BAGPIPES AND HURDY- GURDIES CONFERENCE

‘A Centenary Celebration for the Pitt Rivers Museum’
OXFORD, 21-23RD SEPTEMBER 1984

I wrote this article for Chanter, the journal of the Bagpipe Society, in April 2012

The excellent International Bagpipe Conference in London on March 10th has finally given me the impetus to put pen to paper and write a report on this Bagpipes and Hurdy-gurdies Conference, which took place in Oxford on 21-23rd September 1984.  To my knowledge there has never been a written a review of it. In London I met 7 people (1)  who had been at the Oxford conference; however I assume that the majority of Bagpipe Society members will be unaware of this event. I am basing this report on the two printed sheets that we were issued with, plus a few scrawled notes that I made in a notebook and my fading memory.

The conference was organised by the late Hélène La Rue who was then the curator of the Pitt Rivers Museum, with assistance from Peter Stacey.  It was a great gathering of piping enthusiasts from all over Britain and beyond.  Thirteen papers were delivered by some distinguished and knowledgeable speakers. The initial intention had been to publish all the papers in book form, but sadly this never happened.  As far as I know none of the lectures were recorded. (2) 

We met at the Pitt Rivers Museum on the Friday afternoon and were given a tour of the collection of bagpipes and hurdy-gurdies; some were on display, but we were also allowed to see some ‘behind the scenes’. These were collected by Henry Balfour between 1883 and 1939. He collected a wide range of folk instrument and his bagpipe collection forms the basis of Anthony Baines seminal book BAGPIPES. (3)  We learned that not only did Balfour travel in Eastern Europe collecting these instruments, but he also took phonograph recording of some of the actual instruments being played. These recordings form part of his collection and I am not aware that any work has been done on them.

I think it was after this that we gathered in a downstairs room where several instrument makers, including myself, displayed their pipes. It was there that I met Roderick Cannon for the first time and he was sporting his set of Hungarian pipes.

In the evening there was a concert featuring England’s own French piper  Jean Pierre Rasle and The Scottish group The Whistlebinkies.  They were a much depleted version of the usual 5 piece group; a duo of Rab Wallace on Lowland pipes and Eddie McGuire on flute. (4) 

On the Saturday morning there were five lectures.
Hubert Kwisthout – The Irish Pipes.
Stevie Wishart –  The Hurdy-gurdy in Spain.
Doreen Muskett – Technique and repertoire of the solo vielle player in the 18th century.
Andrew Dipper – Materials and marks of Construction and Construction techniques of the 18th and 19th century Hurdy-gurdy.
Michael Muskett – The Musette de Cour.

In the afternoon there were a series of short concert demonstrations of pipes and hurdy-gurdies. (4) 
Rab Wallace –  Scottish Highland and Lowland pipes.
Peter Stacey – Gaita Galega.
Jean- Pierre Rasle –  Cabrette, Hybrid Bourbonais Cornemuse.
Jon Swayne and Paul James – Flemish Pipes and English Renaissance pipes.
Hubert Kwisthout – The Uilleann pipes.
... and distinctly I remember that the younthful John and Julian Goodacre took the stage by force and played a duet on The Leicestershire smallpipes!
Doreen Muskett – Hurdy-gurdy.
Susann Palmer –  Hurdy-gurdy.
Stevie Wishart –  Hurdy-gurdy.
Cliff Stapleton – Hurdy-gurdy.

The concert in the evening featured Richard Butler on Northumbrian Smallpipes and Blowzabella. (4)   I have clear memories of Jon and Paul looking wonderfully Breugelesque  standing on chairs at the back of the band playing Jon’s Flemish pipes.

The Conference continued on Sunday with nine more papers
Roderick Cannon – Bagpipes in English Art post 1600.
Peter Stacey – Ornamentation and Structure in Celtic Bagpipe Music.
Susann Palmer –  The Formative Period in The History of The Hurdy-gurdy.
Susann Palmer – The Hurdy-gurdy as part of everday life- past and present.
Richard Butler –  The Development of the Music of The Northumbrian Smallpipes.
Francis Baines  –  Mandoura - A survival of the ancient Aulos?
Christopher Page –  Hurdy Hurdy-gurdy Players in Paris 1395.
Jeremy Montagu – Hypotheses on the Sinfonie.
John Goodacre – English Smallpipes and the James Talbot Manuscript.


