Wednesday, 8 July 2015

35th Colonial Subscription Ball, 7 for 7.30pm Saturday 29th August 2015, Therry Centre, East Maitland

 2011 Ball photos by Tim Propert















The Bush Music Club holds its Subscription Ball in August each year. For many years this has been held at Maitland Town Hall, however, this year the Maitland Town Hall is unavailable for several months due to renovations and we have found a new location for the ball not far away. The Therry Centre has a large dance hall with a good wooden floor, stage and large carpeted foyer for supper. It is next to St Joseph’s Church, East Maitland with the entrance to the combined site on King Street. Some parking is available on site and otherwise parking will be on King Street.


The music is a special feature for the Ball with the Coalbrook Band providing wonderful dance music and handling the large diversity in dance music with great accomplishment. Again this year we will enjoy the musical talents of the entire Strutt family (Helen & Greg, Jennifer & Catherine) plus the great fiddle expertise of Chris Duncan and Bob McInnes. As usual, the programme will include Colonial, Scottish, English, Irish and Welsh dances. There will undoubtedly be a Hambo too.































Preferred dress is formal in keeping with Australia's Colonial period. Suppers will be fully catered this year. Hor d'oeuvres will be served from 7 pm. There will be a further combined supper break with savoury and sweet foods later in the evening at 9:30 pm. Hot drinks and fruit punch will be available for most of the evening and water available throughout. This will be a no-alcohol function. The Ball will commence with a Grand March at 7:30 pm and will finish at around 12:30 am. Dances will be recapped and called, or, for couples dances, led from the floor. There will be no walk-throughs.

































pdf Ball Flyer & Booking Form can be downloaded from the Maitland Ball site

We also have a great new venue for the recovery Picnic / BBQ / Dance on Sunday 30th August at Marmong Park, George Street, Marmong Point on the west side of beautiful Lake Macquarie. The Marmong Point Community Hall there will provide a dance floor and shelter from the weather (if required). There is a large grassy area with shade trees and a view of Lake Macquarie. The Lake foreshore is nearby and the renowned Lake Macquarie Art Gallery is a few minutes drive away in a lovely setting by the Lake.


Dance Instructions

Dance instructions will be made available in PDF format once the programme has been devised and the specific versions of each dance have been determined.
Keith Wood has animations of numerous dances on his Dance Kaleidoscope Web site (http://www.dancekaleidoscope.org.au/dance.html). (Note: you may have to use a browser such as Google Chrome instead of Internet Explorer).
Dancers should be cautious when using viewing any of the ball dances on YouTube etc. or using instructions found on the internet as different versions exist, particularly for the Playford dances and the multi-figure quadrilles.

Accommodation:
[1] Recommended in previous years
[2] Short taxi trip to Maitland Town Hall
Transport:
Visitors Guide:
    **************************************

PRACTICES

Central Coast

Sunday 2nd August, 10 am - 5 pm
East Gosford Progress Hall. Wells St and Henry Parry Drive, East Gosford
Contact: Arthur or Julia Ph (02) 4955 5701 

Newcastle & Lake Macquarie

Sunday 9th August,
10 am – 5 pm
Teralba Community Hall, Anzac Parade, Teralba
Contact: Arthur or Julia Ph (02) 4955 5701

Saturday 22rd August, 10 am – 4 pm
Wesley Uniting Fellowship Hall
152 Beaumont St, Hamilton
Contact: Arthur or Julia Ph (02) 4955 5701


Sydney

Sunday 16th August, 10 am – 4 pm
Concord Scout Hall, Park Ave, Concord
Contact: Wendy Richmond Ph 0412 145 262.

Pennant Hills Dance workshop each Monday from 3rd to 24th August.
Community Centre, Yarrara Rd, Pennant Hills.
Contact: Felicity 9456 2860

 
    ************************************** 

The Final Word

We can't reiterate strongly enough ...


Everyone benefits by your attendance at the practices. We can all then relax and not have to teach the dances while they are in progress

    **************************************

Friday, 3 July 2015

2nd Annual Songwriting Workshop with Phyl Lobl, Sat 1st & Sat 8th August, 2015













2014 workshop


times - 9.30 to 4pm

Cost $50 (includes morning/afternoon tea + lunch)

Location Tritton Hall, Hut 44
Addison Road Centre
142 Addison Rd
Marrickville

enquiries & bookings Sandra 9358 4886

10 places only!









