Beginners’ Guides:
English Instrumental Folk Music

Instruments

English instrumental folk music can be played on any instrument. There are some instruments that have a long association with English folk music, e.g. the pipe and tabor have been used since medieval times, and the concertina since the 1820s. However, nowadays an increasingly diverse range of instruments can be heard, including instruments such as the cajon, saxophone, clarinet, tabla, harmonium and electric guitar.

Instruments vary in the range of notes they can make. Some are fully chromatic (meaning they have all the flat and sharp notes as well as the naturals) and can play tunes in a variety of keys. Other instruments are what is known as diatonic, which means they are limited to one or two scales, restricting the choice of tunes available to the player. However, the limitations of some instruments also encourage invention and creativity in how much can be played on them.

Below you can find a variety of instruments that are more commonly associated with playing English instrumental folk music.

Fiddle

The fiddle is no different in design to the classical violin, instead it is the technique and style of playing folk music on it that makes it a fiddle. The fiddle has been associated with folk music for many centuries. It is usually tuned the same as a classical violin (GDAE) but occasionally a player might decide to use a different tuning such as GDAD or ADAE. Recently there has been an increase in popularity of the cello and viola in folk music too.

Melodeon

Like all members of the accordion family, the melodeon has a set of bellows in the middle of the instrument, which pump air through banks of reeds. They have buttons (often in two rows) on the right-hand side providing the melody, and fewer buttons on the left-hand side, which provide bass notes and chords.

The main difference relative to the more common piano accordion is that the notes are different depending on whether the bellows are being pushed or pulled by the player.

The rhythmic effect of this push-pull action creates a liveliness which is well suited to dance music, although it can also be played in a smoother style, which works well accompanying songs. Melodeons are usually in the keys of D/G (or sometimes C/F) in England but appear in other keys when they are played in Europe and the rest of the world.

The melodeon is sometimes referred to as the diatonic accordion, diatonic meaning it plays in a fixed musical scale.

Piano accordion

Piano-Accordion – photo by Henry Doktorski, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

The piano accordion has a set of bellows with a piano keyboard on the right-hand side, and plenty of buttons offering bass notes and chords on left hand side. Accordions are fully chromatic (they include all the sharp and flat notes as well as naturals). Unlike the melodeon, the notes on the piano accordion don’t change when the bellows change directions.

Piano accordions are very versatile and have become popular in lots of different kinds of music, including classical, jazz and folk music from other parts of the world.

Concertina – English, Duet and Anglo

Concertinas are a small instrument in the accordion family and are usually hexagonal or octagonal in shape.

The English concertina was invented in the 1820s. It has a set of bellows with buttons on either side that play the same note whether they are pushed or pulled. 

The Anglo concertina was invented in the 1830s. It has a set of bellows, with buttons on either side that play different notes when they are pushed or pulled. This type of concertina is very popular in Ireland.

The Duet concertina plays the same note on the push or pull like the English concertina but has lower notes on the left hand and higher notes on the right-hand side for a more piano-like arrangement.

Guitar

The standard guitar is commonly played in English folk music. It is often played in standard tuning (EADGBE) or sometimes alternative tunings such as DADGAD or CGCDGA. These tunings are known as open tunings; they are rooted in one key which creates a resonant sound as you can leave strings ringing.

Mandolin, Mandola and Bouzouki

Blue comet mandolin – photo by Ken Mayer, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

These are all fretted instruments with doubled strings (pairs of strings sounding the same note), that are quite often used in English folk music.

The mandolin and mandola are modern members of the lute family, whose origins can be traced back to the Arab oud, which was introduced to Europe during the Middle Ages. The mandolin is usually tuned the same as a fiddle (GDAE) and the mandola usually the same as a viola or cello (CGDA).

The bouzouki originates from Greece and Turkey where it evolved from ancient instruments called thabouras. It was introduced to Irish folk music by Johnny Moynihan in the 1960s, where it evolved into what is known as the Irish Bouzouki.

All three of these instruments commonly have a teardrop shape with a round back, although they come in lots of variations.

Percussion

Many different instruments are used to add and enhance rhythm within folk music.  Some of these instruments include:

• Spoons - ordinary metal or wooden spoons that are placed back-to-back and usually bounced between your hand and knee
• Bones - in their original form a pair of animal bones, but now more often made of wood, they are held between fingers and shaken to produce rhythms
• Various drums - Bodhran, drum kit, cajon, djembe
• Triangle (similar to an orchestral triangle, but sometimes made of iron)
• Tambourines
• Percussive dance or dance steps are increasingly being used as a musical instrument, such as clog stepping (danced hard wooden soled shoes) or other forms of step dancing.

Bagpipes

Leicestershire Smallpipes - photo and pipes by Julian Goodacre.

Some of the earliest records of the bagpipe are from England in the 13th century, and they seem to have been widely played in England in the coming centuries.

There have been various types of bagpipe played in England, but the main ones that are still played today are:

• Northumbrian Pipes: developed in the North East towards the end of the 18th century. These are quiet pipes, where the air is pumped in through a set of bellows attached to the player’s arm.
• Lowland and Border Pipes: played in the North of England and the Lowlands of Scotland from the 17th to the 19th centuries. Border Pipes are currently undergoing a renaissance
• Leicestershire Small Pipes: this instrument has been reconstructed from historical records and made by pipemaker Julian Goodacre since the 1980s
• Cornish Double Pipes: there are records of this instrument from 12th century onwards and in recent years it has been reconstructed

Flutes/Recorders and whistles

Flutes, recorders, whistles and similar woodwind instruments have been played in English folk music for hundreds of years. The Irish and Scottish style of playing this type of instrument and its associated ornamentation style (musical decoration), has become more dominant in recent decades, but they are still commonly played in English folk music.

Pipe and tabor 

Library of Congress photo of pipe & tabor belonging to morris musician Thomas Humphries (1806-1886) of Oxfordshire. Public domain

Usually played by one player, the pipe and tabor combination has been used in folk music since medieval times. The pipe has mouthpiece at the top and, unlike recorders and tin whistles, it has only 3 holes that you can play with your fingers. This allows the musician to hold and play the pipe with one hand, whilst beating out a rhythm on the tabor (drum) with the other hand. The pipe and tabor are not very commonly seen and are mainly played with dance teams.

Banjo

Although the banjo is often associated with American music, it is now widely regarded as an instrument of West African origin. It is thought to have evolved from fretless lutes made with gourds that travelled to the Americas during the trade of enslaved African people. During its heyday in the 19th century, the banjo was very popular internationally and huge numbers were made and played in the UK in classical banjo bands and even banjo orchestras. It is played in many different styles, which reflects its complex international history, but has been associated with folk music on both sides of the Atlantic for a long time.

Hammered dulcimer

Hammered Dulcimer - photo by Jim McKenna, public domain

A percussion-stringed instrument made from strings stretched over a trapezoid shaped soundboard, which are played with small wooden ‘hammers’. Originating in the Middle East in 600 BC, there are many related instruments in different parts of the world, and it seems to have been played in England since the middle ages.

Other popular instruments include:

• Harp
• Harmonica
• Jews/Jaw harp
• Viola
• Cello
• Harmonium