We were all supplied with a list of ‘delegates’. My comments in brackets are just brief notes based on what I know about them and will inevitably have major omissions.

Francis Baines (brother of Anthony Baines)
Angela Beaumont (Hurdy-gurdy player from Yorkshire)
Dr & Mrs J E Berg (possibly from the USA?)
Margaret Birley (now Keeper of the musical instruments at the Horniman Museum)
Richard Butler (Northumbrian Piper to The Duke of Northumberland)
Dr & Mrs Cameron
Roderick Cannon (researcher and author of numerous books and articles on English and Scottish piping)
Josephine Davies
Andrew Dipper (Instrument makerr moved to Minnesota.  Brother of Colin Dipper)
Jim Gilchrist (Founder member of the LBPS and twice Editor of Common Stock)
John Goodacre (The tall one with glasses)
Julian Goodacre (The tall one with glasses)
Robbie Greensitt & Ann Sessoms. (Northumbrian pipe makers trading as Heriot & Allan)
Paul James (Blowzabella)
Hubert Kwisthout (uilleann pipe maker)
Hélène La Rue (curator of the Pitt Rivers Museum)
Jeremy Montagu (Lecturer & curator of The Bate Collection of Music Faculty at Oxford. Founder of FoHMRI)
Michael & Doreen Muskett (Musette and Hurdy Gurdy. Founded The Hurdy-Gurdy Society)
Christopher Page (Director of Gothic Voices & Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge)
Susann Palmer (Author of the book. The Hurdy-Gurdy (David & Charles 1980). Mother of Sam Palmer)
Enzo Puzzovio (Musician now performing as Dante Ferrara)
Jean- Pierre Rasle (Cock and Bull Band and lots more)
Peter Stacey  (Piper with the Welsh group Aberjabber and first Editor of Chanter)
Cliff Stapleton (Blowzabella)
Jon Swayne (Pipemaker, Bag Soc President, Blowzabella, Moebius, Zephyus)
Judith Tarry (now Judy Rockcliffe. Founder member of The Bagpipe Society, former Editor of Chanter. Moebius, Zephyrus)
Rab Wallace. (Whistlebinkies and now Director of The Glasgow College of Piping)
Graham Wells (Sotheby’s, Galpin Society. Northumbrian Smallpipe player and researcher )
Stevie Wishart (Hurdy-gurdy player from Aberjabber. Early music researcher and musical director of Sinfonie)

Quite a few others attended. From memory I recall also meeting

Tanguy & Lysie-Anne Allain. (From France. Players of Northumbrian Smallpipes and reed maker)
Ian Harrison & Yves Donnier (Brother John and I found this pipes and gurdy duo busking in the street in Oxford during the Saturday lunch break. They were unaware that the Conference was taking place.)
Iain MacInnes. (Scottish piper, researcher  and presenter of BBC Radio Scotland’s piping programs. Ossian, Smalltalk.)
Philip Powell  (Leicestershire small pipe player and early member of Bag Soc)
Nigel Eaton. (Blowzabella)
Blowzabella.  I cannot recall their exact line up at that event, although I do recall talking to Dave Armitage, who I already knew. I also talked for the first time to Jon Swayne and ordering one of his G English chanters. The gurdy players were Sam Palmer and Cliff Stapleton.

For me, the date of the conference was fortuitous as it was exactly three weeks after I had started my pipe making business on the Enterprise Allowance. So it was an ideal platform for me and brother John to ‘launch’ the Leicestershire smallpipes. As a result of this I received three orders; a major boost for my new business.

Enzo Puzzovio and Christopher Page ordered sets. (I know that Enzo still plays his.) There was a curly haired teenager at the conference who was also really keen to order a set. When he finally posted me the deposit he added PS. Not public knowledge yet but I’m about to join Blowzabella. So if I get proficient enough it (ie the pipes) will be featured. You can imagine how excited I was at that prospect! However even in his teens Nigel Eaton was a rather good Gurdy player and I am a bit amused at my naivety in believing that the band would ever feature non- Swayne pipes. (I add as a historical note that it was Nigel who first suggested to me that my smallpipe chanter could have an arrangement for playing a sharp or flat leading note. As a result I designed what I now call a tuning ring. Nigel’s chanter (number 36) was the first one to feature this).

