Melodeons on board ships?

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: RTim
Date: 03 Jun 18 - 07:02 PM

https://vimeo.com/191160685

Tim

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 03 Jun 18 - 02:05 PM

Not found - error 404, Tim, sorry!

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: RTim
Date: 03 Jun 18 - 10:01 AM

There is mention on another thread of the sailor Alan Villers. I attach a film by him taken in the 1930's - Excerpt from Alan Villiers - ‘The Cape Horn Road’ (1929-36)

At around 3.50 minutes into the film it shows part of Crossing The Equator and it features a Melodeon of Accordion....

Alan Villier's film 1929-36


Tim Radford

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 01 Jun 18 - 04:40 PM

And as an aside to this: air travel. A friend who plays piano accordion would not take it abroad as the airline would have made her put it in the hold, where sub-zero temps might have played havoc with the reeds. My melodeon is small enough to go as hand baggage, and has done so on a number of occasions.

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 01 Jun 18 - 03:30 PM

Nevertheless the moist salty air still does play havoc over time with the reeds and probably the leather.

Transporting instruments packed in boxes is something else entirely. The main risk there is the hazardous nature of sea voyages. But that applies to any transported commodity.


In 2012 my brother-in-law and I took a small canal tug down from the Humber to the Thames by sea. Neither of us took our Wheatstones for both of the reasons expressed above.

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 31 May 18 - 11:52 PM

Howard Jones, you're speaking too many facts for Mudcat. People here want to take history and folklorize it, like make up some wive's tale about how they heard from their second cousin's dog (which makes it more authentic... since the dog was a German shepherd who loved boats) that people didn't bring the most popular (non-fiddle) instruments of the whole second half the 19th and 1st quarter of the 20th century on ships, which were their main means of conveyance, cause they were scared or something.

Practically every country in the world has an accordion tradition because why? Because the accordion got there ON A SHIP!

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: GUEST,Ake
Date: 31 May 18 - 02:19 PM

Melodion??    "Sunny Jim" o' the Vital Spark widnae leave the Broomielaw withoot it......and he wass a capital player.....If Dougie was here he would tell ye!!

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 31 May 18 - 09:58 AM

FWIW, my melodeon/accordion has been on a few sea trips, but only on commercial vessels.
Played "Mingulay Boat Song" while passing same island.
"Calum's Road" was played ON Calum's Road on Raasay, as should gave been Mrs Macleod of Raasay.
"We are Sailing" and "Loch Lomond" on the since defunct Rosyth to Zeebrugge ferry.
And "The Trout" and "Titanic" themes while sailing the (3 foot deep!) Union Canal.

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Howard Jones
Date: 30 May 18 - 04:15 AM

Anglo concertinas (originally "Anglo-German") took the German fingering system and applied the higher-quality construction methods of English concertinas, and these were more expensive. Most working class people played cheap German concertinas. German concertinas were cheaply made and whilst not exactly disposable had a relatively short life even on land and would simply be replaced when they could no longer be repaired.

I wouldn't call either melodeon or concertina 'fragile' although like any instrument they need to be treated with consideration. Most instruments would be susceptible to damp, and the main risk to free reed instruments at sea would be corrosion from the salt air, but this would not affect brass-reeded instruments.

I wonder how the melodeon and concertina came to be taken up by the Inuit if not from sailors?

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 29 May 18 - 10:25 PM

From: SeaCanary - PM
Date: 14 Apr 12 - 09:36 PM

The instruments in question are a French accordeon and a tambourine. Both were part of the minstrel music ensembles of the time.

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Gurney
Date: 16 Nov 13 - 04:06 PM

I'm in the Steve Gardham school of thought. The Melodeon and Concertina are fragile and made of materials that are susceptible to damp, so their life would surely be short at sea, and particularly so in wooden ships.
No doubt they have been there, but I'd consider it unlikely that someone who'd paid good money for a good instrument would expose it to the conditions of the forecastle.

All free-reed instruments are of comparatively recent invention anyway, so there aren't enough years for them to have a long history.

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: A. C. Jones
Date: 16 Nov 13 - 03:13 PM

I have been trying to find this information for myself lately, when I found this thread.

