Chapter 3.  In their own words: playing for house dances

Perhaps the best way to get a feel for the former world of house dances is to read and hear the accounts of eyewitnesses.  In Ireland, concertina player Margaret Dooley (b.  1885) of east Clare recalled the house dances of her youth: The 'fling' Mrs Dooley mentions is the Irish term for a schottische, also called a 'Highland.'4.  Helen Brennan, 1999, The Story of Irish Dance, Brandon Books, Dingle Ireland, p.100.4

Mary Ann Carolan (1902-1985) grew up in The Hill of Rath, a country village near Drogheda, County Louth Ireland.  In this audio clip from a 1986 RTÉ interview, she recounted that polka sets (polka quadrilles) were just the thing to enliven an evening at home, and then plays three polkas, The Lass of Gowrie, one that is untitled, and Try and Help Him If You Can.  The recording is courtesy of RTÉ, Ireland's Public Service Broadcaster.

Policemen and partners at a house dance in the West of Ireland, 1887.

Policemen and partners at a house dance in the West of Ireland, 1887.
From The Graphic, London, Feb 19th, 1987

The Australian countryside in that country's colonial era was dotted with small, relatively isolated rural 'bush' settlements where dances in homes and barns provided an essential element of community.  From an Australian parson's account of 1908:

A wool shed dance in Australia, 1889.

A wool shed dance in Australia, 1889.
Note the solo concertina player, and the bales of wool used for seating.
From the Illustrated Sydney News.

Because houses were typically small in rural areas at this time, instrumentation was limited to a concertina and maybe a fiddle.  Clem O'Neal (1912-1980) came from Iron Bark (now Stuart Town) New South Wales Australia, and was one of the last concertina players produced in his district.  He described the house dances there as follows:

Dances were often held outdoors in good weather, as in this account of a cross-roads dance in County Mayo Ireland, in 1904: In the following recording, Ella Mae O'Dwyer (1906-1992) of Athea, West Limerick Ireland, plays Mrs O'Dwyers Fancy, which is comprised of old quadrille tunes (polkas).  The recording is courtesy of Neil Wayne of Free Reed Records, who recorded Mrs O'Dwyer in 1974.

Also outdoors, at a 'bucksail' dance in South Africa in 1897:

The Boer people had rustic farms scattered across the veldt.  An English visitor recalled in 1900 a visit of some years previous: Johannes Petrus 'Silver' de Lange (1904-1956) was born in Vrededorp, a village near Johannesburg, South Africa.  He formed a dance band called Die Vyf Dagbrekers (The Five Daybreakers) in the early 1930s.  The following lively polka, Warm Patat (Hot Sweet Potato) is from a recording of that time, courtesy of Die Tradisionele Boeremusiekklub van S.A.

A Boer family dancing in their kitchen.  Note the concertina being played behind the girl's back.

A Boer family dancing in their kitchen.
Drawn by John Guille Millais, 1895.

In rural England, a Northumberland vicar's wife invited local working class parishioners over for a dance in 1877, providing a bit of culture contrast between the genteel lady, who was used to quadrilles played on a piano, and working class youth, who were used to playing polkas on a concertina and fiddle:

A family band in Darlington, Durham c.1910

A family band in Darlington, Durham England, ca.1910.
Courtesy of The Beamish, The Living Museum of the North.

Dance musicians were typically semi-professionals and were paid for their work.  They often traveled great distances to play at a dance.  At the turn of the last century, in the tiny rural village of Duramama, near Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia, where concertina player Susan Colley (1881-1976) lived:

Mrs Colley recalled these dances, and the dress her mother made her for a rural ball, in this interview, recorded by Warren Fahey in 1973 when she was 92 years old.

You dance with it

You dance with it.  Ian Simpson dances with his wife Diane Simpson while he plays the concertina, c.1985.
This was an old party trick at house dances in all countries where the instrument was played;
Susan Colley remembers it in the above interview.  Photo courtesy Peter Ellis.

Dooley Chapman recounted how his musical mentor Billy Chandler played for dances all over the region, using a bicycle for transport:

Percy Yarnold (1907-1988) of Wingham, New South Wales Australia was a concertina player for the Keightley Dance Band during his youth.  He described his payment (twelve shillings) for a typical bush dance, in a 1985 interview with John Meredith (track courtesy of the National Library of Australia).

A dance in the woolshed

An Australian woolshed dance.  From the Australian Town and Country Journal of December 24, 1870.
Note the solo fiddle player.

Notes:

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