Wiltshire Folk Arts
Contact Us :
Wiltshire Folk Arts
19 Whistley Road, Potterne, Devizes, Wiltshire, SN10 5QY
email: mail@wiltshirefolkarts .org.uk
Office: 01380 726597
Bob : 07714 550990
Wiltshire Song
So, why did so few people collect the rural songs
of Wiltshire?
Why didn't Cecil Sharp get off the train instead of travelling
through on his journeys to Somerset, Devon and Gloucester?
Why were
the tunes not important to the great Alfred Williams?
How come Ralph
Vaughan Williams only collected one song in the county?
Is "The
Fly" really a Wiltshire Song?
These are just a few of many questions that we are going to try
and answer in these pages.
Obviously Wiltshire Folk Song is, in itself, going to provide us with plenty to get on with but as the organisation develops we feel other people will want to come on board to lend their skills and knowledge to what has been largely missed out on. The main thrust of this section of Wiltshire Folk Arts is to gather what has been done right up to now, including who is singing what today, put it into a database and make it available to all for the future.
You never know, someone might even write a song about that !
Lets hope so.
Wiltshire Traditions Collection
In comparison to some of the following institutions and folk song collectors,
we have but a reasonably modest number of books and recording that
we have collected over the past 30 years. Also we have music books
and recordings from Ron Morgan who passed them on to the organisation
for it's use. Likewise, when the late Bernard Baker was moved to
his nursing home his wife Kathleen gave all of Bernard's collected
material to Wiltshire Traditions. In particular the Baker Collection,
as it will be known, has a huge number of dance notation booklets
and periodicals and associated ephemera (including instruments)
from over 50 years of activity in Wiltshire Social dance, Display
Dancing and Morris, Children, Mumming, Song and Music. A real inspiration
of his time, was Bernard, and is sadly missed.
Both of these collections will be collated and listings of items will
eventually appear within these web pages for other interested parties
to browse through. The collection will also be made accessible to interested
parties, by appointment, and some items will be able to be borrowed
for research purposes.
Songs of Wiltshire
Bob and Gill Berry are currently working on a project on Wiltshire songs and tunes which will culminate in a series of albums called "Songs of Wiltshire". Plans are already underway with volume 1 of these which will also feature many of Wiltshire's musicians. This will breathe new life into some of the old songs and introduce some of the new ones that are being written today.
Vaughan Williams Library (Cecil Sharp House)
This is one of the largest collections in the country of traditional
Folk Song available and we will put up links for the library and the
EFDSS at Cecil Sharp House. Members of the EFDSS can have free access
to all the material there and we will endeavor to provide listings of
everything that is contained there about Wiltshire folk song.
Watch
this space !
Peter Kennedy Collection.
One of the finest collectors of traditional folk songs and one who has
a considerable number of recordings available not only of Wiltshire
but in many other parts of the country too. Peters Web Site FOLKTRAX
can be found here.
Chris Wildridge
Chris Wildridge has completed the transciption of all the Alfred Williams
songs attributed to Wiltshire. He intends to make the transcripts available
on the web together with appropriate tunes where they can be identified.
We will endeavour to work alongside him in this fine body of information
and add links and additional information as and where we can.
Steve Roud's Folk Song Index
This is an extraordinary index of English/ British Folk Songs from across
the country and certainly has a good number of Wiltshire songs in it.
Many of his writings and listings are available via the EFDSS
and Vaughan Williams
Library
Village Music Project. (Village
Music Project website)
John Adams started this project some years ago pulling together music
from villages throughout the country. In comparing the styles and tunes
it's quite possible to see how they have evolved as they traveled across
the country and from village to village. It's interesting to see and
how they have been adapted by local styles and instruments too. We are
hoping to add some of the wiltshire music to this and see if there can
be interesting variations locally of nationally known material.
Rod Stradlings' excellent Musical Traditions
web pages
Rod has a really excellent web page devoted to traditional music
and song. A fine singer and musician himself, Rod has a broad
knowledge of songs and singers covering a vast number of years and has
some fine recordings under the Mustrad
label. Do check out his web site.
Doc Rowe
The man who has a bit of everything. An extraordinary collector
of music, song, recording, pictures, traditions, cultures, film and
photographs,and a vast collection of ephemera of the folk world and
beyond. The Doc Rowe Collection has outgrown his various homes and is
now housed in a fully made for the purpose warehouse/library. Click
on this link tosee what it's all about. The
Doc Rowe Collection . Doc was awarded an honorary doctorate
in music at the University of Sheffield on 26th July 2002 and we can't
think of anyone who deserves it more.
