57-468: The Cambridge Folk Festival is an annual music festival, established in 1965, held in the grounds of Cherry Hinton Hall in Cherry Hinton , one of the villages subsumed by the city of Cambridge , England. The festival is known for its eclectic mix of music and a wide definition of what might be considered folk. It occurs over a long weekend (3½ days) in summer at Cherry Hinton Hall . Until 2008 it
114-542: A pitch where the nominal G sounds approximately twenty cents sharp of F natural. This nominal G, however, is always notated as G. Nowadays, chanters are available anywhere from D to G, F+ being the commonest for solo or ensemble piping, but G being the most popular for playing ensemble with other instruments. Pipes with a tonic of F# are used for solo performance by several pipers now, being brighter in tone than those in F+, without being 'squeaky'. There are usually four drones on
171-411: A clear, ringing, pearly and brilliant character, gives the instrument a power which its appearance by no means promises, and which is really surprising when the diminutive size of its chanter or melody-pipe is considered". This is still a valid description of the unkeyed instrument, its repertoire, and proper playing style. Although keyless chanters seem to have been common for much of the 18th century,
228-475: A festival (but does not name them). Ken Woollard was the first director of the Cambridge Folk Festival in 1965, and continued to work as Festival Organiser and Artistic Director up until his death in 1993. This role was then taken up by Eddie Barcan, who had worked as Ken's assistant from 1990. Eddie Barcan was replaced by Rebecca Stewart in 2015 Laing and Newman's 1994 book Thirty Years of
285-459: A historical repository of Northeastern folk songs and pipe music, covering an area from Durham City to just north of the Scottish border. The book is divided into two sections: the first section presents the lyrics (accompanied by some music) of local, now-historical songs, while the second part provides the music for many Northumbrian smallpipe tunes, with very few lyrics. The Minstrelsey drew upon
342-687: A modern classical piece, Kettletoft Inn , composed for her by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies . In 2008 she composed a suite for the BBC Promenade Concerts for the London Sinfonietta , Muzsikas and Folkestra . More recently, Tickell has collaborated with pianist Joanna MacGregor and the Nash Ensemble , playing new compositions based on traditional Northumbrian tunes by Howard Skempton , Peter Maxwell Davies and Michael Finnissy . The traditional style of playing on
399-487: A more significant part of the repertoire. The High Level is one. Many dance tunes in idioms similar to fiddle tunes have been composed by pipers specifically for their own instrument – The Barrington Hornpipe , by Thomas Todd , written in the late 19th century, is typical. Borrowing from other traditions and instruments has continued – in the early-to-mid 20th century, Billy Pigg , and Jack Armstrong (The Duke of Northumberland 's Piper) for instance, adapted many tunes from
456-478: A number of antecedent sources, including Joseph Ritson's Bishopric Garland and Northumberland Garland, John Bell's Rhymes of Northern Bards, and Joseph Crawhall II's Tunes for the Northumbrian Small Pipes. As keyed chanters became more common, adaptations of fiddle music to be playable on smallpipes became more feasible, and common-time hornpipes such as those of the fiddler James Hill became
513-540: A set of Northumbrian pipes, mounted in parallel in a common stock. These are tunable, and three will usually be tuned to the tonic, dominant and octave tonic, the other one being shut off. Like the chanter, these have a narrow cylindrical bore. Unlike the chanter, though, the reeds have a single blade; they are either cut from a single tube of cane, or else a strip of cane in a metal body. Current pipe-makers have also experimented with plastic blades (Richard Evans) and carbon fibre blades (Mike Nelson) on metal bodies. As well as
570-491: A surgeon. In 1824 Okes married Mary Elizabeth Collin, only daughter of Joseph Martin, of Epping. They lived in Cambridge for some time; from 1831 Okes purchased the old enclosures at Mill End Close, and the land at Mill End common, and in 1839 built Cherry Hinton Hall on this land. John Okes outlined in a court case the improvements he made to the land. He said when he bought it there was only an old farm house on it. He built
627-574: A third stage. There is a small tent called The Hub where young people can practise together or attend workshop sessions. In addition, there is a small marquee in the Flower Garden, which hosts workshops which vary from year to year. Regular fixtures have been the storytelling workshop and, since 2011, the Northumbrian smallpipes workshops run by the band Camus, where festival-goers can try their hand on practice sets of pipes. Elsewhere around
