Bill Black (7/2/1935 – 31/1/2016)
Obituary
by Mabel Gray
On Tuesday 9th of February, it seemed the whole of the traditional music world descended on Dunkeld Cathedral to pay their respects and celebrate the life of Bill Black. I saw people from Shetland, the Western Isles, the Borders – from all over Scotland. The music during the service, pieces selected by the family in a moving tribute to Bill, was played by Graeme Mitchell, Neil Dawson, Neil Caul, Mabel Gray, Neil McMillan and Gus Millar. Bill’s daughter, Kate Black, had written a poem A Tribute to our Dad, and later a recording of Kate singing Ave Maria stunned us all with its poignancy and clarity. Bill’s life was celebrated in a eulogy by Freeland Barbour, bringing smiles and tears to many an eye. It started with “Bill was a big man”, and indeed he was.
The following are the words of Mabel Gray, Bill’s pianist for many years.
Bill was born on a farm near Muthill. His interest in music began when his father bought a fiddle and later he also acquired a melodeon. He was self-taught and goodness knows when he found time to practice, but then that was Bill! He used to say, “You want something done? Ask a busy man!”
His career in farming progressed to farm management and during that time he won awards at sheepdog trials and sheep shearing competitions. Later Bill became a partner in a business selling farm supplies in Aberfeldy (Bremner and Black). Travelling so many miles through his work Bill made many friends throughout the country, leading to long-lasting friendships with him and his family.
Bill married Anne in 1960 in Dunkeld Cathedral. They had 3 children; Kate, Robert and Duncan. He managed to get Kate, Robert and Duncan interested in music and Bill and Anne bought the boys accordions, something we are all grateful for! Kate’s musical talents for singing and piano playing were also nurtured by Bill and Anne. He started the family band! Records were produced – ‘Black’s Magic’ and ‘Black Family Favourites’, featuring Bill, Robert and Duncan with Anne on piano.
Bill never lost his love of Scottish Dance music and changed from the fiddle to the 3-row button-key accordion in 1962. Bill’s musical career took off, and he managed to get out playing regularly thanks to Anne. He also had his business to look after, again faithfully supported by Anne, and of course with Anne’s help also managed to tend his many sheep.
Bill was now becoming well-known as a musician. In 1965 Alasdair Downie asked him to do a broadcast with him (on fiddle). Bill accepted and having a band of his own now became his goal. Bill was always keen to keep young folk interested in the music. He encouraged many young musicians. In 1971 Bill entered competitions and won the Fiddle Championship at Newcastleton as well as the Senior Scottish Championship at Perth for both fiddle and accordion, the first to achieve such an accolade and an achievement which remains unparalleled.
In 1980 he was invited to play with his band for the Queen in Denmark and also went to play at a function in Lagos, Nigeria.
In 1999 Bill was honoured by the NAAFC for his contribution to traditional Scottish dance music. In 2009 Bill was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame.
Bill also ran the annual Stanley Ceilidh raising more than £70,000 over 25 years for various charities. In 2006 tragedy struck when he lost his index finger on his right hand in a farming accident, but a year later he was back playing! A remarkable achievement demonstrating his musical prowess, courage and determination. In 2009 ill-health began to take its toll and sadly he stopped playing in public.
Latterly he was in a care home in Blairgowrie and here Bill passed away peacefully with his family by his side.
Bill, thank you for being a great ambassador for Scottish dance music and a good friend to many.
Box and Fiddle
March 2016
Eulogy Written and Delivered by Freeland Barbour
February 9th, 2016.
Bill Black was a big man, a very big man. And I’m not just talking about the size of his shirts, impressive as they be. I’m talking about his character, his personality, his spirit, his whole being. There was no sneaking round the back door for him – it was in at the front door with a smile and hearty greeting every time. He filled his space in the world with a geniality and a warmth that was his hallmark.
