An A to Z of the Accordion and Related Instruments
by Rob Howard
B&F September 2006
Having been an enthusiast for anything to do with accordions for quite a few years, I always wanted to read a book that was all about the accordion and its players, with lots of useful accordion-related articles. Little did I realise I would be the one actually writing and editing the book!
I have been interested in accordions for almost as long as I can remember, but did not start playing until 1968, by which time I was twenty years old and a student teacher in Liverpool. Since then I have played in English ceilidh bands, accordion bands, a folk group, a Bavarian band, and have been an accompanist for Irish and Polish dance teams. I have also played many solo gigs in school and charity concerts, held a residency in an Italian restaurant and played numerous French theme nights. Each Christmas my accordion friend John Jones and I lead ‘wartime’ sing-alongs at the Stockport Air Raid Shelters. My playing experience has been largely in public performance, and I never pursued the NAO competition or BCA examination routes.
My interest began in Primary School in 1959 when Friday afternoons were often spent doing Scottish and English country dancing to 78rpm records of Jimmy shand. My class teacher was Peter McLoughlin, who for a long time also happened to be one of the best-known dance callers in the North of England. That’s where my abiding interest in accordion music and country dance comes from. Peter Mac, as he is generally known, had a profound influence on me and countless others whom he taught. It is often said that “great teachers inspire”, and that phrase could have been coined with Peter Mac in mind.
Many years later I entered the teaching profession, and eventually found myself in charge of a school library. This meant I had access to most of the publishers’ brochures, and I could not help noticing that amongst the thousands of books on a vast range of subjects, there was never anything relating to accordions. I think this must have been the point where, subconsciously, I resolved to one day have a go at writing a book about the accordion and its players.
Family life and the never ending demands of work meant that the prospect of writing a book remained no more than a vague idea, but in early 2003 everything changed when I was unexpectedly taken ill. I found myself off work and with time to fill, which was a new experience for me, and it was then that I decided that perhaps the time had finally come to have a stab at writing a book about the accordion. The problems were then what to include in such a book, how to get started, and doing the research. At first, all this was rather daunting, but having committed myself mentally to the project, I began gathering together anything that might be useful – old magazines, contest programmes, LP, cassette and CD covers, pictures, photographs and Internet website addresses. I also began the process of talking to as many people as I could – in person, by e-mail and on the telephone. God knows what the phone bill was like in the next few months, but it had to be done!
Having been a long-time fan of the Marx Brothers and Dad’s Army, the first problem was quickly resolved as I had The A to Z of…….books for both my favourites. That was it – I would write an A to Z of the Accordion and Related Instruments, a book drawing on my thirty-odd years of involvement with accordions and accordionists plus all the research I could reasonably manage in the months ahead. The book was aimed at anyone with an enthusiasm for listening to or playing the accordion or other free reed instruments.
After a period of intensive research, the book began to take shape, but the topic proved so large in depth and scope that I quickly decided to ‘ring fence’ the material largely with a British and Irish context. This was necessary to keep the research under control, and stop the project getting out of hand. The only players included from overseas were ones who had performed in Great Britain or were particularly well known here. By the time the book went to print in late 2003, a lot of people had become involved in its production. The editors of the accordion magazines were all cooperative in the use of material, and certain individuals were similarly helpful. London-based accordionist Gerald Crossman whose career dates back to the 1930s, was especially helpful by contributing no less than six archive articles. Adrian Dante, Trevani, Tony Compton and Ken Farran (my accordion teacher) generously consented to archive articles they had written being reprinted. Rosemary Wright, Leicester-based accordionist and teacher, contributed Be a Better Player and Playing for Others, excellent and very useful archive articles derived from her own extensive experience. My accordion playing friends Andy Banks, Johnny Coleclough, Charlie Watkins and Peter Whiteley all contributed specially written articles. The end result was a reference book – almost an encyclopedia – that was a wide-ranging body of knowledge, with something for everybody.
