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Garland Films presents

“Reuben Shaw—Duet Concertina Player”

Barry Callaghan

Introduction

Reuben Shaw is the former superintendent of Eastwood Cemetery, near Nottingham, UK (the resting place of the novelist D. H. Lawrence), and latterly a nurseryman nearby. He has been passionately involved with the concertina for most of his long life. Born in 1913, he initially took up the English Concertina; but upon hearing the Maccann Duet concertina played by William Sutherland—brother of the legendary Alexander Prince, and from whom Reuben took early lessons—he decided that this was the only instrument for him. Throughout the second half of the twentieth century he has been a leading exponent of the instrument, a founding member of the International Concertina Association, and a tireless and generous worker in encouraging later generations of players. He celebrated his 90th birthday in 2003.

On 7 February 1987, Barry Callaghan of Garland Films with fieldworker Graham Coyne filmed a lengthy interview and demonstration, in which Reuben Shaw talks about his life and music. He discusses some of the great performers on the concertina, illustrating his stories with recordings on Edison cylinders and on reel-to-reel tape. He discusses his learning experiences with the Duet concertina, how difficult it was (leading him at one point to sell his Duet concertina back to Wheatstone) but how he was encouraged by J. A. Travers to buy a 46-key Maccann Duet and to resume his studies. (There is a scanned copy of the original letter from which encouraged Shaw to take up the Maccann Duet again.) He found Henry Stanley through the publication Accordion World, and was able to get personalized musical arrangements for Duet. (There is a scanned copy of the letter with Stanley's address.) Reuben Shaw shows part of his collection of nearly 700 arrangements by Henry Stanley and plays from them; for most of these, there are also links to scanned manuscripts of those same arrangements written by Stanley, so you can follow along the manuscript as Reuben Shaw plays. He also mentions that Stanley's manuscript tutor for the Maccann Duet is little known, but he considers it excellent, and a link is provided to another manuscript copy of this tutor similar to Reuben Shaw's.

This film has been available from Garland Films on PAL VHS tapes for some time, but now the entire film is available on this website and is available on worldwide-format DVD from Garland Films.

The film available from this website is divided into ten clips, which together contain the whole film. It is available at two quality levels: (1) 320 x 240 pixels (and higher quality), which can be streamed over most broadband connections (250K bits per second or higher) such as DSL or Cable; or (2) 160 x 120 pixels (smaller and also lower quality), which can be streamed over most dial-up connections (30K bits per second or higher). Click on the appropriate link for each clip, and your computer should open the Windows Media Player and play the clip for you, with minimal waiting.

If that does not work smoothly, then it will be best to download each video file first to your hard disk before viewing it, and then watch it from your own computer rather than over the internet. Especially on a dial-up connection this will be more satisfactory, but anyone who wants to see a clip more than once should probably download it to save time and to have a personal copy. Note that even over a slow dial-up connection you can download the "broadband" high-quality version and then view it at the higher quality on your computer from your hard disk. To download a file at either quality level, right-click on its link and choose “Save Target As …”. There is a link at the bottom of this page to download the entire film as a single file at broadband quality, a very large file which will take some time to download. After downloading, you will need a version of Windows Media Player installed to watch the video.

Although these digital clips of the film are as good as can be practically streamed over the current internet, they still fall short of the visual and sound quality of the original film. If you want to have a high-quality version of this film, a DVD of it can be ordered from Garland Films (information below).

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          Reuben Shaw—Duet Concertina Player, Clip 01

by Barry Callaghan

Introduction to Reuben Shaw’s Duet and English concertinas; Reuben Shaw buys his first English concertina for £5 and “begins to make headway”. Video file in Windows Media format. Time 04 mins 31 secs.

Posted 22 January 2005

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          Reuben Shaw—Duet Concertina Player, Clip 02

by Barry Callaghan

Reuben Shaw demonstrates the English concertina, playing "Under the Double Eagle" as he did before he switched to the Maccann Duet, "little knowing that no man living could play it properly". Video file in Windows Media format. Time 01 mins 48 secs.

