Wolf Molkentin Posted April 26, 2013 Share Posted April 26, 2013 Here is my attempt: I use the zoom on the camera to get further away to reduce volume but wasn't far enough. I wish I had more control over what my left hand does. I tried for jolly. Graham Yes, I like your approach..... I thought as much... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah Swett Posted April 26, 2013 Share Posted April 26, 2013 Here's my attempt (I thought I would share after all) - A couple of bum notes to give it that live feel, and boy oh boy that push low B is flat, but my Concentina Connection Jack baritone gets its moment in the sun. A wonderful rendition. The Jack sounded great -- rich and a little bit serious. Thanks! Sarah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah Swett Posted April 26, 2013 Share Posted April 26, 2013 Here is my attempt: I use the zoom on the camera to get further away to reduce volume but wasn't far enough. I wish I had more control over what my left hand does. I tried for jolly. Graham Very different flavor than the other recordings. Nice! Yes, a fabulous flavor -- I got totally caught up in it. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susanne Posted April 27, 2013 Share Posted April 27, 2013 Graham, I really like your version. It definitely makes me want to dance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Dunk Posted April 27, 2013 Share Posted April 27, 2013 Interesting that a tune in 3/4 is inextricably linked to a Viennese waltz when it may be anything but. The time signature is simply that, it tells you the number of beats to the bar and the duration of each beat but it doesn't suggest tempo or style, more information is needed to describe that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnMoncton Posted April 28, 2013 Share Posted April 28, 2013 For those of you who don't live close enough to Stockholm for Swedish radio, here's a playlist with all these awesome takes on Waltz from Boda: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Drinkwater Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 Well, May is already upon us, as of Wednesday. I see there has been no advance post about a TOTM for May, yet. Jim? Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Besser Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 Chris- the May Totm should be up now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Drinkwater Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Indeed, it is. Thanks Jim. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Fisher Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 (edited) Finally, and after quite a struggle (I've never seriously played with harmony ... we have a couple of melodeons in the session, so I work on melody ) here's my offering. It all went a bit mournful, so I'm hoping the backdrop will distract everyone I myself have been distracted only by that signature since I read the first post of yours! Reminds me of childhood dreams: Prior to heading for the music (which I missed as well in terms of a profession) I firmly wanted to study the astronomy. One of my books had a moody painting of Jodrell Bank Observatory as to be seen in late dusk, with stars and planets starting to shine brightly... Just the stuff to dream of doing my job out there sometime... Regarding the music I agree with Geoff: You are surely exploring new territory (or should we say: a new universe) with your nice first attempt... The EC is such a great instrument for doing a one man/woman show, not in terms of showing off but to give people (being the first of them oneself) delight... The not so secret ambition is to record a TOTM in the bowl Tuesday is maintenance day when we're all parked nicely, but I must admit that from shouting tests, the acoustics are dire! I may settle with trying the little whispering dishes next time. Here's http://www.flickr.com/photos/mjpointon/4927373495/ someone else's photo - I'd have to figure out how to bungee cord the tablet to the focus of one, press the record and rush down to the other to play ) Back on topic, I'm floundering around a lot with this "playing more than one note at a time lark, it's like rubbing your head and patting your stomach at the same time ... so any tips will be gratefully received. Chris If you recorded in the bowl I'd have to get out to one of the now empty domes at Mt Stromlo, where I work, for a TOTM recording. A fire went through the observatory in 2003 and the insurance money has been used to rebuild telescopes at other (less light polluted) locations. The research school and ancillary staff are back in refurbished buildings but we are surrounded by empty domes which do have interesting acoustics - I've been to a couple of small concerts in them. Back on topic too - I've managed to get my head around harmonies when playing Christmas carols but not much else yet. I recommend carols as they are often quite simple to harmonise with, and a good place to start. Edited May 3, 2013 by Robert Fisher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Barnert Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 Back on topic too - I've managed to get my head around harmonies when playing Christmas carols but not much else yet. I recommend carols as they are often quite simple to harmonise with, and a good place to start. Also because they are so familiar. Other familiar, harmonically simple tunes (folk songs, nursery rhymes, etc.) could serve just as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAc Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 (edited) Looking through the Stats of the two months so far, there have been a large number of 'views' in comparison to the number of downloads of the recorded material. What does this mean ? Vistors are interested in the Tunes but not particularly interested in how other people have interpreted them ? I wonder(ed) too - but we have to consider that there might be numerous counts of participating people like you and me just revisiting (but again, why not revisit the takes themselves as well...?). Having mentioned this I'd cautiously agree that general interest in other people's recordings might be not that overwhelming... well, I can only answer for myself, and will gladly do so: I am still working on a version of my own, which my own ambition won't allow me to crank out on the fly. ... I promise to add a contribution (although for schedule reasons, it won't be before middle of May)! Hi everybody, I still owe the forum a contribution (if for no other reason than the one that just like Jason, I'd