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#1732779854395684-569: A tuning slide for precise adjustment of tuning, each drone will usually possess one or two 'bead holes' allowing its pitch to be raised by a tone or two, therefore allowing the piper to play in different musical keys, but still generally using the tonic, dominant and octave tonic combination of drone harmony. Sets with five or even six drones have been made since the 19th century (to allow ease of retuning); however these are not common and generally specifically commissioned. Only three drones are usually sounded at once, tuned for instance to G, D and g if
741-459: A wider range of genres have been performances from Judy Collins , Graham Nash , Chumbawamba , Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros and Levellers . 2006's line up included Emmylou Harris , Cara Dillon and Seth Lakeman . Artists such as Frank Turner , Mumford & Sons , Laura Marling , Old Crow Medicine Show , Idlewild , Jake Bugg and The Bar-Steward Sons of Val Doonican have also all played at Cambridge in recent years. In celebration of
798-580: Is a house and park in Cherry Hinton , to the south of Cambridge , England. The house and grounds are owned and managed by Cambridge City Council . The Hall hosts the annual Cambridge Folk Festival that draws thousands to the park. During the summer Cherry Hinton Hall is popular including with young families. Community activities also take place in the park, such as an archaeological and buildings survey carried out by local schoolchildren in 2007. In 2007, Cherry Hinton Hall became home to Cambridge International School . The Friends of Cherry Hinton Hall
855-679: Is common to play short grace notes preceding a melody note. Some pipers allow themselves to play these open-fingered rather than staccato, and Billy Pigg was able to get great expressive effects in this way – 'You should be able to hear the bairns crying'. But 'choyting' (the complex open-fingered gracing after the manner of Highland piping) is generally frowned on, and Tom Clough made a point of avoiding open-fingered ornament altogether, considering open-fingering 'a grievous error'. Several pipers play in highly close-fingered styles, Chris Ormston and Adrian Schofield among them; even among those such as Kathryn Tickell who use open fingering for expression,
912-549: The Duke of Northumberland have had an official piper for over 250 years. The Northumbrian Pipers' Society was founded in 1928, to encourage the playing of the instrument and its music; Although there were so few players at times during the last century that some feared the tradition would die out, there are many players and makers of the instrument nowadays, and the Society has played a large role in this revival. In more recent times
969-718: The Shivering Stone suite which he performed with the Lindsay String Quartet . Kathryn Tickell (a protégée of Anderson's in her youth) has composed many virtuoso pieces for the smallpipes and has explored an even wider range of collaborations; besides The Chieftains and The Boys of the Lough , she has worked with the Penguin Café Orchestra , percussionist Evelyn Glennie , jazz saxophonist Andy Sheppard and Sting , as well as having had
1026-723: The "School Pipes", G-sets with plastic components, made to be used in schools in Northumberland. These two accounts differ rather in their objectives, as Cocks and Bryan was based on descriptions of existing sets, notably by Robert Reid , Nelson being a description of his own design. The earliest known description of such an instrument in Britain is in the Talbot manuscript from about 1695. The descriptions of bagpipes mentioned in this early source are reproduced in One of these instruments
1083-440: The 1730s. Some of these can be played on Border pipes or an open-ended smallpipe like the modern Scottish smallpipes , but about half the tunes have a single octave range and sound well on the single-octave, simple, keyless Northumbrian pipe chanter. These tunes are almost all extended variation sets on dance tunes in various rhythms – reels, jigs, compound triple-time tunes (now known as slip jigs), and triple-time hornpipes. At
1140-483: The 1960s zeitgeist in Cambridge. This was then handed over and brought to fruition by Ken Woollard, a local firefighter and socialist political activist, to help organise it. The first festival sold 1400 tickets and almost broke even. Squeezed in as a late addition to the bill was a young Paul Simon who had just released " I Am A Rock ". The festival's popularity quickly grew. Woollard continued as Festival organiser and artistic director up until his death in 1993. In 2014
1197-567: The 2019 festival, selecting five artists for the line-up. In 2007 a double album was released Cool As Folk: Cambridge Folk Festival , with live recordings by Altan , Kate Rusby , Beth Orton , Martin Simpson , Eliza Carthy , Joan Baez and many others. In 2011, specialist music book publisher Rufus Stone released a limited edition book by rock art photographer Nick Elliott entitled TEN – A Decade in Images . The book features images taken at
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#17327798543951254-402: The 50th festival Delphonic Music released a digital audio album featuring tracks from 50 different artists, including Joan Baez , The Proclaimers , Fairport Convention and Loudon Wainwright III . In 2015, Joan Baez , Joan Armatrading , Wilko Johnson , and Passenger headlined the festival. In 2018, it was announced that Cambridge-born singer Nick Mulvey would be a guest curator for
