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Classical Anglo


Paulino Forte

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  • 7 months later...
Does anyone know of any classical music transcribed for the concertina? A web page? Suggestions for creating transcriptions from other instruments e.g. piano, violin?

 

Where is the Andres Segovia of the squeeze box?

 

Paulino,

 

If you are thinking of classical music transcribed specifically for the Anglo, you might have difficulties. Any music would (theoretically) need to be transposed depending on whether your instrument was in the keys of C/G, G/D, or B'/F. However, if you play solo, you could play the same fingering on any of the instruments, irrespective of the instrument tuning. You will just have to accept that the tune might not come out in the key in which it was written.

 

I can't remember whether the International Concertina Association has any Anglo-specific classical music. They do, however, have an archive of popular light classical and Concertina Band type music which could be arranged for the Anglo.

 

I don't play from music myself, but I would have thought that once the "melody line" had been mastered, it would be possible to work out chords or counter-melody to suit the Anglo.

 

Try the following link (site being developed, but will give you a contact):

 

http://www.concertina.org/

 

Regards,

Peter.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I trained as a pianist so I was keen to see what could be done on the anglo by way of simple but serious keyboard pieces. I started with the Bach 2-part inventions. I tried the G major, 2-part gig first on a 40 button C-G Crabb. To be honest, several sections were just too hard. Eventually, I could have learnt all the twists and turns of bellows and button selection simply by rote but I was not enjoying that. So, I turned to the Bach cello suites and these work really well due to the similar range of the instruments (range, not tessitura!) You can find printed copies on the internet with a simple search. I find them useful because they make you look for the less obvious bellows direction and buttons in order to keep lines and phrases smooth.

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  • 1 month later...
Does anyone know of any classical music transcribed for the concertina? A web page? Suggestions for creating transcriptions from other instruments e.g. piano, violin?

 

Where is the Andres Segovia of the squeeze box?

*******************************

 

For your interest go here -

 

"Internet Archive, Concertina Record"

 

Scroll down a bit until you come to the message that contains links to seven classical downloads, including the 1st, 2nd & 3rd movements to the 4th Brandenburg Concerto. On concertinas!!

 

Sorry, don't know of any dots.

 

regards Jake

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But Lea Nickolson playes English. A classical instrument. The question is whether Anglo is used for classical music.

I know that, say, Hohner Club is fully chromatic in 2.5 or 3 octaves (with 10 accidentals) on the pull. so you don't have to fiddle with bellows and rows to play any type of music on it, but only on the pull. So you have to develop an air button attitude, which is not a big deal.

I don't play 30 button Anglo, but I'm sure it's possible to arrange accidentals in such a way, that it'll be fully chromatic on the pull, and actually not even need the push reeds, just the air valve.

So any kind of music will be possible.

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Paulino............there are loads of multi-part classical music arrangements that needs no transcription, particularly two and three part stuff.

Treble clef is treble clef.....I think it all works well on concertina; english, anglo and duet..........

I was at the Button Box worshop last week-end doing the band workshop.I love doing it but realize only the performers or concertina nut-bars would want to listen to it. One of the workshop leaders,Dave Cornell, a magnificent Mccann duet player, said in conversation , " you can play the Bach fugues,two part inventions etc on the concertina but who would want to listen to them other than the player" .......The fact that classical music may sound bizarre on the concertina does not stop me playing it.....97% of the time I'm playing by myself in the privacy of my living room and I'm the only critic..................so I don't think you need any special transciptions other than ones that may be needed iron out complex or impossible fingering.

If you want do want specific transcriptions of for treble, baritone and bass buy "Marches 4 Concertinas" by Clifford Bevan (Piccolo Press).......20 marches....great arrangements.

 

Andes Segovia of the concertina ? Dave Townsend

John KirkPatrick

 

Regards Robin

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...Dave Cornell, a magnificent Mccann duet player, said in conversation , " you can play the Bach fugues,two part inventions etc on the concertina but who would want to listen to them other than the player"...

Many people, if they are played well.

 

But the player has to be discriminating.

