Alan Day Posted August 29, 2003 Share Posted August 29, 2003 Dear All, There has been many occassions in my life were I have been under stress or unfortunately a fair share of saddness over a loss of a friend,relative or close family.On all of these occassions my friends,family and my concertina has helped me over these difficult times.Sitting down and playing takes your mind away from the problem for a while and helps your mind to recover. I am lucky to be writing this at all, as I do for work and pleasure many hundreds of miles in my car and on one occassion I was driving down a little country lane and on turning a corner came face to face with a lorry on my side of the road.The lane was only wide enough for one vehicle and as we hurtled towards each other I thought it was me or him.I have been down that lane since and how we passed each other I do not know.I think the bushes did not require a trim for at least two months afterwards.My reaction was to pull into the nearest laybye and play my concertina for thirty minutes to recover. It has allways been there when I am stressed up or for the other reasons mentioned. The only other ways I can relieve stress is to wind up the car windows and shout an expletive as loudly as I can three times.Or more recently choose a favorite golf club and smash a plastic ball against my office wall.I scored ten out of ten recently when badly slicing the ball it hit four walls the cieling and landed in my coffee cup spraying it over my computer. Do you find the concertina helps you unwind,is it why we are so addicted? Regards Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Ghent Posted August 30, 2003 Share Posted August 30, 2003 My worry is, if this is therapy, how come I need so much of it..? regs Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Timson Posted August 30, 2003 Share Posted August 30, 2003 You don't know the half. The concertina continues to be a major component in my recovery from my stroke. Currently I am working the left hand hard with chords and playing in parallel octaves (having got my right hand back to more-or-less full speed). The precision of the task and the speed at which you get feedback mean that this is superb for improving the performance of my left hand at any task requiring manual dexterity, such as typing. Just after the stroke, I was talking to a physiotherapist at the hospital, and when she learned that I was a musician her face lit up. It seems that musicians have a particularly good rate of recovery from stroke. So there you are. Be good to your concertina, it can be very good for you. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Jowaisas Posted August 30, 2003 Share Posted August 30, 2003 Every day you are a hero Chris! I hope you recovery exceeds all expectations. I remember Michael Cooney coming back from his horrific auto accident. We were all amazed at his determination and surprised at the profeciency he regained in the face of neurolgical damage. Another hero. It would be nice to hear from a music therapist. I bet they could quote the studies that would confirm our intuitions about the "healing nature" of our musical endeavors. Of course my long suffering wife may have a different perspective! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellowbelle Posted August 30, 2003 Share Posted August 30, 2003 (edited) I think of any music I do as being primarily for therapy -- mine or anyone else's. I like tuning forks AND my concertina for my 'hearing' therapy. I've struggled with some hearing loss in my right ear (and no, it doesn't seem to make me play like Beethoven ). I save articles and books, etc., re music therapy and peoples' ideas about it. One of the most therapeutic CDs I've ever heard (and have) is John Beaulieau's Calendula (a 'Suite for Tuning Forks). I'd like to do something mixing concertina and forks. Of course, it would probably not be like Trad but more like 'slow' tones, etc.. EDIT -- Okay, so I spelled John's name wrong and everything. Here's a link to some info: http://www.biosonics.com/product_info.php/.../products_id/37 Dr. John Beaulieu is the correct spelling! sorry. I'll add that it was a few times before I really heard the whole CD -- it's so relaxing that I keep falling asleep part-way through it. Edited August 30, 2003 by bellowbelle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted August 30, 2003 Share Posted August 30, 2003 Hmm. My perspective is a bit different. I *enjoy* playing the concertina. It lifts my spirits even when they're not low. It helps me become both more relaxed and more alert. I've never needed it for "therapy". But that's not what I meant by a different perspective. No, by that I mean, "Ask not what your concertina(s) can do for you, but what you can do for your concertina(s)." A few years ago a routine medical test came back indicating that I had cancer. Not conclusive, but more than one of my ancestors had died of cancer, so I had to take it seriously. Further tests eventually showed that I didn't have cancer after all, but during the intervening 6 weeks I did some serious thinking, both about what I might do if I discovered I was dying and what I might do if I was "reprieved". Some of my conclusions surprised me, including this one: I had no one dependent on me, so I didn't have to worry about providing for family or friends if I died. They were taking care of themselves, and would continue to do so. But something that concerned me greatly was to insure that my beautiful concertinas would end up in the hands of persons who would love them and use them well. Rather than sell them to the highest bidder, I would give them away to someone(s) who would do them justice. Yes, I