She "carried" the alto by ear, danced without being taught, played the melodeon without knowing the notes.
He taught the weekly singing-school (then a feature of village life) in half a dozen neighboring towns, he played the violin and "called off" at dances, or evoked rich harmonies from church melodeons on Sundays.
I was glad to learn that our piano, our parlor organ, and our
melodeon were to be the best instruments of the kind that could be had in the market.
They went clothed in steel and equipped with sword and lance and battle-axe, and if they couldn't persuade a person to try a sewing-machine on the installment plan, or a
melodeon, or a barbed-wire fence, or a prohibition journal, or any of the other thousand and one things they canvassed for, they removed him and passed on.
Northumbrian pipe maestro Kathryn Tickell ( together with brother Peter on the fiddle and Julian Sutton on
melodeon ( got proceedings under way with a specially composed overture featuring Lindisfarne tunes.
Tonight sees a wild combination of
melodeon, fiddle, funky bass rhythms and traditional dance when The Demon Barbers present their famous roadshow.
The line-up includes
melodeon, fiddle, bass, guitar, trombone and a caller.
Jimmy White, Elsdon shepherd; Tommy Breckons, Northumbrian smallpipes players, from Bellingham; Jack Armstrong, piper to the Duke of Northumberland and leader of the Barnstormers; Bob Clark, played drums and Peggy Clark played piano with the Northumbrian Minstrels around 1940; Ernie Cairns, singer, Riding Mill; Billy Conroy, whistle player, Ashington; Jimmy Pallister, fiddle player, from Cambo; Angus Russell, singer; Archie Bartram, fiddle player; George `Jock' Purdon, composer; Thomas Johnstone, composer of The Sour Milk Cart; Gordon Cutty, concertina player; Arthur Marshall,
melodeon player; Pipe Major James Robertson - composer of Farewell to the Creeks.
Guests announced for the informal get-together in the town's Grieg Hall include Leicester harmony quartet GU4, Coventry singer and
melodeon ace Pete Grassby, spinners of tall stories Speak And Lowe and Derbyshire rising star Lucy Ward.
All four - that's Bryony Griffith (fiddles, recorder), Drew McKinlay (guitars, didgeridoo), Will Hampson (
melodeon, harmonica and bass) and Ross McKinlay (percussion) - went to school locally.
Formed as The Great White Steamchicken by Peeping Tom harmonicaplayer Ted Crum, the line-up features different generations of the local folk scene playing brass, percussion and keyboards alongside the more traditional folk instruments of
melodeon, mandolin, harmonicas and whistle.
Will Pound plays harmonica and is also a member of Steamchicken along with Matt Crum who plays
melodeon, sax and keys.