Regarding the photo, it is likely that the instrument the seventh fellow is holding is some sort of accordion, but it certainly was not made by Hohner. Hohner did not start making melodeons or accordions (as they were called) until 1903. And even then, they did not look like most of today's melodeons. They looked like what is often called a Cajun accordion -- even the 2 row models. I would upload and attach some photos, but this forum interface has no options for that.

If that photo is from the Civil War era, then what the seventh fellow has under is arm might be more likely closer to what is now often called a flutina. But, I can't be sure, because it seems difficult to find much information about 19th century melodeons/Diatonic Button accordions (DBAs).

Meanwhile, back on the original topic: One reason that I switched from Concertina to melodeon is because I heard the claim that the melodeon was more often played by sailors than the concertina. But, I have not found ANY evidence to support that.

In the "Music of the Sea" book by David Proctor, there is only 1 photo showing a melodeon/DBA, and the photo is from about 1912. The book does have a photo of a concertina, but not any pictures of sailors playing any. You can find photos on the web of sailors or captains with their concertinas, though.

A number of people have researched the history of the concertina rather well, and presented their research nicely, but I have yet to find comparable research presented on the melodeon/diatonic button accordion (DBA). There is also plenty of information on the piano accordion too. So, if anyone has found any more information about melodeons/DBAs played by sailors latley, that would be great.

I am also interested ANY information about melodeons/DBAs in the USA before 1915 and who played them. I have an old one that plays in E-flat, and another in B-flat and E-flat and I'd like to know what kind of music was played on these.

Thanks.

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 17 Apr 12 - 12:32 AM

G'day Greg,

The first concerinas sold weren't Wheatstone's complex and precise instruments ... he was still playing around (and recruiting a skilled production toolmaker ... Lachenal ... initially as a screw-cutter ...) when the Klingenthal Germans looked at the basic German accordion and said they could get along without such simple "basses" ... by vamping on the treble keys.

Essentially they said "Cut the right hand side in two and make one square box". This had exactly the same waxed in reeds ... sometimes in corrosion resistant brass ... and they were small, simple, robust and cheap enough to take to sea ... and easily replaced for a few shillings in almost any sea-port in the "civilised world' - post 1834.

The simple, early German concertina (initially referred to as another form of accordion) was the most portable cheap instrument to take to sea - although it is likely that many better players decided to lug the slightly extra size and complexity of simple German accordions to sea as well.

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Greg B
Date: 16 Apr 12 - 09:28 PM

Sailors took to sea whatever they could find in the pawn shops, having pawned their previous instruments somewhere between the arrival and the advance. It may well be that we owe the rather limited number of surviving 19th-century free-reed instruments to the seafaring community who took them, used them until they failed, and abandoned them.

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Tootler
Date: 16 Apr 12 - 05:51 PM

Early anglos had reed plates like harmonicas. When this changed, I don't know.

Dan Worrall's research shows quite clearly that anglos were taken to sea by sailors.

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 16 Apr 12 - 01:59 PM

Greg
Surely the older bandoneons have their reeds in banks. I've got examples of old anglos with banked reeds and they certainly look Victorian but I suppose they could be 1920s or so or a litte later.

Someone on Concertina. net would be able to give us a precise date when anglos started using banked reeds.

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: GUEST,George Frampton
Date: 16 Apr 12 - 09:45 AM

In the 1980s, I went out with the Pilgrim Morris Men on their wassail night in Guildford. I was somehow 'King' for the evening and, having borrowed a melodeon from one of the others, led the entourage into the County Bar at the Angel Hotel, where we met one Keith Enticknap(who was in his seventies, I'd suppose) who told me he was 'staying with somebody who from Milford'. He told me he 'hadn't seen a melodeon since his days in the merchant navy'. I took down his address and intended to visit him later, but upon phoning, my correspondent owned to not knowing what I was talking about so presume the address was misheard.

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Greg B
Date: 15 Apr 12 - 09:55 PM

Even the basic Lachenals of the 19th century had the sort of reed-and-frame arrangement set into reed-pan that tended to be a bit delicate. Whereas button accordions of the same vintage had what have come to be called "accordion reeds" stuck on top of reed-blocks. The latter is inherently less sensitive to environmental vagaries. Now, cheap concertinas from the last few decades (and even some better ones) have reeds waxed onto blocks like accordions. I don't recall seeing a 19th-century concertina with such an arrangement.