1311-477: The Cambridge Folk Festival (based in part on conversations with Ken Woollard) acknowledges the three councillors and names them on part of the first page that covers the setting up of festival. These key figures responsible for setting up and founding the Cambridge Folk festival are named as Paul Rayment, Philip Abrams and George Scurfield . The role of Paul Rayment (1933–2013) is particularly relevant in
1368-491: The Duke's piper. In subsequent years, the design was developed and refined further by Robert Reid and his son James; in particular, more keys were added. In practice, beginning players find that the seven key chanter, with a range of D to b, is sufficient for playing most of the traditional piping repertoire. Such a chanter, made by Robert Reid , is shown below – the four views show respectively: Chanters with more keys permit
1425-578: The Hall and then laid out the gardens. He made the following statement in 1854: “I have laid out a considerable sum of money in planting. When I purchased the estate the Cherry Hinton Brook ran through it. The whole stream came from two springs skirting my property. In building the house I selected the spot with a view of making ornamental water. I cut a channel and made the lake in a great measure and have been every year enlarging it. I have stocked
1482-597: The Hoose which uses the extended range of a keyed chanter. Primarily known as a virtuoso player of the English concertina , Alistair Anderson also plays Northumbrian smallpipes and has composed many tunes on and for the instrument. His compositions for groups of instruments have explored a greater range of harmonies than was traditionally associated with the smallpipes' repertoire, and he has collaborated with musicians such as jazz trombonist Annie Whitehead as well as writing
1539-603: The Mayor of Gateshead and the Lord Mayor of Newcastle have both established a tradition of appointing official Northumbrian pipers. In a survey of the bagpipes in the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford University, the organologist Anthony Baines wrote: "It is perhaps the most civilized of the bagpipes, making no attempt to go further than the traditional bagpipe music of melody over drone, but refining this music to
1596-545: The Scottish and Irish pipe and fiddle repertoires to smallpipes, as well as composing tunes in various styles for the instrument. Although many pipers now play predominantly dance tunes and some slow airs nowadays, extended variation sets have continued to form an important part of the repertoire. Tom Clough 's manuscripts contain many of these, some being variants of those in Peacock's collection. Other variation sets were composed by Clough, such as those for Nae Guid Luck Aboot
1653-420: The age of 82. By 1902, Richard Thomas Lyons MD lived at the Hall. In 1902 solicitor Sir William Phene Neal, 1st Baronet ( Lord Mayor of London in 1930) and his wife came to live at the Hall, and remained there for many years. It appears that Neal operated a dairy farm on the estate, as reference is made in a trade magazine to the “Cherryhinton Hall Farm Dairy". In the 1930s the Hall and surrounding land
1710-486: The beginning of the 19th century the first collection specifically for Northumbrian smallpipes was published, John Peacock 's Favorite Collection . Peacock was the last of the Newcastle Waits (musical watchmen), and probably the first smallpiper to play a keyed chanter. The collection contains a mixture of simple dance tunes, and extended variation sets. The variation sets, such as Cut and Dry Dolly are all for
1767-403: The bore of the chanter, suggesting that it could not easily be measured. The three drones were in unison with the lowest note, G, of the chanter, the D a fourth below it, and G, an octave below. It has been argued that such instruments were derived from mouth-blown German three-drone bagpipes. These instruments seem to have been well-established in Northumberland by the early 18th century; many of
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1824-520: The chanter), the sound is far quieter than most other bagpipes. A detailed account of the construction of Northumbrian smallpipes written by William Alfred Cocks and Jim F. Bryan was published in 1967 by the Northumbrian Pipers' Society ; it was very influential in promoting a revival of pipemaking from that time. This is now out of print, however. Another description, by Mike Nelson, is currently available. Nelson's designs also include
1881-595: The earliest evidence of the introduction of a keyed chanter is the illustration and fingering chart in John Peacock's tunebook, A Favorite Collection of Tunes with Variations Adapted for the Northumberland Small Pipes, Violin, or Flute , first published by William Wright, of Newcastle, in about 1800. The first of these were probably made by John Dunn . The instrument depicted in Peacock's tunebook had only four keys, for F sharp, E and D below
1938-447: The establishment of the festival. The 1965 festival was the fruit of a Labour-dominant council in a traditionally conservative area and particularly the endeavours of Paul Rayment. The founding of the Cambridge Folk festival reflects its subsequent diversity when a war hero poet and politician worked with an eminent sociologist and a politically-driven electrician (brought up in a children's home) to bring something together representative of