The 300 articles also contained a lot of short biographies, and apart from the obvious cloices such as Jimmy Shand, Bobby MacLeod, George Scott-Wood, Martin Lukins, Francis Wright, Dermot O’Brien, Jack Emblow and harmonica ‘greats’ Larry Adler and Tommy Reilly, there are also the stories of some who might be considered mainly local legends. In most cases, inclusion was based on the player representing a genre and/or an era. I began with the intention of writing about the Scottish dance bands and the accordion bands, but soon abandoned this due to sheer lack of space. Thus it was that the book focuses mainly on solo players, and the biggest problem was who to leave out! I did include biographies of Pietro Frosini, Charles Magnante, and the brothers Guido and Pietro Deiro, mainly due to their very significant long-term influence on players in Great Britain.
An A to Z of the Accordion and Related Instruments was a big success from the moment it appeared in December 2003, and by early 2006 it had sold out (an updated reprint has now become available). The many positive comments I received from people all over the country and overseas motivated me to plan and write a sequel, and an A to Z of the Accordion, Volume 2 was published in November 2005, and to similar acclaim. Researching and writing Volume 2 was another labour of love, with a similar format to the first book.
With the sequel I resolved to aim at producing entirely new material, and with minimal overlap with the previous volume. Gerald Crossman, Jack Emblow, Dave Davani, John Kirkpatrick and Rosemary Wright all contributed interesting archive articles, and Liverpool-born professional accordionist Shirley Evans (now living in Florida, USA) contributed a lengthy autobiographical article that includes details of the time she performed and recorded with The Beatles in their film Magical Mystery Tour. The 200+ articles and biographies compliment the content of the first book, heading off in some new directions. Countless hours again went into the research, but this has all be justified by the reaction of its readers.
I am presently researching and writing an A to Z of the Accordion, Volume 3, and have to date worked on or completed about 50 articles and biographies. As with Volume 2, I am endeavouring to look for new material and to provide a book that will be useful as a record of the lives and achievements of many of those who play the accordion or its relatives such as the melodeon, concertina or harmonica. The next book, Volume 3, will be published most probably in early 2007.
I am, of course, anxious to cover the Scottish scene, past and present, as fully as possible but am aware that there are large numbers of players, individuals and bands whose contributions are worthy of coverage in Volume 3. Apart from those who are accomplished players, there are also those whose contributions are mainly as Club organizers, composers, traders and supporters, and these ought also to be recognised. What would the Scottish music scene be without you? The objective is to provide a permanent record of the world of the accordion, past and present. Seeking out and talking to everybody involved is a sheer impossibility, so if everyone reading this is able to help in any way I would be very pleased to hear from you. All help will be acknowledged.
I have been interested in accordions for almost as long as I can remember, but did not start playing until 1968, by which time I was twenty years old and a student teacher in Liverpool. Since then I have played in English ceilidh bands, accordion bands, a folk group, a Bavarian band, and have been an accompanist for Irish and Polish dance teams. I have also played many solo gigs in school and charity concerts, held a residency in an Italian restaurant and played numerous French theme nights. Each Christmas my accordion friend John Jones and I lead ‘wartime’ sing-alongs at the Stockport Air Raid Shelters. My playing experience has been largely in public performance, and I never pursued the NAO competition or BCA examination routes.
My interest began in Primary School in 1959 when Friday afternoons were often spent doing Scottish and English country dancing to 78rpm records of Jimmy shand. My class teacher was Peter McLoughlin, who for a long time also happened to be one of the best-known dance callers in the North of England. That’s where my abiding interest in accordion music and country dance comes from. Peter Mac, as he is generally known, had a profound influence on me and countless others whom he taught. It is often said that “great teachers inspire”, and that phrase could have been coined with Peter Mac in mind.
Many years later I entered the teaching profession, and eventually found myself in charge of a school library. This meant I had access to most of the publishers’ brochures, and I could not help noticing that amongst the thousands of books on a vast range of subjects, there was never anything relating to accordions. I think this must have been the point where, subconsciously, I resolved to one day have a go at writing a book about the accordion and its players.
Family life and the never ending demands of work meant that the prospect of writing a book remained no more than a vague idea, but in early 2003 everything changed when I was unexpectedly taken ill. I found myself off work and with time to fill, which was a new experience for me, and it was then that I decided that perhaps the time had finally come to have a stab at writing a book about the accordion. The problems were then what to include in such a book, how to get started, and doing the research. At first, all this was rather daunting, but having committed myself mentally to the project, I began gathering together anything that might be useful – old magazines, contest programmes, LP, cassette and CD covers, pictures, photographs and Internet website addresses. I also began the process of talking to as many people as I could – in person, by e-mail and on the telephone. God knows what the phone bill was like in the next few months, but it had to be done!