I wish I could remember more about each of the 14 papers that were delivered. I was very impressed by a brief and entertaining paper from Christopher Page on Hurdy-gurdy Players in Paris 1395.  As far as I recall this was an account based on a surviving petition submitted to the king from itinerant street musicians. I do not know if he ever published this work.

This conference was a ‘gathering of energies’; it  brought together several people who were enthusiastic enough about English Bagpipes to form what initially was called The English Bagpipe Society. The Society was launched the next year at an inaugural meeting on December 1st in Oxford where it was decided to drop the ‘English’ from the name. This has allowed the Society to encompass all types of bagpipes; its unique feature is its inclusiveness.  I was not at this meeting; it would be interesting to read some accounts of this event from people who did attend. (3)

It was a great loss to future scholarship that the papers from this conference were never collated and published. Several of the speakers have since died.  Hélène La Rue died in 2007.  I wonder how many of the papers were actually submitted in printable form. If any could be traced perhaps it might be possible to get permission for them to be published in Chanter? (5)  I would be very interested to read Christopher Pages’ paper, which was excellent.

I shall always regret that I did not attend The International Bagpipe Symposium in The Hague, which took place on 17th September 1988 (6). However I treasure my copy of The Proceedings  (6) which was published in an well produced 115 page book in 1989 in both French and English editions. It contains the 10 papers from the conference and is an excellent production. (7)

I certainly hope that all the papers from the London Conference will be published in book form. There was talk of putting some of the video footage on the web, which is a quick and easy option. However there is no substitute for a printed book as a follow- up so that others and future generations can benefit from the conference. Well produced Proceedings are valuable resources for libraries and universities (8).  I am happy right now to order and pay for my copy of the London Proceedings!

It has been an interesting exercise for me revisiting the past and trying to piece together this report. Perhaps you, gentle reader, were one of the people who attended the conference?  I would be interesting to hear your memories of it so that we can piece together a more accurate account of this historic gathering.

The Oxford conference planted the seed that grew into The Bagpipe Society. The Society has grown over the years and its bold idea to create an International Bagpipe Day has inspired our wonderful Cassandre Balossa-Bardin to conceive and organise the London Conference.  Congratulations to her, Andy Letcher and all who helped with it. I wonder what seeds were planted on March 10th and what they will grew to in the subsequent years?


Julian Goodacre April 2012
(With thanks for assistance from Graham Wells and John Goodacre)
 
FOOTNOTES.


(1)  These were the people that I talked to at London who had also attended the Oxford conference. Have I missed anyone?
Graham Wells, John Goodacre, Julian Goodacre,  Jon Swayne, Cliff Stapleton, Philip Powell, Roderick Cannon.

(2)  My brother John (an avid note taker) still has all the brief notes he took on all these lectures. This is possibly the only ‘archive’ of all these lectures.

(3)  Bagpipes by Anthony Baines (1960) ISBN 0306-7343. I think this is now out of  print.

 S. Hannigan,  P.Stacey,  J.Tarry,  S. Jashan,  P. James,  M.Nolan,  S.Owen,  R. Bramah,  D. Ward,  R.Cannon,  John Goodacre,  J.Ross,  J. Swayne,  N. Eaton,  C.Allen, P.Cooper,  D. VanDoorn,  D. McQuade.

(4)  I recorded some of these performances and still have the tape.

(5)  I talked to Graham Wells about this in London. He was a personal friend of Hélène and he said he will try to make some enquiries to see if any of the papers still exist.  Maybe Peter Stacey will also know about this?

(6)  I know that Jon Swayne attended this Symposium. Perhaps he can be persuaded to write a report for Chanter?

(7) Proceedings Of The International Bagpipe Symposium. Utrecht (1989).  I presume this is now out of print.

(8)  An excellent example is ‘Out Of The Flames’; the Proceedings of the 1997 Lowland and Border Pipers’ Society Collogue Conference, which took place in Peebles on October 31st- November 2nd 1997. This book was published in 2004 by the LBPS and contains 9 papers on the subject of the William Dixon Manuscript of 1733. ISBN 09522711 17. It is still in print.