Customs at Collections

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MUSIC

Some of these customs are about nothing else but music, some have no music whatever, but there is certainly a lot of it about in the custom world. This is an entirely random selection. Standards, on the whole, are amazing but Collections must confess to a soft spot for a really bad village band...

Spanish Pipers at the Easter Parade, Battersea Park, London, 1982

Trumpeter at the Election of the Lord Mayor of London at the Guildhall, London, England

The Tin Can Band emerging at midnight for their annual gig in December 1984 to make much noise in Broughton, Northamptonshire - though nobody knows why. (There is a concurrent custom in which the rest of the villagers complain angrily to police and anyone else who will listen)

David Smith leading the Carol Singing in the Royal Hotel, Dungworth, South Yorkshire, 1983 (There is a flourishing tradition of singing local carols in the area - that has little to do with religion!)

Lol Loy leading the Carol Singing at the Blue Ball in Worrall, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, 1985 (There is a flourishing tradition of singing local carols in the area - that has little to do with religion!)

Crowds gathering to hear Latin carols from the top of Magdalen Tower at dawn on May Morning in Oxford, 1984

Instruments rest while their owners attend the ecumenical service on Saddleworth Whit Friday, Uppermill, Greater Manchester, England, 1984

Hymn singing over Hubbard’s Grave on Easter Eve, Market Harborough, Leicestershire, 1984 (St Mary in Arden church is a ruin but the parish church gladly undertake this duty)

Kazoo players of Kibblesworth Phoenix at Raising the Maypole on Spring Bank Holiday, Barwick-in-Elmet, West Yorkshire, 1987

Winster Morris musicians during Wakes Week in Winster, Derbyshire, 1991

Hymn singing while Beating the Bounds of the parish of St Mary-the-Virgin, a perambulation which goes through little-known parts of colleges and shops as well as streets in Oxford, 1984

The Fiddler leads his ‘ten little girls’ in a dance around Knill’s Steeple according to the terms of the will of John Knill, St Ives, Cornwall, 1986

Richard Butler, the Duke of Northumberland’s Piper, at Alnwick Castle before Shrovetide Football, Alnwick, Northumberland, 1987

Piper and Tabor Player at the Straw Bear Festival, Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, 1989

The band accompanying the Children’s ‘Oss on May Day in Padstow, Cornwall, England, 1983

Undergraduate buskers on May Morning in Oxford, England, 1984

Dobcross Band in Uppermill during ‘Saddleworth Whit Friday’, Saddleworth area, Greater Manchester, England, 1984

Highland Dancers at the World Championships, Cowal Highland Gathering, Dunoon, Argyll & Bute, Scotland, 1984

Abingdon Morris musicians by the Town Hall on a wet June Saturday, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England, 1985

Kenneth Loveless, with minders, playing for Abingdon Morris Dancers on a wet June Saturday in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England, 1985

Handbell ringing, part of Headington Quarry Morris Dancers’ Boxing Day extravaganza, Headington, Oxford, England, 1985

The Fiddler leads the ‘Ten little Girls in White’ around Knill’s Steeple in the John Knill Ceremony, St Ives, Cornwall, England in 1986 (Every fifth year)

Carol Singing at the Royal Hotel, Dungworth, west of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, 1986 (There is a flourishing tradition of singing local carols in the area - that has little to do with religion!)

Jazz Band drummer at the Raising of the Maypole at Barwick-in-Elmet, near Leeds, West Yorkshire, on Spring Bank Holiday 1987

Drum Major and Majorettes at the Raising of the Maypole at Barwick-in-Elmet, near Leeds, West Yorkshire, on Spring Bank Holiday 1987

Advanced sound system at Notting Hill Carnival, London, 1987

Piper Mario McClarnon leads out the Christmas Day swimmers to race for the Peter Pan Cup (which he then won) in the Serpentine, Hyde Park, London, 1987 (Mario was normally to be found busking near Oxford Circus)

Francis Shergold, Squire,and the musicians of the Bampton Morris Dancers on Spring Bank Holiday in Bampton, Oxfordshire, England, 1988

Musician at Notting Hill Carnival, London, 1988

Roy Dommett, musician to the Crookham Mummers, on Boxing Day 1992 (Most of the actual mummers at that time seemed to be his sons!)

Dancing dolls at Southwark Fair (From ‘Old England’, published c1860)

‘Rough Music’ was a noisy and extremely effective way to show disapproval. (From Chambers’ Book of Days, published 1864)

Street Music in 1789 (From ‘London’ Vol I, edited by Charles Knight, 1841)

Pensioners having a sing-song, 1977

‘A Cider Cellar During a Comic Song’ by Richard Doyle from ‘Manners and Customs of ye Englyshe in 1849’ (Singers had earache even then... )

Morris musician at the election of the Mayor of Ock Street, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, 1965

The drummer of the Household Cavalry Mounted Band preparing for the Lord Mayor’s Show, London, 1987

Singing the Wassail Song, part of the Headington Quarry Morris Dancers’ folk extravaganza every Boxing Day in Headington, Oxford, 1985

Musicians for the Shropshire Bedlams border morris dancers at a festival on the South Bank Arts Centre in London, 1987

Doug Fowell, musician to the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance for many years, in Abbots Bromley, September 1964 (He died in 2006)

Tolling the Devil’s Knell on Christmas Eve in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, 1965 (The tenor bell is tolled once for every year since the Nativity, to end exactly at midnight - a matter of principle with the ringers but few outside would be counting!)

