Friday 14th June, 7:30 pm at North Curry Parish Church
THE MELLSTOCK BAND present the genuine sound of the English countryside – merry and majestic tunes, songs of love and laughter, carols and original harmonies.
This is a costume presentation of music, song and spoken word, with the words of Thomas Hardy, John Clare and the Somerset parson John Holland introducing music and songs, with fiddle, clarinet, concertina and serpent.
It follows the Shepherd’s Calendar of festivities in rural England from winter, through spring and summer to harvest-time. Join the band as they sing and dance their way from bonfire night, through Christmas, Whitsun revels and hay-making, to cider-pressing and the harvest, taking in courtships, weddings and public celebrations on the way.
Mellstock was the fictional name Thomas Hardy gave to his native village of Higher Bockhampton, near Stinsford in Dorset. His family were leading local musicians, who led the church band and played for dances. Hardy’s vivid descriptions, his family’s music manuscript books, and music from local tradition were the initial inspiration for the formation of The Mellstock Band in 1986.
THE MELLSTOCK BAND Players
Dave Townsend (Director) – Concertina, Voice
Tim Hill – Clarinet, Voice
Philip Humphries – Serpent, Voice
Caroline Butler – Fiddle, Voice
The Band plays and sings music from nineteenth-century English villages, covering dance and instrumental tunes, harmony songs of alehouse and church, Christmas carols and traditional songs. The material is researched from original sources, and arranged in appropriate styles. They perform with instruments of the time – fiddle, clarinet, concertina and serpent.
They regularly perform themed shows in period dress – unique entertainments of music, song and spoken word, using authentic instruments and wearing costumes representing rural Sunday-best of the 1840s. The poetry and prose come from Hardy and other writers, and they combine with the music to illuminate its background and summon up the spirit of the era. They also play formal concerts, informal dances, and public and private occasions of all kinds. The Band and its members have appeared in TV dramas Pride and Prejudice, Far from the Madding Crowd, Tess of the d’Urbervilles and The Way We Live Now, and have featured in productions by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Chichester Festival Theatre and The Royal National Theatre. Their albums have become standard works of reference for traditional music and song of the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The fiddle and concertina are both known to have been played by Hardy himself, and he often mentions the clarinet, and the “rich, deep note” of the serpent, a baffling hybrid of brass and woodwind, easily recognised by its snake-like shape. The unique blend of these tones, combined with the forceful singing of the band, creates afresh the vigour, richness and excitement of English village band music.
MORE ABOUT THE PLAYERS
Dave Townsend is the band’s director and founder. He is a well-known singer and instrumentalist, and one of the leading researchers in west gallery and village band music. As arranger and composer, he has provided music for film, television, radio and theatre, and for numerous recording projects.
Caroline Butler has performed and toured widely as singer and fiddler with numerous groups, including Jumpleads, Geckoes, and currently with The Oxford Waits. She has also appeared on numerous recordings.
Tim Hill is an inventive wind player and composer whose background performing on clarinet, flute, saxophone and shawm embraces early music, free improvisation, theatrical performance art and mainstream jazz. Projects have included Pandaemonium, Noise Eating Monsters and Street Band workshops.
Phil Humphries studied at Trinity College, London, and embarked on a career as a big-band trombonist with The Andy Ross Orchestra. After returning to his native Dorset, he became involved in early music, and is now one of the country’s leading serpent players. He is a member of The London Serpent Trio and music-hall duo The Lost Chord, and guests regularly with various orchestras.