News
New schools programmes announced
New series of evening classes for melodeon players
Profiles of Traditional Singers & Musicians
Online shop for East Anglian Traditional Music
East Anglian Traditional Music on Facebook
News Archive (to December 2009)
A few people have reported problems using this website. If the links at the top of the page do not work, you should find that the ones at the foot of each page (blue text) do work. We are working on it!
The summer festival season is already underway, and
right at the end comes a little jewel of an event - Traditional Music Day at the
Museum
of East Anglian Life in the centre of Suffolk. It’s on Saturday September 4th
this year, and there’s a cracking line-up of guests, plus lots of
special events. The concert spots in Edgar’s Farmhouse are always great places
to see performers in an atmospheric and informal setting:
season-ticket holders will be able to enjoy the unparalleled talents of Geordie
singer and instrumentalist Jim Bainbridge, The Askew Sisters (Hazel and Emily,
fine singers and musicians), storyteller Billy Teare with Irish singer Kathleen
O' Sullivan and Chris Coe &Johnny Adams (music, song and stepdancing).
There will be a “Focus on Cambridgeshire” event with Mary Humphreys and Anahata,
talks on fiddle and singing traditions, a ceilidh, jig doll get-together,
stepdancing and plenty of opportunities to see, hear, sing, play the best in
English traditional music.
Tickets
The box office for Traditional Music Day closed at 5.30pm on Thursday 2nd September.
We have now sold out of tickets for the "Traditional Night Out in the Tithe Barn" and the evening buffet (2.9.10)
Tickets are NOT AVAILABLE on the day unless pre-ordered, although access to many of the outdoor events is available by buying a museum entrance ticket on the day. This does not give access to the concerts, talks and other special events, as these are what TMD ticket-holders are paying for! There is no onsite parking for people buying museum-only tickets.
For more details on the artists and programme click here.
For a timetable of events during the day, click here.
Click here for a printable booking form.
This year's Stepdance Day took place on Sunday 4th July 2010 in Worlingworth, near Framlingham in Suffolk.
After a short tutorial session, there followed the Steve Monk Memorial Competition (allcomers) and the Font Whatling Trophy. It is just over ten years since Steve Monk died, and his widow, Marilyn, spoke movingly about how much she appreciated the fact that this event was still keeping his memory alive amongst so many people. Marilyn is a judge for that competition, and Font Whatling's son Brian is on the panel for the Font Whatling Traditional Stepdance competition.
There were plenty of participants in the workshop session and both competitions, the results of which were as follows:
Steve Monk Memorial Stepdance Competition
Overall Winner: Leo Temple (Baker)
Best Newcomer: Simon Harmer
Under-16: Alfie Matthews (7)
Font Whatling Traditional Stepdance Trophy
Simon Ritchie
Photos to follow shortly. Click here for information about stepdancing, or click here for photos of the 2009 event. Font Whatling is a recent subject in our Personal Portrait" series about traditional musicians, singers and dancers: click here to read more.
We are very sad indeed to report the death of Richard Davies, stepdancer and singer from Cromer on the Norfolk coast, and known by thousands of people as the former coxswain of the lifeboat there and a huge part of the local community.
Richard came from a fishing family and was the seventh generation to serve on the Cromer lifeboat, succeeding his uncle, Henry 'Shrimp' Davies, as coxswain in 1976 and retiring in December 1999. His son John is the current coxswain, having taken over in 2003. Richard joined the lifeboat in 1960 and received several awards for gallantry during his lifeboat career.
We first met Richard nearly thirty years ago, introduced by Ann-Marie Hulme and Peter Clifton, who had been researching stepdancing in Norfolk. He made an immediate impact with his ruddy face and initial reserve giving way quickly to engaging sociability and enthusiasm. At the time (early 1980s) it seemed that stepdancing was on the wane, and for a lot of years Richard felt himself to be one of the last: when we met up he was sometimes reluctant to dance, saying that people expected to see “Riverdance” style stuff now. However, he still enjoyed a waltz or polka with wife Julie and he taught his daughter Fiona and grandchildren Ben and Emily to step. This encouraged a resurgence of interest helped along by the presence of other enthusiasts nearby such as Chris Holderness and Richard and Monica Blake. Richard’s dance style was very much in the Cromer tradition, and his singing repertoire also reflected his fishing life.