It may seem strange but there were no musical instruments in the Black family home when Bill first made his appearance in the world in 1935, and he had to wait till the age of 7 before getting his hands on one. His father went off to a roup with the express intention of buying a kitchen dresser, but somehow managed to return with a fiddle instead. Now I don’t think this was any kind of lapse of memory or befuddlement, I think Bill’s father somehow knew that it was written in the stars that his son was destined to play Scottish music, and indeed would one day become a star himself. And of course he must have known that not even Bill would manage to get much of a tune out of a kitchen dresser! A melodeon was also gifted to Bill by a neighbour about this time and he set to. Now I don’t know a great deal about those days but I do know this – Bill would have worked at those things, learning how to play, learning tunes, listening and watching other players, picking stuff up from the radio and the old 78’s. As far as I can tell he only ever had two lessons – the first was not a success. Bill spent the entire time playing the tunes he knew so as the teacher could learn them, and when the second lesson followed the same pattern that was it. Bill decided to employ himself as his teacher, and a grand job he made of it.
The first dance that he played at was in the Strathyre Hall in March 1949 with the Glengarry band, and from there on through the fifties it was an ever busier upward curve. But Anne tells me that it wasn’t until after she and Bill and the family moved back to Perthshire from Balmaha that Bill really put his music on to a professional level. In 1971 he became Senior Scottish Accordion Champion (against a field of some 50 competitors) and Trio Championships followed for three years running not long after. And round about this time as well Bill won the Fiddle Championship at the Newcastleton Festival. The band was becoming much more widely known and more and more popular and towards the end of the decade the Black Family band made its first appearance, with Anne on piano, Kate singing, and Robert and Duncan on accordions of course along with their father. One tale from those days that is etched in Black family folklore concerns their appearance as guest artists at the Macmerry Fiddle and Accordion Club in East Lothian. The time came for their first spot and they all got up on to the stage and were on the point of playing the first chord when Bill’s chair suddenly collapsed completely underneath him. Down he went, legs in the air. Now all might have been well but sadly I have to relate that he was wearing his kilt at the time. Of course Bill was always making jokes about his own weight – a favourite quip was ‘I used to suffer from anorexia but I think I’m getting over it.’
Bill was of course immensely proud of his family. I remember one occasion when he and I were working together at the BBC in Glasgow and Duncan had just won the Senior Scottish Accordion championship at an impossibly young age, much like Robert before him. I was congratulating Bill and saying how proud he must be. ‘Aye’ he said, ‘Duncan’s not bad.’ ‘Mind you’ he added, ‘the other 2 are not bad either.’ I took that as the highest praise from a proud proud father. I happen to know that all three of these ‘not bad’ children have enormous gratitude and love for all that Bill and Anne have done for them. Indeed Robert was just telling me that appreciation of a father somehow becomes more real when you become a parent yourself.
One feature of the Bill Black band from here on was the inclusion of younger players who were just beginning to make their mark. It was almost a sort of finishing school for young Scottish dance band musicians. Bill was keen that we should hear today from two of these, Judy Nicholson from America, whose words we’ll hear later, and Graeme Mitchell from Huntly. Graeme’s here today as we’ve heard, but he’s asked me if I would read out what he has written, and of course I’m delighted to do that. Here it is -:
I first knew Bill during the early 1970’s when I met him at various accordion and fiddle competitions throughout the country. Bill was very supportive of my playing and gradually, when opportunities became available, we had informal tunes together. When I made the decision to stop competing in the late 70’s, all I wanted to do was play in a Scottish dance band. Like many other youngsters after me, Bill provided the opportunity to do just that. Little did I realise I was about to become involved with one of the most talented families ever to have graced the Scottish music scene.
Travelling up and down from Aberdeen each weekend to play in Bill’s band took me to all parts of Scotland. It was nothing for us to be in the Borders on a Friday night, and then be in The Lion Hotel, Auldearn on the following evening. Often, we arrived back at Crowbutts, the family home at the time, and the cork was taken off the ‘brown liquid bottle’, the LP’s went on, and Bill and I had our own ‘one to one’ ceilidh for the remainder of the night. Some common sense was administered by Anne when she came home from working night shift, but we frequently repeated these personal parties.
When work brought me back to Huntly in 1982, I had to leave the band, but Bill’s support continued. When I started my own band, gigs were passed on to me, musical material was shared, he asked me to write the Foreword for his Leaside Collection of his compositions, and we still had an occasional tune together.
