shuttle and the Cage' book and EP by Ewan MacColl from the WMA,( Workers' Music Associaton).I wenrt that weekend out to Greenfield near Oldham, trudged around , and met loads of local singers but of course I had no tape recorder as a 15 year old so i learmt the tunes by ear.

We used to go out, or blunder into, and seek out the old boys and girls and spend time to develop a relationship over a cup of tea or a pint. They were usually pleased and happy to meet us and find someone who loved the music and teach us. In those days it was so relaxed and fuelled by a human relationship and a few pints or cups of tea.
Mike

Theo · « **Reply #9 on:** August 07, 2008, 07:27:55 PM »

Mike you can post recordings here on Soundlantern its a bit like youtube but without the pictures. I've not used so can't help with instructions.

Martin J · « **Reply #10 on:** August 07, 2008, 07:32:55 PM »

Sorry Mike I've no idea how to Youtube (look a new post on how to whilst I was typing) but I,m off to Devon this weekend to absorb some Devon School both in South Seal and in Bideford. Hopefully plenty of pints and meet with good company, good musicians and learn some new stuff in exchange for some of mine.

Will I come back with a modified musical accent ? Who knows, but I will have met both old and new friends and I will have played something new.

One last thought for you Mike, are you now the venerable sage the young ones are seeking to learn from and buy pints for ?

Cheers for now

Pete Dunk · « **Reply #11 on:** August 07, 2008, 11:24:36 PM »

Quote from: No Strings Attached on August 06, 2008, 11:47:08 PM

1649 was a good year.

Yep, the world turned upside down as I recall.

mikesamwild · « **Reply #12 on:** August 11, 2008, 10:51:42 AM »

I don't think I'm venerable more an old reprobate but I think we have all influenced local youngsters in some way through sessions and dance teams and ceilidh bands.

Researchers still seem to want to find musicians 'untouched' by the revival but as they get fewer I think our generation will become a legitimate field for study in ethnomusicology

Ptarmigan · « **Reply #13 on:** August 11, 2008, 04:52:38 PM »

Well Martin, I was born & raised in Scotland & spent my formative years there, before moving to Ireland for a few years.
Now, at this stage, I find I have lived half my life in Ireland & half in Scotland.
However, my first love, { musically speaking, in case my wife reads this! } is Irish Music, although I was brought up with Scottish music in my ears.
So now, Irish musicians tell me I play Irish Tunes with a Scottish Accent, while Scottish musicians tell me I play Scottish tunes with an Irish accent .... & now I'm wondering if I actually have TWO accents!

Cheers
Ptarmi

Pete of Ebor · « **Reply #14 on:** August 12, 2008, 09:39:16 AM »

If by musical accent you mean play in a certain manner, then I've been accused of playing almost everything in an unashamedly english - [and by that I mean morris - ceilidh - dance - rythum] - sort of style. The "problem" [of course it's not really a problem for me ! ] is that I took up melodeon specifically to play for a Morris team, and although I do also now play for a ceilidh band, once you've learned to do something in a particular sort of [dance-accompaniment] way, it's very hard to un-learn !

Ptarmigan · « **Reply #15 on:** August 12, 2008, 10:03:46 AM »

"it's very hard to un-learn"

Hey Pete, I'd say you should be very happy that you now have a recognizable style of playing.
If I were you, I'd be proud of that ... which I'm sure you are.

Let's face it, if other folks don't like that style of playing ... then that's their problem.

I've often come across players who really do believe they can play in a number of different styles, but when you listen closely to what they're doing, they end up not really being able to do real justice to any of them.

If all folk musicians lose those styles & we all just end up playing some lumpy, grotty, homogeneous mush, there'll be little to attract new musicians & each individual style will be the loser.

Personally I can't bear to listen to Country & Western Music, because that style does absolutely nothing for me, but hey, fair play to all those musicians who do love that style & who keep it alive.

Which makes me wonder ... are their any Country & Western Morris teams out there, with the boots, cowboy hats & six shooters?

Cheers
Ptarmi

joe · « **Reply #16 on:** August 12, 2008, 12:30:30 PM »

I love slipping in the odd irish tune, normally played diddly diddly 100mph, inifinite BPM etc at MY speed, in MY style (Cotswold morris style, fairly slow with concentration on rhythm). In my opinion, the tune sounds completely different (in that you can actually make out the melody!

) The tunes fit well with a lot of the ENglish stuff I play.

rees · « **Reply #17 on:** August 12, 2008, 08:19:54 PM »

I often play with the quintessential English fiddler Flos Headford (Swan Band).
If we're playing for ceilidh there's a fair chance that half the tunes we play will be Irish but done at a slower tempo more suited to English dancing.

Guess what? "the music don't mind"....................... who let the dogs out, pump up the bagpipe!

Falseknight · « **Reply #18 on:** August 12, 2008, 11:14:49 PM »

Many allegedly English tunes can be tracked to Ireland anyway.

rees · « **Reply #19 on:** August 12, 2008, 11:59:54 PM »

Ees very true.

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Author Topic: Do you have a musical accent ? (Read 11672 times)

meltzer