rainer

hello everyone, i just noticed your discussion about pitch bending and as you referred to me doing it on the track "bare svetos" on english international i just wanted to let you know the way i do it. when holding a note i go on pulling (or even pull harder...) while letting the button go. at the point the valve closes but the air is still flowing the tone bends down before stopping. you can do so as well with pushing, i find it easier with pulling, though. once you get the point you can even hold the bended note a while: pull and let the button go, but not entirely, so that the valve is not completely closed. it's a nice field for experimenting and you can never completely control it. but i like the effect and it adds some individual spice to your playing. i managed to do so on any concertina a played so far (hohner, wheatstone, lachenal). and for those who might bother it could do some harm to your instrument: i do so quite regularly for years now on my concertinas and couldn't find any negative effect. good luck! rainer suessmilch (by the way: not "submilch" as on english international - in germany we have the letters "ü" which is "ue" and "ß" which is a sharp "s", so the international version of the original "süßmilch" would be "suessmilch". or use the translation "sweetmilk"... i don't really mind - just not to cause too much confusion ).

hi jenny! as this discussion starts with a quote from me i'd like to add something. i didn't want to say that "this event" - nor the people i met! - were unfriendly. for me that's not the point. i actually was kind of disappointed. i think i expected something else. that's probably not your "fault". i tried to explain it to dave in an email when coming back. still the event was absolutely not useless to me. i was for example most impressed by alistar anderson's performance, never saw or heard him play before. i'm not very experienced with concertina events, i have been to bielefeld several times and once to witney. but i think in smaller or maybe "younger" meetings it's more about the personal exchange and once the event gets big as witney the focus changes more to the classes and the concerts. the bielefeld meeting used to start with a big circle where everyone was charing something that he or she was working on trough the last year. the last time i was there they didn't do it anymore, the organizers thought there were too many participants... what i took from all this is two things. 1. next time i come to england i will try to get some lessons from alistar anderson. 2. the next concertina meeting i will join should be a smaller one. like the scandinavian squeeze-in, if i could only find the time, jim! so to me it's not about pleasing everyone but taking the decision where to go. and if you're on the way you want, go for it as soon as there's people to join you! greetings from germany, rainer.

hi nils! nice to meet you here... as for english concertina recordings don't worry: i'm working on a cd hopefully at least a demo-cd will be done within the next weeks. concerning tutors i think it can be sometimes even more helpful to use such that are basically made for other instruments, according to the type of music you want to go for. like pietro valente who once said that he learned playing the concertina with an accordion tutor, using the exercises for the right hand. i played the concertina for about 7 years without knowing anyone else doing so or even without having listened to someone playing, be it concert or recording. that is why i never thought about what music should or could be played on concertina and what shouldn't. i chose the concertina at the age of 20 just because it wasn't popular. i didn't want to play accordion, with all the russian players you meet every day in the streets, playing like i would never be able to; or learn the bandonion with everyone telling me: do you know astor piazolla? play tango! (actually quite a lot of people still tell me so, even though i play the concertina ) this lack of popularity of the concertina has advantages as well as disadvantages: when playing you get some attention because you're so "special". and people don't always compare your playing to something they've heard before. on the other hand when i perform in a place where people don't know me they often will not come because they have no idea what this is going to be... in my opinion the concertina never made it in classical music because of the fact that it's sound is not as "individual" as that of modern classical instruments. what i mean: if you compare an old violin from renaissance time to a modern violin (let's say from 19th century on...) you will see that the modern one has a tone that can be modulated much more. it has more overtones, you have a broader range of dynamics. the sound of the old instrument is straighter, more simple in a way. that has nothing to do with better or worse! or think of the row: cembalo, hammerpiano and modern grand piano. (do you get what i mean? i'm not used to talk about this in english!). especially the dynamics are a problem. if you see the range between the softest and the loudest sound on concertina and that on violin, or trumpet and so on. i saw wim wakker perform accompanied by grand piano. for me it didn't go together at all. it was like someone on a bycicle being followed by a formular-1 racing car. apart from that, to me the music originally composed for concertina is just still played (or played again) because of the fact that it is orinally for concertina, and not because the music itself is worth it (i'm generalizing!). it's not at all that classical music doesn't work out on concertina. but you have to find out what and in what way. bach's compositions for violin solo, some chopin waltzes (you have to leave out a few notes, of course), some of the simple piano stuff from bartok or shostakovich is nice. and if you want to play accompanied why not chose the cembalo, or lute or ... we have to find out what's special on cncertina. where's the concertina's contribution to the musical world. and combine this with want you want to express. i once heard a virtuoso playing bandoneon on some tango event. it was very impressing. than robbi pich played his version of "cumparsita" on concertina and that really touched me! what i'm trying to say is that concertina players should be much more open. not think about anglo or english or about classic or folk. nor about what was composed for concertina. just play and listen. be curious. i was actually quite disappointed when i was in witney in 2004. there were so many concertina players at all levels of ability. many of them knew eachother. i was there for the first time, and there was hardly anyone seeming to be interested in what this guy coming all the way from berlin, obviously not a beginner, brought with him. uff! this sounds like some ego stuff... don't get me wrong. of course there was lots of things going on, workshops, concerts... and still! well, i'm not quite sure where this brought me. i didn't intend to write that much!!! what i wanted to say: if there is some english player about to "die out" - as nils put it - wanting to get rid of his lachenal edeophone, just conctact me! best regards from berlin! rainer.

hi there! is the edeophone still for sale!? i'm actually looking for one... is it the one that's listed on the concertinaconnection homepage under "recently sold"? and: why do you want to sell it as you just bought it?!? kind regards, rainer, berlin, germany.