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Astounding Thought


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Today, me being me, I did a calculation.

 

For the 20 button in C/G taking the scale from the note C that is the first finger on the right hand, and going up to the next c, in just one octave there are 128 different fingering patterns for playing the major scale (theoretically, at least).

 

  • There are 2 ways of playing the C (the other's on the G left hand, pull)
  • 2 ways of playing the D (the other's on the G row left hand push)
  • 2 ways of playing the E (the other's on the G left hand, pull)
  • 1 way of playing F natural
  • 2 ways of playing G (both right hand push)
  • 2 ways of playing A (both right hand pull)
  • 2 ways of playing B (the other one is G row right hand push)
  • 2 ways of playing the higher c. (The other one is G row right hand pull)

 

2 x 2 x 2 x 1 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 128 theoretical routes through the maze. How crazy is this instrument?!

 

Of course, I don't use them all, although I certainly use all of the right hand options regularly, but wow!

 

 

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Yeah, I'm starting to think that this is one of the bisonoric instruments' great strength. I don't play any unisonoric concertina (either english or duet), but when I try to imagine how I'd finger some passages on their layouts, it seems that you can be quickly limited. Whereas on a bisonoric instrument the fact that you have two different keyboards at once (sort of; one on the pull and one of the push) can give you more ways to play what you want.

 

I recently stumbled on this video of a guy, Richard Rys, playing a musette waltz on the chemnitzer concertina (a custom digital one, but which is bisonoric like a normal one) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiqyJTYvv1cIt's a 52-buttons instrument - less than some large duets, and that some ECs - yet I'm amazed at what he can do here. Until recently I thought that unisonoric instruments were superior to bisonoric ones; I'm not so sure of that anymore.

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Until recently I thought that unisonoric instruments were superior to bisonoric ones; I'm not so sure of that anymore.

Things can be different without one being superior to the other, as any man will tell you when his wife and mother each bought him a tie for Christmas.

 

The various concertina systems suit different styles of play, and different ways of learning and thinking musically. They're all wonderful instruments in the right hands, and insoluble puzzles in the wrong hands.

 

A basic Anglo is only a double barrelled pump action harmonica, but the "humble" 20 reed harmonica is an incredible instrument in the hands of someone like Brendan Power, but... less so... in the hands of Bob Dylan.

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Until recently I thought that unisonoric instruments were superior to bisonoric ones; I'm not so sure of that anymore.

Things can be different without one being superior to the other, as any man will tell you when his wife and mother each bought him a tie for Christmas.

 

The various concertina systems suit different styles of play, and different ways of learning and thinking musically. They're all wonderful instruments in the right hands, and insoluble puzzles in the wrong hands.

 

A basic Anglo is only a double barrelled pump action harmonica, but the "humble" 20 reed harmonica is an incredible instrument in the hands of someone like Brendan Power, but... less so... in the hands of Bob Dylan.

 

Yes of course. But I had for a long time this idea that unisonoric instruments had no limitations, unlike the anglo. It only occurred recently to me that not only a bisonoric instrument can have the same notes on the push and the pull - only in a different position - and that it is not necessarily as limited as what I had previously thought. Here, the "superiority" I was referring to concerned the ability to play any desired note combination. A complete enough bisonoric instrument isn't more limited in that sense than a unisonoric one, but also has the advantage over the latter to allow for more fingering combinations. It's a point I haven't really seen underlined till now - but I may simply not have paid enough attention to the various discussions.

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I think I'll stick to English!

 

But there are 256 ways to play the scale on the English

 

C on the draw or C on the push, D on the draw or D on the push etc - 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 256

 

As for the Duet - in the crossover octave 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 x etc

 

So the Anglo is really quite simple! :)

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I think I'll stick to English!

 

But there are 256 ways to play the scale on the English

 

C on the draw or C on the push, D on the draw or D on the push etc - 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 256

 

As for the Duet - in the crossover octave 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 x etc

 

So the Anglo is really quite simple! :)

 

Haha. I see what you did there with the English. Same buttons, different bellows directions. I don't understand the various duet systems well enough to understand the second half of your post. For such simple instruments, concertinas are surprisingly complicated. :)

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