 

On the keyboard, the dynamics of simultaneous notes can be controlled independently; on a single concertina, they can't. If you want to try keyboard music on a duet, fine, but if a particular piece doesn't work, admit it; then try another. Eventually you should find at least a few that can work. Bach's two-part inventions should be possible on an 80-button duet, but it's not really an effective substitute for a klavier/piano.

 

Yet Bach's two-part inventions work beautifully (in my experience) if the two parts are played on two separate instruments: E.g., a treble English (or 30-button C/G anglo) and a cello, a bass English (or anglo?) and a violin, or two concertinas. Separating the parts restores the expressive independence of the two parts.

 

But there's more to music than keyboards and orchestras. Most composers wrote wonderful pieces for solo flute, violin, etc., pieces for duets or other small ensembles, and pieces for one or more instruments accompanied by keyboard. Many of these can be played very effectively on concertina, concertinas, or concertina in combination with other instruments. (Whether such performances would find general acceptance within the contemporary concert hall culture is not, I fear, dependent entirely on their musical quality.)

 

Bach fugues for klavier or organ are, I think, dangerous ground for a solo concertina, but his Tocattas and Fugues for solo violin include some movements that I think work extremely well on English, and maybe even anglo. (Probably not a 20-button, though.)

 

If you're looking for other musicians to play with, don't confine your instrumental substitutions to concertina. I've played a trio sonata for keyboard, violin, and oboe with my English on the violin part and a flutist friend on the oboe part, along with a talented pianist doing the keyboard. Flute duets on concertina and fiddle? You bet! Or on concertina and oboe! Great! I think that last is a wonderful combination! :)

 

Aside from pieces that are designated for "solo" or "unaccompanied" instruments, there are many that make excellent solo pieces even though they were published with keyboard accompaniment. This is ture especially of baroque pieces. The first time I heard the Allegro by Fiocco (apparently a standard for violin students), it was played by Alistair Anderson on his treble English. When I got the music I discovered that it had a keyboard accompaniment, something I hadn't guessed from hearing Ali play it. I've now tried it both ways, and I think it's effective both with and without the accompaniment, but adding the accompaniment gives it a very different feel. The same is true of some Bach minuets, among other pieces.

 

But it's not only baroque. Either solo or with friends I've performed pieces by Bach, Telemann, Purcell, Hayden, Mozart, Loillet, Beethoven, Villa-Lobos, Bugs Bower (what? "bop" isn't "classical"?! ;)), and Chopin, among others... all to enthusiastic applause. And the applause wasn't simply appreciation for my audacity in using concertina; they liked the music.

 

Also, don't neglect simpler pieces or arrangements. E.g., there are some fine arrangements for two recorders of various forms of music, including but not limited to baroque and medieval. These can work nicely on two concertinas, and some of them even on one. Duets for alto or tenor and soprano may work well on a duet.

 

But as I said, be discriminating. For every excellent such arrangement there must be at least a dozen which are anywhere from insipid to atrocious. I wouldn't even try to count the number of truly disappointing arrangements of Bach's "Minuet in G" that I've encountered. :(

 

And remember that there's more to life than the internet. Your local library is probably still a good way to explore various possibilities without making a purchase.

 

Have fun! :)

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  • 2 months later...

Hello. Here's my attempt to play simple classical piece on the Anglo.

It's Bach's Minuet, transcribed simply for EC, but played on AC.

Feel free to send any comments my way, I can't hear myself objectively.

I think it turned out OK, but perhabs more stacatto is needed, and chords must be played more gentle.

But I can't work on it any more without showing off. It's killing me.

OK, kindergarten piece:

 

http://www.streamload.com/Mberenstein/Minuet2.mp3

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It's Bach's Minuet, transcribed simply for EC, but played on AC.

I think it turned out OK, but perhabs more stacatto is needed, and chords must be played more gentle.

I think that it sounds fine. I've heard it played as a competition Test Piece on EC, but you've worked it well onto the Anglo.

 

I don't know whether you've played the arrangement "as written", but I would probably hold some of the chords a bit longer, and, if you are playing full chords, maybe drop out the middle note in places.

 

I always think that with a piece like this, it takes a few months to "settle in". Record it this time next year, and it will probably feel better to play, and sound even better.

