Concertina 1948 – 2024

From South Lanarkshire, Norman was a leading player of the English concertina in the Scottish folk music revival. He was a member of bands Chorda, Easy Club and Jock Tamson’s Bairns and contributed to many special recording, broadcasting, theatrical and artistic projects and performances.

He worked hard to devise an English concertina playing style specially suited to the Scottish traditional repertory as discussed and demonstrated on the tracks below. More recordings will follow in due course.

Bagpipe Marches

Here Norman considers how the English concertina can best handle music from the Highland bagpipe repertory. Recorded by Stuart Eydmann, Glasgow, c2000. Norman’s soft voice has been boosted to make it more audible.

Borders Hornpipe

Demonstrating how the English concertina can suit the performance of music from the Scottish Lowland tradition.

Scottish Dance Music

Norman suggests that while the Anglo-German concertina might be better suited to Scottish dance music, the English concertina can also be highly effective in this regard.

Singer and Jock Tamson’s Bairns colleague Rod Paterson provided this valuable observation on Norman and his distinct playing style:

Norman once told me the reason he chose the concertina was that it was the smallest instrument he could find that played in any key . The drawbacks, however, are the lack of control over attack and tail-off and tone of the notes , crucial for slow airs and song accompaniment. So he developed a style which mitigated these shortcomings by ensuring that no note ended before the next one started . Amazingly it worked , losing the percussive quality. Through all this , he was driven by the question ‘What does the music need ? ‘ , never ‘ What will be popular? ‘and he stuck to his to the end . I was lucky to make music with him.

Norman as a young concertinist.

Studio portrait by Robin Gillanders.

The following four photographs are by Stuart Eydmann:

Norman playing a miniature English concertina made by David Haxton, Glasgow c. 1990.

Norman in a theatre production with writer and presented Billy Kay. Date and photographer unknown.

Performing at Edinburgh Folk Club (?) with Jock Tamson’s Bairns. Date and photographer unknown.

Norman delivering a class on rhythm in traditional music, Edinburgh Youth Gaitherin.

A Wake for Norman Chalmers 28 April 2024

The following photographs are from a gathering of friends to celebrate the life and music of Norman held in Edinburgh on 28 April 2024. Click on each image for the full picture. Photographs by Stuart Eydmann and Jo Miller.