A Guide to Traditional English Folk Instruments

By Understanding Common Motifs in English Folk Tales
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17 Sep 2026

A Guide to Traditional English Folk Instruments

The West Country has always made music with whatever came to hand: a fiddle on a kitchen table in Devon, a melodeon in a Cornish pub, a concertina in a chapel vestry. These instruments carried dance tunes across the moors and hymn tunes up into the gallery, and each has its own way of sitting behind a voice. Here is a practical guide to the five you will meet most often — and how to play them without drowning out the singer.

The Fiddle: The Backbone of the Dance

If one instrument had to carry a whole village hall, it would be the fiddle. In Devon, Somerset and Cornwall it played for reels, jigs and, above all, hornpipes — tunes with a lilt that sits somewhere between three beats and four, and which dancers will forgive almost any wrong note but never a lost rhythm. A single fiddle is loud enough for a room of thirty dancers, which is why so many West Country tune manuscripts are fiddle books and nothing else.

For song accompaniment, the fiddle is at its best when it stops playing the tune. Hold long notes beneath the melody, use open strings as drones, and keep double stops for the ends of phrases. Sit below the singer's range unless they invite you above it, and leave the last two bars of a verse empty so the next one starts clean.

The Melodeon: Breath, Bounce and Bellows

The melodeon — the one-row or two-row squeezebox — arrived in England in the nineteenth century and was cheap, loud and portable, which made it perfect for farm labourers' kitchens and for Morris. On most instruments the same button gives a different note on the push and the pull, so the bellows themselves become part of the rhythm. The tune acquires a bounce that no keyboard can imitate. In a session, the common English keys are G and D.

Under a song, that bounce can be a nuisance. Leave the bass buttons alone unless you are playing an actual dance; the low end fills the room and swallows consonants. Instead, hold one chord per line, change it where the words change, and let the bellows move slowly rather than in strict time. If you can hum the tune while you play the chords, you are probably accompanying well.

The Concertina: Two Very Different Animals

The English concertina gives the same note in both directions and rewards smooth, even playing; the Anglo-German concertina behaves like a melodeon, punchier and more rhythmic. The first found a home in chapels and parlours, where it played hymn tunes and tenor lines beneath a congregation. The second became a Morris instrument and a traveller's companion, small enough to fit in a coat pocket.

As a song accompanist the concertina is gentle and precise. Stay in the middle octave, double the melody only when the singer is confident, and resist the urge to harmonise every note — a single held note under a line of a hymn is often more moving than four. In west gallery music, where village bands and choirs once sang from a church gallery, the essential lines were melody and bass. Think in those terms and the voice will always be heard.

Pipe and Tabor: One Player, Two Hands

The tabor pipe is a short, three-holed whistle played with one hand; the tabor, a small drum, hangs from the wrist or little finger of the other and is struck with a stick. One person therefore supplies melody and rhythm at once — the drum implying the bass that is not there, the pipe cutting through outdoor noise with no amplification at all. It belongs to Morris, to processions and to feast days, and its sound is inseparable from May mornings and town parades.

It is a poor song accompanist and a wonderful tune instrument. Indoors it can dominate a room, so stand to one side, play softly, and never play over a singer's verse. Save it for the chorus, for a walking tune between songs, or for the moment a session moves outside.

The Hurdy-Gurdy: The Wheel That Keeps Turning

The hurdy-gurdy has no bow and no bellows: a rosined wheel turns against the strings, keys stop the melody, and the remaining strings drone. It has a long history — medieval churches, street corners and fairs, then a revival in folk clubs — and its buzzing bridge gives it a snarl that suits modal tunes and old ballads.

Its great gift to a singer is the drone, and its great danger is the same thing. A drone fixes the harmony, so a hymn with shifting chords will fight it. Choose drones and keys that match the mode of the song, and stop the wheel during harmonically busy verses. Played sparingly, it makes a voice sound older, stranger and considerably more interesting.

Playing Behind the Voice

Whatever you play, the same handful of habits will serve you well.

Learn the words. Breathe where the singer breathes and you will never crowd a phrase.
Play in the gaps. Answer the line at the end of a verse; do not decorate it.
Fewer, longer notes. One held note says more than a run of eight.
Mind the octave. Stay below the melody if the singer is strong, and step aside entirely for the last verse.
One instrument at a time. Agree who leads before the song begins.
Watch, don't read. Eyes on the singer tell you more than any chord chart.

None of this is fussiness. It is the same instinct that kept a fiddle player quiet in a Devon kitchen while a carol was sung, and it is the reason these instruments have lasted. Play less, listen more, and the tune — and the voice — will be remembered.

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5 Comments

Robert Sonny says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am

I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
Reply
- John Abraham says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am
  
  I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
  Reply
  - Robert Sonnysays Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am
    
    I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
    Reply
Robert Sonny says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am

I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
Reply

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