hate to see the TOTM dry out. It's a wonderful thing to do and support). Nevertheless I realized that even though I could warm up to the Boda waltz reasonably well, I bit off more than I could chew. Being a relative novice to the concertina, what I set out to do I won't realize in the near future... soooo, at least I thought I'd somewhat document the process, doing some self evaluation and -analysis. Maybe describing it can be of help to some. Input very welcome, of course! I believe that there are four knots to overcome in playing this (like any other) piece reasonably audible. The order is strictly mine, no claim for universality here as usual. For most of you, this will probably at most evoke a chuckle followed by the "oh yes, I remember being there half a lifetime ago" memory... Knot 1: master the melody. Figure out how it works, where the accents and pauses and phrases are. Learn it by heart and interpret it as well as possible. Knot 2: Understand and add the Harmonies, arrange the accompaniment, manage to play both voices in sync. Knot 3: Add the clean rhythm, in my case play what you learned in knot 2 but under control of a metronome. Knot 4: Make a full fledged interpretation, ie use bellows control, dynamics, staccato (left) vs. legato (right) and so on to make everything sound round and nice. I call them "knots" because with every step you add, your mind will feel like being caught up in a fray; you undid the previous knot and can play that step mostly hassle free, but "simply" adding the additional distraction and focus of the new thing to add, all of a sudden there is a new big ugly difficult know to untie. I sort of undid know #1 for me - still not perfect, but I can play the melody more or less without thinking about it. Here's a sample: www.ruediger-asche.de/tidbits/bv_k1.wav (hi res, about 11M) or www.ruediger-asche.de/tidbits/bv_k1.mp3 (low res, but somehow my converter goofed up and added funny disturbing noises twice). I deliberately took it slower which on the concertina makes it harder to play because you have to focus on making each note sound equally even over its entire duration, controlling the bellows very deliberately. I still fail periodically but overall, that step seems to have been taken to 90%. Now I've worked on knot #2 very hard; at work I caught myself playing air concertina all the time, trying to memorize the left hand chord progressions - and slowly by and by the forced breaks caused by having forgotten how to proceed become shorter. Yet it'll take me at least a few more weeks of possessed laboring until I can call knot#2 untangled. I already tried (for amusement) to add the metronome while playing both hands at the same time - it feels as if taking up an entire new instrument from scratch. Yet it is time that must be taken and work that must be done, each step at a time... If I make a further step up, I'll post the results here (I think my arrangement is kind of neat and I really like to present it once it is an an audible form). The Boda Waltz actually is a great piece to learn the ropes with. Even though I'm reasonably familiar with the Crane chord patterns by now (aside from the B7 which is kind of difficult to reach particularly rom the Em position), playing both hands adds a completly new dimension. I do hope that these lengthy elaborations make sense to one or the other forum member and (possibly) help you get some kind of (new?) grip on the piece. Sincere thanks to my Skype teachers Kurt Braun and Jody Kruskal who gave me very many helpful hints that I need to weave into my playing. Don't give up on me yet! Edited May 21, 2013 by Ruediger R. Asche Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Dunk Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Nicely played Ruediger! I think there is way too much concern about the volume of posts in Tune of the Month and not enough enthusiasm about the quality of the contributions. I think Tune of the Month is alive and very well at concertina.net and it's looking forward to your next contribution with great anticipation! Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAc Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Thanks Pete - very much appreciated! It's on to knot #1,5. Here's the sound files: http://www.ruediger-asche.de/tidbits/bv_k11.mp3 It's actually more of a cheap cheat than anything else because I recorded the left and right hand separately and mixed them afterwards. However, that would give those interested an idea of the arrangement, and at least I never cut anything (played each track throughout). Now the next step is playing the two together... thanks for listening! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Wooff Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 Thanks Pete - very much appreciated! It's on to knot #1,5. Here's the sound files: http://www.ruediger-asche.de/tidbits/bv_k11.mp3 It's actually more of a cheap cheat than anything else because I recorded the left and right hand separately and mixed them afterwards. However, that would give those interested an idea of the arrangement, and at least I never cut anything (played each track throughout). Now the next step is playing the two together... thanks for listening! Ruediger, I hope there are more files coming... this one appears to be just one side ?? However I do agree with your list of steps to aquire a complete playing of a Duet... I'm making similar moves on the MacCann and know how it is. Geoff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Molkentin Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 ... this one appears to be just one side ?? The link reads as just the same as the last one - Rüdiger, hopefully your mixed recording had been saved somewhere else...! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAc Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 terribly sorry - my Provider apparently has a Problem resolving names - the files are on the Server correctly, but somehow the file names of the old and new Versions are too similar. Try this one: http://www.ruediger-asche.de/tidbits/bv1_k11.mp3 Thanks you both for pointing it out and for your interest in the files! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Molkentin Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 Try this one: http://www.ruediger-asche.de/tidbits/bv1_k11.mp3 Rüdiger, that's nicely played and set. Interesting start with descending bass notes! Keep up untying the knots... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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