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: SeaCanary
Date: 15 Apr 12 - 06:43 PM

Instruments aboard American ships of the Union navy were quite common. Remember that these guys were on blockade duty and generally saw no action at all. Boredom was a BIG problem. The picture I posted earlier was the band aboard the flagship USS Wabash which was a huge ship for its time.

But this kind of musical talent aboard a Union ship was not unheard of. The USS Constitution, which lies anchored in Baltimore, Maryland, had a paid string quartet aboard -- recruited from the crew -- and they played extensively as it sailed the Mediterranean during the American Civil War.

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: selby
Date: 15 Apr 12 - 03:25 PM

Thanks for that Steve glad the memory has something in it of some use, though not necessarily the full facts
Keith

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 15 Apr 12 - 03:01 PM

DavetG and Banjoman, even anyone with only their dayskipper ticket knows that safety regulations include taking aboard an accordion and a banjo, the accordion as you say for pumping out, but the banjo for paddling if the accordion fails.

Lachenals certainly mass-produced their 2-rows for the bottom end of the market and then towards the end of the 19th century came those mass produced German imitations with banked reeds which were much cheaper. With their paper bellows they wouldn't have lasted long at sea but the Lachenals were robust enough.

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: selby
Date: 15 Apr 12 - 02:23 PM

I have a vague memory that I was told the melodeon was one of the first mass produced instruments if my vague memory is right that may work
Keith

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Tootler
Date: 15 Apr 12 - 02:00 PM

I have heard the argument that concertinas were a bit more of a middle-to-upper class instrument.

This was only really true of the English Concertina invented by Charles Wheatstone. The anglo concertina right from the start was aimed at the working classes are were cheaply mass produced. Better quality instruments did appear later when the likes of Wheatstone realised there was a market in these simpler diatonic instruments.

It was in fact mainly the anglo concertina that sailors took to sea. Read the article by Dan Worral which Jack Campin linked to earlier.

Or look at the rest of Dan Worral's output on his website

I think its the case that later the accordion, particularly the diatonic accordion began to replace the concertina later. Probably because of the built in accompaniment in the form of the left hand bases and chords made it easier for players to provide accompaniment to their melody lines rather than because the concertina was too delicate. The accordion, after all, had one major disadvantage over the concertina in its size.

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: bubblyrat
Date: 15 Apr 12 - 10:17 AM

I spent over two years aboard a ship ( Aircraft Carrier HMS Eagle )and never did I see or hear a melodeon . There was a CPO who played a rather nice piano-accordion, but that was it , squeeze-wise. It wasn't that the ship wasn't musical ; we had a full Royal Marine band, a group of "Singing Chefs " , a Bluegrass duo , and a 6-man Folk Group ( with whom I played the banjo ) , but there just were not any melodeons ,or , indeed , concertinas . And we were fully air-conditioned ,with plenty of locker-space , per man, for storing things in ; imagine taking a melodeon , or expensive concertina ( who could have afforded either, indeed ??) on board of a dank,cold,mouldy old wooden sailing vessel ,with nowhere to store what few personal possessions one had (or was allowed ) . Not to mention the ever-present danger of one's instrument being dashed to pieces by enemy broadsides ! No , all romantic nonsense ,I think !

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Greg B
Date: 15 Apr 12 - 09:36 AM

Indeed, GS, it could be the very issue. Before the turn of the 20th century, an "accordion" WAS what we now call a melodeon; the "piano accordion" is an circa 1900 contrivance, whereas the original name for the "melodeon" or "button accordion" or "diatonic accordion" was simply "accordion," derived from "akkordeon." The point of the name is, well, it almost automatically produced a chordal accompaniment on the left side. That, together with the diatonic right hand made for an instrument that was dirt-simple to learn, at least the basics.

The name "melodeon" on the other hand, seems to have floated around awkwardly, being applied to a few different instruments rightly or wrongly. To this day, some people will tell us that it's wrong to call a multi-row diatonic accordion tuned in half-steps a "melodeon" and that the latter is a single row or multi-row instrument with the rows tuned at least a major fourth apart!