 

Keep up the good work. :)

 

Regards,

Peter.

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Hi.

Yes, it is the same instrument, brass reeded 20 button Lachenal.

Thanks for the praise and the suggestion not to play full chords is a good one. I'll have to bite my wrist at times.

No, it is not played as written, I had to work it "onto the Anglo".

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No, it is not played as written, I had to work it "onto the Anglo".
It is the melody with "Anglo style" accompaniment. Bach's left hand part is not in evidence except in occaasional fragments.

 

Of course! I hade to adapt a piece to the instrument. Seems like you were annoyed by it, but how do I improve? Same or even worse would have been in the case of violin. Were you suggesting that such pieces are better not performed on such limiting instruments as Anglo Concertina? You may be right.

My reservations with English is that such pieces, even performed to the note, have lower notes overwelming higher, perhabs if lower notes would be quietter, or higher doubled...

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Were you suggesting that such pieces are better not performed on such limiting instruments as Anglo Concertina? You may be right.

 

It's worth getting even things that aren't good performance pieces up to "performance standard" if they stretch you and make you do things that perhaps aren't "natural" to the particular instrument - because by getting good at them you suddenly find that many more techniques fall into the "natural" category! So that expands your toolbox for approaching other music in the future.

 

My reservations with English is that such pieces, even performed to the note, have lower notes overwelming higher, perhabs if lower notes would be quietter, or higher doubled...

 

You can do quite a lot through reducing the length of the lower note - e.g. playing a two-part piece legato in the top part and staccato in the bottom. Also making the bass follow the shape of the upper part in places where the upper would get lost. And by having the arrangement "introduce" the listener to the upper part in such a way that they can hear it quite clearly at first, so they have it in their mind as the accompaniment gets busier. Some of these things are going to be much easier on English than Anglo since the latter is going to constrain exactly what notes you can play together much more.

 

Actually, one nice thing about the English is that it makes/encourages you to see the tune/accompaniment as almost one "thing" - kind of like on a guitar. This contrasts with Anglo/duet/piano/accordion (etc) where there's a natural inclination (unless you fight it :) to separate the two.

 

Maybe the following is thread drift (it's late!) - but I remember Andy Cutting saying once (and I'd already noticed from his diatonic accordion playing) - that (ok - this is my recollection/interpretation!) if you're playing a tune - let's say a waltz - the listener doesn't need it constantly beaten into their head that the rhythm is "oom pah pah" and the chords are "G D G C" (or whatever). Yes - you need to give them enough that what their ears hear confirms what their "minds ear" is telling them they should be hearing - but on a melodion that can be done _all_ with the right hand - the chordal structure and the basic rhythm are all there in the tune, if you play it right. With the melodion that leaves the left hand to do something interesting - and that generally involves _NOT_ reinforcing the obvious, but not fighting it either. This way it adds to the music - it's not just a big stick beating the obvious into the listener.

 

Similarly, the original JSB minuet has the keyboard left hand neither doing what's completely obvious (it doesn't go oom-pah), nor fighting it either. In fact, it kind of stands on its own, without the "tune". On an Anglo (or English, or duet) the "ideal" arrangement wouldn't slavishly follow the original keyboard arrangement, but I think it would use the same approach.

 

Actually your arrangement shows definite signs of doing all this so that's great!

Edited by RatFace
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Seems like you were annoyed by it, but how do I improve?
Not annoyed. I was just answering PeterT's question:
I don't know whether you've played the arrangement "as written" ...
Until I listened to Anglo International, I would have accepted that a fully realized Anglo arrangement was impossible, but there's some stuff on that CD that blows that assumption away.
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Seems like you were annoyed by it, but how do I improve?
Not annoyed. I was just answering PeterT's question:
I don't know whether you've played the arrangement "as written" ...
Until I listened to Anglo International, I would have accepted that a fully realized Anglo arrangement was impossible, but there's some stuff on that CD that blows that assumption away.

 

For this a change of key is necessary. And a third row of reversals plus some more buttons are handy.

Plus a friendly composition. Anglo needs it's own composers and arrangers,

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