Music has always been present in my life. My Mother was a professional musician and in fact was able to play the piano ever before she learned to read music. She was born in 1909 in a small rural town and there was no radio available in those days so the only music she heard, other than what was available locally, was the music of travelling shows and the circus when it came to town. I remember her telling me that she would stand outside the local hall when a show was on and listen to the music. She had the gift of being able to remember it from one listening and then playing it on the piano. Unfortunately she did not have a piano at home but a neighbour did and very kindly allowed her to visit to play and practice. Eventually she earned money playing the piano and was able to afford to take professional lessons in her school with help from her Mother. This worked out well and she learned the theory of and to read music. Eventually she taught music and played in a local dance band. Another interesting facet of her musical career was that she played in the local cinema while the 'silent' movies were being shown. When you think about it this was an amazing situation. The theory was that when the 'cans' of film arrived by rail and were brought to the cinema the sheet music to accompany the showing of the films would be included. It was then expected that some local musician, usually a pianist, would 'sight' read this music and play the various pieces at the appropriate time during the showing of the film. This would be done usually without any rehearsal, certainly the film would not be shown privately for the pianist to play through the music and time would probably not allow the pianist to have a day or so to 'learn' the music as time was money and the rental on the films was by the day. What nearly always happened in my Mother's case was that when the film arrived the sheet music would be missing. After all Lismore, being a small town, was at the far end of the distribution chain and the music was 'lost' at earlier points. This meant that my Mother, and many other people in other towns and villages, had to improvise and play music from her own repertoire. I remember he telling me that she would play slow tunes during the 'romantic' interludes and have some 'creepy' music for the scary parts. Then when the chase was on, the cops going after the robbers or the U.S. Army going after the 'Indians' she would play 'galloping' music. It was a job for her but from her telling of it she enjoyed it as much as if she was in the audience. What is really amazing is that in those days of no radio, no television and 'silent' movies there were people, such as my Mother, who had the ability to provide the music. In Lismore alone I could name three other people who could have done what my Mother did and there could have been others. There is almost a sequel to this story. About a year ago I was listening to a radio programme called 'Sunday Miscellany' and a contributor from the Dublin area told his story. It was that some years previously he was 'clearing out' his late Father's house on his death and among other things he came across a suitcase full of music. He opened it and went through it and to his amazement it was full of the musical scores for silent films. He knew that his Father had played the piano in a local cinema in the 'silent' days. It now appears that his Dad 'took the music home' after the show. I would have loved to have had the name and address of the storyteller. I would have written to him to tell him that his Father's 'acquisitiveness' had impinged, probably, on my Mother and probably drove her to heights of 'creativity'. I now feel that I know where the missing music resides.
The cinema where my Mother played was on the South Mall, not very far from where she lived, and was set up by Cyril Hynes, a Veterinary Surgeon who practised in Lismore and surrounding areas. A son of his, Murt Hynes, who also became a Veterinary Surgeon, was well known for his work in the Department of Agriculture. I don't know when this cinema ceased as a business, long before my memory, but another cinema was started on Parkes Road. This cinema was run by Dan Healy. Not so amazing you say but this man was a Medical Doctor with a large practice in the Lismore area. I think it is quite amazing to think that the two cinemas in Lismore in those days were both started and run by practicioners in Medicine.
My earliest recollections are of the local band practicing in my home. These were all talented and very musical people in their own right but none of them could read music and had to learn everything off by rote. Some of them had developed a nomenclature of their own and made notes in this manner for each of the tunes in their repertoire. This fascinated my Mother as it was rather naive but it worked quite well. The instruments they played, as far as I can remember were a banjo, violin and piano accordion. A funny mixture by anyone’s standards but such was the talent and instruments available.
I suppose it is true to say that I was brought up on the music of tin pan ally and always enjoyed it, as did my Father. Dad was not a musician but loved to sit in the evenings and to listen to Mom play the piano. Although I never saw him dance I was told that he was a very good ballroom dancer. While virtually tone deaf he had a very good sense of rhythm and loved rhythmic music like dance music and marches. I suppose he rarely got to dance with my Mother, as she would have been providing the music on the 'old johanna'. Dad was an admirer of Fred Astaire and he probably saw every movie in which Fred starred that was shown in Lismore. Of course Fred was almost a local. His sister, Adele, was married to Lord Charles who owned Lismore Castle. I think that he was the brother of the Duke of Devonshire who owns quite a large part of London. Fred visited Lismore on a number of occasions and mingled with the locals on the streets and got to know many of them by name. I suspect that Dad may have met Fred too. The years during the War and after were rather turbulent years politically and I suspect that the local Gárdaí would be advised of any visitors to the Castle and would afford them a degree of security. This would have been within Dad's remit and he would have had prior notice of their coming. He was always extremely discreet about such matters and never spoke of them at home.
