Bill N Posted September 22, 2008 Share Posted September 22, 2008 (edited) As I get more comfortable with this new instrument I'm doing a lot more fooling around for my own amusement, and have started to play some favorite modern stuff. Lots of things that I have always played on harmonica (like Neil Young's "Comes a Time"), or always wanted to play on harmonica but didn't have the accidentals (Beatle's Eleanor Rigby for instance) sound great on concertina, and have the added benefit of being more acceptable to my long suffering captive home audience than my strangulated rendition of "Porthole of the Kelp"! A cruise through tune-o-tron and Youtube doesn't reveal much beyond trad music and tin-pan alley stuff for the anglo. (Not that there's anything wrong with that ) Is anyone playing contemporary, popular music and sharing approaches and arrangements? Edited to add: My primary interest is English Traditional Music, but a change is nice once in a while! Edited September 23, 2008 by Bill N Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragtimer Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 As I get more comfortable with this new instrument I'm doing a lot more fooling around for my own amusement, and have started to play some favorite modern stuff. Lots of things that I have always played on harmonica (like Neil Young's "Comes a Time"), or always wanted to play on harmonica but didn't have the accidentals (Beatle's Eleanor Rigby for instance) sound great on concertina, and have the added benefit of being more acceptable to my long suffering captive home audience than my strangulated rendition of "Porthole of the Kelp"! May I assume you're now playing an EC? I just got a trainer (Jack), but my main squeeze for the past 4 years has been a Hayden Duet. A cruise through tune-o-tron and Youtube doesn't reveal much beyond trad music and tin-pan alley stuff for the anglo. (Not that there's anything wrong with that ) Is anyone playing contemporary, popular music and sharing approaches and arrangements? I don't know how contemporary it ranks next to the Beatles et al, but for a couple years I've been playing the jazz standard "Lullaby of Birdland" by George SHearing. It's amazing how well it works out on the Hayden's button setup, with all those diminished chords. Likewise ragtime tunes. Usually only accordionists venture into the jazz world. Edited to add: My primary interest is English Traditional Music, but a change is nice once in a while! And I like the usual trad contradance tunes and Irish airs, including recent dance tuens from Jody Kruskal and the Connecticut River valley (western Mass etc.), but I came to the concertina with no preconceived notions of what to play on it, so I play what I like and what works on the box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill N Posted September 24, 2008 Author Share Posted September 24, 2008 (edited) May I assume you're now playing an EC? I just got a trainer (Jack), but my main squeeze for the past 4 years has been a Hayden Duet.And I like the usual trad contradance tunes and Irish airs, including recent dance tuens from Jody Kruskal and the Connecticut River valley (western Mass etc.), but I came to the concertina with no preconceived notions of what to play on it, so I play what I like and what works on the box. Nope, I am learning on a Rochelle AC, and have just ordered a Morse in GD to play with my Longsword side. I too like to play by ear whatever tune is in my head at the moment, but am looking for some inspiration to go beyond just playing the melody. I have really enjoyed the videos of some of the early jazz standards and late 19th/ early 20th century stuff played by people like Jeff Leffert and Jody Kruskal. Edited September 24, 2008 by Bill N Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pastlifeasakite Posted September 28, 2008 Share Posted September 28, 2008 (edited) agreed Edited September 29, 2008 by pastlifeasakite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m3838 Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 (edited) As I get more comfortable with this new instrument I'm doing a lot more fooling around for my own amusement, and have started to play some favorite modern stuff. Lots of things that I have always played on harmonica (like Neil Young's "Comes a Time"), or always wanted to play on harmonica but didn't have the accidentals (Beatle's Eleanor Rigby for instance) sound great on concertina, and have the added benefit of being more acceptable to my long suffering captive home audience than my strangulated rendition of "Porthole of the Kelp"! A cruise through tune-o-tron and Youtube doesn't reveal much beyond trad music and tin-pan alley stuff for the anglo. (Not that there's anything wrong with that ) Is anyone playing contemporary, popular music and sharing approaches and arrangements? Edited to add: My primary interest is English Traditional Music, but a change is nice once in a while! It's all in French. However it's like asking if anybody playing contemporary pop on C/F Hohner Pokerwork. Hmm. it really all in French, and in G/C. May be you'll like some playing of Göran Rahm. Does anybody have the links? Edited September 29, 2008 by m3838 