You Can't Play Irish Music On A 26-Key?

[Stephen Chambers]

I've been fixing concertinas for Irish players for longer than I care to admit to, and though the perceived needs of (at least some) players have got ever-more demanding in recent years, I've been astonished at what prospective purchasers have been told in the past week about a 26-key Lachenal that I have for sale:

 

Players and parents upgrading from a cheap beginner's 30-key to a "proper concertina" (with concertina reeds) are attracted by the reasonable price (which is only 2/3 of what you'd have to pay for the corresponding 30-key), but teachers are telling them "You can't play Irish music on a 26-key, you need at least 30 keys!" (Even though they're barely using half the notes on the starter one they've got already.)

 

Yet there never used to be any problem selling 26-key Anglos to Irish players and I've come across a good few, over the years, happily playing on 26 keys, including Terry Bingham (Dipper), Mary Flaherty (Lachenal), and Cormac Begley (with a recently acquired Jeffries), and Jacqueline McCarthy has played a much-admired 2-row, 24-key Wheatstone all her life.

 

Meanwhile, I'm told Noel Hill tells people they don't need more than 30 buttons...

 

At this rate, I may end up converting the 26-key into a 30-key (the chambering is already there for it!) and selling it for 50% more, but that seems downright wasteful with what should be a more-affordable instrument.

Edited November 15, 2016 by Stephen Chambers

[Jack Campin]

The vast majority of Irish tunes fit in the effective range of a whistle - D below the treble staff to B above it. I make that 19 notes.

 

Add 7 more at the bottom and you have the first position range of a fiddle (down to G). It's daft to incur more weight and expense to go beyond that.

[Stephen Chambers]

So "You Can't Play Irish Music On A 26-Key?*

 

Here's Terry Bingham doing just that:

 

Christy Barry, Terry Binghman, Kevin Griffin and Eoin O'Neill, Irish music

 

Christy Barry, Terry Bingham, Kevin Griffin and Eoin O'Neill 2

[BW77]

So "You Can't Play Irish Music On A 26-Key?*

Here's Terry Bingham doing just that:

and even more...as far as I can see ( and hear? ) on these videos he would do just as well with a 20-key...!?

Something to consider when looking at instrument "qualities"....

[nicx66]

The chord chart I have been using illustrates your point perfectly Steven anglo concertina chords.

[Dana Johnson]

You sacrifice very little with a 26 button, certainly not enough to get in the way of playing 99% of Irish music. I have been playing ITM for more than 40 years, 22 on the concertina and had a 26 button Bb/F Jeffries that I could play anything on. I do regularly use all thirty buttons, but only because I am always looking for getting the phrasing right, and I like to add a bit of color with a few chords now and then. The extra notes improve those possibilities.

I think a 26 is a great concertina for someone's first proper concertina. The problem is the teachers not the instrument. Unfortunately they can be a powerful influence for good or bad.

Incidentally, I had a chance to trade plus a little extra cash the 26 button Bb/F for a 30 button Bb/F Jeffries. The 26 played and sounded better. I didn't do the trade and the money wasn't the issue. I wouldn't have traded it for the 30 even at no cost.

Dana