As I mentioned above Dad was tone deaf but liked music of a rhythmic nature. One of the many recollections that I have of those musical evenings of probably sixty years ago was of Dad asking Mom to play "Brian Boru's March". Brian Boru was the last high King of Ireland and his centre of power was in Kincora, not too far from where Dad grew up in East Co. Clare. Mom did not know this tune and she would ask Dad to hum a bit of it. He couldn't of course but he would say to her to 'play a few Irish marches and if one sounds like it I will stop you'. It never happened and his request eventually became a source of mild amusement. We never heard the march and it wasn't until many years later, when both Mom and Dad had died, that I first heard Brian Boru's March and every time I hear it now it transports me back to those musical evenings at home with Mom on the piano and Dad and myself listening and enjoying her playing. I'd like to share that tune with you, just click on 'Play'.
Of course tin pan ally was not the only music that I heard as a child as my Mother had studied the classics in the course of her musical education. So Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Chopin, John Field, Bartok, Grieg, Tchaikovsky and many more were familiar names to me as was their music. To this day I get great enjoyment from this type of music and must recommend that you listen to the Nocturnes of John Field. John Field was an Irishman and is credited with the 'invention' of the nocturne, a form adopted by Chopin who wrote many nocturnes of his own. I regularly listen to Beethoven's 'Emperor' Piano Concerto and to Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor Op. 16 which I absolutely love. Another Piano Concerto that I love is Rachmaninov's No. 2 in C minor Op. 18. It is no wonder that the piano is such a significant instrument in my life. Reference is made to my Mother in an extremely interesting book written by Paddy Vaughan of Lismore. The title of this book is 'The last Forge in Lismore'. I have a copy of the book and value it very much as I personally know Paddy and met up with him a couple of years ago and had a very interesting chat. I will refer again to Paddy in my section about Lismore. I also know his son Pádraig, who is a Celtic Scholar. Paddy, in his book refers to my Mother as Eileen O'Connor as that was her name before she married Dad. They married on the 12th of June, 1933. I now wear Dad's wedding ring since his death on the 4th of January, 1963. I'm sure that he approves.
Phil Hopkins
Who is Phil Hopkins? Well, Thomas and George call him Daddy! Phil is a professional musician and works in London mostly. His music takes him to many venues where he can be found playing a variety of music. He usually spends the Summer season in Shakespeare's Globe on the South Bank. In the Autumn and Winter he plays in West End shows. In between he fills his time with teaching, arranging music, composing when commissioned to and performing at private parties with his Jazz Trio. I would like you to listen to a track from his latest CD. The CD is called 'The Classic Harmonica Collection' and is published on the 'Castle Pulse' label in association with Suzuki Harmonicas. The catalogue number is PLS CD 581. Why not contact your favourite local radio station and request they play a track for you; you could also contact the music department of your local library and ask them to stock the CD for general borrowing. Click the 'Play' button below, or click on the picture of the CD cover, to hear Track 02 of the CD. This track is called 'Almost Like Being in Love'
Phil can be contacted by email but I will not disclose his address here. I will forward any email for him. If you would like to purchase a copy of the CD for yourself he will help you. Phil is a very busy person, a lot of his time is taken travelling to and from London where most of his musical performances are. However in the past several months he has made the time to write a novel. This novel is based in Ireland and we should take that as a compliment. Phil knows Ireland very well having been here many times over the years. He is now engaged in getting a literary agent or publisher to publish his book and this would be a great achievement. I have already read the book in first draft form and I must say that the story is very well crafted. It is the sort of book that just leads you on from page to page making it difficult to 'put down'. There are numerous characters in it and very many twists to the plot. I enjoyed is so much that I have actually read it twice and am looking forward to having an autographed hard copy of it some day. So, any of you out there who are in the publishing business or have contacts therein I know a book waiting to be published. The name of the story is 'The Project', the plot will only be revealed to 'cash customers'! Have been chatting to Phil recently about his first book, The Project, and it is currently with an/his literary Agent. This agent has been showing the draft of the story to some publishers and initial 'refusals' have been polite and constructive. It may be just a matter of getting the right publisher on the right day. This is not unusual for a first effort and he now has a second book roughed out. I am looking forward to reading that, even in draft form. In the meantime you can read the first chapter of Phil's book by downloading the zipped version of it from this site. Just click on The Project and the file will download. Unzip it and read it. Remarks will be passed to Philip if they are favourable enough!