1995-577: The festival by Elliott between 2000–2010 and was endorsed by the organisers. It includes quotes from some of the musicians featured in its pages such as Richard Hawley , Julie Fowlis , Sharon Shannon , and Cara Dillon as well as BBC radio presenters Mark Radcliffe and Mike Harding . Elliott released a follow-up book, 50Folk , in 2014 as a personal celebration of 50 years of the festival. 52°11′9.09″N 0°9′47.76″E / 52.1858583°N 0.1632667°E / 52.1858583; 0.1632667 Cherry Hinton Hall Cherry Hinton Hall
2052-413: The festival celebrated its 50th event, including artists such as Van Morrison and Sinéad O'Connor . Until 2015 it was run by Cambridge City Council. It was briefly run by a charity called Cambridge Live. In 2019 it was once again taken over by Cambridge City Council. Rhiannon Giddens was selected as the second guest curator of the 2018 Cambridge Folk Festival. Most artists perform more than once over
2109-477: The folk festival. In his role as a councillor, he suggested the festival site of Cherry Hinton, managed the electrics of the first festival and volunteered to stay the night in the marquee for the first festival; there was no security. The other key figures who developed the festival were Philip Abrams, a professor of sociology who saw it as a social initiative, and George Scurfield, an author, poet, and politician, whose abilities and sense of adventure and were vital to
2166-425: The instrument is to play each note slightly staccato . Each note is only sounded by lifting one finger or operating one key. The aim is to play each note as full length as possible, but still separate from the next – 'The notes should come out like peas'. The chanter is closed, and thus briefly silent, between any two notes, and there is an audible transient 'pop' at the beginning and end of a note. For decoration, it
2223-431: The keys are therefore necessary, together with the length of the chanter, for obtaining the two octaves. The Northumbrian smallpipes' chanter having a completely closed end, combined with the unusually tight fingering style (each note is played by lifting only one finger or opening one key) means that traditional Northumbrian piping is staccato in style. Because the bores are so narrow, (typically about 4.3 millimetres for
2280-426: The last degree." The instrument consists of one chanter (generally with keys ) and usually four drones . The cylindrically bored chanter has a number of metal keys , most commonly seven, but chanters with a range of over two octaves can be made which require seventeen or more keys, all played with either the right hand thumb or left little finger. There is no overblowing employed to get this two octave range, so
2337-424: The method called 'close fingering', for which it is calculated. This method of stopping allows only of one finger being lifted at a time. Thus this instrument is limited to a single octave; and this (little as it is) admits of all the airs, to which it is really suited, being executed by its means; with the additional improvement that it may be played perfectly in tune, whilst the tones it produces being staccato and of
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2394-493: The octave G-g range of the unkeyed instrument, and another for the an above it. Two early pipe tunes written for such an instrument are " Lamshaw's Fancy ", and "Shields Fair". Lamshaw died in 1806, but is known to have played the 'improved smallpipes'; although only one of these tunes bears his name, the other probably commemorates the Tynemouth and North Shields Fair, inaugurated in 1804. Lamshaw played there in his capacity as
2451-480: The original idea which may have been linked to Jazz on a Summer's Day (1958), the documentary film set at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island, and he involved Paul Rayment. Jack Sharkey also had the idea to hold the festival at Cherry Hinton Hall, and his engagement with folk music was instrumental to the original initiative. Paul Rayment's initiative, drive, commitment and political skill produced
2508-512: The origins and establishment of the Cambridge folk festival (in the context of left wing 1960s political developments). The setting up took about nine months and was developed by Paul Rayment, Philip Abrams and George Scurfield before Ken Woollard was asked to run the festival. In the 1960s the Rayments, Sharkeys, Scurfields and Woollards were all associated with Cambridge Labour Party and the folk club to greater or lesser extents. Jack Sharkey had
2565-562: The playing of tunes with a wider range or with more chromatic notes, and allow access to much of the fiddle repertoire. The chanter has a double reed, similar in construction to an oboe reed. This leads to a distinctive sound, rich in higher harmonics . As the bore is cylindrical, the odd harmonics are greatly predominant. Traditionally, the chanter has been pitched somewhere between F and F sharp, older instruments often being close to modern F sharp. Several modern makers prefer to produce pipes pitched at what Northumbrian pipers refer to as F+ ,
