Concertina Used In Bluegrass

[david_boveri]

Some sessions will be "stringed instruments only." Others are more open to just about any instrument that is carried through the door.

 

Quite right you are. I've never darkened the door of one of those. This is a new era in today's Bluegrass world and battle lines amongst some are clearly marked. It goes against the bluegrass tradition I grew up with.

 

Also the appearence of slow jams. It has further polorized differences. The tradition in bluegrass used to be, accept all regardless experience, " We'll, help you get through it young feller. Three chords in four keys, an' you got it licked". New person in the room calls the next tune. The old hands will handle it, just tell us which one an' join in.

 

Situations like that have become rare.

 

i dont like the slow session thing in irish music either. seems strange to me. i'm only 22, but i didnt know such a thing as slow sessions existed. for me, you show up at the bar, and listen in holding your instrument for a few years. eventually, you can play with them. people are usually nice and ask you to play one tune a night. they let you join in. it's nice that way and it works.

 

i get the whole slow session thing--people are intimidated and then they go into their comfort zone. i get that part. it is intimidating. but i dont know, to me it creates a schism, and makes it even more intimidating. when it was the only way of doing it, you just had to deal with it. now you can hide in a slow session forever.

 

one time i went to a high-end session about 4 years ago, and i couldnt play at all. the people at the session knew i played music and knew i was there ahead of time just to meet someone. nobody asked me to play. it put a sour taste in my mouth, and i've never been back. nowadays i could keep up with them no problem, but i just havent been to eager to go somewhere where they wont reach out to someone who isnt up to snuff.

 

so, i get the whole intimidating thing, but i just think that if you just go places where people are nice, there's no reason to further the divide by segregating yourselves away from any players who are more experienced.

 

and as far as bluegrass concertina goes... i dont know! do it anyways, as long as you do it respectfully and ask if it's ok before you start playing. people love it when you're polite!

[Old Blevins]

Sorry Old Blevins, I tried but was not successful in downloading your recordings. They downloaded as an .ini file. Nothing on my mac will play them.

Old Blevins, I can't download you either....of course, I'm as dumb as a sack a hammers .

Worked OK for me. After unzip, it's in the area of the ini file. Look for another subdirectory/folder layer called "Squeezin' Out The Grass". It's another layer down.

 

By the way, didn't Pete Seegers sister play a concertina? I vaguely remember a long time ago reading something about that?

 

Most people drink from the fountain of knowledge, I only gargled.

 

Thanks

Leo

 

Sorry for your problems downloading the album. I should have explained more. Download the second file at the link. It contains the music files all in a compressed folder that contains everything. Once it is dowloaded, you should unzip everything directly into your "My Music" folder, or wherever you keep your music on the computer. The files are organized as Artist folder at the top, Album folder next level down, and all the songs, etc. in the album folder. It is the same way things would appear if you ripped a CD onto your computer.

 

Quite a few different people I know have downloaded and listened to it from that site, so I don't think there are any fundamental problems. The trick is probably to unzip (decompress) the folders and files and downloading, and then know where to look to find the song files. Windows XP and Vista should have the capability to do this. If you're operating system is older than that you may have to search for and download a programs such as "Winzip".

[jdms]

...

 

By the way, didn't Pete Seegers sister play a concertina? I vaguely remember a long time ago reading something about that?

 

Peggy Seeger plays EC in addition to banjo, guitar and probably other things. Her website just shows her with a banjo, but she definitely played EC on albums with Ewan MacColl and I'd hope she's kept it up...

 

jdms