Anglo Concertina For Playing Ballads And Jazz

[squeezegirl]

Hello Fellow Squeezers

 

As you know, there are several people making concertinas both in the UK and on the Continent. As I understand it, various makers produce instruments with a 'sound' or 'tone' that is more suitable to one genre of music than another.

 

I play jazz and ballads. I don't play jigs and 'Irish music.' I need to upgrade and obtain an Anglo with more than 30 buttons.

 

Not having an opportunity to hear many different makes of concertinas, I'd be very appreciative if you can help me with some suggestions as to which 'brand' of concertina I should go for, that would be most suitable to the music I play.

 

Thank you so much.

 

Maria

[Chris Timson]

Well if you are looking for more than 30 buttons (and for the music you play I can certainly see why) you have excluded immediately any maker using accordion reeds. (I know of one maker who is working to develop such a concertina, but it's not on the market yet). This leaves you 2 options, it seems to me:-

1. Colin Dipper or Steve Dickenson
   
2. A vintage instrument
   

Option 1 means joining a waiting list that is several years long. Your patience will, however be rewarded by a magic concertina tailored to your requirements. For option 2, I would suggest giving Chris Algar a ring and seeing what he has in stock. A nice Wheatstone 40-button Linota would be right up your street, both for tone and versatility, I should have thought.

 

Whatever happens you won't see much, if any, change from 3000 pounds.

 

Chris

 

Edited to add PS: Chris's phone number is in the FAQ - see below

Edited March 23, 2006 by Chris Timson

[Richard Morse]

I would think that an Engish concertina would be more appropriate to the stuff you'd like to play than an anglo would be. Beyond 'sound' or 'tone' there's the huge world of being *able* to play what you want to. Do you want to play smooth passages with moving tones (such as a long run of notes while a lower tone is held for the duration?), lots of half-tone work, blazingly quick parts or moving chord support for singing...? I would think that an English tenor or even a duet would be more suitable.

 

If you'd let us know where you live folks could suggest places to go where you can experience many types and qualities of concertinas.

[Chris Timson]

Actually, Rich, I would disagree quite strongly. You only have to listen to the South African players or Fred Kilroy or Andrew Blakeney Edwards on Anglo International to see why. Me, I'm just a straightforward home key traddy player, but I know enough to realise that the extra buttons on a 40 button anglo give so many options in terms of keys and bellows direction that the instrument is a perfectly reasonable choice for jazz or just about anything else. As I keep on banging on, find the instrument you want to play and then find out how to play the music you want to play not the other way round.

 

Chris

[Graham Collicutt]

Well if you are looking for more than 30 buttons (and for the music you play I can certainly see why) you have excluded immediately any maker using accordion reeds. (I know of one maker who is working to develop such a concertina, but it's not on the market yet). This leaves you 2 options, it seems to me:-

1. Colin Dipper or Steve Dickenson
   
2. A vintage instrument
   

Option 1 means joining a waiting list that is several years long. Your patience will, however be rewarded by a magic concertina tailored to your requirements. For option 2, I would suggest giving Chris Algar a ring and seeing what he has in stock. A nice Wheatstone 40-button Linota would be right up your street, both for tone and versatility, I should have thought.

 

Whatever happens you won't see much, if any, change from 3000 pounds.

 

Chris

 

Edited to add PS: Chris's phone number is in the FAQ - see below

 

A C Norman is making 36 button anglos.

[Chris Timson]

A C Norman is making 36 button anglos.

Is he? Well I stand corrected, thanks. you should contact him, Maria.

 

Chris

[Theo]

And Jurgen Suttner has 38 and 35 key anglos models on his 2006 price list.

[Paul Read]

Surely if you just played the accidental row it would sound like jazz?

 

Quickly hides under the table......................................

[Peter Brook]

Surely if you just played the accidental row it would sound like jazz?

 

Quickly hides under the table......................................

 

Funnily enough when playing the cornet I can do a "passable" impression of a jazz great just by sustaining a long note, blowing louder and softer, and pressing and releasing the valves as rapidly as possible! of course the illusion is shattered when I stop to take the next breath and the "tune" doesn't develop.

 

It probably sounds quite similar to the accidental row being played though

[Brian Peters]

I would think that an English concertina would be more appropriate to the stuff you'd like to play than an anglo would be.

