Our September Concert
Our first player was Colin Ensor playing Down Forget Me Not Lane, The Maigret Them, My Sweet Liverpool and Little old Wine Drinker Me. Next it was Rebecca Parker who entertained us with My Wild Irish Rose, Moon River and Bianca Capana. Ann Parker then followed Rebecca playing My Treasure and Beautiful Days. It was time for our guest artist Walter Perrie to start his first half, Walteropened with a Scottish Set, Toberno Rays Wedding, Sabre Dance, Waltz No2 byShostakovich. Walter then played Danny Boy for Patrick who was in the audience. Walter continued with Fleur De Paris, Pigalle, Le Denicheur, Granada, Umbrellas of Cherbourg, What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life. He then played a Michel Le Grand set as a tribute to our own Basil Berry who died last year. Walter continued the entertainment with a Scottish Set which included Westering Home. The entertainment continued up to the break with You’re Breaking My Heart, Throw Open Wide Your Window, Blue Danube and A Paris. After the break we opend the second half with Bernard Bamber playing I Love a Lassie, Roaming In The Gloaming, A Week Dock n Doris, When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, Rose Of Tralee and Give Me Five Minutes More. Our next player was Bill Agnew playing Let Him Go, Who’s Your Lady Friend, Once In A While, Someone to Watch Over You, The Man Who Broke The Bank, Spanish Eyes, From a Jack To A king and Beer Barrel Polka. After Sara Daly played Dainty Davie and A Granddaughters Dream, I played Oslo Waltz, Black Mask Waltz and Sailors Hornpipe. It was time for Walter to return for his second half, he played a Scottish Set followed by Cuckoo Waltz (The Will Starr Version) O Sole Mio, Funiculi Funicula, Santa Natale, Poppa Piccolino, Merry Widow, Allo Allo, Russian Select, La Vie En Rose, Under Paris Skies, Autumn Leaves, The Poor People Of Paris, Malaguena, Cubanola, Figaros Aria, Lara’s Theme, As Long A She Needs Me, Lilli Marlene, Who Do You Think You’re Kidding Mr Hitler, Monte’s Czardas Hava Nagila, Zorba’s Dance, Scotland The Brave and Will Ye No Come Back Again. As you can see from the above list, we were thoroughly entertained with a great selection of music which we just crammed in to three hours. Walter is a great player and is always a favourite at Leyland. Thanks Walter for such a great night as usual.
David Batty
This Wednesday
This Wednesday is our own local players concert featuring a wide range of talents from a great bunch of people. Please make sure you have this in your diary, it will be nice to get as many people as possible along before it starts getting too cold for some to attend. Our local players concerts are always a fun event where we hope you make some great friends.The doors are open at 7.30 for 8pm. If you see someone you don’t normally talk to then please introduce yourself, you might make a new friend.
Interesting Fact About The Birdie Song
The Birdie Song was written by accordion player Werner Thomas from Davos, Switzerland, in the 1950s. The original Swiss song was “Der Ententanz” (The Duck Dance). It is rumored to be a drinking song sung at Oktoberfest. Sometime in the late 1970s, the song acquired the name “Vogeltanz” (The Bird Dance) or “Vogerltanz” (Little Bird Dance or Birdie Dance), although these names never caught on seriously in Germany. On some sheet music and recordings it is called “Dance Little Bird.” Since 1963 Werner Thomas had played it in restaurants and hotels. During one of Thomas’ performances, Belgian producer Louis van Rijmenant heard the song. Van Rijmenant had some lyrics created to go with the tune and in 1970 released it to the public through his publishing company Intervox Music (later on co-publishing with his other company Eurovox Music) without much success. However, on subsequent releases of the song, Van Rijmenant was listed as co-author under the pen name of Terry Rendall. Eurovox Music now manages the publishing rights worldwide, except for the US (September Music), UK (Valentine Music) and the Netherlands (Benelux Music), sub-publishers. In 1980, a local Dutch band “De Electronica’s” released an instrumental version called “De Vogeltjesdans” (“The dance of the little birds”) as the B-side of a single. The A-side wasn’t a hit, but local radio stations in the south and east of the Netherlands decided to flip the disc and started playing “De Vogeltjesdans”. The record entered the Dutch charts and stayed there for over seven months, and started the international success of the song. Currently there have been over 140 versions of the song recorded worldwide, including Walt Disney Records, together making over 40,000,000 records. In 1981 Henry Hadaway produced a version of the “Chicken Dance”, which was released in the UK as an instrumental novelty tune “The Birdie Song” by The Tweets. It reached number two in the singles chart in October 1981, making it the most popular version. In 2000, this version was voted “the most annoying song of all time” in a poll commissioned for the website dotmusic. So whether you like the tune or not, This international Song was written by an accordionist.