Richard was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour in May 2009, and was active for much of the last twelve months with the things that he loved – singing until only a few weeks before his death on 5th May 2010.
His funeral was held in Cromer Parish Church on 19th May and was attended by over a thousand people. There were pews full of lifeboatmen, the local fire crew, freemasons, fishermen, and fellow pony-and-trap owners and hare-coursing enthusiasts. The tributes described different aspects of Richard’s larger-than-life character and many tales were told reflecting his ebullient nature: when asked why he wanted to buy a mule, he answered “So that there’s someone in this family more obstinate than me!” As his coffin was carried out of the church, his favourite stepdance tune “Pigeon on the Gate” or “Yarmouth Hornpipe” was played by myself, John Howson, Chris Holderness and Richard Blake, as Richard himself had requested. At the gathering afterwards, where there were hundreds of people, Percy and Doreen West, Leo Baker, Lenny Whiting and others paid further tribute to Richard with some stepdancing and lively music.
Katie Howson 9.6.10
Photos from left to right: Richard dancing outside Sam Larner's cottage in Winterton, 2008; Richard with fellow steppers Percy West and Lenny Whiting, Hingham, 2005 (both John Halliday) ; Richard dancing at Traditional Music Day (Chris Gill), 2005.
We have been given a number of mouthorgans, some of which we are going to use for workshops, and others we are going to sell.
The following mouthorgans are all as new except where indicated, and they have been cleaned. All come with original case. Prices are approximately 50% of new prices, so you can grab a real bargain! Proceeds will go towards supporting our current research projects on stepdancing, jig dolls and dulcimers.
|
Make & Model |
Key |
EATMT price |
|
Hohner Comet (40-hole) |
C (2) G (1) |
£25 |
|
Hohner Unsere Liebling (40) |
C (1) |
£25 |
|
Hohner Echo (40) (red case) |
G (1) |
£18 |
|
Hohner Echo (48) (blue case) |
G (1) |
£20 |
|
Hohner Tremelo (48) |
C (1) |
£20 |
|
Hohner Echo (40) (red box) |
C (1) |
£4 |
|
Golden Cup (48) |
D (1) |
£3 |
|
Suzuki Easy Rider (10) |
D (1) |
£6 |
|
Spirit Tribal blower (10) |
D (1) |
£5 |
|
Hohner Chrometta (8) |
C (1) (used) |
£15 |
|
Hohner Chrometta (10) |
C (1) (used) |
£20 |
If you are interested in any of these instruments, please email us to arrange pick-up / postage (not included in price).
We also have a couple of large bass harmonicas - please email us if you're interested in something a bit different!
The third Melodeon Makers workshop took place from Saturday 10th April to Friday 16th April. Click here to see the group's progress through the week: 10 people building one-row melodeons under the tutelage of Emmanuel Pariselle and Marc Serafini. Members of the online social network Facebook can access the photos and comment via this link: Melodeon Makers 2010.
Following the successful concertina clsses at this year's Melodeons and More, we're hoping there will be more opportunities for some concertina get-togethers throughout the year. In 2009, EATMT ran some sessions tutored by Roger Digby for anglo concertina players - do please email EATMT if you'd be interested in a new series. English concertina player Vicky O'Neill who lives near Bury St Edmunds is seeking some fellow concertina-ists to play with: ring 01284 789452 or email Vicky.
New schools programmes announced
We offer a range of ready made programmes for schools, but we can also work on longer-term projects, or specific programmes to celebrate school anniversaries etc.
Sessions include folk songs and dances from East Anglia, and many fit well with Victorian studies or early twentieth-century local history topics.