realized that that was my primary concern. Those instruments are my friends, and -- as others have said -- I am their custodian, not their possessor. But they cannot take care of themselves as my family and friends can, and I have a responsibility to see that they continue to be well cared for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted August 31, 2003 Share Posted August 31, 2003 Jim Glad to know that you are ok. I gasped when I read your post until I got further along. Perhaps you could set up a guardian for your concertinas. Sort of like you'd do for minor children. Here's to many more years of joyful playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Timson Posted August 31, 2003 Share Posted August 31, 2003 Those instruments are my friends, and -- as others have said -- I am their custodian, not their possessor. At this point on the old system I would have changed the subject to "Love affairs with concertinas". Such is life ... It is possible to regard these instruments with affection and even love, though they are "inanimate objects". The best of them seem to be imbued with the soul of the maker; even much cheaper concertinas can and mostly do have real individual characters. And sometimes you can fall in love with someone else's concertina. I have a friend in Sweden who is passionate about my Dipper baritone. I have to take it with me whenever we go there else Pontus gets withdrawal symptoms. And between Jim and me there lies a certain Jeffries G/D ... Every day you are a hero Chris! I hope your recovery exceeds all expectations. Thank you, but I don't want to over-egg this. As strokes go, it would be classified as fairly minor stuff. I was only in hospital for two days and back at work after 2 months (though I'm still only working part-time). I'm not going to be left with any permanent disablility and I should with time get pretty well everything back. But the real low point was when I got home. I was expecting difficulties with my left hand because that was the side affected, but as a player in the English style I wasn't too concerned because I play melody mostly with the right hand. It was a real shock when I found playing with both hands difficult. My left hand just wasn't accurate enough to play, and my right hand felt as if it had forgotten how to. It's a bizarre thing. I'm not a particularly great musician but I didn't realise until then just how much of my self-image was tied up with music and playing. When I thought I might not play again it was the blackest moment I can remember. But that as I said earlier is in the past. I'll try not to keep talking about it ... Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken_Coles Posted August 31, 2003 Share Posted August 31, 2003 Has the concertina helped me deal with stress or sadness, you ask? Most definitely; it is doing it right now. Four years ago I rather idealistically left a cushy, high-paying but dull and stressful job. I wanted to be a school teacher. In the time since I have had some adventures and interesting times, but have never made enough salary to cover my modest needs (I do without cell phones, Cable TV, without a TV for that matter - a great development for my music, drive a ten-year-old car, etc.). I did have one real job; it was last year in a parochial school, a very different experience for me. I took instruments to school all the time, played in church, and so on. But in July, halfway through the summer, they called to say enrollment had fallen and the grade I taught was closing up. The last six weeks have been mostly a mad scramble and close to 100 job applications, but no prospects. School is now well along here and I am facing either going into some other kind of work (if I can find any) or moving a long way from here to one of the few places in the U.S. where they actually need new teachers. The "teacher shortage" in my country is mostly a myth. The reason for going into all this is to say music (and dance) have been my solace. I even had a paying gig last week that will buy my groceries for two weeks. I don't know how people who aren't musicians cope in such situations. It has kept me out of an unproductive negativity. I must say, I did two smart things when I was young: avoided tobacco and started studying musical instruments. May music help all of you also. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhomylly Posted August 31, 2003 Share Posted August 31, 2003 I am completely riveted to this topic, and just had to add my somewhat different perspective. I have tried off and on for years (more off than on) to be a Buddhist. The reasons why are way to lengthy and possibly controversial to go into here, but let me just say that after 5 1/2 years of effort, I'm still probably the world's worst Buddhist. But I still need something to recharge my spiritual batteries, and to pull my "monkey mind" away from my everydayness, at least for a while. Concertina playing is now that something. I've been at it less than a month, and I am amazed at how quickly an hour can go by while I struggle with a new tune or bliss out on the ones I already (almost) know. I have to focus so totally on the task at hand (getting through the tune) that there is NO room for worry, or replaying a bad day at work, or general pissiness at the world. Kind of like how I'm supposed to have been while meditating, and never quite managed it. Also, I have been an English country/morris dancer for the last 30 years, and I love it dearly. Right now, though, I'm in a part of the country where there isn't any English or Morris and even if there were, my old ankles just aren't up to being a Morris dancer any more. But, over the years, some