Gift Ideas For Musicians
If you’re looking for Christmas gift ideas for musicians Not On The High Street has a good selection of music related gifts everything from Glasses and mugs, Jewellery, Clocks, Lamps, Pictures and more Visit if you’d like to view their range of gifts. http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/search.html?search=find&term=music
Foster and Allen Autobiography
Irish Duo Foster and Allen have released an autobiography tell the story of their success, the book combines the life stories of Mick Foster and Tony Allen, revealing how these most unlikely of stars toured the world and entered the record books. A charming narrative told with heaps of Celtic charm, it is filled with nostalgic reminiscences about growing up in rural Ireland in the 1950s and 60s, and spans the breadth of their long career, including appearing on Top of the Pops alongside Bob Geldof and being feted by Terry Wogan, and the extraordinary moment when they found themselves at the very top of the charts, beating Take That to the number-one slot. The Book is available on Amazon at www.amzn.to/18OQunr for £13.59
UK Accordion Championships 2014
The NAO UK Accordion Championships are being held at The Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool from the 25th-27th April 2014, for a 3 night stay £135.00 per adult and £67.50 Per Child and for a 2 night stay £99 Per Adult and £49.50 Per Child. Booking forms are available from www.accordions.com/nao
Sound Proofing
Back in 2001 we mentioned that an employee at Pixar (The Creators of Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Cars, Monsters Inc etc) contacted us looking for information on the validity of using egg cartons to soundproof his office within the company so he can play his accordion at work. He had heard that egg cartons provide soundproofing but did not know if this was a fallacy. I (David) sent him details of the acoustic properties of egg cartons including a report from a sound testing laboratory and a graph of frequency versus attenuation. He was pleased with the results I sent him and later told me that the director of the company had also approached him with a view to taking up the accordion. In today’s health and safety culture I doubt they would let you stick egg cartons on the wall of an office without them being fire retardant, but with the price of Professional 30cm x 30cm fire retardant Acoustic Foam tiles costing between £1- £2 (which have come down a lot in price since 2001) It would now be just as cost effective to buy professional soundproofing tiles than to do the same job as the egg cartons.
Whitby Hospital Comes Alive With Music
(Article from Whitby Gazette) Each Tuesday and Friday Whitby’s patients at the hospital are treated to a live musical performance as part of a new pilot scheme designed to make their stay at the hospital a little bit groovier. The scheme is run by the charity Music in Hospitals, which seeks to improve the quality of patient’s lives, using music as therapy. Jo Davis, Arts coordinator for Hospital Arts for North East Yorkshire, said: “For people recovering from illness, life on a hospital ward is filled with long days and this makes people feel cared for. “If you’re taking the time to bring in musicians and performers, it makes them feel they are not being ignored. Hospitals are here to care for people’s physical wellbeing, but this stimulates the mind.” The lottery-funded project is currently only taking place at Whitby Hospital and has seen professional musicians entertain patients in the stroke and elderly rehabilitation wards since July. A different singer or musician attends each week, making for an interesting and varied programme. Fred Melville (88), a retired fire officer who is in Whitby Hospital after injuring himself during a fall. He said: “Last week two lads came, one played the violin and the other played the accordion and they were marvellous. “It takes away the monotony of the hospital, it’s just a break, an hour or so makes a heck of a difference. “It takes us from looking forward to the coffin, it makes us feel as though there’s a bit of a future and we would like to live a little longer.” Music is a useful tool in rehabilitation and therapy as not only does it restore hope, but it can also help stroke victims recover memories, while arthritis sufferers find the clapping can help soothe their joints.
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I was recently playing for a Birthday Party where one of the guests was a quiet 90 Year old women who suddenly became the life and soul of the party when I started playing, she knew all the words, and the songs brought back memories, I ended up chatting to her for an hour after my spot had finished.