It’s with a ‘sair hert’ that I wish to remember Bill in a village hall somewhere. That considerable frame – button box strapped on – massive smile – watching people dance to the music he so dearly loved to play. ‘Braw’ as he would say.
Thank you Graeme.
Success for the Black band continued, with many recordings, radio programmes, trips overseas – 2 particular highlights being a visit to Lagos and a command performance for the King and Queen of Denmark in Copenhagen. They reacted very favourably to ‘Tam Bain’s Lum’ I’m told. In 1999 Bill was honoured by the National Association of Accordion and Fiddle Clubs and in 2005 was named Guest Artist of the year. And in 2009 he was inducted into the Traditional Music Hall of Fame. Not even the musicians’ worst nightmare, the loss of a finger in an accident in 2006, could dent his enthusiasm.
And of course there are the Stanley Ceilidhs. Started by Bill and Anne in 1979 they quickly became an annual fixture in the Scottish music calendar, and Bill and Anne ran them for 25 years before handing over the reins. Huge sums of money have been raised for local charities and in particular for Rachel House. It’s a wonderful, selfless achievement.
Bill had a ready wit. I think I just have time to relate one incident that springs to mind in that connection. The Wallochmor Ceilidh Band, of which I was a member, were asked on one occasion if, as a favour to someone, we would transport a weaving loom from Inverness to Edinburgh. So the next time we were up in Inverness we went in to collect the thing. Now this loom turned out to be a massive, industrial-sized contraption, with huge wooden frames, gigantic cast iron fittings, and miles and miles of pedals, wires and flexible metal rods. We managed to get it into the van, just, but before heading back to Edinburgh we had a dance to play, at the aforementioned Lion Hotel in Auldearn. When we got to the hotel we had to unload this gigantic loom in order to get at all the band gear that was underneath it. We were in the middle of this operation when who should appear, completely out of the blue, round the back of the van but Bill. He looked at all this activity for a moment and then produced the immortal line – ‘Boys’ he said, ‘d’you not think you’re taking this folk thing a bit far.’
Not many of us manage to give more than we take in this world, but Bill, you most certainly did. We thank you for your warmth, for your friendship, for your modesty, and of course for your wonderful music. In the days, and months, and indeed years to come, we’ll be listening to it, you can be sure of that.
Today is a day to give thanks with a smile for the life of a great man, a man to be proud of. It is as though a giant oak tree, that gave shelter to many over the years, has finally been felled. But we can give thanks too for the acorns.
The following are the words of Mabel Gray, Bill’s pianist for many years.
Bill was born on a farm near Muthill. His interest in music began when his father bought a fiddle and later he also acquired a melodeon. He was self-taught and goodness knows when he found time to practice, but then that was Bill! He used to say, “You want something done? Ask a busy man!”
His career in farming progressed to farm management and during that time he won awards at sheepdog trials and sheep shearing competitions. Later Bill became a partner in a business selling farm supplies in Aberfeldy (Bremner and Black). Travelling so many miles through his work Bill made many friends throughout the country, leading to long-lasting friendships with him and his family.
Bill married Anne in 1960 in Dunkeld Cathedral. They had 3 children; Kate, Robert and Duncan. He managed to get Kate, Robert and Duncan interested in music and Bill and Anne bought the boys accordions, something we are all grateful for! Kate’s musical talents for singing and piano playing were also nurtured by Bill and Anne. He started the family band! Records were produced – ‘Black’s Magic’ and ‘Black Family Favourites’, featuring Bill, Robert and Duncan with Anne on piano.
Bill never lost his love of Scottish Dance music and changed from the fiddle to the 3-row button-key accordion in 1962. Bill’s musical career took off, and he managed to get out playing regularly thanks to Anne. He also had his business to look after, again faithfully supported by Anne, and of course with Anne’s help also managed to tend his many sheep.
Bill was now becoming well-known as a musician. In 1965 Alasdair Downie asked him to do a broadcast with him (on fiddle). Bill accepted and having a band of his own now became his goal. Bill was always keen to keep young folk interested in the music. He encouraged many young musicians. In 1971 Bill entered competitions and won the Fiddle Championship at Newcastleton as well as the Senior Scottish Championship at Perth for both fiddle and accordion, the first to achieve such an accolade and an achievement which remains unparalleled.
