Barn Dance Ceilidh Nottingham Bellows Scratchitt & Pluckitt Ceilidh

What are Ceilidhs and Barn dances?

Basically we provide a range of dance tunes, mainly English, Scottish and Irish. A selection of reels and hornpipes(4/4 time) jigs (6/8 time) polkas (2/2 time) waltzes (3/4 time) or slip-jigs (9/8 time). Our caller chooses dances to suit the mood and experience of the dancers. He gives complete and clear instructions to everyone and attempts to make certain that everyone knows what to do. The band watch closely and adjust tempo to help to make sure that everyone is successful.

Between dances the band entertain by playing a wide variety of tunes.

The main instruments we use are:

Melodeon: This is a button accordion, it is not chromatic but uses the keys of G and D in the case of Nick's 2 row model and C in the single row. It works on a push/pull principle (similar to the suck/blow of a mouth organ), making a different note depending if it is being squeezed or pulled. It has less bass notes than a conventional accordion but is capable of producing an extremely punchy type of rhythm, which is very suitable for dancing.

Nick plays a Salterelle, a French instrument.		The Pastourelle II 25 treble buttons in all, set out in a 2 1/2 row pattern. 12 bass buttons complete this walnut instrument. A bass end stop is included to remove the thirds.
He also has a Castagnari, a beautiful Italian instrument.		The Max This is a one row melodeon tuned in C. It is designed primarily for Cajun music and has a fantastic tone. It has 4 voices on the treble side and the reeds are all hand made.