Is The Concertina A Difficult Instrument To Learn?

[Nanette Hooker]

The concertina is quite an rare instrument in my town (Townsville, Queensland, Australia) and I am frequently asked if it is an easy instrument to learn. This is a difficult question to answer, especially since I have been playing an EC for 19 years (yikes, is it that long).

 

One of the unusual things about playing the concertina, is that you do not watch your fingers while you are playing because of its design. I cannot think of any other musical instrument where the viewing of the hand movement is so restrictive.

 

Comments?

 

[bill_mchale]

The concertina is quite an rare instrument in my town (Townsville, Queensland, Australia) and I am frequently asked if it is an easy instrument to learn. This is a difficult question to answer, especially since I have been playing an EC for 19 years (yikes, is it that long).

 

One of the unusual things about playing the concertina, is that you do not watch your fingers while you are playing because of its design. I cannot think of any other musical instrument where the viewing of the hand movement is so restrictive.

 

Comments?

 

 

Actually I would say that you probably watch your fingers less playing accordion... But then again, really, there is no instrument where you should need to watch what your fingers are doing. Most instruments are not designed to make it easy to see what your fingers are doing, either they are too close to your eyes, at an odd angle, etc. Even if it is easy like say in Piano, you probably are not going to want to watch your fingers since if you want to be able to sight read music, you will have to paying attention to the score, not watching your fingers.

 

The difficulty of these instruments, particularly the Anglo and the English is essentially whether one can wrap their heads around the logic of the instrument. Both the Anglo with its two notes per button and the English with its notes alternating sides can cause people issues, but if you get them, you get them

 

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Bill

 

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Bill

[Robin Madge]

When asked I always reply that it depends how your mind works.

I found the Anglo easy enough to get a tune out of it in the first evening that I had one.

I've been married to an English player for 18 years now and I still can't play a scale on that, I even find my way about on a Maccan easier than the English.

Other people will say the opposite!

 

As for not seeing your fingers whilst playing, how about the Hurdy Gurdy?

 

Robin Madge

[Chris Timson]

The difficulty of these instruments, particularly the Anglo and the English is essentially whether one can wrap their heads around the logic of the instrument. Both the Anglo with its two notes per button and the English with its notes alternating sides can cause people issues, but if you get them, you get them

Precisely so. This is why I do not subscribe to the "if you want to play x music then you should play y concertina system" argument. if you don't get on with or feel enthusiastic about the system then you'll never (or very rarely) learn to play it. I think the same is true of any musical instrument.

 

A good example here is my partner Anne, who is currently fulfilling a life-long dream to learn to play the fiddle. She is finding it very hard, much harder than the English concertina when she first learned that, but her love for the instrument and consequent determination is keeping her hard at it and I am certain she will master the beast in time.

 

I do think that if you have the right mindset for the instrument then both the English and the anglo can give you a quick hit in terms of early progress that can be quite encouraging. But to get good on them requires hard work. But this is the same for any musical instrument. Even the voice requires decent and ongoing practice to sound good. [sententious] There is no easy road to musical competence, though a lot of people would like it to be otherwise. [/sententious]

 

Chris

[Mike Pierceall]

I find it strangely reminiscent of learning to type. However, imagine learning to type on a keyboard split in half and held sideways in two parts, 48 keys instead of 26. (56 in my case) Of course you would also have to press and pull the keyboard at the same time you are typing, and each key would have to be held for a certain interval, which changes according to what has been written. Sometimes you might even have to press more than one key at the same time. And do it all with emotion. And yet the human brain is capable of all that and so much more. Mike

[CaryK]

My stock answer when I've been asked whether the concertina is easy to learn or not is based on my experience. Its an easy and rewarding instrument to begin with (i.e., one doesn't need to develop special physical techniques to produce correct notes), but the more I learn the more I begin to see there is much to master. This and the sound is what keeps its interesting though.

[PeterT]

I've been married to an English player for 18 years now and I still can't play a scale on that, I even find my way about on a Maccan easier than the English.

