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| Leyland Accordion Club - 18th February 2004
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Our February ConcertBasil Berry was the first player on the stage at our February concert, playing S'Wunderfull, Strangers In The Night and Where Or When. Rebecca Parker then played Snow Waltz and Those Endearing Young Charms. This was followed by Tom Bennett playing Dark Eyes and Brahms Hungarian Dance. Rebecca's mum Anne Parker followed her daughter, playing Amazing Grace, Sonata In G and Roll Out The Barrell. Gordon Priestlys contribution to the night was Skybird, Vienna Forever, Sharpshooters March and Estudantinia. Taking to the stage, John Higham played Gypsy Romance from Poland, Farewell From The Lillys Of The Valley (a Finnish tune) Tit Willow, and another tune from Finland, Travellers Waltz. It was almost time for our first break as Phil Sanderson played Annies Song, Smiling Through and Ode To Joy. After the first break, Colin Ensor started the second part of the evening playing Mexicalli Rose, Sailing By, Mist Covered Mountains and Coming Home. Colin then switched to an old accordion to play Yellow Bird. Harry Davies was next on to the stage, playing Any Dream Will Do, Memories and a German drinking song. Our next act was a duo of Jay on keyboard and Sylvia on accordion, playing Something Stupid, Strangers In The Night, Born Free, Portrait Of My Love, I'll See You In My Dreams and The Best Things In Life Are Free. Leading us up to the second break, Derek Corlett played a Jewish dance, Nola, Under Paris Skies and Swedish Rhapsody. Alan Gelling was first to play after the raffle with Londonderry Air, Wheels and Guten Abend. Dugald McCallum then played an Italian pop song before Jean Southern took to the stage with Bel Fiori, Luci E'Ombre and Tyrolean Accordion. Jean was then joined by Sylvia as they played Minuette. It was almost time to finish, just time for me to play one piece while the buskers set their chairs up and positioned themselves on the floor in front of the stage. Once I finished my one piece, I joined in with the buskers as we all played a selection of pieces to finish the night off. Because we had kept good timekeeping, we had enjoyed the skills of 16 different players playing during the night who all did an excellent job of entertaining us. David Batty |
This WednesdayThis Wednesday, our concert night coincides with St. Patrick's Day. Playing for us on Wednesday is our guest artist Steve Roxton, who is over from Jersey until the end of the month. I am sure that there will be a good amount of Irish singalong numbers mixed in amongst the accordion standards, French pieces, classical and a wide variety of new material that Steve has been working on since you last saw him. This promises to be a great night out so why not bring along your friends and neighbours to the club, give them a St. Patrick's night out to remember, and introduce them to us at the same time. This will be the first time you have seen Steve playing his new Ranco accordion which has replaced his Excelsior Midivox. Steve, who is the UK distributor for Ranco accordions will also be bringing along a demonstration lightweight Ranco accordion weighing just 9kg for those who want to try it for size during the break or at the end of the night. I look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday night, the doors open at 7.30pm which is the best time to arrive if you want to get a good seat. I look forward to seeing you there on Wednesday... David Batty |
Playing The Accordion On BBC1I received a phone call from a television researcher asking if I could provide some accordion playing at Blackpool for a BBC arts programme. The subject of the programme was The High Tide Organ, which consists of a set of pipes stretched out 120 metres along the sea wall, connected by underground pipes to a 50 foot structure containing organ pipes. Depending on the angle and frequency with which the waves hit the shore, the organ pipes play various notes at 'random'. The pipes are tuned to the Bb natural scale and are diatonic which means that different notes play as the water comes in and goes out with each wave. Despite the unusual circumstances of playing by this 50 foot random note playing diatonic organ being played by the sea, I agreed to their request for me to stand there being filmed. On the day, I made my way to Blackpool for my appointment with the film crew. My destination of the Organ was the next to The Sandcastle and opposite The Big One. When I arrived, I found that the object I was to be filmed with was behind a security fence for a 'building site'. This was not so much of a building site, but a car park with the tarmac broken ready to be cleared from the site. While I was waiting for the film crew to arrive I got another phone call. It was the film crew again, telling me that they would be there in half an hour, and that the director had decided that I should play something to fit in with the Tide Organ!! I had half an hour to see what the sea was playing and busk along with it! I was quite amused by this and proceeded to try and warm my hands up by playing a few tunes after my accordion had been left in the open to cool down to the outside air temperature. This was done so that I would not break a reed if cold outside air clashed with the warm insides of the accordion if I had started playing without allowing the accordion to cool down first. Because the area around the Tide Organ was classed as a building site (even though there were no buildings, machines or tools on it) we had to be given a site induction if we were to cross it to reach the Tide Organ and do our filming. A site workman suggested that they remove a few of the metal fence panels around the Organ which would allow us to walk around to the other side of the site, and then get access to where we wanted to film without us having to walk across the building site. By he time the fence panels had been removed and we had made our way into position, another hour had passed. It was now 1pm and I had been there since 10.30am, on a day when the temperature was 4 degrees centigrade with 20mph winds coming straight off the sea. It was so cold in those conditions that I can't describe how difficult it was to play. After the camera, monitor and microphones had been set up, I took the photograph below showing the film crew and sound man setting the equipment up before I was asked to play. The chap in the middle with the Eskimo coat on is the shows presenter trying to keep warm, the chap sat on the floor on the left is the cameraman getting his upward looking angles sorted out, the chap on the right is the sound man who had set up two microphones ready for the shoot. I did try my best to look warm when they were ready and it was my turn to play. We filmed three times, one with the cameraman at my feet looking up my keyboard at the 50 foot structure behind me, again when they had set the camera up about 20 feet to my left. and finally one more close up from the front again looking up my keyboard. I went back to the car feeling frozen but pleased that I had completed the job, as weird a request as it was. The programme went out on BBC1 last Wednesday night at 11.15pm as the first in a six part series called Powerhouse. I managed to get Leyland Accordion Club mentioned in the credits at the end of the programme even though I was only on there for seconds as they showed me playing four times while they switched to scenes of ballroom dancers and the worlds largest glitter ball which is about half a mile away but in TV land was made to look like it was right in front of me. I enjoyed the experience and got a mention for the club in the credits on BBC1 so I was happy with the result. This was the third appearance of the club or it's representative on TV since it started. Let's see if anyone from the club can get more, or higher profile, TV appearances with the accordion? I think that sounds like a good project for 2004, any takers?
