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Author Topic: Whitby  (Read 3849 times)

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mikesamwild

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Whitby
« on: August 22, 2008, 10:00:49 AM »



Full marks to the organizers what a feat.!
Just got back and still coming down! We had to leave a bit early. I had a pretty good time and wondered what others felt. It seemed a bit quiet after the first Saturday night when the town was heaving as usual. Joe Public only gets to see and hear the Dance Teams and pub sessions who are all worth their weight in gold in promoting folk music, and we met and talked to lots of non musicians in pubs, B&Bs and cafes and the street, who love  that and indeed come for a holiday at that time because of it. They often don't know of the hidden folk week and the programme. We put quite a few onto folk contacts in their home areas and met some who would be regarded as source singers and musicians but had  not relized there was still a scene and didn't think their music was still appreciated ) eg mouth organ, step dance, melodeon)

Good English type sessions , especially in the Fishermen's Rowing Club, which has a lovely atmosphere with volunteer staff,  with Roger Watson , Jon Boden ) Paul Scourfield sadly missed out of the programme) and in Endeavour pub. Steve Gardham's squeeze around in The Middle Earth was a nice touch, a bit like a singaround with a chance to explain your instrument and a bit about the tune or song and box accompaniment.
Sadly Mally and Chris Parkinson couldn't get into the room at The Fleece for an informal song session so we went on our way

How did your sessions go George (Garside)? Sorry I didn't make it up the hill.

Irish style sessions were few and far between, unlike in the past when we were all young and driven> These tended to get a bit frenzied when folk had been on the pop for 8 hours, also when droves of young female Grade 50 fiddle players came in, there must be a conveyor belt system producing them. Lads only seem to get into it later when they get interested in girls, girls must take to the practice regime from very young. Having said that there were some obviously talented young lads on boxes who seem to be associated with folky families and Morris sides and are nuts on the music, but again they don't seem to want to listen and exchange ideas but to perform non stop.  Maybe a few sessions of listen and learn might not come amiss.

I went to quite a few Anglo concertina workshops all 'English' or American, . Not much on Irish style despite the explosion in Ireland and the States. Thanks to Roger Digby and Jody Kruskal for inspirational workshops.

A lot on English concertina, thanks to Dave Ball and Harold Barnes of the Britannia coconut dancers, very nice to see Steve Turner back on the scene and a good workshop on song accompaniment which is falling by the wayside I feel.


Nice to meet Theo face to face albeit in a session and for a short time.

Final thought, we do seem to have lost a generation, who will organize such Folk weeks, will they all be professionals from Univerity folk courses?
 My 5 lads ( eldest 40 , youngest 23)  have all been to festivals and been associated with dance, Morris,Clog etc etc but all have gone for Acid house, Heavy Metal, Hip Hop etc etc. Not just my family we don't have many friends whose kids took to the music , apart from the girls and dance and a few who did Morris for a few years. I think it is natural to reject your parents music for a while , I went off Irish music which was plated in the home,  in the 1950s for jazz, Skiffle then Rock and got back in when folk was 'sexy' and run by ourselves in the clubs in the early 60s.

Anyway, just one man's hurried expression after another  nice time in the magic town of Whitby
Mike
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Mike in Sheffield

If music be the food of love -who finds the time?

JD

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Re: Whitby
« Reply #1 on: August 24, 2008, 12:05:55 PM »

This was my first trip to festival and once I had found my way round the town I thoroughly enjoyed it.

While playing for my dance group at the Bandstand I was accosted twice within ten minutes by gentlemen of retirement age (both on day trips to Whitby) who started to ask about the melodeon and then admitted that, in their youth, they played B/C/C# boxes. The power of coincidence!
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pipives

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Re: Whitby
« Reply #2 on: August 24, 2008, 01:28:18 PM »


Final thought, we do seem to have lost a generation, who will organize such Folk weeks, will they all be professionals from Univerity folk courses?
 My 5 lads ( eldest 40 , youngest 23)  have all been to festivals and been associated with dance, Morris,Clog etc etc but all have gone for Acid house, Heavy Metal, Hip Hop etc etc. Mike

Not all the people who come off the University courses go professional. Speaking as one of them, who gets to many festivals (sadly not Whitby this year) there is a lack of younger people showing interest in the organization of big festivals. But what age do you start being highly involved in organizing a festival? I'm highly involved in Broadstairs folkweek and the workforce (and some committe memebrs) are mainly in their early 20's and 30's! I'm sure the younger people (such as myself) will take on more organization when we realise that we have to do mre than play tunes and drink beer all day to keep them going!
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Faversham, Kent

kenthorseman

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Re: Whitby
« Reply #3 on: August 24, 2008, 09:10:20 PM »

