February 13, 2022 by Andy Turner - 0 comments

Scan Tester’s Polka No. 5

One of numerous untitled polkas from the Sussex anglo-concertina player Scan Tester. I think this one’s been labelled ‘Polka 5’ by Topic Records simply as a matter of convenience, as it’s the fifth untitled polka to appear on the CD reissue of the double LP I Never Played To Many Posh Dances. It’s a tune I’ve always liked, yet I hardly ever seem to think of it when I’m in a session. One time I did give it an outing was about 10 years ago in a small session where Reg Hall and another fiddle-playing friend had been playing a whole bunch of tunes from Scan – quite a lot of which I had no recollection of having heard before. I played this polka and when I’d finished Reg said “I don’t think I know that one”. Which made me laugh, as I’d learned the tune from a recording made by Reg himself – and on which he plays melodeon, alongside Scan on concertina, and Scan’s daughter Daisy on piano.

Scan with his daughter Daisy, on piano, and Reg Hall on melodeon,1957. From the Musical Traditions website.

That recording, made in July 1965, is on I Never Played To Many Posh Dances. I’d first heard the tune on the classic Topic LP The Boscastle Breakdown (compiled, and with sleevenotes by, Reg Hall). The recording on that LP, of Scan Tester with Rabbidy Baxter on a great big tambourine, was made by Ken Stubbs in June 1962. It was subsequently included on Voice of the People, Volume 9: Rig-A-Jig-Jig.

I’ve been listening to these old recordings this afternoon, and I really don’t think my interpretation of the tune differs too far from what Scan played.

It’s another one of those tunes where I’m not sure if I prefer to play it on anglo or one-row melodeon (although I don’t need you to point out that I’m much better at playing it on the concertina than the melodeon!). So, as is customary in such cases, here it is on each instrument in turn.

Scan Tester’s Polka No. 5

Played on C/G anglo-concertina

Played on four-stop one-row melodeon in C

February 6, 2022 by Andy Turner - 0 comments

Shielding

Another lovely tune from the book The Lockdown Ledger; another air; another tune composed by a Northumbrian mouth-organ player. But this time the composer is Roy Hugman, another member of the informal Cross the Wannies group.

After recording the tune I found a video of Roy himself playing the tune, with a few friends, in a grain shed on a Northumbrian farm. From this recording it is clear that ‘Shielding’ is supposed to go quite a bit slower than I play it hear.

Roy says

‘Shielding’ began as a tune written during lockdown… In ‘Shielding’ I’d tried to express the emotional roller coaster of months of worry, pain, grief and yet somehow also hope. I’d always felt ‘Shielding’ was an optimistic piece of music … that all will be well!

Let us all hope that Roy’s optimism is well-founded. I still have several sets of friends who, two years on, are still pretty much keeping themselves to themselves because one or other of them has a compromised immune system, despite having had a full set of vaccinations.

If you fancy learning this tune – well, buy a copy of The Lockdown Ledger. But Roy has also made the dots available via the Northumbrian Pipers’ Society website.

Shielding

Played on G/D anglo-concertina

February 5, 2022 by Andy Turner - 0 comments

Back to Kirkwhelpington

One more tune for now from the pen of Don Clegg, and I have to say, the more I play this tune, the more I like it.

Written in 2021, this is the opening tune in Rob Say’s collection The Lockdown Ledger. Kirkwhelpington village hall in Northumberland is a regular venue for music sessions – sessions which the pandemic, of course, made impossible for many months.

In the book the tune is given as an air, not a waltz, and that’s definitely how I prefer to play it.

Back to Kirkwhelpington

Played on C/G anglo-concertina