Schools workshops are usually led by Katie Howson, who has over 15 years experience in running these sessions, and was formerly a teacher and advisory teacher for local history, as well as being an authority on the local folk music tradition.
Programmes include: Victorian Harvest; Victorian Christmas; Spring into May; All at Sea; Dancing Dolls, Limberjacks and Jollyboys; Big Jig; A Sweet Country Life; Upstairs, Downstairs; The Old Grey Mare and the Iron Horse; Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire; Squeezeboxes and Stringy Things.
The Victorian Harvest session allows children to take on the role of a real person from their locality and bookiings are now being taken for the end of September to mid-October 2010. You can also book for the Victorian Christmas session (late November - mid December) which includes crafts and traditional drama.
Click here for more details of the various programmes.
New series of evening classes for melodeon players
Summer Term 2010
We provide classes for melodeon players throughout the year: the next series of evening classes starts on Tuesday 25th May and runs fortnightly until 6th July. There are two levels: beginners and improvers. As this is the final term of the year, the beginners class (tutor: Ron Ross) won’t be suitable for absolute beginners - but they can join in the Autumn. The improvers class this term will be looking at playing hornpipes (tutor: Katie Howson). The classes run on Tuesdays 25th May, 8th and 22nd June and 6th July in Stowmarket, Suffolk. Email us or call 01449 771090.
Profiles of Traditional Singers and Musicians
We are now up to No. 28 in our series of "Personal Portraits" of traditional singers and musicians from East Anglia. These are short articles, written by people who knew the performers, and contain a mixture of analysis and anecdote. Contributors to the series include Martin Carthy, Shirley Collins, Reg Hall, Roger Digby and Keith Summers, alongside EATMT directors John and Katie Howson. The most recent article is about Font Whatling (stepdancer and melodeon player from Worlingworth in Suffolk), and there are others about legendary musicians Oscar Woods, Billy Bennington and Billy Cooper, singers Harry Cox, Sam Larner and Walter Pardon and many lesser-known people. Each article also contains a discography so you can find recordings of them too. Follow the link at the top or the bottom of each page, or click here to reach the index page.
Left to right: Harkie Nesling, Tony Harvey, Oscar Woods & Billy Bennington
Videos of several of the workshops playing for the afternoon showcase have been posted on Youtube by one of the course participants - follow this link and you will find several examples (not always labelled very accurately!)
There was another fantastic line-up of tutors and concert guests for the eleventh Melodeons and More on Saturday 27th March 2010, including Andy Cutting, Dave Townsend, Pete Coe, Mark Söhngen from the Netherlands and Alex Goldsmith from Mawkin:Causley. Classes included Quebecois tunes, playing for dancing, an introduction to playing the blues, tunes from female traditional players, absolute beginners mouthorgan and loads of other interesting options. Click here for full details. If you need somewhere to stay locally, you can take a look at this accommodation list.
Online shop for East Anglian Traditional Music
Our website is absolutely the best place to find a huge range of recordings of traditional singers and musicians from East Anglia all in one place. There are also books and other resources and full track listings for all the CDs. The site offers a secure online payment system. New additions are detailed below, or click here to see what else is on offer:
A selection of tin whistles and tabor pipes, donated to us for resale.
Generation (all at £4.00 plus £1.50 p&p)
Bb, nickel
F, brass
D tabor pipe (3 holes) - 2 brass, one nickel
Clarkes
Meg (green plastic) in C (£3.00 + £1.50 p&p)
Original (black-finished metal) in C (£8.00 + £1.50 p&p) - usually £14.00
Book: The History of the Tin Whistle, by Norman Dannatt
94-page book containing original research on the history of this instrument, plus photographs and profiles of a number of players such as
Mary Bergin, Micho Russell and, amazingly, the author Arthur Ransome! (£7.99 + £2.00 p&p)
Robert Clarke, the inventor of this instrument, was born and brought up in Coney Weston in Suffolk, hence our interest in the instrument!