Im with pip ives, he worked like mad at broadstairs and still found time to help an old fart like me who has decided to take up the dangerous art of the melodeon as opposed to letting life get so far up my a**e that i cant see anything but bad or indiference in all of the younger generation, without them folk, melodeons, a*******s penny whistles, morris clog, etc dies, we have to encourage all and sundry to the rightious path or give up. everyone must have an equal chance, apart from, ?????????????????????????? we all have a different idea. Ken
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Ebor_fiddler

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Re: Whitby
« Reply #4 on: August 24, 2008, 10:58:09 PM »

 :D It was a good bash as usual.  ;D Both I and the better half danced so much that we hurt our feet (for the first time in 40-odd years of dancing this funny way) and had to takke a day off the ceilidhs. I learned a lot on how to learn to play D/G - thanks very much George. I bought a heap (battered single row Hohner in "C") and aim to take it to bits over the winter and get it playable - thanks for your advice and help here, Theo and George. :-*

The only fly in the ointment was that when we got to Fortune's, he only had one kipper left and that was promised to my dad!  :'(

We've booked our cottage already for next year!
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I'm a Yorkie!
My other melodeon's a fiddle, but one of my Hohners has six strings! I also play a very red Hawkins Bazaar in C and a generic Klingenthaler spoon bass in F.!! My other pets (played) are gobirons - Hohner Marine Band in C, Hohner Tremolo in D and a Chinese Thingy Tremolo in G.

mikesamwild

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Re: Whitby
« Reply #5 on: August 25, 2008, 12:39:48 PM »

No offence meant pipives and good for you.
What I meant was that maybe festivals will get to be organized by professional people rather than volunteer teams. I hope not. Although the apparent withdrawal of funding from a lot of folk arts (is it going to the Olympics?) will necessitate volunteers doing it I suspect so we will need youngsters taking it on if it is to survive.
Yours
Mike
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Mike in Sheffield

If music be the food of love -who finds the time?

pipives

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Re: Whitby
« Reply #6 on: August 25, 2008, 02:16:20 PM »

No offence taken Mike. I understand what you're saying. I hope the volunteer teams that organize festivals keep going to. As soon as professional organizations (mrs casey with sidmouth for example) get involved it all gets very commercialised. And I know I wouldn't want that.

If festivals ever need voluteers they only need contact the folk degree at Newcastle and an email can be sent out to over 100 students. Sidmouth have been using our students for the past few years as stewards and artist liason persons. They'll do most things for a free ticket and no money!
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Faversham, Kent

kenthorseman

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Re: Whitby
« Reply #7 on: August 25, 2008, 07:24:53 PM »


Perhaps we should all demand morris dancing in all its forms  be in the olympics along with acc*****n throwing relay melodeon playing etc perhaps that would solve funding issues, as for the prs issues at wfw, its easy, as was suggested elsewhere, tell em to stuff it, I dont see em chasing the performers at the edinburgh military tattoo, which i have had the honour to be at with my regiment many years ago, and have currently watched on tv today perhaps we should fit bayonets to the melodeons, hee hee. just a thought
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mikesamwild

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Re: Whitby
« Reply #8 on: August 26, 2008, 12:05:33 PM »

I think once a festival is not making enough money the professionals will be likely to drop it and the committed volunteers will have to pick it up or see it vanish. How is sidmouyh going?
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Mike in Sheffield

If music be the food of love -who finds the time?

mikesamwild

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Re: Whitby
« Reply #9 on: August 26, 2008, 12:09:39 PM »

As far as an Olympic event. If we play sessions we must by definition be 'sitting down events' and hence live up to our Australian cousins' gripe about our unclean status. Mucky melodeon sessions should get funding for the opening cermony!
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Mike in Sheffield

If music be the food of love -who finds the time?

kenthorseman

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Re: Whitby
« Reply #10 on: August 26, 2008, 12:16:33 PM »

OO i luv a mucky melodeon session, its the dust from the bellows i get problems with, still cycleing could be classed as a sit down event the aussies need something to moan about anyway so they would not even get into the medals, Ha ha
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Lin Leighton

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Re: Whitby
« Reply #11 on: August 26, 2008, 09:13:26 PM »

I too had the best time at Whitby.  The organisers do a great job and three cheers go to them.
I also went to Paul Scourfields sessions in the Rowing Club, and Georges sessions - pity we dont know each other mikeSamWild!!

Personally I think its the workshops that make Whitby the pleasant  and wonderful time that it is--I finally managed to do some basses to a jig rhythem under Pauls's worksop tuition on basses, my pet hate!!
and the ceilids in the Spa were fantastic- Eliza Carthys Queen ceilidh was superb, great fun  ;D

and I discovered American dancing  downstairs in the Pavilion - slightly more complicated than Barn Dancing, and more energetic , and everyone was most kind and helpful when I explained I hadnt done it before
and then theres the fish and chips yum yum
oh and i lost half a stone going up and down all the hills - great!! ha ha
Lin
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Lin(Rattlejag Morris)
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