Hi Robin,

 

I think that there is a "logical" link between Anglo and MacCann for those of us who play "by ear". Keyboard layouts are obviously completely different, but if you play outside the basis Anglo "home" keys, you have to go hunting for those sharps and flats. On the MacCann (more so than the Crane or Hayden), it is a similar journey, or adventure, outside the keys of C and G. But, like Anglo (played English style) almost all the melody is on the right hand.

 

The one which I can't fathom is the Jeffries Duet , which is supposed to be an "opened out" Anglo. But then, as you say, it depends how the mind works.

 

Here's the suggestion; when Anne is out of the house, sneak her English out of the case, and have another try. Key of C is an absolute doddle. Then try D, and let your ears tell you where to look for those sharps. The important thing is not to think, otherwise "melody on the right takes over".

 

Regards,

Peter.

 

PS - you could post "English" progress under the code name "Madge Report". Read, and eat, this message!

[Rhomylly]

But to get good on them requires hard work. But this is the same for any musical instrument. Even the voice requires decent and ongoing practice to sound good. [sententious] There is no easy road to musical competence, though a lot of people would like it to be otherwise. [/sententious]

 

Chris

 

"Hey, young fellow! How do you get to Carnegie Hall/Royal Albert Hall/Covent Gardens?"

 

"Practice, practice, practice."

[bill_mchale]

I find it strangely reminiscent of learning to type. However, imagine learning to type on a keyboard split in half and held sideways in two parts, 48 keys instead of 26. (56 in my case) Of course you would also have to press and pull the keyboard at the same time you are typing, and each key would have to be held for a certain interval, which changes according to what has been written. Sometimes you might even have to press more than one key at the same time. And do it all with emotion. And yet the human brain is capable of all that and so much more. Mike

 

Umm, just a minor nitpick.. but there are alot more keys in typing than 26. There is the space key, two shift keys, a caps lock key, tab, 9 distinct punctuation keys (not counting those that appear on the number keys), 10 number keys, etc. And of course there are times when you need to press 2 keys at the same time.

 

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Bill

[Theodore Kloba]

A good example here is my partner Anne, who is currently fulfilling a life-long dream to learn to play the fiddle. She is finding it very hard, much harder than the English concertina when she first learned that, but her love for the instrument and consequent determination is keeping her hard at it and I am certain she will master the beast in time.

I think one advantage of concertinas over the strings, woodwinds and brass is that you don't spend the first year making squeaks and honks trying to get a single musical note out of the thing. That makes it easier to start.

 

The key layouts (whether anglo, english, or other) may be harder than a piano, but probably easier than a clarinet for example, where you need combinations of fingers on both hands to make one note.

 

The hardest part of really playing any instrument are things like dynamics and phrasing and there's no instrument that gives you a shortcut path to getting them right.

[jlfinkels]

There are those who say that you should try different concertinas and find the one that works for you. There are others who say decide on the music you want to play and find the concertina that best fits that style. Both make good points but have their flaws. You can make any style concertina work for you, and you can play any style music on any type. As long as you're having fun, who cares?

 

Personally I sat down with an Anglo and English and found that I was more comfortable with the Anglo. I haven't found it hard to play tunes, but making music is hard no matter what instrument I play. It's the nuances (the devil is in the details) that get me.

 

-jeff

[JimLucas]

I think that there is a "logical" link between Anglo and MacCann for those of us who play "by ear".

I think the true "logic" is that most people assume that whatever they personally found to be easy must be that way because it's "logical". In fact, logic has little or nothing to do with it, since what's comfortable for one can be extremely uncomfortable for others.

[Mike Pierceall]

Umm, just a minor nitpick.. but there are alot more keys in typing than 26. There is the space key, two shift keys, a caps lock key, tab, 9 distinct punctuation keys (not counting those that appear on the number keys), 10 number keys, etc. And of course there are times when you need to press 2 keys at the same time.

