JimLucas Posted October 13, 2004 Share Posted October 13, 2004 What I found most helpful was that PA encourages you to play bass runs... No. It's not the PA itself that encourages those techniques, but certain established courses of study for the PA do. I've met plenty of PA players who play only oom-pah bass and are less versatile in their use of chords than the average melodeon player (IME), and many who claim that it makes no sense to even try to play a scale (or part of one) on a stradella bass. What's lacking for the concertina is progressive insructional material to teach the techniques (both general and specific) which are so readily available for more mainstream instruments like PA, piano, and guitar. Learning these techniques on PA or some other instruments can greatly increase your musical abilities, but one can also "borrow" from the books what is useful on the concertina. E.g., Pietro Valente -- mentioned here in another thread -- says he taught himself to play jazz on the English concertina by studying both right hand (melody and harmony) and left hand (chord) techniques in tutors for the PA, but applying those musical techniques directly to the EC. And a friend in New York studied with a jazz trombonist to learn improvisation on his baritone EC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill_mchale Posted October 13, 2004 Share Posted October 13, 2004 Some people are jealous they wasted time learning lesser music before they discoverd Irish Music . There's something lesser than ITM? ....... (Parry and thrust! ) Well to paraphrase Churchill; there is nothing lesser than ITM... except for all other forms of music ...(Riposte ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Posted October 13, 2004 Share Posted October 13, 2004 PA is making a comeback in Scottish and Northumbrian music too in the last few years. Typically it seems to be played by a younger generation eg. Shona Kipling (Northumberland), and the all girl group Dochas (from the Western Isles). Just the last few years? At least in Scottish Country Dance music, the PA has been the dominant instrument for decades! In fact, a lot of bands have two or more PA players, one on lead and one on backup (plus often a piano player to boot). The fiddle is just starting to make serious inroads in the past 10 years or so.... Steven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Husmann Posted October 17, 2004 Share Posted October 17, 2004 Well, I played the concertina first (english system) and went than to the accordion. I´ll tell you why. Coming from the organ I decided to take a little break. Getting to know the concertina was wonderful getting to know an instrument using reeds... Playing Irish and English tunes for quite a while I came across the the accordion. Meanwhile I play M3 - the possibility to play left and right hand like on a piano. And guess what? It made me more sensitive to play the concertina in a matter of technique. Well, it sort of remained the same: the wind gives the heart to the instrument but the technique gives the opportunity to express it. Christian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Thompson Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 Guilty secrets time: I belong to an amateur theatre [guilty secret one], and last year we scheduled "'Allo 'Allo". The director wanted a strolling musician, but not the concertina - he wanted a "real accordian". After exhausting all other possibilities, I dusted out my old Hohner Erica G/D [g.s. 2], and worked out a few pieces. What really helped me was finding this website http://diato.org/tablat.htm with a load of good, but fairly easy button accordian arrangements. I found I really enjoyed playing Erica again [g.s. 3], but since then she has been abandoned again for my concer(s). [g.s. 4] http://www.villanovaplayers.com/allo/rod.html#quote (remember this is a publicity shot) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff H Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 I have been playing the diatonic button acordion on and off for a few years.. inspired by our own Paul Groff... I think an ideal instrument would be the Franglo for the "undecided" jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henk van Aalten Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 After exhausting all other possibilities, I dusted out my old Hohner Erica G/D [g.s. 2], and worked out a few pieces. Rod You're looking great on this foto: You would be a very good match with the real Yvette: BTW: in my opinion there's nothing wrong with playing diatonic instruments Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 Great picture, Rod; I especially like the hat. Always happy to see accordions being played instead of tossed. Helen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Burke Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 Many concertinists also play accordion. Owning a piano-accordion can aid your learning of the concertina, as they share some similarities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMON GABRIELOW Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 Yes, that is true, I inherited my father's button key accordion (in C sharp)..and it does give another way of developing technique Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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