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill N Posted September 29, 2008 Author Share Posted September 29, 2008 (edited) It's all in French. However it's like asking if anybody playing contemporary pop on C/F Hohner Pokerwork. Hmm. it really all in French, and in G/C. Sorry M3838, I don't understand what you're saying about it all being in French. (I do understand French, however ) Edited September 29, 2008 by Bill N Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 I suspect he might mean 'Greek' or 'Double Dutch' Bill. I also find Jazz numbers sound very good on the concertina; I'm trying to work out 'Cry Me A River' at the moment and, having just seen the film 'Alfie' I'm going to do some detective work to find out what the recurrent theme there is called and see if I can find some dots for it, because it's going round and round in my brain, man... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill N Posted September 29, 2008 Author Share Posted September 29, 2008 I suspect he might mean 'Greek' or 'Double Dutch' Bill. Ahhhh... still don't understand his point though. I thought my post was pretty straightforward. Yes, some of those old standards can really stick in your head. My wife calls them "ear worms". I've got Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust" on my "to learn" list for the same reason. I'm now at the point where I can pick out a melody and play it at a reasonable tempo, so am trying to move along to the next step of adding some ornamentation, left hand chords, etc. to make my playing more interesting. I've found lots of good examples for traditional styles, but it would be great to hear some skillful players performing modern pop music in a sophisticated way. It's interesting that the 30 button anglo concertina is so strongly tied to just a few types of music, almost to the exclusion of all others, when it seems to have the potential to be a very versatile instrument. (at least more versatile than a C/F Hohner Pokerwork ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 I've always thought the the Kinks' songs deserved to become part of 'the folk tradition'; they are witty, have good tunes and often deal with amusing and quirky subjects. But during my fairly lightweight attempts so far I find I descend to a less than convincing '3 chord trick' rendition so I couldn't claim I play any. To be exposed to a concertina you usually have to move in folk circles. Concertinas are typecast. Only folkies buy them, non-folkies think they are 'only suitable for folk music' so wouldn't even think of getting one. Nothing wrong with folk, and it's surely a good thing that concertinas are cherished at least somewhere, but I think this is why they are trapped where they are. By and large, only people that live for folk music really know about them, with everyone else crossing the road to go round, metaphorically speaking. One day the latest version of drippy inoffensive and heavily promoted pop chanteuse will use one instead of the ubiquitous guitar and it'll all change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill N Posted October 1, 2008 Author Share Posted October 1, 2008 One day the latest version of drippy inoffensive and heavily promoted pop chanteuse will use one instead of the ubiquitous guitar and it'll all change. I was at an environmental fundraiser a few weekends back. It was an outdoor concert featuring Sarah Harmer and Bruce Cockburn (a Canadian folk/jazz/but mostly un-categorizable guitar legend). A surprise guest was Fiest, a good Canadian girl who has had some international hits. She is anything but drippy and inoffensive (hence her appearance at the event), but she has a quirky singing style that would work very well with Anglo concertina IMHO. She was walking around talking to the crowd (it was a small event) and my son showed her some sketches he'd done while she was performing, so she gave him an e-mail address. Maybe I should send her an e-mail, and tell her to check out this forum! He also drew the guitar player (with flames coming off his instrument) and the melodeon player. When he showed them both their portraits, the button box player seemed a little miffed that he didn't get flames as well! I just listened to a "Great Big Sea" CD (Canadian Celtic Rock band with strong Newfoundland roots), and there is a lovely concertina solo at the end of a tune called "Sally Ann". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge Posted October 1, 2008 Share Posted October 1, 2008 One day the latest version of drippy inoffensive and heavily promoted pop chanteuse will use one instead of the ubiquitous guitar and it'll all change. I was at an environmental fundraiser a few weekends back. It was an outdoor concert featuring Sarah Harmer and Bruce Cockburn (a Canadian folk/jazz/but mostly un-categorizable guitar legend). A surprise guest was Fiest, a good Canadian girl who has had some international hits. She is anything but drippy and inoffensive (hence her appearance at the event), but she has a quirky singing style that would work very well with Anglo concertina IMHO. She was walking around talking to the crowd (it was a small event) and my son showed her some sketches he'd done while