2622-475: The repertoire of a piper at this stage in the modern instrument's development. Roughly contemporary with this is Lionel Winship's manuscript, dated 1833, which has been made available in facsimile on FARNE ; it contains copies of the Peacock tunes, together with Scottish, Irish, and ballroom dance tunes. Both these sources include tunes in E minor, showing the d sharp key was available by this date. The Northumbrian Minstrelsy , published in 1882, aimed to serve as
2679-410: The single octave keyless chanter, but the dance tunes are often adaptations of fiddle tunes – many of these are Scottish, such as " Money Musk ". A pupil of Peacock, Robert Bewick , the son of Thomas Bewick the engraver, left five manuscript notebooks of pipetunes; these, dated between 1832 and 1843, are from the earliest decades in which keyed chanters were common, and they give a good early picture of
2736-533: The site, local musicians are invited by the festival to provide informal sessions, a regular favourite being the Irish sessions. Major figures from the folk world have appeared at the festival, including Martin Carthy , Shirley Collins , Peggy Seeger and John Tams . Recent festivals have also seen other important traditional musicians such as Kathryn Tickell , Kate Rusby , Eliza Carthy , and The Unthanks . Across
2793-674: The stream for trout and dug a pond for pike". On Okes's death in 1870 the Cherry Hinton estate was sold to the Cambridge University and Town Waterworks Company. One of the Directors of the Waterworks Company was the next resident. Charles Balls was born in 1810 in Cambridge, son of farm labourer Henry Balls. He became a shoe-maker, subsequently making his fortune as a leather merchant. In 1858 and 1859 he
2850-582: The tonic of the tune is G. Sets sometimes have thumb-operated drone switches, allowing players to change key without stopping playing. Occasionally, though rarely, other tunings have been used, for example Tom Clough recommended G, c, g, suitable for tunes in C major, or D, A, d, a, for some tunes in D major. The earliest bagpipe tunes from Northumberland, or indeed from anywhere in the British Isles, are found in William Dixon 's manuscript from
2907-525: The tunes in the William Dixon manuscript are suitable for such simple sets, and a painting of Joseph Turnbull , Piper to the Duchess of Northumberland , in Alnwick Castle , shows him with such a set. When Thomas Doubleday published an open letter in 1857, to the Duke of Northumberland about the "ancient music of Northumberland", he wrote that "The Northumbrian pipe is played upon by means of
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#17327798543952964-576: The weekend on the different stages: Stage 1, within a large marquee in front of the main Festival arena; Stage 2, a smaller marquee; a Floor Singers stage at the Coldham's Common camp site; and the Club Tent, hosted up to 2022 on the Festival's behalf by five local folk clubs, who programmed local artists. From 2023, this longstanding practice was discontinued, and the Festival rebranded the Club Tent as
3021-406: Was a bellows-blown 'Bagpipe, Scotch', with three drones, whose keyless chanter had a one-octave range from G to g, with each note being sounded by uncovering a single hole, as in the modern instrument. This seems to have been a closed-ended chanter, for the lowest note is sounded by uncovering the lowest finger-hole – there was no bell-note, sounding with all holes covered; further, Talbot did not give
3078-404: Was appointed Mayor of Cambridge, and was later one of the Directors of the Cambridge University and Town Waterworks Company and, at one time, was Chairman of the Cambridge University and Town Gas Light Company. His wife Eliza died in 1876 at Cherry Hinton Hall and Charles and his daughters lived at the Hall until 1888 when they moved back to Cambridge. Charles died in 1892 in his Cambridge home at
3135-462: Was formed in 2009 as a group concerned about the usage, environment, welfare and future of the park for the benefit of those who use it most. Cherry Hinton Hall was built in 1839 by John Okes (1793-1870), a surgeon at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge. He had been apprenticed to his father, Thomas Verney Okes, a doctor at Addenbrookes Hospital, before qualifying at the University of Cambridge as
3192-533: Was purchased by the Cambridge City Council and they still own it today. 52°11′09″N 0°09′54″E / 52.18597°N 0.16494°E / 52.18597; 0.16494 Northumbrian smallpipes The Northumbrian smallpipes (also known as the Northumbrian pipes ) are bellows-blown bagpipes from Northeastern England , where they have been an important factor in the local musical culture for more than 250 years. The family of
3249-422: Was sponsored by BBC Radio 2 , which broadcast it live, with highlights were recorded and shown later and occasionally live on digital television channel BBC Four from 2002 to 2009 and from 2010 to 2012 on Sky Arts . Recent histories have obscured the early origins of the folk festival. Ken Woollard's 1974 Ten years of folk: A history of the Cambridge Folk Festival mentions three councillors who had an idea for
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