Concertina Connection Elise – First Impression

[David Barnert]

I find anglo and duet no more alike than guitar and banjo. Sure, they both look similar-ish, and they've both got strings that resonate at different pitches when you finger different frets ... but that's the end of the similarities. Different arrangements of buttons / strings, different tunings for the buttons / strings, and different playing techniques (nobody really frails on a guitar or strums a banjo with a pick unless they're intentionally doing something very unusual).

 

I use a similar analogy when folks ask if my concertina is a kind of accordion. “They’re related, but only in the same way a violin is related to a banjo."

[m3838]

Intonation and rhythm make the music, not the location of buttons or direction of the bellows. Many people compare the bellows to the violin bow. I'd like to compare bellows to breathing. I find following clarinet players to be very beneficial, regardless of the system.

Anglo may be easier in this respect for beginners, as intonation problem is obscured, but that's it.

So in this respect all concertinas are much more closely related than banjo and a violin.

[Wolf Molkentin]

Intonation and rhythm make the music, not the location of buttons or direction of the bellows. Many people compare the bellows to the violin bow. I'd like to compare bellows to breathing. I find following clarinet players to be very beneficial, regardless of the system.

Anglo may be easier in this respect for beginners, as intonation problem is obscured, but that's it.

So in this respect all concertinas are much more closely related than banjo and a violin.

 

I'd second that. - What might be confusing is the idea of "mimicking" another familiy member (i.e. Anglo, on a Duet concertina, as mentioned). From my own experience I can only speak about the English system, which of course provides tremendous options for bellows work to be applied perfectly within the scope of the instrument.

 

So rapid bellows reversals might sound odd, but bellows reversals can be used for phrasing to great results. There's so much more obviously...

 

What comes in parts sort of naturally with playing the Anglo has just to be thought about, and developed...

 

Best wishes - Wolf