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Theme Of The Month, July 2015: Unlikely Concertina Music


Jim Besser

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Yes, there was once an active classical tradition on concertina, and there are still a few musicians around who focus on jazz and popular music on our little squeezeboxes.

But by and large, concertinas are associated with various forms of traditional music, and I’d venture to say that a big majority of c.net participants fall into that category.

This month’s challenge: record and post the kind of tune or song you might play, provoking a listener to exclaim “wow, I never expected to hear that on a concertina!”

For some of you, this will be easy - just go to your regular playlist and pick a tune.

For many of us, though, it will involve a little digging, learning and brain stretching.

 

Maybe it'll be your favorite Abba song, or a Sousa march, or the melody of your favorite aria. Or maybe unleash the inner surf concertinist in you and do some Jan and Dean. I'm wondering if we'll get a concertina rendition of Take Five. (Attention Randy Stein).

Let’s have some fun and see what turns up!

Edited by Jim Besser
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Hi Jim,

 

nice idea, and funnily coínciding with the currently chosen TOTM... B)

 

I will have to muse about a new contribution, for the time being I repost

 

Let It Be

Best wishes - Wolf

 

Funny you should say that - I recognized the coincidence just before reading your posting. So this month we'll really be delving into the world of unlikely concertina music.

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Maybe it'll be ... a Sousa march....

 

Maybe "unlikely" to some folks, but not to me... not after hearing Mike Hebbert. :) Of course, there are many folks who don't even know that there's more than one kind of concertina. :(

 

And by the way, Sousa's band popularized American Patrol -- if it wasn't already popular -- long before Swing existed.

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Maybe it'll be ... a Sousa march....

 

Maybe "unlikely" to some folks, but not to me... not after hearing Mike Hebbert. :) Of course, there are many folks who don't even know that there's more than one kind of concertina. :(

 

And by the way, Sousa's band popularized American Patrol -- if it wasn't already popular -- long before Swing existed.

 

 

Yes, I know. And many YouTube videos wrongly attribute composition of the tune to Sousa, so pervasive was the influence of his band's version.

 

It's generational; people of a certain age no doubt saw American Patrol as a Sousa-like march; their children probably associated it most closely with Glenn Miller. Maybe now we're back to origins, since mostly it seems to get played by marching bands.

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Hmmmm. I have some close associates who wouldn't miss the chance to observe here that "unlikely concertina music" is a tautology...

 

But we know what's meant. For me the concertina mainstream has always been Irish trad, and probably the chief pleasure of participating in this forum is seeing and hearing--and learning--so many other ways of using an Anglo.

 

In that spirit, here's a bit of genre mixing. While I still play plenty of traditional (and original) stuff, my recent preoccupation has been early Tin Pan Alley songs, from roughly the period 1908-1920. Mostly I accompany these on stringed instruments, but the concertina is starting to claim a role for itself. Which makes sense when you think of it, since in those years it had more currency than it does now, and hadn't yet been pigeonholed as a "folk" instrument.

 

I stumbled on this title a few months back, and knew that I wouldn't rest until I found the sheet music. Since the song involves harassing a fiddler, it seems particularly well suited to concertina.

 

http://youtu.be/VHChYF7l67A

 

Bob Michel

Near Philly

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I stumbled on this title a few months back, and knew that I wouldn't rest until I found the sheet music. Since the song involves harassing a fiddler, it seems particularly well suited to concertina.

 

http://youtu.be/VHChYF7l67A

 

Bob Michel

Near Philly

 

That is totally cool. Glad you stumbled on it!

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So here's my first more or less new contribution for this month, two tunes I had recorded separately in the past but use to play paired as a set:

 

Menuett - Ländler

The main reason for re-recording the tunes was my renewed view upon the first one after having learnt more about the Minuet, both in terms of music and dancing... I succeeded only partly with emphasising this pattern, but at least it's partly hearable to my ears... About the - well-known - pieces please go for the information on my SC page if you like...

 

Best wishes - Wolf

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Another repost (but I am working up something completely new and totally unexpected on concertina).

 

From a Squeezer's rehearsal: Autumn Leaves, complete with typical rehearsal errors.

 

Me on G/D Jeffries Anglo

Randy Stein on Wheatstone English

Gus Voorhees on D/G melodeon.

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Another repost (but I am working up something completely new and totally unexpected on concertina).

 

From a Squeezer's rehearsal: Autumn Leaves, complete with typical rehearsal errors.

 

Me on G/D Jeffries Anglo

Randy Stein on Wheatstone English

Gus Voorhees on D/G melodeon.

 

Glorious.

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Who said concertinists can't be ridiculous?

 

I don't know why this tune has been rattling around in my head, but there you have it: about as unlikely a concertina tune as one can imagine.

 

I suppose I could clean it up and improve the arrangement, but it's probably not worth the effort.

 

Can you identify it? Hint: think Edie Gorme.

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/68325595/C.net%20Tune%20of%20the%20Month/ThOTMJuly2015_1.MP3

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Can you identify it?

Well, it's "Blame It on the Bossa Nova," of course. One of a vast library of such tunes lodged in my head from those endless childhood hours when the living room Philco was set to the horrifying Easy Listening station my mother favored, rather than the rock 'n' roll station we switched to as soon as both my parents were out of the house.

 

Thanks for the earworm...

 

Bob Michel

Near Philly

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Can you identify it?

Well, it's "Blame It on the Bossa Nova," of course. One of a vast library of such tunes lodged in my head from those endless childhood hours when the living room Philco was set to the horrifying Easy Listening station my mother favored, rather than the rock 'n' roll station we switched to as soon as both my parents were out of the house.

 

Thanks for the earworm...

 

Bob Michel

Near Philly

 

 

I must be older than you - when I was young and listening to a Philco, it was the rock stations that played Blame it on the Bossa Nova. Along with such gems as the Marcel's unforgettable Blue Moon, which I also tried as a concertina piece - doo wop concertina, so to speak. I'll accept your thanks now for not recording that.

 

Here's the original.

Edited by Jim Besser
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