Cotswold morris Dancers generally prefer to dance to music from one or two musicians. Border, North West, and Molly dancers may have a whole band of musicians - or even a brass band.
The pipe and tabor is the old, and more traditional instrument for morris dances and appears in many old illustrations. It is still favoured by several aficionados.
Melodeons did not appear until the nineteenth century. but today, morris music is often played on a variety of "free-reed" instruments - accordion, melodeon and concertina.
The fiddle was the other popular instrument, and still is in the right hands. Underneath is a 'photo of Headington Quarry Morris Men - dancing Bean Setting to their fiddle player ....... in 189? When Cecil Sharpe came upon HQMM on Boxing Day 1899, their music was provided by William Kimber playing a concertina.