But Richard, my impression is that Squeezegirl has already started out down the Anglo route. There is certainly scope for playing jazz on the Anglo (Harry Scurfield being an excellent exponent not mentioned so far on this thread), but I'm not sure what is meant by "ballads". If you're talking about accompanying songs, an Anglo will do it pretty well, although arguably with less flexibility (especially in choice of keys) than the alternatives. But then you need to decide which key Anglo to go for. I cheerfully accompany songs on a C/G Anglo in the knowledge that the instrument will be higher-pitched than the voice most of the time; other song accompanists prefer the sound of a lower-pitched instrument (Bflat / F would be lovely if I had the spare cash). If, on the other hand, you want to play ballad melodies as instrumentals with chordal accompaniment, the Anglo can still do the business. If you want an example (and pardon me if this seems like self-promotion) I put a version of "Down by the Sally Gardens" - as taught to a workshop group at Witney - on Henk's Recorded Tunes page, here: http://www.anglo-concertina.net/links.htm

It's not easy to do this, but then, playing a melody on the English system with accompanying chords isn't too easy either as far as I can see.

Good luck with whichever you choose.

Brian

[Richard Morse]

I would think that an English concertina would be more appropriate to the stuff you'd like to play than an anglo would be.

But Richard, my impression is that Squeezegirl has already started out down the Anglo route.

Yes, but she also asked for the "most suitable to the music I play" which prompted me to proffer that there is a much greater accommodation to suitability in the *type* of concertina over a concertina's sound/tone. It may be that she started on anglo simply because it was the first concertina she picked up. That doesn't mean that it's the most appropriate one for her though.

 

The same could be said about a person who in a vacuum started on, and got pretty invested on English, and wanted a better box. So they ask "I play English and am really into Irish traditional music and feel I need to upgrade to get a better sound/tone". I think it would it be remiss to NOT mention that most ITM players use anglos to get that particular sound/tone. There have been many players who've changed types of concertinas to better suit themselves and the music they play.

If you're talking about accompanying songs, an Anglo will do it pretty well, although arguably with less flexibility (especially in choice of keys) than the alternatives.... If, on the other hand, you want to play ballad melodies as instrumentals with chordal accompaniment, the Anglo can still do the business.

Yet still with key and range limitations. If this is a prime desire then a duet may be the ticket (as I'd mentioned).

If you want an example (and pardon me if this seems like self-promotion) I put a version of "Down by the Sally Gardens" - as taught to a workshop group at Witney - on Henk's Recorded Tunes page, here: http://www.anglo-concertina.net/links.htm It's not easy to do this, but then, playing a melody on the English system with accompanying chords isn't too easy either as far as I can see.

I can imagine (with my rudimentary anglo skills), yet that would be very easy to do on duet.

[Brian Peters]

Yes, but she also asked for the "most suitable to the music I play" which prompted me to proffer that there is a much greater accommodation to suitability in the *type* of concertina over a concertina's sound/tone. It may be that she started on anglo simply because it was the first concertina she picked up. That doesn't mean that it's the most appropriate one for her though.

 

Point taken, Richard. Just that I generally like to point out that Anglo isn't quite as limited as some folks assume.

Brian

[Chris Timson]

I have a good friend who wants to play English dance music on her MacCann duet. I don't say to her, "get an anglo, it's better for the music than a duet". Why do so many people want to lay down the law about what you should or should not play on the anglo/English/duet? Sometimes it feels like half the discussions here are about this. Why not just encourage Maria and try and answer the question she asked, instead of advising her to drop her chosen instrument and start in on something else?

 

I really don't understand this.

 

Chris

 

PS Curses, blew it again. I should have remembered Jurgen Suttner. A maker of fine concertinas, indeed.

[Richard Morse]

If, on the other hand, you want to play ballad melodies as instrumentals with chordal accompaniment, the Anglo can still do the business.... It's not easy to do this, but then, playing a melody on the English system with accompanying chords isn't too easy either as far as I can see.

ITS NOT TOO DIFFICULTON THE ENGLISH its a question of doing the chords on the offbeats

Your both quite right, and I have already mentioned that to do this on a duet would be the easiest of the lot. Even though each of us plays the type we've suggested, I think that we're also in agreement that for this ONE type of playing, the anglo would be "not easy" (and key/range limited), the English would be "not too difficult" or IOW "manageable" (with coincidental notework limitations - can't play all that at the *same* time), and the duet would be the "easiest" (and has the range, keys, and is not coincidental notework limitated).

 

I'm not advising her to drop "her chosen instrument and start in on something else", but to consider if another system might not be more suitable for what she wants to play. Did she choose her original concertina solely due to being the only one available? Would she have taken it if she knew that there were other types that might be more appropriate for the types of music she'd like to play on it? Certainly amazing stuff can be played on all of them, even if such could be more easily played on one of the other types.