of the dances and tunes have become like old friends. If an inanimate object can be a friend, than so can a tune? When I learn to play oh, Margaret's Waltz or the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance tune (at least the one we use in the States), I feel like I'm spending time with some old friends, and I'm not so homesick for the dancing I miss. It always makes me feel better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Day Posted August 31, 2003 Author Share Posted August 31, 2003 Hallo Rhomylly. It is a strange thing about Morris tunes in that I started my concertina playing with them and I have played lots of different types of music since including,Jazz,Classical,English ,French,Breton,Hymns and many tunes which I hear and have a go at,but I keep going back to them. I was playing at the Towersy Folk festival last weekend and Hammersmith Morris did a dance to a tune played superbly by their Melodion player and guess what I am back to playing them again. I can understand your liking for them ,they are simple tunes but somehow you do not want to stop playing them.Breton music seems to be similar ,you cannot get off them once you start and the dancers link up their little fingers and circle around almost in a trance and when you stop, they want to start again. Keep playing Rhomylly and all your problems will fade away into insignificance. Take care Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrigglefingers Posted August 31, 2003 Share Posted August 31, 2003 Hello Ken I expect my reply will be adrift from yours but here my experience so far ...... I took up playing last year, a few weeks after starting a new career as a secondary school. I realised that I wouldn't cope with the stress of the first year of teaching without learning something separate from my subject matter. I have found the discipline and need to empty my mind of anxieties in order to make progress playing the box has helped me enormously. In fact, my faintly obsessive practice over the last year has meant that I'm probably a better box player than teacher, as many of my students will readily agree. I've been a flute player for many years and have often played my way through difficult times. Being an active musician seems to keep me grounded and able to think through problems and difficulties like nothing else I've tried. I'm sorry to hear you're now looking for a new job. I qualified two years ago at 40 and ended up working as a short-term supply teacher in various schools and training colleges which I hated. It took some time to find a job, but I made it eventually. I have a friend in Toronto who would agree with you about pay and conditions across the pond so she's coming over to England to teach on a medium-term contract as we really do have a teacher shortage here. best wishes, Jill Shepherd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Barnert Posted September 1, 2003 Share Posted September 1, 2003 ... or the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance tune (at least the one we use in the States) ... Ahh! That's why your name seemed so familiar. You wrote that book! I have it here... somewhere... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted September 1, 2003 Share Posted September 1, 2003 starting a new career as a secondary school. Not just a teacher, but a whole school? I'm impressed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Timson Posted September 1, 2003 Share Posted September 1, 2003 starting a new career as a secondary school. Not just a teacher, but a whole school? I'm impressed! Pedant! Beware! Lest the petard with which you hoist up others is then up hoisting you up ... something. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted September 1, 2003 Share Posted September 1, 2003 Pedant! Beware! Lest the petard with which you hoist up others is then up hoisting you up ... something. Ped-ant =? foot insect? Be ware? -- I'd rather buy and sell wares. And I certainly wouldn't want to be a ware. Luckily, most Western nations have outlawed slavery. But if you're not nice, I'll send my pet ard to savage you.... or worse, to fetch me back your big Dipper. But have a nice day... OR ELSE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhomylly Posted September 1, 2003 Share Posted September 1, 2003 ... or the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance tune (at least the one we use in the States) ... Ahh! That's why your name seemed so familiar. You wrote that book! I have it here... somewhere... Uh, er, yeah that would be me. Guess there aren't a lot of Rhomyllys around...fancy that I'm tickled that you have a copy -- hope you like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted September 1, 2003 Share Posted September 1, 2003 ... or the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance tune (at least the one we use in the States) ... Ahh! That's why your name seemed so familiar. You wrote that book! I have it here... somewhere... Uh, er, yeah that would be me. Guess there aren't a lot of Rhomyllys around...fancy that I'm tickled that you have a copy -- hope you like it. Well great, are any of you ever going to say the name of the book? Now I want to play some of these tunes and I thought this might be a good book to use. That is if I ever knew the name of this good book! Good for you, Rhomylly, for sticking with a new instrument. This is fun, we are watching you fall in love with your instrument. I'm not all that far ahead of you in taking up the concertina, so I'm loving you loving your concertina. Well, probably most days you love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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