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John Willis Tunes Project

In January 2020 the club met to record a set of five tunes written by one of our members, John Willis, selected from hundreds John had written for concertina over many years. The project began in 2017 to celebrate the club's 25th anniversary - it was founded in November 1992. John was one of our founder members, and a prolific tunesmith, and it felt right that we celebrate our jubilee by selecting our favourite five tunes to share with the wider concertina community. It took more than 18 months to decide on our final selection, and we asked our Duet player Steve Griffiths to arrange them for us. This section contains links to the recordings made in January by the YCC band, and also of John playing his compositions for us. You will find here copies of John's scores for his tunes, and also Steve's arrangements, with their kind permission, for you to play along to the tracks. Sadly, John passed away on 2nd July 2020, and the club feels very honoured to have been able to capture his music and share it here. The International Concertina Club carried a feature article about our recording project in the July 2020 edition of its magazine Concertina World (Issue 482, 19.7.20), and we also reproduce here a copy of this article for you to enjoy.

Larpool Hall

A trip to Whitby inspired this tune. "I was walking back from the Middle Earth Pub one night when it came to me. Larpool Hall was on the top of the hill, and I could see it as I was walking back to my digs. I jutted the tune down as soon as I got in so that I wouldn't forget it."
Click here to listen to Larpool Hall performed by the YCC Band
Click here to download the band score of Larpool Hall
File Size: 93 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Click here to listen to John Willis playing Larpool Hall
Click here to download John's original score
File Size: 687 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Bernie the Ragtime Ferret

Bernie was a ferret who lived in an old shed at the bottom of John's garden. "We found out he was quite sociable and he liked a cup a tea. He was a real comic. We would bring him into the house on an evening, and he licked the back of my neck whenever I started playing concertina!" The tune was originally written for banjo but works well for concertina and is a favourite of the YCC's - if only for its unusual title.
Click here to listen to Bernie the Ragtime Ferret performed by the YCC Band
Click here do download the band score of Bernie the Ragtime Ferret
File Size: 133 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Click here to listen to John Willis playing Bernie the Ragtime FerretButton Text
Click here to download John's original score
File Size: 690 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Old Jock's Dance

Old Jock was an engineer at the power station in Mexborough where John worked. He had been in the merchant navy and had plenty of stories to tell. When he died, John wrote this jaunty tune in memory of him, as he felt it captured his spirit just right.
Click here to listen to Old Jock's Dance performed by the YCC Band
Click here to download the band score of Old Jock's Dance
File Size: 70 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Click here to listen to Old Jock's Dance performed by John Willis
Click here to download John's original score
File Size: 414 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Shannon Waters

John said he enjoyed holidays in Ireland and this tune reminded him of some of the rivers he had visited there.
Click here to listen to Shannon Waters performed by the YCC Band
Click here to download the band score of Shannon Waters
File Size: 64 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Click here to listen to John Willis playing Shannon Waters
Click here to download John's original score
File Size: 1639 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

The Little Mouse

The Little Mouse: this tune was written for a friend who had bought a piccolo banjo, and John said it just came to him while he was driving home.
Click here to listen to The little Mouse performed by the YCC Band
Click here to download the band score of The Little Mouse
File Size: 61 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Click here to listen to John Willis playing The Little Mouse
Click here to download John's original score
File Size: 1059 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File


If you would like to download some or all of the tunes to play when you are offline, or even to make a CD of them, click on the links below. John's version of the tunes start with 'jw', the band's version start with 'ycc'. All tunes are in MP3 format.
jw_bernie.zip
File Size: 2529 kb
File Type: zip
Download File

ycc_bernie.zip
File Size: 6001 kb
File Type: zip
Download File

jw_larpool_hall.zip
File Size: 3186 kb
File Type: zip
Download File

ycc_larpool_hall.zip
File Size: 6912 kb
File Type: zip
Download File

jw_little_mouse.zip
File Size: 2089 kb
File Type: zip
Download File

ycc_little_mouse.zip
File Size: 6496 kb
File Type: zip
Download File

jw_old_jocks_dance.zip
File Size: 1168 kb
File Type: zip
Download File

ycc_old_jocks_dance.zip
File Size: 3070 kb
File Type: zip
Download File

jw_shannon_waters.zip
File Size: 2234 kb
File Type: zip
Download File

ycc_shannon_waters.zip
File Size: 4726 kb
File Type: zip
Download File

Click here to access a file on Dropbox which contains all the above files plus WAV files of the band recordings, should you wish to create an actual audio CD of those tunes. John did not supply WAV versions of his own recordings. You should then be able to download this file. Using suitable software, you should also be able create WAV versions of John's tunes, should you wish to do so.

Feature about our Special Project as published in Concertina World, July 2020 (Edition 482)

(Note, the hyperlink to the ICA website as mentioned below is inactive as this is an ICA members-only area)
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