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The original recordings of the tunes can be found on the 2CD set
"I Never Played To
Many Posh Dances", available from Topic Records and from Veteran mail
order.
Transcribed into ABC Music Notation by Chris Partington
Go to ABC file
Go to PDF
of transcription
Reg Hall wrote the definitive account of Scan Tester's music and
its place in the life of the community in his book 'I Never Played to Many Posh Dances',
which though sadly out of print has been generously made available
in PDF format at the online magazine 'Musical Traditions'. I
would suggest that it is required reading for anyone with an
interest in traditional dance music.
A transcription
of an interview with Scan Tester by Rod and Danny Stradling
can be found in the online magazine 'Musical Traditions'
A transcription
of an interview with Reg Hall about Scan by Vic Smith can
also be found in the online magazine 'Musical Traditions'
A brief
article is in Folkopedia.
In these recordings Scan is usually playing the concertina in
octave-separated unison, making it not always obvious in which
octave a single line melody should be notated. He never learned to
read music, and freed from this constraint it is evident that he
did not consider the tune to reside in a single octave, or even
melodic line. This may be a characteristic of other non-reading
traditional musicians. Sometimes he plays additional notes on a
convenient adjacent button, even omitting the 'melody' note, and
there are many 'twiddles' which I have not included. I have, under
pressure from the needs of both the notation and time,
nevertheless attempted to notate these tunes as single line
melodies, leaving the listener to elaborate. This is to preserve
my sanity.
I have tried prick down enough to help you play along with the
tunes on the Compact Disc without trampling on the tunes as Scan
plays them. The tempii are his. Scan sometimes seems indifferent
as to how many 'A's and 'B's he plays, apparently concerned mostly
with the performance and having no dancers to worry about. He
often finishes a tune on the A music. I have notated the tunes in
a more regular fashion.
In the recordings Scan plays several concertinas, in different
home keys.
Bill Gorringe has his fiddle tuned down a whole tone.
The keys in the transcriptions are provided as in the original on
the concertina and fiddle, and while they may seem unfamiliar to
G/D melodionists they nevertheless usually work well on most other
instruments. Occasionally I have added a transposed version, since
it seems that Scan and co. sensibly let circumstances dictate the
key.
The numbers in the titles refer to (a) - which CD, and (b) – track
number.
Chris Partington, 2012
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