I've found the recent comments about music in north Northumberland very interesting. I grew up among those who learned and played by ear (Joe Hutton, Will Atkinson, Jimmy Little, the Cheviot Ranters band in its various line-ups, and my dad, among many others) and owe them a great deal - including dozens of splendid tunes which still live in my head, if not on paper.
When I was learning the pipes in 1974/75 with Joe at Alnwick Pipers Society, it was clear that he could also 'read the dots' when necessary. George Mitchell of the Cheviot Ranters was a very competent (and beautifully neat) amanuensis for other members of the band, and it's evident from some of the old sheets of manuscript I have that Willy Miller (fiddle player) could also jot down a tune when necessary. There are a few wonderful hand-written manuscripts from north Northumberland from the early and mid nineteenth century which indicate that some ordinary folk were competent music readers and writers. William Dobson of West Thirston (a joiner and fishing rod maker) filled his manuscript book with favourite tunes for the fiddle, including second parts for some melodies, beautifully written over a period of at least thirty years. The inclusion of about 20 hymn and metrical psalm tunes notated in up to four parts in a West Gallery style (tune often in the tenor line) indicates that he had some connection with a non-conformist chapel. William Darling of Bamburgh (c. 1810) also kept a manuscript book. His own attempts at composition are sometimes rudimentary - bar lines in the wrong place, note lengths not always accurate etc - but he clearly understood the basic principles of notation, as did John Readshaw and George Wallace, just over the border into Cumbria. So there's definitely evidence of people being able to read/notate music in north Northumberland, as well as plenty of examples of those who play (or played) by ear. Best wishes Margaret PS As Anthony pointed out in a different thread, the school song of the former Duchess's Grammar School in Alnwick was Chevy Chase, the first and last verses of which we sang at every prize giving. If the duchess took too long to process through the hall and reach the platform, we were instructed to sing the first verse again - nobody thought of teaching us the remaining 90+!! From: Anthony Robb [mailto:anth...@robbpipes.com] Sent: 02 November 2009 09:32 To: nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu; Paul Gretton Subject: Re: [NSP] Re: [BULK] Re: [nsp] file Dear Paul As Philip G. points out, some good points but hardly germane. I think I made it clear that I was speaking very particularly, in fact here is the quote from my original email refering to the region I was focussing on, "the outlying districts of north Northumberland". I was talking about the people I lived amongst and were the traditional players of north Northumberland, i.e. the people at the heart of the discussion. None of the 20th century "musical heavyweights" from that region were dots readers and had all learnt by ear as had their predecessors. It was not a general statement; it was a particular one of importance to those discussing the music of Northumberland in terms of notated music and drawing conclusions from it. Cheers Anthony --- On Sun, 1/11/09, Paul Gretton <i...@gretton-willems.com> wrote: From: Paul Gretton <i...@gretton-willems.com> Subject: [NSP] Re: [BULK] Re: [nsp] file To: nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu Date: Sunday, 1 November, 2009, 6:20 PM Anthony Robb wrote: >>>dot reading was an extremely rare skill at the time If you mean specifically among players of the NSP (or the fiddle, then perhaps - I wouldn't know. But if you mean in general, then that is a far too sweeping statement. Musical literacy was my no means uncommon, even among the working class. You are ignoring the influence of the Sunday school system, particularly among Nonconformists, and the self-improvement movement among the so-called "better" working class, with the miners being among the leaders. Large numbers of "ordinary" people could read music - witness the great Handel festivals and organisations like the Huddersfield Choral Society. Cheers, Paul Gretton To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html __________ NOD32 4565 (20091102) Information __________ This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system. http://www.eset.com