Having been a long-time fan of the Marx Brothers and Dad’s Army, the first problem was quickly resolved as I had The A to Z of…….books for both my favourites. That was it – I would write an A to Z of the Accordion and Related Instruments, a book drawing on my thirty-odd years of involvement with accordions and accordionists plus all the research I could reasonably manage in the months ahead. The book was aimed at anyone with an enthusiasm for listening to or playing the accordion or other free reed instruments.
After a period of intensive research, the book began to take shape, but the topic proved so large in depth and scope that I quickly decided to ‘ring fence’ the material largely with a British and Irish context. This was necessary to keep the research under control, and stop the project getting out of hand. The only players included from overseas were ones who had performed in Great Britain or were particularly well known here. By the time the book went to print in late 2003, a lot of people had become involved in its production. The editors of the accordion magazines were all cooperative in the use of material, and certain individuals were similarly helpful. London-based accordionist Gerald Crossman whose career dates back to the 1930s, was especially helpful by contributing no less than six archive articles. Adrian Dante, Trevani, Tony Compton and Ken Farran (my accordion teacher) generously consented to archive articles they had written being reprinted. Rosemary Wright, Leicester-based accordionist and teacher, contributed Be a Better Player and Playing for Others, excellent and very useful archive articles derived from her own extensive experience. My accordion playing friends Andy Banks, Johnny Coleclough, Charlie Watkins and Peter Whiteley all contributed specially written articles. The end result was a reference book – almost an encyclopedia – that was a wide-ranging body of knowledge, with something for everybody.
The 300 articles also contained a lot of short biographies, and apart from the obvious cloices such as Jimmy Shand, Bobby MacLeod, George Scott-Wood, Martin Lukins, Francis Wright, Dermot O’Brien, Jack Emblow and harmonica ‘greats’ Larry Adler and Tommy Reilly, there are also the stories of some who might be considered mainly local legends. In most cases, inclusion was based on the player representing a genre and/or an era. I began with the intention of writing about the Scottish dance bands and the accordion bands, but soon abandoned this due to sheer lack of space. Thus it was that the book focuses mainly on solo players, and the biggest problem was who to leave out! I did include biographies of Pietro Frosini, Charles Magnante, and the brothers Guido and Pietro Deiro, mainly due to their very significant long-term influence on players in Great Britain.
An A to Z of the Accordion and Related Instruments was a big success from the moment it appeared in December 2003, and by early 2006 it had sold out (an updated reprint has now become available). The many positive comments I received from people all over the country and overseas motivated me to plan and write a sequel, and an A to Z of the Accordion, Volume 2 was published in November 2005, and to similar acclaim. Researching and writing Volume 2 was another labour of love, with a similar format to the first book.
With the sequel I resolved to aim at producing entirely new material, and with minimal overlap with the previous volume. Gerald Crossman, Jack Emblow, Dave Davani, John Kirkpatrick and Rosemary Wright all contributed interesting archive articles, and Liverpool-born professional accordionist Shirley Evans (now living in Florida, USA) contributed a lengthy autobiographical article that includes details of the time she performed and recorded with The Beatles in their film Magical Mystery Tour. The 200+ articles and biographies compliment the content of the first book, heading off in some new directions. Countless hours again went into the research, but this has all be justified by the reaction of its readers.
I am presently researching and writing an A to Z of the Accordion, Volume 3, and have to date worked on or completed about 50 articles and biographies. As with Volume 2, I am endeavouring to look for new material and to provide a book that will be useful as a record of the lives and achievements of many of those who play the accordion or its relatives such as the melodeon, concertina or harmonica. The next book, Volume 3, will be published most probably in early 2007.
I am, of course, anxious to cover the Scottish scene, past and present, as fully as possible but am aware that there are large numbers of players, individuals and bands whose contributions are worthy of coverage in Volume 3. Apart from those who are accomplished players, there are also those whose contributions are mainly as Club organizers, composers, traders and supporters, and these ought also to be recognised. What would the Scottish music scene be without you? The objective is to provide a permanent record of the world of the accordion, past and present. Seeking out and talking to everybody involved is a sheer impossibility, so if everyone reading this is able to help in any way I would be very pleased to hear from you. All help will be acknowledged.