 

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Bill

 

Well observed, Bill. Perhaps I should have used my stenotype machine as an example. It has 25 keys, all inclusive. Mike

[david_boveri]

One of the unusual things about playing the concertina, is that you do not watch your fingers while you are playing because of its design. I cannot think of any other musical instrument where the viewing of the hand movement is so restrictive.

 

i cant see my fingers on the flute. i do know what you mean tho... i have a heck of a lot of trouble practicing concertina in my head, cuz you cant visualize it from one angle!

 

I find it strangely reminiscent of learning to type. However, imagine learning to type on a keyboard split in half and held sideways in two parts, 48 keys instead of 26. (56 in my case) Of course you would also have to press and pull the keyboard at the same time you are typing, and each key would have to be held for a certain interval, which changes according to what has been written. Sometimes you might even have to press more than one key at the same time. And do it all with emotion. And yet the human brain is capable of all that and so much more. Mike

 

that sounds just a bit like typing in chinese! all you have to do is memorize about 5 - 10 character components on each key, then visualize the full characters in your head, and then type the character components; of course, there is no way of knowing how a character will be constructed, because many characters can be broken down several ways. some characters need to be identified by character types, because there is more than one possible character out of a given number of componets: left/right, top/bottom or overlapping. then you have to memorize the 3 stroke types for the last stroke of each type, totalling 9 random buttons that you sometimes have to hit at the end of a character combination.

 

i'm not too good at it, but good chinese typists can type quicker than 160 wpm!

[njurkowski]

Having been playing the English concertina for about 3 weeks now, I would say that at least superficially, it has been far easier to pick up than the other instruments I play (piano and trombone). An ironic point about the EC is that it seems that because it is so much more difficult to do melody+accompanyment-type playing, it is an easier instrument to progress on (it isn't expected that you'll be able to play Ives' Concord Sonata on it, so the literature doesn't expect you to...at least not right away.) That being said, there's nothing to stop someone learning how to play 4-part fugues on the EC, provided they have the manual dexterity necessary and want a headache, so there is a tremendous difficulty potential there - if you're willing to go that route.

 

I think no matter what instrument one chooses, you can always find increasingly difficult music that is more and more challenging. Mastering any instrument is incredibly difficult, because each has its own subtleties/peculiarities, and the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know. The EC is certainly a peculiar instrument, with a keyboard layout unlike any instrument I've ever seen (with the possible exception of the African mbira), which, naturally enough, grants advantages and disadvantages. The difference between learning and mastering is difficult to discuss...maybe for another post

 

As far as not seeing your fingers, I don't think that enters into the instrument's difficulty level at all. No one watches their hands when they play, and as far as difficulty in just hitting the notes, brass instruments would have to take the cake, in my opinion (all the notes are just kind of in the "ether..." if that makes sense....probably not). This post has gotten far too long so I'll cut it off here.

 

Nick

[JimLucas]

...i have a heck of a lot of trouble practicing concertina in my head, cuz you cant visualize it from one angle!

Interesting. I have no trouble visualizing both ends at once, either in a "split screen" fashion or as if the bellows were bent in a U-shape so that both ends are "facing up". But in my usual "visualization" the instrument seems semi-transparent, and I'm really paying more attention to its 3-dimensional solidity and the "feel" of where the buttons are than to any "visual" cues, since that's what it's like to actually play the instrument.

Edited April 12, 2006 by JimLucas

[Nanette Hooker]

One of the unusual things about playing the concertina, is that you do not watch your fingers while you are playing because of its design. I cannot think of any other musical instrument where the viewing of the hand movement is so restrictive.

 

I find it strangely reminiscent of learning to type.

Mike

 

that sounds just a bit like typing in chinese! all you have to do is memorize about 5 - 10 character components on each key, then visualize the full characters in your head, and then type the character components;

 

This reminds me of learning to type on a typewriter back in the 1970s. At college, the typewriters didn't have any characters written on the keys and we used to type to music.