Notes and Things

Home
Fairport Convention
Come All Ye. 4:55
Reynardine 4:33
Matty Groves 8:08
Farewell, Farewell 2:38
The Deserter 4:10
Medley 4:00
Tam Lin 7:20
Crazy Man Michael 4:35
Notes and Things

As I Cycled Out On A May Morning

Cecil Sharp
Cecil Sharp

Cecil James Sharp 1859-1924

On August 22 1903 Cecil Sharp noted his first folk song, The Seeds of Love, from John England in Hambridge village in Somerset.

Over the following couple of years Sharp, often assisted by his friend Charles Marson, the local vicar, collected 1,500 songs in the county, many of which were published in 5 volumes of Somerset Folk Songs. Further afield in England and in the USA, Sharp later collected another 3,000 songs. He was only one of several song collectors but he helped to regenerate The Folk Song Society and to revive these songs in new contexts especially in schools. In addition he collected and published morris dances, English sword dances and country dances. Indeed he founded the English Folk Dance Society in 1911. The fact that so many people, not just in Somerset but throughout the world, are still singing the songs and dancing the dances which he collected is an indication of just how important the first event turned out to be

Francis Child 1825-1896
Francis Child 1825-1896

Francis Child 1825-1896. gathered the lyrics to hundreds of old songs, some famous, others obscure, and edited his work into a five-volume set which today stands as the wellspring of the modern British folk revival. Child was not the only scholar to document British folk ballads -- others, notably English diarist Samuel Pepys, gathered similar collections -- but Childs was the most thorough, and the most highly regarded. In the 1950s and '70s, when modern musicians began to bring folk music back into the public light, the Child Ballads were dusted off and deeply mined by many of the folk scene's brightest stars. Traditionalists like Ewan MacColl, Martin Carthy and Shirley Collins, along with folk-rock modernists such as the Fairport Convention and Albion Band all bowed in the direction of the multi-volume codex

Cecil Sharp and Ashley Hutchings

from our Ashley Hutchings website

wonderful historical and
contemporary photographs
from this and other areas of England
on pace-egging and other traditions

to whom this website
offers up massive thanks
for the picture of the
Liege and Lief lineup
and the quotes from
Ashley Hutchings

short traditional verse sketches
 performed at Christmas, Easter
and other festivals, and taken
round pubs and private houses
in return for cash and refreshments
 

in the Vale of the White Horse
"They dance for joy. And joy
represents the true spirit of England"

the magazine for
traditional music
an incredible resource
highly recommended

Traditionally -- Pace Eggs were part
of the Easter Sunday breakfast,
but if they weren't eaten they might
be used as household ornaments,
in various egg-games, or given to
bands of performers known as
Pace Eggers, who were once a
common sight in northern English villages.

On August 22 1903 Cecil Sharp
noted his first folk song
this website celebrates that event
 

The Spirit of England
 a brand new annual festival
devoted to British composers,
commencing in October 2006,
and held in the Abbey
of Dorchester-on-Thames.
 It will concentrate mainly on
 early twentieth century composers,
and particularly on neglected works.

On Boxing Day, 1899,
Cecil J. Sharp witnessed
a performance by the
Headington Quarry Men
in Oxfordshire. Sharp was
a professional musician and
teacher. He became fascinated
by the Morris and devoted much
of his life to the collection,
publication and revival of interest
in many forms of traditional dance,
song and music

One Hundred English Folk Songs

Liege & Lief inside

massive thanks go out to
 coramunroe for the you tube video feeds
to be found on this site
 
the liege and lief website is
©2005/2006/2007/2008
sam-and-lizzie
all rights reserved