In 1980 he was invited to play with his band for the Queen in Denmark and also went to play at a function in Lagos, Nigeria.
In 1999 Bill was honoured by the NAAFC for his contribution to traditional Scottish dance music. In 2009 Bill was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame.
Bill also ran the annual Stanley Ceilidh raising more than £70,000 over 25 years for various charities. In 2006 tragedy struck when he lost his index finger on his right hand in a farming accident, but a year later he was back playing! A remarkable achievement demonstrating his musical prowess, courage and determination. In 2009 ill-health began to take its toll and sadly he stopped playing in public.
Latterly he was in a care home in Blairgowrie and here Bill passed away peacefully with his family by his side.
Bill, thank you for being a great ambassador for Scottish dance music and a good friend to many.
Box and Fiddle
March 2016
Eulogy Written and Delivered by Freeland Barbour
February 9th, 2016.
Bill Black was a big man, a very big man. And I’m not just talking about the size of his shirts, impressive as they be. I’m talking about his character, his personality, his spirit, his whole being. There was no sneaking round the back door for him – it was in at the front door with a smile and hearty greeting every time. He filled his space in the world with a geniality and a warmth that was his hallmark.
It may seem strange but there were no musical instruments in the Black family home when Bill first made his appearance in the world in 1935, and he had to wait till the age of 7 before getting his hands on one. His father went off to a roup with the express intention of buying a kitchen dresser, but somehow managed to return with a fiddle instead. Now I don’t think this was any kind of lapse of memory or befuddlement, I think Bill’s father somehow knew that it was written in the stars that his son was destined to play Scottish music, and indeed would one day become a star himself. And of course he must have known that not even Bill would manage to get much of a tune out of a kitchen dresser! A melodeon was also gifted to Bill by a neighbour about this time and he set to. Now I don’t know a great deal about those days but I do know this – Bill would have worked at those things, learning how to play, learning tunes, listening and watching other players, picking stuff up from the radio and the old 78’s. As far as I can tell he only ever had two lessons – the first was not a success. Bill spent the entire time playing the tunes he knew so as the teacher could learn them, and when the second lesson followed the same pattern that was it. Bill decided to employ himself as his teacher, and a grand job he made of it.
The first dance that he played at was in the Strathyre Hall in March 1949 with the Glengarry band, and from there on through the fifties it was an ever busier upward curve. But Anne tells me that it wasn’t until after she and Bill and the family moved back to Perthshire from Balmaha that Bill really put his music on to a professional level. In 1971 he became Senior Scottish Accordion Champion (against a field of some 50 competitors) and Trio Championships followed for three years running not long after. And round about this time as well Bill won the Fiddle Championship at the Newcastleton Festival. The band was becoming much more widely known and more and more popular and towards the end of the decade the Black Family band made its first appearance, with Anne on piano, Kate singing, and Robert and Duncan on accordions of course along with their father. One tale from those days that is etched in Black family folklore concerns their appearance as guest artists at the Macmerry Fiddle and Accordion Club in East Lothian. The time came for their first spot and they all got up on to the stage and were on the point of playing the first chord when Bill’s chair suddenly collapsed completely underneath him. Down he went, legs in the air. Now all might have been well but sadly I have to relate that he was wearing his kilt at the time. Of course Bill was always making jokes about his own weight – a favourite quip was ‘I used to suffer from anorexia but I think I’m getting over it.’
Bill was of course immensely proud of his family. I remember one occasion when he and I were working together at the BBC in Glasgow and Duncan had just won the Senior Scottish Accordion championship at an impossibly young age, much like Robert before him. I was congratulating Bill and saying how proud he must be. ‘Aye’ he said, ‘Duncan’s not bad.’ ‘Mind you’ he added, ‘the other 2 are not bad either.’ I took that as the highest praise from a proud proud father. I happen to know that all three of these ‘not bad’ children have enormous gratitude and love for all that Bill and Anne have done for them. Indeed Robert was just telling me that appreciation of a father somehow becomes more real when you become a parent yourself.