CD and book: Many a Good Horseman
This collection tracks John Howson's survey of traditional music making in Mid-Suffolk and includes not only his
contemporary recordings, but also fascinating archival recordings made by the few other collectors who ventured
into the area. In 1993 these recordings were released as a double cassette. The original recordings, some made
as early as 1958, are now housed in the National Sound Archive at the British Library in London so that they are
archived for the future. They have now also been digitally edited and enhanced, using modern technology, and are
now available for the first time as a double CD which consists of two 39 track CDs each lasting 75 minutes, giving
a total running time of two-and-a-half hours. It also comes with a new 32-page booklet, which includes biographies
and photographs of each of the performers, as well as extensive notes about the songs and tunes. To order a copy
via our online shop (price £16.99 inc p&p), click here.
Don't forget our own publications:
Blyth Voices song book
(2003, republished 2008): 48-page book containing
songs collected by the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams in the town of Southwold on the Suffolk coast in 1910. It
is also of interest to social historians, the local community and the many
people who visit and love Southwold, as it
includes original research into the singers, and descriptions of traditional music-making in the town
throughout the twentieth century, together with a number of fascinating old
photos. To order a copy via our online shop (price £6.75 inc p&p),
click here.
Before the Night Was Out ... East Anglian music book (published 2007)
Through the twentieth century, music has been recorded from traditional musicians in Suffolk and Norfolk, and this book gathers together many of the most important and unusual of these lively dance tunes in a printed collection.
Before the Night Was Out aims to shed light on the way in which traditional music in Suffolk and Norfolk has thrived and mutated during the twentieth century, as well as providing a resource for practising musicians. "This outstanding book is … your best purchase of 2008, so far.” Rod Stradling, Musical Traditions magazine. For more details, click here.
And also:
The Green 'Un CD
EATMT director and leading melodeon player in the East Anglian style, Katie Howson,
has a new CD available. This is not available on the EATMT website: click here
(this takes you to the Veteran website) and then click on the News link on
the left-hand side for more details and to place your order. It's a solo venture, with
24 diverse and interesting tunes played on a D/G box hand-made by Eric Martin.
We have been given a dulcimer to offer for use, and would like to take the opportunity to trial a loan scheme. We feel it will need to be hired out on a slightly different basis to melodeons, and if you would like to be a guinea-pig for this scheme, we’d like to hear from you! It’s a modern instrument, with continuous bridges, and therefore not in East Anglian tuning, but more in line with other recently made dulcimers. Get back to us quickly, as we know there are several people who might be interested!
East Anglian traditional music on Facebook!
EATMT member and photographer John Halliday has kindly provided an opportunity for you to see more of his photos from EATMT events, and to make links with other enthusiasts. You don't have to belong to Facebook to see the photographs, but you do if you want to post information about events, or your own photos etc. If you want to join the Facebook group, it's called Traditional Music of East Anglia. If you just want to look at the photos, follow the appropriate link here:
There are, of course, photos of most of these events on our website too, from several different photographers who work with us on our events - many thanks to all of them! Various people also posted photos from the 2010 and 2008 Melodeon Makers courses: click here and follow the links at the bottom of the page.
We have a number of melodeons available for hire by the month (within Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex), and many people who do this also attend evening classes run by EATMT. They include two-row models in the keys of D and G, and also one-row models in the key of C. In 2007 we extended our instrument hire scheme to include anglo-concertinas, and we now have four of these for hire as well. If you’re interested in hiring an instrument, please give us a ring and see when there is one available.
We’re always pleased to welcome new people to the friendly and hard-working team of volunteers who help us out with mailouts and other office-based tasks, and with stewarding and helping at events. Please give us a ring on 01449 771090 if you would like to help out in any way. We'd like to hear from anyone with First Aid qualifications who might be prepared to help out occasionally at our events.
This page is updated regularly, and older news items are now archived on a separate webpage - click here.
Page last updated 02 September 2010
Home News Diary of events Community Projects Research Melodeons & More Workshops, classes & schools Resources Shop
Friends Links About EATMT Profiles of traditional musicians Traditional Music Day Jig Dolls Norfolk Playback project Stepdancing