The sketchy old records of the morris which predate the mid-19th century suggest that pipe and tabor and fiddle were the dominant instruments, with occasional use of bagpipes (yes, I know!); one account I read of the use of the morris as courtly entertainment includes mention of several instruments you would normally associate with orchestral music. The concertina caught on shortly after its invention in the early 19th Century and was used for the morris by those who could afford it.

In the early 20th century, Cecil Sharp collected the bulk of the current canon of morris dances and tunes and the pipe and tabor, fiddle and concertina were the only instruments be noted as being used for Cotswold morris. The melodeon was in use in areas such as Suffolk at that time, certainly playing for folk dancing and song and probably for molly dance too.

The notation of the morris tunes by Sharp show how a single tune altered in terms of phrasing and use of incidental notes in runs to suit the instrument in question. I can play pipe and tabor, fiddle and concertina (albeit not all to a high standard) and despair at those who regard the subtle differences between tunes from neighbouring villages as significant, yet ignore the fundamental playing characteristics of the instrument it was collected from. These people, presumably, play all Adderbury tunes in F or Bb, since they were collected from a man with a tabor pipe in F.

The advantage of the melodeon (a newcomer as a morris instrument; relatively rare until the 1970's) is that it imparts a naturally rhythmic character to the melody, which means that an inexperienced player can manage to play for dancing quite effectively. Pipe and tabor shares this characteristic, but to a lesser extent. This forced rhythm, however, is a disadvantage to the expert who recognises the subtle variations required in pace and phrasing to lift the dancers at appropriate moments and wait for them to land (!) and to lead them from the end of one figure into the next with the appropriate timing. Get a melodeon player to try Shepherds' Hey from Fieldtown (Signposts) - it can't be done without imposing a fixed rhythm onto what is almost a free-time air.

Instruments where the musician controls the rhythm are far superior for the morris in the hands of an expert - concertina, accordion, fiddle for example, but more prone to disaster in the hands of an inexperienced player. There is nothing worse than the dull droning of a piano accordion played like a church organ and the dancers will never get any lift from the music. Note that the maestro John Kirkpatrick plays melodeon for border morris but button accordeon for Cotswold.

The key to playing for the morris is to get the rhythm and phrasing right - I was disappointed with the twin fiddles on Jools - I felt the sound was rhythmic to the exclusion of melody, and some of the morris melodies are the prettiest tunes you'll hear. Eliza could learn a lot from her Dad - he has often proved that the guitar is an excellent instrument for the playing of morris tunes. It's not what you play, it's how you play it.

On the matter of massed morris music, of course there should only be one musician playing to the dancers, who must know the dance and be watching constantly. Any other musicians need to recognise that they are providing an accompaniment to the main musician and play accordingly. Watch Eliza on the Jolls Holland show - she was very definitely playing an accompaniment and not leading the tune. Obvious problems with too many musicians is the speed cannot be varied and any subtle variations between, say, figure and chorus are lost.