One feature of the Bill Black band from here on was the inclusion of younger players who were just beginning to make their mark. It was almost a sort of finishing school for young Scottish dance band musicians. Bill was keen that we should hear today from two of these, Judy Nicholson from America, whose words we’ll hear later, and Graeme Mitchell from Huntly. Graeme’s here today as we’ve heard, but he’s asked me if I would read out what he has written, and of course I’m delighted to do that. Here it is -:
I first knew Bill during the early 1970’s when I met him at various accordion and fiddle competitions throughout the country. Bill was very supportive of my playing and gradually, when opportunities became available, we had informal tunes together. When I made the decision to stop competing in the late 70’s, all I wanted to do was play in a Scottish dance band. Like many other youngsters after me, Bill provided the opportunity to do just that. Little did I realise I was about to become involved with one of the most talented families ever to have graced the Scottish music scene.
Travelling up and down from Aberdeen each weekend to play in Bill’s band took me to all parts of Scotland. It was nothing for us to be in the Borders on a Friday night, and then be in The Lion Hotel, Auldearn on the following evening. Often, we arrived back at Crowbutts, the family home at the time, and the cork was taken off the ‘brown liquid bottle’, the LP’s went on, and Bill and I had our own ‘one to one’ ceilidh for the remainder of the night. Some common sense was administered by Anne when she came home from working night shift, but we frequently repeated these personal parties.
When work brought me back to Huntly in 1982, I had to leave the band, but Bill’s support continued. When I started my own band, gigs were passed on to me, musical material was shared, he asked me to write the Foreword for his Leaside Collection of his compositions, and we still had an occasional tune together.
It’s with a ‘sair hert’ that I wish to remember Bill in a village hall somewhere. That considerable frame – button box strapped on – massive smile – watching people dance to the music he so dearly loved to play. ‘Braw’ as he would say.
Thank you Graeme.
Success for the Black band continued, with many recordings, radio programmes, trips overseas – 2 particular highlights being a visit to Lagos and a command performance for the King and Queen of Denmark in Copenhagen. They reacted very favourably to ‘Tam Bain’s Lum’ I’m told. In 1999 Bill was honoured by the National Association of Accordion and Fiddle Clubs and in 2005 was named Guest Artist of the year. And in 2009 he was inducted into the Traditional Music Hall of Fame. Not even the musicians’ worst nightmare, the loss of a finger in an accident in 2006, could dent his enthusiasm.
And of course there are the Stanley Ceilidhs. Started by Bill and Anne in 1979 they quickly became an annual fixture in the Scottish music calendar, and Bill and Anne ran them for 25 years before handing over the reins. Huge sums of money have been raised for local charities and in particular for Rachel House. It’s a wonderful, selfless achievement.
Bill had a ready wit. I think I just have time to relate one incident that springs to mind in that connection. The Wallochmor Ceilidh Band, of which I was a member, were asked on one occasion if, as a favour to someone, we would transport a weaving loom from Inverness to Edinburgh. So the next time we were up in Inverness we went in to collect the thing. Now this loom turned out to be a massive, industrial-sized contraption, with huge wooden frames, gigantic cast iron fittings, and miles and miles of pedals, wires and flexible metal rods. We managed to get it into the van, just, but before heading back to Edinburgh we had a dance to play, at the aforementioned Lion Hotel in Auldearn. When we got to the hotel we had to unload this gigantic loom in order to get at all the band gear that was underneath it. We were in the middle of this operation when who should appear, completely out of the blue, round the back of the van but Bill. He looked at all this activity for a moment and then produced the immortal line – ‘Boys’ he said, ‘d’you not think you’re taking this folk thing a bit far.’
Not many of us manage to give more than we take in this world, but Bill, you most certainly did. We thank you for your warmth, for your friendship, for your modesty, and of course for your wonderful music. In the days, and months, and indeed years to come, we’ll be listening to it, you can be sure of that.
Today is a day to give thanks with a smile for the life of a great man, a man to be proud of. It is as though a giant oak tree, that gave shelter to many over the years, has finally been felled. But we can give thanks too for the acorns.