2015 Saplings Master Class, Sunday 16th August

Click on pictures for full-screen image


In August 2014 the Bush Music Club held the first one-day Master Class for young musicians aged 8-16 who play acoustic instruments at all levels. We have since held 2 afternoon sessions at the Hut, as well as successful workshops at the National, Kangaroo Valley and Illawarra Folk Festivals as well as The Goulburn Gathering.

This year our Master Class will be held on Sunday August 16th.

Another fun day is planned, with expert tutors who share a passion for our music history and a great love of bush music and traditional songs. We will again use our own Tritton Hall at the Addison Road Centre Marrickville, as well as a number of surrounding huts, so we can split the students into groups depending on age, level and instrument. 


2014 Masterclass

For most of the day the students will be playing on their chosen instrument and will all come together for some group sessions.  

Our featured instrument, this year, is the tin whistle. There will be two whistle groups - one for beginners and one for experienced - so everyone will have the opportunity of at least learning the basics of this instrument.  (Thanks to generous donations from Bush Music Club Members, the new whistles for the Saplings will be “sponsored”).    


At the end of the day we will finish off with the “all in” session with parents coming back to enjoy a short performance from a selection of the material the students have learnt thru the day.


Lots of fun and lots of pizza!!

Booking essential - details below

2015 Masterclass
Saplings at 2015 Illawarra Folk Festival
Saplings at 2015 National Folk Festival
Photos © Sandra Nixon
====================




*********************************************************************************************** ***********************************************************************************************

Friday, 26 June 2015

Singabout - Journal of Australian Folksong, Volume 6 - precis of each issue

Click on pictures for full-screen image

The Bush Music Club was founded in October 1954 & published the first issue of Singabout in January 1956. This issue included notice of BMC's First Annual Conference on Saturday 11th February at the International Seaman's Club. 

The final issue published was Vol. 6, no. 2, 1967. Issue 6(3) was prepared but never printed and BMC then relied on newsletter-style publications until Mulga Wire started in 1977.

Singabout 6(1) for 1966
post from Bob Bolton on Mudcat Cafe,  04 Jan 00 - 06:00 PM ... Singabout, Journal of Australian Folksong, volume 6, number 1, 1966 (the first issue with which I was slightly involved, doing three illustrations and writing out the music to one song).



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New Songs


Wild Driver - tune Wild Rover - by Duke Tritton


The Sandy Hollow Line - Duke Tritton

The Answer's Ireland - John Dengate

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Battle of Castle Hill
- John Dengate (tune - Maid of Fife)

Old Ho Chi Minh - anon  (tune - Frankie & Johnny)

Concerning a Conscript's Death in Vietnam
- anon

=========================

Collected Songs

Fine Girl You Are - collected & arranged by Seamus Ennis

Lovely Nancy - collected from Sally Sloane



Peter Clarke - collected from Mrs Gladys Scrivener

The Three Butchers - collected from Alex Angus of Gumly Gumly

Johnson-Jixen
- variant of The Three Butchers, supplied by Pete Seeger who learnt it from
Alan Lomax in 1939

=========================

 Verse 

Taxi Cab! - printed on the business card of a taxi firm in Lindesfarne, Hobart, supplied by Clarence Strochnetter, Tas


=========================

Singabout 6(2) 1967 - final issue





==========================
New Songs

Lawson Centenary Song - John Dengate   (tune - Garten Mother's Lullaby)
new verse to The Shores of Botany Bay by Duke Tritton  

 
=========================

Collected Songs

Eurunderee Creek
- collected from Duke Tritton

Another Fall of Rain - collected from Leo Dixon, Balmain

Tomahawking Fred - collected by Jack Bradsahw, the last of the bushrangers, & first published in his book The Quirindi Bank Robbery, 1899. Text adapted & set to traditional air, Killaroo by John Meredith

My Beautiful Muff - collected from the late Tom Gibbons, of Gulgong




The Truth of the Story (tune - Vilikins variant)


Caledonia - reproduced from an early Bush Music Club Song Sheet no. 2

=========================

Reciter's Corner

Stooking Hay by Duke Tritton

=========================






************************************

Tuesday, 23 June 2015

Singabout - Journal of Australian Folksong, Volume 5 - precis of each issue

Click on pictures for full-screen image

The Bush Music Club was founded in October 1954 & published the first issue of Singabout in January 1956. This issue included notice of BMC's First Annual Conference on Saturday 11th February at the International Seaman's Club. 