A ‘Trad’ Jazz Band at Olney, Buckinghamshire, on Pancake Day 1988

Mario McClarnon busking outside Selfridge’s in Oxford Street, London, c1985 (Mario was not only a familiar figure in Oxford St but also a leading member of the Serpentine Swimming Club)

Bob Dylan at the King and Queen, Foley Street, London, December 1962 (Dylan’s first visit to London)

Sousaphone player at The Lord Mayor of Westminster’s New Year’s Day Parade, London, England, 2000 (Visiting American bands are an annual feature of this parade)

From the title page of ‘Kemps nine daies wonder’, an account of Will Kemp’s morris dance from London to Norwich in 1600

A tailpiece from ‘Historical Memoirs of the Irish Bards’ by Joseph C Walker, Dublin 1786

‘The Drummer’, illustration by W Graham Robertson from ‘Old English Dances’, published in London, 1902

‘Bartholomew Fair Musician’, from ‘Memoirs of Bartholomew Fair’ by Henry Morley, London, 1892 (Bartholomew Fair was a major London event every August for over 700 years between 1133 and 1855, on the site of the present Smithfield Market)

Choirboys of the Abbey Choir School singing Christmas carols before the crib in Westminster Abbey, London, England

The ‘Bellringers’ Feast’ commorating, since 1754, the safe return of William Davies from dense fog on the Downs by hearing the church bells of Twyford, near Winchester, Hampshire, England

The parish church choir sing a hymn in front of Wilkes Almshouses during the ‘Wilkes Walk’ on Rogation Monday in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, England

Trooping the Colour, Massed Band of the Brigade of Guards, London, 2008

Story tellers during the Bolster Day Pageant in Chapel Porth, near St Agnes, Cornwall, May 1999 (The pageant re-enacts the legend of the wicked giant Bolster being defeated by a beautiful young girl called Agnes)

Gorsedd ceremony at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, Neath, Wales, 1993

David Phillips steam organ at St Giles Fair, Oxford, England

A busker playing a sheng, a type of Chinese mouth-blown organ made from bamboo, in Chinatown, London

Irish harpist Niamh Franklin playing at Blarney Castle, Co Cork, Ireland

Eugene Lambe, Uillean pipe maker, Kinvara, Co Galway, Ireland

Tin whistle player at the Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann, Listowel, Co Kerry, Ireland (This vast international competitive ‘Festival of Music’, in a different town each year, started in the 1950s to encourage Irish traditional music)

Harry Rathband of the Chedworth Silver Band at the fete at Glebe House, Coln Rogers, Gloucestershire (The village fete is a hallowed British traditional custom)

During the Whit Friday Band Contest, Saddleworth, Greater Manchester, England

Waiting for the Whit Friday Band Contest, Saddleworth, Greater Manchester, England

National Eisteddfod of Wales, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales, 1992

Whistle player at a pub session during Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann, Listowel, Co Kerry, Ireland, 1995 (This vast international competitive ‘Festival of Music’, in a different town each year, started in the 1950s to encourage Irish traditional music)

Young mouth organist busking at Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann, Listowel, Co Kerry, Ireland, 1995 (This vast international competitive ‘Festival of Music’, in a different town each year, started in the 1950s to encourage Irish traditional music)

Ashen Faggot visiting custom at the King William pub, Curry Rivel, Somerset, England, 1965 (The group are ‘wassailers’ who tour the village before the burning the ashen faggot on ‘Old Christmas Night’, 5 January)

Teddy Rowe’s Band in the streets on the night before Pack Monday Fair, Sherborne, Dorset, 1995 (Similar to the Broughton Tin Can Band this one is on ‘Old Michaelmas Day, 10 October)

Sma’ Shot Day, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, which celebrates early triumphs by the weaving trade unions (Weaving is long gone from Paisley but the ‘Charleston Drum’ still summons citizens to the parade and the effigy of an unpopular boss, known as ‘The Cork’, inevitably gets burned)

Burning the Wicker Man at Halloween, Archaeolink Prehistory Park, Aberdeenshire, Scotland (This ‘custom’ seems to be based entirely on a spooky film called ‘The Wicker Man’ made in 1973)

Pipers at the World Pipe Band Championships, Glasgow Green, Scotland

The Corps of Drums Society passing by in the Lord Mayor’s Show procession through the City of London, November 2010

Christmas Carol singing by Brighton fishermen - according to the text these were Spanish refugees who had lived here for generations but still sang their own traditional Spanish carols (Illustrated London News, 1849)

‘The Wassail Bowl’, taken around the houses at Christmas to spread good cheer (Illustrated London News, 1860)

The Village Choir rehearsing the Christmas Anthem (Illustrated London News, 1863)

Childrens Recorder Concert, Horniman Museum, London

Northumbrian piper in Durham

Mumming Play, part of the Wassailing Festival on Twelfth Night, Pembridge, Herefordshire, England

Stone carving of a musician playing the hurdy-gurdy, one of many interesting musical carvings in the nave of Beverley Minster, East Riding of Yorkshire, England

Musical angel on Christ Church Cloisters, Oxford

Two enthusiasts appreciating the Elbert Pluer fairground organ, ‘Little Gem’, at a steam fair in Hertfordshire, 2007 (E Pluer is a Dutch company which has been making and repairing organs since 1898)

Musician from the group Laramani playing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Scotland, 2007

Traditional Inca music played at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Scotland, 2007

Woman busker playing an accordion for money in Buchanan Street, Glasgow, Scotland

Man playing the fife during an Orange march in Greenock, Glasgow, Scotland, 2010 (Fife and drum bands are popular for Orange Marches in N Ireland and Scotland)

Dolly and Shirley Collins and friend, early 1970s