Greetings From Maine

[MatthewVanitas]

It looks like my wife, Peg, and I will be making the trek down to The Button Box in two weeks. I'm excited to check out all of the concertinas they have in stock. I won't be able to buy one just yet. But I'm hoping to rent an Elise Duet and begin my concertina journey.

 

Glad to see you're jumping on into this. Myself, I'd casually messed with Anglo and English, and a few years back while working in Afghanistan as a researcher decided to order a Concertina Connection box to have something to mess with on slow days. I was going to order English since I just couldn't figure out Anglos back-and-forth (though these days I grasp it fine) and since I'd recently seen Danny Spooner play live in Newfoundland, and he does great work backing up songs with English. But then I noticed the new Elise model, did a little reading up on Duets, and sprung for that, and I've been a casual Duet player for a couple years now.

 

What I really like about Duet is that I can use my left hand for "strumming chords" while carrying a melody on the right, almost like playing rhythm and lead guitar, or guitar and fiddle, simultaneously. I find it easier to keep those two functions compartmentalised with the low notes on one hand and the high on the right. It also lets me do what I like to do on keyboard: hold a low rumbly drone or root-fifth chord in the bass and do melodic improvisation above it on the treble. I do a lot of folks stuff, but as mentioned in another recent thread I've found it fits some recent popular tunes well too. Interesting you mention doo wop, and makes me think that "Last Kiss" would sound pretty awesome on Duet.

 

The Elise is a smal Duet so has some limitations in chromaticity, but I've found it fine for my most common keys (C, G, D, F). Given your interests I do wonder if you might end up being inclined to jump to a larger box earlier than the average novice, in order to get "blue notes", play jazzier riffs, etc. I'm very pleased with the Elise as a starter instrument, and though the selection is limited there are 46-button Stagi Haydens (pop up sometimes $500-800 used, more notes but not notably better build than Elise), and the new 42-button CC Peacock (just over $2k new, appears to be real quality).

 

In any event, looking forward to seeing the results of you pilgrimage; I know there have been past novice posters who were dead-set on Box X, then played the three types side-by-side and completely changed course to Box Y instead. But trying them is how to puzzle it out, and I certainly think renting an Elise could be a great way to go.

[Wolf Molkentin]

First, the Crane has the piano's "white keys" on 3 central columns of buttons, with the "black keys" on the 2 outer columns, so when you know which sharps or flats a tune has, you know where to look for them. This is piano thinking.

 

Right! The Crane has derived from the English - so it would be my choice (amongst the Duets) wouldn't I stick to the latter...

[Go Cat Dave]

I share your notion of the concertina presenting a sustained piano in the box...

(and a fiddle en minature as well...)

 

And, I finally get to check them all out in person this Saturday when my wife and I make the pilgrimage down to the concertina mecca, The Button Box!

 

All this, to me as to other posters, suggests a duet concertina. More specifically, a system that has not yet been mentioned: the Crane Duet!

 

That sounds really interesting! I bet I would like that Crane system.

 

As to the comments regarding portablility and comparison to other instrument's capabilities, I'm reminded of Bertram Levy's characterization of the concertina as being a "lap top orchestra."

 

I love that! And I will definitely take your advice when I am down at The Button Box this weekend and pay close attention to the different sounds of the different models. I believe they only rent the lower end models. So I see my self leaving there with a rented Elise Duet and a bunch of dream instruments dancing like sugar plums in my head.