Also search on the term "accordeon," as the spelling didn't really settle down until the era of the piano treble / stradella bass instruments.

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 15 Apr 12 - 09:03 AM

Just search on "accordion." Seems to be plenty of 19th c. references in books. Could limiting it to "melodeon" be the problem?

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: sciencegeek
Date: 15 Apr 12 - 08:50 AM

We should ask Bob Webb when we get to the Sea Music Festival... I'm sure in his research about the banjo at sea, he had his share of "close encounters" with other period instruments. lol

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 15 Apr 12 - 08:50 AM

I thiink they were probably welcomed. After all, concertinas could only pump a small amount of water out of the bilges with each squeeze. Melodons could clear it out far quicker. As to a piano accorian - Well, 3 or 4 pumps and you're floating again!

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 15 Apr 12 - 08:33 AM

One is tempted to say: If they can send one melodeon to sea why can't they send them all?

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Greg B
Date: 15 Apr 12 - 08:24 AM

I have heard the argument that concertinas were a bit more of a middle-to-upper class instrument. They were rather expensive and made with a degree of precision that may not have done too well under the rigors of a life at sea. If you've owned any of the basic, early, instruments you know that they're delicate, and not just because of age. Far more delicate than the vastly more expensive Aeolae and Edeophones that professionals have loved and sought after for a very long time now...and which would then, as now, been out of reach for most laboring folk. Oh, and they're quiet--- much more at home in the parlour or drawing-room than on deck.

A workaday melodeon, on the other hand, is made to much larger tolerances, and of cheaper materials. It's a loud, raucous, thing that was made with "the masses" in mind.

Think Hohner poker-work and some imitators. They take a lot of abuse and keep on playing, and can be field-repaired with readily-available materials.

In the day, the concertina was to the melodeon as the fine pocket watch was to the cheap alarm clock.

They were, as I used to tell my demonstration attendees, "the Casio keyboards of the 19th and early 20th centuries." Almost "throw-away" instruments.

They went to mining, railway, and lumber-camps, barn dances, and everywhere in between. It makes sense that they'd find their way among the working people at sea.

Would they have received a lot of mention? Probably not. Not much more than shoe-laces, straight-razors, or other things people took with them where they went.

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 15 Apr 12 - 08:03 AM

Sea Canary's photo link is to the band of the ship "Wabash".

The title of this tune must be a commentary on what the banjo and melodeon player sounded like:

Hell on the Wabash

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: SeaCanary
Date: 15 Apr 12 - 07:41 AM

Master Chief! Take that man and hang him from the highest fortnight!!

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: banjoman
Date: 15 Apr 12 - 06:41 AM

If melodeons were ever allowed on ships then that is probably the reason for the Mary Celeste being found abandoned, and possibly for the Titantic disaster.

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: SeaCanary
Date: 14 Apr 12 - 09:36 PM

A while back I wrote an article for a re-enactment group called the Ship's Company. Here is an excerpt from that article.

=====================================================

I've attached a photo from Miller's The Photographic History of the Civil War.

Look very carefully at the seated sailors. From what I can make of the photograph we have:

1. a vocalist, perhaps a dancer or bones player
2. something or other with a neck (I don't see frets so I'm going to guess banjo)
3. a banjo (Will you look at the size of the body on that thing?)
4. a guitar
5. a fiddle
6. another fiddle
7. something that isn't immediately obvious (Wait for it.)
8. another banjo (Can't have too many banjos, right? Kind've a long neck on this one; a bassjo, perhaps?)
9. what looks like the bow to yet another fiddle and the dimmest outline of said fiddle tucked in his left arm
10. another vocalist and/or dancer and/or bones player (Look very carefully at the way he's holding his left hand. There might be bones between his fingers.)
11. and -- brace yourself -- a bodhran player?!? (There's something large and circular under his left arm. I don't think it's a bass tambourine.)

