We used to have a drummer that always got to the end of the sopng before anyone else ;o)

Comments about Thomas Hardy's Melstock band bring to mind the lament he had that the introduction of the organ heralded the end of the church band with its strange instruments. I can see also the need to have loud instruments given modern background noise we 'enjoy' today. Again, Thomas Hardy noted in Far from the Madding Crowd the loudness of silence when the sheep went AWOL (or do they just go baa).

I can't remember the TV episode, but Howard Goodall spent some time with Hungarian (?) gypsies who still played traditional instruments in whatever key they happened to be made in (or more accurately, whatever key came out of them). He said the concertina had largely killed off that keyless genre because it always came in a specific key and other musician than began tuning to it. Or something like that.