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http://www.accordions.com/news.aspx?d=26-Nov-2021&lang=ru&s=18278
http://www.accordions.com/news.aspx?d=26-Nov-2021&lang=ru&s=18278
26-Nov-2021
by Rob Howard
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| Picture above: Rob Howard with his Santa Hat. I recently volunteered to play my accordion at the Woodley Methodist Church (picture above right) Christmas Fair, held on Saturday November 20th, 9.30am until 1pm. The church is where Stockport Accordion Club has been based since 2006, so I am well acquainted with the venue and was happy to help our landlord. What nobody involved in organising the event bargained for were the hundreds who turned up as soon as the doors opened at 9.30am. It seems that after a series of lockdowns and curbs on entertainment venues, the local public were just keen to go out somewhere! I shared the stage with a local dancing school, and we alternated spots throughout the morning. The dancing girls went on first, and the church was so crowded, space was very much at a premium, and I waited while the girls did their stuff in a lively and raucous scenario. As I watched from the side, guarding my accordion from surrounding youngsters, the famous words of WC Fields came to me, “Never perform with children or animals”! When my turn came I took centre stage, took a deep breath, and began with Joy to the World, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Winter Wonderland, Sleigh Ride, Adeste Fidelis, Ding Dong Merrily On High, In Dulci Jubilo, Mary’s Boy Child, White Christmas, and other seasonal favourites. To my relief some of the huge crowd that had gathered to watch the dancing stayed where they were, and seemed to enjoy my music. It was a noisy environment and I needed to play most of the time at double forte. I wasn’t amplified, but fortunately my four-voice Cooperativa served me well in this situation as I hammered out the Christmas themed music. The dancing girls and I alternated a further four spots each, and I finished the proceedings with a 50 minute final spot. As the morning progressed, for the sake of variety, I introduced a lot of non-seasonal music into my sets, such as the music from Oliver!, My Fair Lady, the John Wayne- Maureen O’Hara movie The Quiet Man, O Sole Mio, polkas Swedish Rhapsody/Jenny Lind/Astley’s Ride, a Fred Astaire quicksteps medley, 1920s medley, Tulips From Amsterdam waltzes medley, 1960s medley, Beatles medley, tangos medley, war films medley, Scottish waltzes, an Andrew Lloyd Webber selection, and by way of contrast, the Trumpet Voluntary (Jeremiah Clarke). Fortuitously, as the time went on the church became less crowded and much quieter, which made playing somewhat more pleasurable. The Christmas Fair organisers have already invited me back next year, so I must have been doing something right! |