Leyland Accordion Club, Leyland, Lancashire, England.

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Leyland Accordion Club - 20th April 2005

 

Our April Concert

Out April Concert started with Bill Agnew playing Clarinet Polka, Bluebell Polka, Solitaire and Lover Come Back To Me. This was followed by Harry Davies and Any Dream Will Do, He'll Have To Go and Midnight. Tom Bennett was our next player with Kiss Me Goodnight Seargent Major, Run Rabbit Run and Hey Little Hen. Derek Corlett followed Tom, playing Glamour Girl, Nola, My Florence and Luci E Ombre. Our last players before the first break were Rebecca Parker playing Sweet Lavendar Waltz, Windmill Waltz and Bianca Capanna, followed by Ann Parker playing Over The Waves and Beautiful Days. During the break Jay Ward and Jean Southern played a selection of pieces on accordion and keyboard while we had our drinks. After the break Alan Gelling was our first player, playing Snow Waltz, Don't Be Cruel and Red Roses In Tyrol. Following Alan, Basil Berry played Elmers Tune, I'm In The Mood For Love and Embraceable You by Gershwin. Our next player was Fritz Steiger making his debut at the club, Fritz, who says he is learning to play the accordion, is quite an accomplished player, he is also a clarinet and saxaphone teacher. He played a selection of tunes including Vienna Of My Dreams before we stopped for the second break of the evening. Our next players after the break were Rocky and Derek from Holmfirth playing a selection of tunes on two accordions. After Jean Southern had done her turn, there was just time for myself to play one tune while the buskers set up on the dance floor ready to play us out with a selection of singalong tunes. We always enjoy these local players nights because of the wide variety of entertainment our own players are able to provide. One of the best parts of the local players nights is seeing our players develop and improve over the months and years. We watch people make nervous debuts and slowly progress to improving not only their playing but their stagecraft and their ability to hide or handle their nerves. This evening had been another of those 'happy' nights where we saw so many good players making their way up the ladder, I look forward to many more of these nights to come. David Batty

 

Firewalking


In the last newsletter I said that I was attending a course in London that included firewalking (walking barefoot across hot coals). I can now confirm that I attended the course last weekend and I did the firewalk. The course was with Tony Robbins (Anthony Robbins) who is a motivational speaker. On the Friday the course started at 1pm. At around 9pm that night I walked across hot coals - which were between 1200 to 2000 degrees Farenheit. About halfway across, I thought about my feet and I suddenly felt the heat, I continued across the coals concentrating more on what I was supposed to do and I reached the other side without any burns or anything worse than dirty feet. It was a really good feeling to have done the firewalk. Not everyone was as successful at the firewalking, some people did get blisters from the heat while others opted out of taking part, the majority were successful though. The evening finished at about 11pm. The following day was a 9am to 11pm hectic day with just one hour break. Sunday was a 9am to 1am! day with an hour and a half break. On Monday the day started at 9am and finished about 5pm. I had done a 40 hour plus course in one long weekend. One of the tasks in the week long follow up course (which is in Fiji in 2006) involves climbing up a 15 foot flagpole, climbing over the Truck (top part of a flagpole) on to your stomach, standing upright on the Truck, then, after standing on top of a flagpole, jumping 12 feet through the air, to grab a trapeze to arrest your fall. Now where is my passport..............

 

This Wednesday

Our concert this week is a guest artist concert featuring Julie Best and friend playing solo and duet pieces. Since Julie last played for us in 2003, I have had many requsts for her return. Julie has previously played alone at the club and also with Ron Hodgson. This Wednesday you have Julie playing solo but also playing duets with her playing partner. I am looking forward to Wednesday when Julie will have copies of her CD for sale during the break or at the end of the evening. Make sure you turn up early for a good seat, the doors open at 7.30pm, I will see you there.

 

Robert Thorn

In the last newsletter I mentioned a new CD by Robert Thorn. Robert, who played on Tom Alexander's accordion at one of our concerts at The Highfield, and then subsequently bought the Hohner Gola, has since won many competitions and is currently developing a great career as an accordionist. I now have a copy of the new CD mentioned in last month's newsletter and can give you a list of the tracks. The tracks on the CD are Flying Scotsman, Alpine Slopes, Jigs, Reels, Two Step, Margaret's Waltz, Canadian Reels, Reels, Les Triolets, Slow Air, Shetland Reels, Sorrento Thoughts, Shetland Two Step, Jacqueline Waltz, Cuckoo Waltz, Jigs and Reel 'Em In. The CD is available from Robert Thorn, Waterfall Farm, Lumb Lane, Cowling, Near Keighley, BD22 0NF. Telephone 07800 503890 and tell him you saw it in this newsletter.

 

ArtsLive

I have managed to get hold of a number of Artslive newsletters as mentioned in last months newsletter. I will have these at the club on Wednesday night if you would like to take a copy. The newsletter not only has an article on the club but it also has a list of other clubs and organisations in the area and a diary of events for the next two months. Ask at the club on Wednesday night or pick up a copy from the table near the door.

