Hereburgh Music & Musicians

About a dozen of our dancers are also Morris musicians.  Our instrumental line-up includes:

• Melodeons (D/G)
• Piano accordions
• Concertinas
• Fiddles

• We have original tunes for five of the six Harbury dances, the sixth being "The Ugly Duckling".
• We use an original tune called "Farnborough" for Musketeers (Bledington).
• For our Miller's Ghost dance, we have an original tune but we generally switch to the tune "Lord of the Dance" half-way through.
• For Highland Mary (Bampton), we generally switch to the tune "Portsmouth" half-way through.
• We've danced Flowers of Edinburgh (Bampton) to the European Hymn, "Ode to Joy", for a twinning ceremony and a church service (Beethoven must have been a melodeon player - it suits the instrument so well!).
• Around Christmas, we use the following carol tunes:
  • "Deck the Halls" (for Balancy Straw, Ascott)
  • "Oh little town of Bethlehem" (for Idbury Hill, Bledington)
  • "Ding Dong Merrily" (for Highland Mary, Ascott)
  • "We Three Kings" (for Banks of the Dee, Ascott)
  • "Good King Wenceslas" (for Ring of Bells, Lichfield)
  • "It came upon a midnight clear" (for Sheriff's Ride, Lichfield)
  • "Jingle Bells" (for Brimfield, Border)

We have written out musical notation for all the tunes we play (using computer software) so that there is a definitive tune and chord arrangement for each one.  Some of the musicians use the notation to learn a new tune, some refer to the music as an occasional reminder while some play by ear exclusively.

Last updated: January 07, 2008