View source for Jim 'Brick' Harber

'''Jim ‘Brick’ Harber:''' was not truly a [[Sussex]] man, having been born in Worcesteshire and moved to Tilgate Forest with his gamekeeper father when he was about six years old.&nbsp; He spent most of his working life as a charcoal-burner and in other timber-related trades in the Forest, but also worked for the Electricity Board in later years.&nbsp; [[Bob Lewis]] remembers that the Harber family [like the Testers] had a brickyard and also a sawmill in the area between Crawley Down, Three Bridges and Worth.&nbsp; Old Perce Harber ran it and it eventually became a sort of industrial estate.&nbsp; Bob had a workshop in that yard, and through the connection also came to know Pop’s son Andy Maynard - “They were all in the building trade or they did itinerant sort of jobs.”

Brick’s speaking voice had no trace of a Midlands accent in later life, but his singing style was quite unlike the typical Wealden stereotype, particularly when singing his father’s songs.&nbsp; Jim Ward remembers that he used to sing in the Three Bridges pubs, but lived in Pease Pottage - and thinks that he had a little van that he used to travel around in.&nbsp; He had a deep voice and always tried out the notes before he started a song.

He had a ‘large repertoire’ according to Mervyn Plunkett, and four of his songs: ''The Bold Privateer, The Haymakers, ‘Twas in the Year of 1835'' and ''Tom Block'' were published in Ethnic vol.1 no.2, Spring 1959.

He also had an unusual quirk (shared with [[Bob Scarce]]) of singing certain notes ‘off-pitch’ - at least in terms of what the modern ear, attuned to the tempered scale, expects.&nbsp; He had a natural ability to sustain quarter tones and even smaller intervals extremely accurately throughout a long song, so that there was seldom any difference in pitch between the first and last verses.&nbsp; This is a very rare thing in unaccompanied singing.

Brick died in May 1960 after many years of ill-health.&nbsp; These songs are possibly the last he recorded.


--[[User:RodStradling|RodStradling]] 17:39, 26 March 2007 (BST)