 

Fingering For Chromatic Accordion


If you have been wondering how the button accordion keyboard works then pay a visit to the following website:-
http://www.thecipher.com/chromatic-accordion-cipher.html

This will show you how the keyboards are laid out, how to play scales and create chords. The website covers how to play both 3 row and 5 row accordions using both the B system and C System.

 

Accordionists and Strippers


A stripper mauled by a tiger in an Ontario safari park has won C$800,000 (£341, 560) in damages because her scars meant she could no longer work. Jennifer-Anne Cowles was driving through the park nearly nine years ago with her then boyfriend when a tiger jumped into their car and tried to drag them away. The two insisted their windows had been shut when the tiger charged, although the park had challenged that. The judge accepted on Friday the couple's testimony that the power windows had been inadvertently lowered when one of the big cats bumped against the car, frightening them. In a ruling delivered on Thursday and reported in a number of Canadian newspapers, Justice Jean MacFarland said she could only imagine the "stark terror experienced by these young people during this horrendous event."
She awarded Cowles over C$800,000 in damages, almost half of it to compensate for income she would have made as a stripper.
Her musician boyfriend, David Balac, won C$1.7 million, because his injuries left him unable to work as an accordion player. African Lion Safari, near Hamilton, Ontario, west of Toronto, said it is reviewing the ruling, but it insisted the park was safe.

 

Roland V-Accordion

This week I was given a DVD by Electronic Accordions of Rochdale featuring a demo of the Roland V-Accordion. This has the background to the accordion, the features, the technology and performancesby Luigi Bruti and Sergio Scappini. Ask at the club if you want to borrow this DVD. I have only had this DVD for one day so I have no idea of it's running time or entertainment value at the moment but it will be ideal for prospective Roland purchasers.

Our Website

Our internet website has had 80075 vistors as at 16th of May 2005, that's 1042 visitors to the main page of our website since last month. This month I decided that the adverts and messages on the site were getting numerous so I decided to archive the old ones so that people can find old adverts from previous years but they are only allowed to post new adverts in the section for 2005. This change will make it easier for people to go through the more recent adverts and less confusing for anyone spotting a bargain only to find that it was an old advert from last May instead of this May.

Blackpool Accordion Festival

The Blackpool Accordion Festival was held this weekend from Thursday to Monday. Thursday was the arrival day, I turned up at 6pm for the evening meal at 6.30pm. We had to wear a yellow wristband to make sure that only the accordionists were allowed in to the concerts, this meant that the other people in the hotel who were offering to pay to attend the concerts could not get in to join us which was a shame. Most of these people were Algerines having a reunion who would have really enjoyed listening to our music. After the meal it was time for the entertainment which consisted of Callum McKinnon who has previously played at the club followed by Scottish dancing to the David Bowen Trio, being the first night we accepted that there were no other artists booked, things would be better on the second night. On the next day we started the day with a practice session for The Buskers which was run by myself with Jay Ward on Keyboard. There were two other groups of players practicing that morning, The Scottish Orchestra and The Intermediate Orchestra, both followed The Buskers in the main hall. Saturday morning was taken up with band practices, this was followed by a workshop by Frank Marocco from 2.30 to 3.30 and then a free and easy session from 3.30 to 5.30pm for anyone to take to the front of the room and play a few tunes. At the same time the Free An Easy was on there was also a Bass Workshop with John Leslie which was interesting but you had to miss most of the Free And Easy to Attend. Friday nights entertainment session started with Harry Hussey doing a great job of walking round the tables playing his accordion, then after a large gap, it ended with The David Bowen Trio playing for Scottish dancing again. There had been no artists on stage between Harry doing his warmup and the Scottish Dancing which ended the evening. On Saturday the format of the day was the same as Friday, Buskers, Scottish, Intermediate Orchestra, Frank Marocco Workshop and a Free And Easy at the same time as a John Leslie Workshop. In the evening we had a concert featuring Lindsay Garvin and her friend Oreole on the Cello, followed by Frank Marocco, who only played a short session before Tom Duncan, the organiser, brought him off the stage. Most of us had been looking forward to hearing Frank Marocco playing but were left wanting more when he got less time to play than the girls who played before him (and they had another spot to come on the Sunday night) and then dancing to finish off the night. On Sunday morning I was asked to arrange a session in the morning where the Buskers, Intermediate and Scottish Orchestras could demonstrate what they had learnt. I quickly spoke to a few amateur artists, including our own Bill Agnew, and I put together a 2 hour 25 minute concert which ended with a surprise for the audience when I announced that Frank Marocco and Friends would be topping the bill. I had asked Frank if he would play in the morning concert and he was happy to oblige. After two solo pieces, Harry Hussey, John Nixon and Billy Thom the drummer from the David Bowen Trio joined Frank to finish of the morning concert with an impromptu session much to the delight of the crowd. On sunday evening the Songs Of Praise was on at the same time as many people were having their tea, this was followed by Lindsay Garvin and friend playing again, then Walter Perrie, Rosemary Wright and finally dancing with The David Bowen Trio.

Rob Howards New Book

Rob Howard is writing volume 2 of his book A to Z Of The Accordion which was released last year. This is due to be released in time for Christmas. Watch this newsletter for further details.

 

 

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