I submit that the sailor seated seventh from the left has a two-row button accordion tucked underneath his left arm. The reasons I believe this are:

1. It's tucked underneath his left arm in exactly the same position I hold my button accordion when it isn't strapped to my chest.
2. The instrument is positioned so that a fair amount of it would be able to extend/project behind the banjo player in position eight. This arrangement allows the accordion player room to open his bellows without interfering with the sailor on his left.
3. The accordion player has his right hand placed so he can start playing when the music starts.
4. The instrument is on his left knee so he can start playing when the music starts.
5. That (relatively) wide white smear is what the "keyboard," looks like in a grainy photo.
6. As I recall, the photo in the book (as opposed to the picture from the cited reference) shows two rows of white buttons in a staggered arrangement. To the best of my knowledge there's only one instrument with that kind of configuration namely a two row button accordion.

Reference
Miller, Francis Trevelyan. "The Photographic History of the Civil War (Volume 6: The Navy)." The Perseus Digital Library.
    Monday, May 19, 2008 7:42:24 PM. Tufts University, Medford, MA. 19 May 2008
    <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2001.05.0111%3>
    (If that URL doesn't work try <http://tinyurl.com/43hy96>.)

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 14 Apr 12 - 09:07 PM

There's another great painting:

FOC'S'LE DAYS, Anton Otto Fisher, published by Charles Scribner's Sons, NY, © 1947, p. 43

Which show a scene of fo's'c'le singing, including a melodeon, guitar and even a 5-string banjo. Fischer was actually a tall-ship sailor who went to sea in the early 1900s.

If you provide me an e-mail address via PM I'd be happy to send you an image of the painting. Of course you'd have to become a Mudcat member to send me a PM but its a free membership, and the only downside is answering questions like your own! ;)

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 14 Apr 12 - 08:58 PM

"Music at Sea" has several images of sailors playing melodeons, as I recall. I'll see if I can find my copy tomorrow, unless someone finds their copy first.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 14 Apr 12 - 03:30 PM

As a player of anglo and melodeon what does piss me off is films and adverts with an actor holding a concertina and the audio track is obviously from an organ or a piano accordion. Okay so the actor is only acting but at least let the sound be of the actual instrument.

deja vu alert.

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 14 Apr 12 - 03:06 PM

I doubt very much if Bob ever took his melodeon aboard, apart from to pose for a photo for his books or an LP cover. He had too much sense. On the other hand that very clever chap Nigel Chippindale ruined a perfectly good set of reeds playing on the pleasure boats out of Bridlington.

No, the only time melodeons went aboard was when the ship sank and the sharks came aboard with them. 'And the sharks they played melodeons at the bottom of the sea............tra la'

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Manitas_at_home
Date: 14 Apr 12 - 02:57 PM

Bob Roberts was a famous melodeon player who spent much of his life working on Thames sailing barges. He made some deep sea voyages as well but I'm not sure if he was playing melodeon at the time.

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 14 Apr 12 - 02:21 PM

I've seen photos of melodeons/accordeons of different types in the hands of sailors posing on deck, but to what extent these are merely props I couldn't say. Musical instruments were very often used as props by 19thc photographers. There is a book something like 'Music at Sea' which would have some evidence if there is any.

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 14 Apr 12 - 01:50 PM

Try this for the parallel case of the Anglo concertina:

Dan Worrall: The Concertina at Sea

His sources and research methods should get you started.

Subject: RE: Melodeons on board ships?
From: Marje
Date: 14 Apr 12 - 01:15 PM

I can't say I've ever come across instances of the melodeon being used on a ship. Concertinas, yes; they were used on ships, but you can see that they'd be much more portable and easy to store than melodeons. You can certainly use a melodeon to much the same effect as a concertina for accompaying shanties, but I don't know if it was ever used much at sea. Sorry not to be more help.

Marje

Subject: Melodeons on board ships?
From: GUEST,DevonSmudge
Date: 14 Apr 12 - 01:01 PM

Retired and back to college as a "mature" student. Started a study on Melodeons, involving some basic tuition on playing the instrument, my aim being to use it to accompany myself singing some of the slower and plaintive sea songs and forebitters I've come across. The study also involves an essay on instruments played on the old sailing ships, but although hearing general talk on the subject I'm drawing a blank on coming across actual evidence , (text or pictures), of factual players. Can anybody help please? or point me in the right direction. Thanks!