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Eastbourne Accordion FestivalWe went down to visit the new Eastbourne Accordion Festival which was held from the 20th to the 23rd of February at The Albany Hotel on the Eastbourne sea front. It was a six hour drive but, after one stop at a motorway service station in Staffordshire, the rest of the journey was done in one non-stop trip. After travelling down the M6, we joined the M40, travelled around London on the M25 before heading for the south coast down the M23 and finally the A23. We arrived in Eastbourne in six hours after departing from Leyland, we managed an average speed of 58 miles per hour despite the roadworks on the M25. As we arrived at the hotel, Harry Hussey was entertaining crowds in the bar. The hotel, which held over 100 people, was dedicated to accordionists, and only people who were part of the festival either as residents, or on day tickets, were allowed in the hotel that weekend. The entertainment started on the Friday and did not stop until we left on Sunday morning. The food was excellent and we hardly had time to go out of the hotel to see the town. As well as the trade shows to visit, we had the following programme which went on until after midnight for those of us who could stay up that late:- Saturday 20th February 2.00 Arrival and check in, 3.00 Welcome cup of tea at the Coffee Bar, 4.00 - 5.00 Welcome concert with Gennaro Fionadella (Concert Room), 6.00 - 8.00 Dinner, 8.00 John Romero (Concert Room), 8.45 Break, 9.00 Harry Hussey (Concert Room), 9.45 Break, 10.00 Sue Coppard (Concert Room), 10.45 Break, 11.00 Gentle relax in the bar with Gennaro Fiondella, Saturday 21st February, 7.30 - 9.30 Breakfast, 10.00 Music Seminar - Gennaro Fiondella (Concert room), 11.00 Playing by ear - Music Seminar - Trevani (Concert room), 12.30 Lunchtime - Dave Medcalf (In the Bar), 2.00 Charlie Watkins (Concert Room), 3.00 Paul Chamberlain (Concert Room), 4.00 Complimentary cup of tea at the Coffee Bar, 6.00 - 8.00 Dinner, 8.00 Sue Coppard (Concert Room), 8.45 Break, 9.00 Paul Chamberlain (Concert Room), 9.45 Break, 10.00 Harry Hussey (Concert Room), 11.00 Break, 11.15 John Romero (In the Bar), Sunday 22nd February, 7.30 - 9.30 Breakfast, 10.00 Seminar - Genaro Fiondella (Concert room), 11.00 Playing the Blues - Music Seminar - Trevani (Concert room), 12.30 Sue Coppard in the bar, 2.00 Guests Concert (Concert room), 4.00 Complimentary cup of tea at the Coffee Bar, 6.00 - 8.00 Dinner, 8.00 Gennaro Fiondella (Concert room), 8.30 Paul Chamberlain (Concert room), 9.15 Break, 9.30 Charity Raffle. (Concert room), 10.00 John Romero (Concert room), 10.15 Party time Jam Session, After Jam session, Harry Hussey in the Bar, Monday 23rd February, 7.30 - 9.30 Breakfast, 10..00 - 11.00 Farewell Concert and Goodbye. (Concert room). The above Programme of events shows you that we were kept busy for the whole weekend. Sunday night saw a jam session with Harry Hussey, Trevani, Paul Chamberlain, Genaro Fiondella, Charlie Watkins and John Romero all on stage at the same time. There was a good atmosphere in the hotel throughout the festival which is a good sign of a successful event. The food served from the carvery was excellent, and I am sure that most people put on weight during the weekend. The success of this event has ensured that there will be another festival next year, this is to be held from the 18th to the 21st of February 2005. I will let you know more details nearer the time. |
Accordion For Sale
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A to Z of the Accordion Book on sale on WednesdayThose of you who are thinking of buying Rob Howards A to Z of the Accordion book, can save some postage by buying it from the club on Wednesday. Johnny Coleclough will be bringing along some copies of the book for sale at £15. This saves you £4 postage and packing and the hassle of ordering it by post. See Johnny at the club this Wednesday to purchase your copy. |
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