The harmonium and carols from the service at St Mark's Church, Ninebanks. Happy Christmas!
3tynespodcastShow Notes
Today’s episode takes a look at the harmonium in the setting where we are probably most likely to hear it: the parish church. The harmonium is the largest instrument of its type – essentially, a keyboard mounted in a wooden box that contains the movements and reeds. It may be a plain, portable box the size of a suitcase or a large and elaborate organ-like structure that you could imagine in a Victorian concert hall, or anything in between. It became common in small churches during a period when influential voices felt that the music in services was too rough and ready, particularly so in the case of fiddlers, and it was part of a movement to raise standards, as they saw it, by replacing musicians from the community. You’ll hear that two pillars that once supported the gallery in St John’s Church in Whitfield were removed and are now part of a cottage; this would have been the part of the church where musicians performed. The arrival of the harmonium seems like the introduction of AI these days. Vic Gammon has written a very interesting account of these events, which I will link in the show notes. In this episode, I talk to Sarah Blackett-Ord about the harmonium in St John’s Church. Next, a lucky chance to chat with folk musician Janice Burns about the floor harmonium as the chairs are noisily packed away after their recent gig in Allendale Village Hall. Janice and Jon Doran played a lovely set of winter tunes and one of these, Dunston Lullaby, is a beautiful example of how the harmonium can augment a traditional song. Finally, I talk to Ros Ronaldson, who plays the harmonium during services in St Mark’s Church in Ninebanks. We then join the congregation for their Christmas service to hear the harmonium in its most familiar setting: supporting a rural community in song. I’d like to thank Sarah, the Church Warden at Whitfield, and Ros for their help with this episode; Dorothy Summers and Marina Wallace, the Church Wardens at Ninebanks; and the Reverend Dr Martin Naylor and the congregation of St Mark’s Church for inviting me and my family to join their Christmas service and record the carols. There is an excellent video about the history of the harmonium on YouTube: You can find music by Janice Burns and Jon Doran on Bandcamp and the usual streaming platforms. Their website is www.janandjon.com and they are on Instagram and Facebook. Vic Gammon’s essay The Rise and Fall of the West Gallery: popular religious music in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries is in The Routledge Companion to English Folk Performance https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Companion-to-English-Folk-Performance/Harrop-Roud/p/book/9781032021966 ‘The Catterwauling Scrapes of Thrashing Fidlers’: English and Welsh Vernacular Fiddle Players 1600-1900’ will be published by The Ballad Partners in 2026 in a book of essays. You can watch the 2025 carol service at St Marks Church on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/live/8zd7FOVCxug?si=NF61ystzNhsALIhx
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