Very interesting thread this. The head teacher at the school Mme worked at played for the Adderbury Morris Men and did teach the children some of the dances that they then put on at the school and other local events. As Mme was in the art dept. she had the job of getting the kids all dressed up and looking the part. I had an employee who got hooked when he joined the Adderbury team. He lost a stone in weight and became very fit indeed. He was only in his early thirties.
There's a morris side near us who have a bloke playing bass in the band. He uses an acoustic bass through a little battery amp, Pignose or similar. Sounds b****y awful.
Can't imagine acoustic bass working with Morris, sousaphone or tuba would be better for the bottom end if it was needed.
I do like a ceilidh... about the only thing you will get me to .... As a product of the 60s I only ever managed to do a lot of strange pirouetting to west coast american music
Exactly- brass is good. A lot of sides do just that. Best for North West style, with a big band including snare and bass drum. Cotswold morris doesn't need bottom end. Just a melody line, played on a single instrument. The best musicians match their phrasing exactly to the stepping of the dancers, with little rhythmic adjustments.
Exactly- brass is good. A lot of sides do just that. Best for North West style, with a big band including snare and bass drum. Cotswold morris doesn't need bottom end. Just a melody line, played on a single instrument. The best musicians match their phrasing exactly to the stepping of the dancers, with little rhythmic adjustments. The dodgy Ashley Hutchings, Brass Monkey & now Bellowhead have done a lot to take this music from the pub car park to the concert hall
Yep, to be sure. I know what you mean about dodgy AH but you have to admit he's done an immense amount for English music. There've been some great ceilidh bands that did the brass thing too, New Victory, Flowers & Frolics, Gas Mark 5. My first decent ceilidh band had a tuba. Gave us a great rumpty dumpty sound. But it was always the one thing that people would come up and talk about afterwards. Used to annoy me, having been playing gorgeous melodies all night when Ned had been going parp-parp-parp. The only time anyone asks me about my instruments is when they point at the mandolin (or even worse, the mandola) and say " is that a lute?".
I didn't know, but found this on the net: Ferrette Morris was established in September 2003 to perform dances in the Cotswold tradition, initially with the intention of dancing at the Fête de la musique, which always takes place in Ferrette on the longest day of the year. Ferrette is on the French-Swiss border, so you can see that it is spreading.
I can play the trumpet, but not to a great standard and a former colleague who's a good singer once said that I've got a good voice for rock music (interpret however you want). The first single I bought was "Golden Brown" by the Stranglers for my Dad, but I the first one I bought for myself was "Return of the Los Palmas 7" by Madness. Regarding Suzi Q, I first knew about her music from listening to Capital Gold but it's only from watching the classic pop channel on tv I can appreciate what the men are saying regarding her looks at the time, and I'd say probably Debbie Harry would be in the same bracket. For me, it has to be Kylie as she is now, not when she first started her singing career. Did anyone see her stage show (it was more than just a concert) on Sky? Amazing.
We used to come to France every two years along with a side from Ripley in Derbyshire ( all Forest or Mansfield Town supporters but alright really) plus another side or two. We'd take over a camp site for a week, have a good old holiday and get out to dance at pre-arranged local venues. We always had the fullest co-operation from the local authorities, who would help us make an event of it, and often give us a vin d'honneur into the bargain. The French public were always enthusiastic and interested as an audience, and we'd often do events with a local folklorique group of some kind. They like their folklorique, do the French. Nearest we got to you OFH (not very near admittedly) was Perigord. Great times.
I play (poorly), bouzouki & mandolin (along with guitar & bass) and get the same response a lot of the time. I work for a very old established Folk record label so this subject is my day job.
Having been rather frank about a certain bassist I better be discreet, but lets face it there's not that many to choose from. You could be very warm.
Don't worry you can tell me.. your secret is safe with me. I do see Simon Care quite a bit, but promise to be discreet!