Posted 22 January 2005

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          Reuben Shaw—Duet Concertina Player, Clip 03

by Barry Callaghan

Shaw plays an Edison cylinder of Alexander Prince,"The Butterfly,” heard in his youth. Prince's brother plays "Colonel Bogey" for him, and he switches to Duet because "no English player could hope to do anything like it!". Video file in Windows Media format. Time 05 mins 16 secs.

Posted 22 January 2005

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          Reuben Shaw—Duet Concertina Player, Clip 04

by Barry Callaghan

Reuben Shaw plays an old reel-to-reel recording of his friend, Wilfred Pierce, playing the English concertina in fine style in 1956 in a church hall, recorded by Reuben Shaw thirty years before. Video file in Windows Media format. Time 05 mins 49 secs.

Posted 22 January 2005

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          Reuben Shaw—Duet Concertina Player, Clip 05

by Barry Callaghan

Shaw buys a Maccann duet from Wheatstone, gets almost no lessons from Prince’s brother, struggles with its difficulty. Shaw plays a song learned early, “How Great Thou Art”. Video file in Windows Media format. Time 05 mins 23 secs.

Posted 22 January 2005

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          Reuben Shaw—Duet Concertina Player, Clip 06

by Barry Callaghan

Shaw lacks any good Duet music, makes little progress, and sells his Duet back to Wheatstone. He is encouraged by J. A. Travers to buy another Duet, and reads some “Accordion Review” articles leading to founding of the ICA. Video file in Windows Media format. Time 03 mins 49 secs.

Posted 22 January 2005

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          Reuben Shaw—Duet Concertina Player, Clip 07

by Barry Callaghan

Through “Accordion Review” he gets in touch with Henry Stanley of Birmingham, and gets some music arranged for beginners. Shaw plays Henry Stanley’s arrangement of “Love’s Old Sweet Song”. Video file in Windows Media format. Time 03 mins 49 secs.

Posted 22 January 2005

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          Reuben Shaw—Duet Concertina Player, Clip 08

by Barry Callaghan

Shaw learns from Stanley’s music, custom-arranged to each student’s level of difficulty. He shows samples of Stanley’s beautiful musical manuscripts, plays his “Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana”. Video file in Windows Media format. Time 05 mins 36 secs.

Posted 22 January 2005

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          Reuben Shaw—Duet Concertina Player, Clip 09

by Barry Callaghan

Shaw compares a piano version of “Only to See Her Face Again” to Stanley’s arrangement, then plays it and follows with Stanley’s “Because”. Shaw discusses his personal life at the time he began to study concertina. Video file in Windows Media format. Time 06 mins 41 secs.

Posted 22 January 2005

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          Reuben Shaw—Duet Concertina Player, Clip 10

by Barry Callaghan

Sullivan’s “The Lost Chord” was a favorite of Duet players Alexander Prince and Percy Honri. Shaw discusses Stanley’s arrangement and plays it, with a concertinist’s frustration at its complexity: “Sod it!”. Video file in Windows Media format. Time 08 mins 14 secs.

Posted 22 January 2005

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Download the Film in a Single Video File

          Reuben Shaw—Duet Concertina Player

by Barry Callaghan

The entire film of Reuben Shaw discussing and playing his concertinas, showing and playing the music of Henry Stanley, and talking about famous performers. (Includes all 10 clips above, in order.) Right-click and choose “Save Target As …” to save a personal copy of the entire file to your computer. Video file in Windows Media format. Time 50 mins 56 secs.

Posted 22 January 2005

» watch entire video (broadband quality) or right-click to download

How to Order a DVD of “Reuben Shaw—Duet Concertina Player”

Garland Films is making available a DVD of this film. Order direct from Garland Films at the email address below.

Garland Films
is dedicated to the documenting and dissemination of
English Traditional Music, Dance, and Song.
To order a DVD of this film:
Email:
Sheffield UK
Telephone: (national) 0114 266 0143 (international) +44 114 266 0143

Contents

• Garland Films presents “Reuben Shaw—Duet Concertina Player”
• Clip 01
• Clip 02
• Clip 03
• Clip 04
• Clip 05
• Clip 06
• Clip 07
• Clip 08
• Clip 09
• Clip 10
• Download as a single file
• Order a high-quality DVD copy

Links to related documents