The final issue published was Vol. 6, no. 2, 1967. Issue 6(3) was prepared but never printed and BMC then relied on newsletter-style publications until Mulga Wire started in 1977.

Publication was sometimes irregular as funds for publication relied on the money raised at Singabout nights.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Singabout 5(1) 1963

















Death of Dame Mary Gilmore - on the anniversary of the Eureka Stockade

 ==============================
New Songs                

Hooker-Rex - written by a Sydney man

==============================

Collected Songs           

I've been a Wild Boy - collected from Sally Sloane

The Black Velvet Band
- Bushwhacker Ballad no. 8

The Old Bark Hut  (long version)

==============================
Collector's Corner
 
The Sailor's Lament - collected from Kevin Day, a seaman of Sydney. 
   
  ==============================
Singabout 5(2) October 1964

Ten Years of the Bush Music Club

Pete Seeger's visit to the Bush Music Club, 1963 - see blog article

==============================
New Songs                

Malaysia Song by John Dengate

The Little Sparrow - music John Meredith    words - Launcelot Harrison
==============================
Collected Songs     

The Wee One - collected from Sally Sloane

2 versions of Ten thousand Miles Away - collected from M. Marks, formerly of Leeds, UK  by Alan Scott, 2nd version collected from Mrs. Gwyneth Fry by Janet Wakefield

The Irishman's Song - learnt by Duke Tritton in 1910

Aboriginal Song - collected by Barbara Gibbons from Mr & Mrs Harold Kead and their friends, Aboriginal Settlement, Peak Hill, NSW

Dungenyul Song - collected by Barbara Gibbons from Chris Woodland who learnt it from Aboriginal friends in Bourke, NSW

The Border Fence - collected from unknown man by Glen Hamilton (tune - She wore red feathers and a hula-hula skirt)

==============================
Collector's notebook

New variation of the I'm the best/Ugly Dave tradition written by Alan Scot


==============================
Articles - 


Traditional Australian Bush Instruments, text of a lecture delivered by Alan Scott at a WEA Folk Lore Weekend, 15th July 1962

The First Few Years by Jamie Carlin

p.12

p.13.

p.14


Instruction & music for The Galopede    

==============================
Singabout 5(3) July 1965







 












==============================
New Songs                

The Peach Picker's Song by John Dengate, first verse by his father, Norm

The land that is known as W-O-O-L-L-O-O-M-O-O-L-O-O

A Shearer's Lament
by Ma
tt O'Connor


The Wild Colonial Don - published in several University song books in the 50s' & 60s
==============================
Collected Songs     
Botany Bay collected from Mrs Scrivener

Morton's Bay  - fragment collected from Mr Ticehurst of Kogarah Bay
     
The Gatton Tragedy - sent to Gay Terry by her aunt Mrs I Beattie, Brisbane, Qld

Rockin' the Cradle - Irish song
==============================
Articles

Origin of The Settler's Lament by Edgar Castle

Death of Duke Tritton

==============================
Singabout 5(4) December 1965



==============================
New Songs   

Ballad of the Schooner "Eclipse"  - John Dengate 

The Outside Track  - set to music by Tony McLachlan, 2nd Prize winner in club competition for the best setting of a Lawson poem

Whaling at Carnarvon - words & music by John Joseph Jones, WA. 1962     


==============================
Collected Songs   


Flash Jack from Gundagai  - written between 1888 & 1893

 
Woolloomooloo - collected from Mrs S. Colley, Bathurst, NSW

==============================
Background to The Stockman's Last Bed (Singabout 4(3), p.9)




***************************