she was performing, so she gave him an e-mail address. Maybe I should send her an e-mail, and tell her to check out this forum! He also drew the guitar player (with flames coming off his instrument) and the melodeon player. When he showed them both their portraits, the button box player seemed a little miffed that he didn't get flames as well! I just listened to a "Great Big Sea" CD (Canadian Celtic Rock band with strong Newfoundland roots), and there is a lovely concertina solo at the end of a tune called "Sally Ann". No Bill, not mainstream enough, according to my theory you need someone who wants to be the next 'Dido' or 'Amy Winehouse' and needs a gimmick to lift her above all the other wannabes and into the MOR record label executive's gaze! (my wife spends money on CDs by these people whereas I have a modest 3 concertinas and have never bought a CD in my life that I can recall, and it's ME that gets the grief...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asdormire Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 No Bill, not mainstream enough, according to my theory you need someone who wants to be the next 'Dido' or 'Amy Winehouse' and needs a gimmick to lift her above all the other wannabes and into the MOR record label executive's gaze! (my wife spends money on CDs by these people whereas I have a modest 3 concertinas and have never bought a CD in my life that I can recall, and it's ME that gets the grief...) That's what you get for having a young babe wife! Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 No Bill, not mainstream enough, according to my theory you need someone who wants to be the next 'Dido' or 'Amy Winehouse' and needs a gimmick to lift her above all the other wannabes and into the MOR record label executive's gaze! (my wife spends money on CDs by these people whereas I have a modest 3 concertinas and have never bought a CD in my life that I can recall, and it's ME that gets the grief...) That's what you get for having a young babe wife! Alan Erm, can't think of anything to say that isn't dangerous apart from, no you've assessed the situation incorrectly... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDT Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 One day the latest version of drippy inoffensive and heavily promoted pop chanteuse will use one instead of the ubiquitous guitar and it'll all change. My friend is always saying to me I should learn a song by Evanescence (sort of a goth-punk band http://www.evanescence.com/) on my AC...I think that would be fun, but I have no idea where to start...or if it would fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asdormire Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 No Bill, not mainstream enough, according to my theory you need someone who wants to be the next 'Dido' or 'Amy Winehouse' and needs a gimmick to lift her above all the other wannabes and into the MOR record label executive's gaze! (my wife spends money on CDs by these people whereas I have a modest 3 concertinas and have never bought a CD in my life that I can recall, and it's ME that gets the grief...) That's what you get for having a young babe wife! Alan Erm, can't think of anything to say that isn't dangerous apart from, no you've assessed the situation incorrectly... But it always seems to be the safest assessment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m3838 Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 It's all in French. However it's like asking if anybody playing contemporary pop on C/F Hohner Pokerwork. Hmm. it really all in French, and in G/C.May be you'll like some playing of Göran Rahm. Does anybody have the links? I meant if you research the French links, you may find far more interesting EC sites and music, encompassing wider range of genres, then in English. English are crowded around ITM and English traditional melody-right/chords-left with rare exceptions. If you want to find something else, and speak French, that's the direction of research. Within minutes you'll find tens of sites with hundreds of tunes, few of which will be Irish or English trad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 No Bill, not mainstream enough, according to my theory you need someone who wants to be the next 'Dido' or 'Amy Winehouse' and needs a gimmick to lift her above all the other wannabes and into the MOR record label executive's gaze! (my wife spends money on CDs by these people whereas I have a modest 3 concertinas and have never bought a CD in my life that I can recall, and it's ME that gets the grief...) That's what you get for having a young babe wife! Alan Erm, can't think of anything to say that isn't dangerous apart from, no you've assessed the situation incorrectly... But it always seems to be the safest assessment. words of wisdom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asdormire Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 Well at least you didn't come home from NESI with your wife telling you since you have two working concertinas, she can use your twenty button. Never mind she has 7 guitars and 4 mandolins. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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