Haden Concertina: Waltz Medley On Youtube

[Boney]

I recently posted a video of myself playing a couple waltzes on YouTube:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PDvPkV_-TM

 

I recorded a few more things that I might post later, I need to do a bit of editing first. And practicing. Lots of practicing...

[m3838]

I recently posted a video of myself playing a couple waltzes on YouTube:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PDvPkV_-TM

 

I recorded a few more things that I might post later, I need to do a bit of editing first. And practicing. Lots of practicing...

 

Finally! Good playing, nice tune, clear and catchy. Good looking instrument with interesting voice. Noted how left hand reeds are not overpowering the thinner right. I should learn this one.

Chance for a score? I can hum it and play by ear, but on the English, I would need to see written harmony or at least chord symbols, so I can mold it into one score.

No?

[Dirge]

Yes I liked that too; you've worked in lots of lh interest to stop it getting repetitive and it sounds good. The 'box is a woody sounding brute isn't it? Pretty too.

 

Nice to see someone on Youtube who actually tries to use the notes to forestall any potential Q's.

[Boney]

Thanks both! Hey, I just noticed in my title, "Haden" concertina? Where'd the Y go? I guess my fingers can fumble on the computer keyboard as well as the concertina. I just need a backspace key for the concertina now.

 

The 'box is a woody sounding brute isn't it? Pretty too.

The room adds a bit of oomph to the sound, fills it out a bit. I really like the Wakker, looks, sound, and especially playability.

 

I should learn this one. Chance for a score?

Sure. I tend to work out arrangements by fiddling around in a music program. Here are the scores I made up which is pretty much what I'm playing (click for larger size). Oh, I don't usually repeat the parts in Elsey's though:

 

Edited March 6, 2008 by Boney

[Dirge]

Now I'm confused. Presumably you play the lh an octave lower than written and this is to avoid ledger lines?

[PeterT]

I recently posted a video of myself playing a couple waltzes on YouTube:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PDvPkV_-TM

Nice playing, Jeff.

 

Regards,

Peter.

[Boney]

Now I'm confused. Presumably you play the lh an octave lower than written and this is to avoid ledger lines?

Yes, I'm better at reading treble clef, and since the left and right hands are essentially the same but with the left an octave down, using a 8vb treble clef in the left hand makes sense to me. It puts the same position on the staff in the same position for the fingers on each hand.

 

But, it was dead easy to knock out versions with a bass clef, so in case anyone might want that, here you go:

 

http://concertina.jeffleff.com/graphics/BabesBass.gif

http://concertina.jeffleff.com/graphics/ElseyBass.gif

[m3838]

http://concertina.jeffleff.com/graphics/Babes.gif

Oh thanks. And in easy trebble cleff, so I don't have to traspose it up.

I'll try to make sence of it on my Albion.

[Dirge]

What's the range of the 'box Jeff?

[Chris Drinkwater]

Nice playing Jeff. My only comment would be that, as waltzes, they could be played a bit slower, e.g. at the tempo dancers would waltz to, say 100 bpm.

 

Chris

[David Barnert]

What's the range of the 'box Jeff?

Looks like a standard 46-key Hayden. Wakker?

 

Nice playing. I also appreciate the 2nd camera for the left hand shots and the seamless editing that evidently caused most folks not to notice it.

 

Everyone has suggestions. Mine would be to try to avoid the parallel octaves (playing the same notes in both hands for more than one note at a time). Examples in the 2nd measure of Babes and the end of the descending bass run in Elsey's. Maybe find a way to make them parallel thirds or tenths (replacing F# G A in the bass with D E F#, for instance).

 

Edited to add:

 

Just noticed the extensive comments posted with the video, which address some of the things I mentioned above. Should have looked earlier. So to answer Dirge's question in light of that, the range of a Hayden 46 is: RH Middle C to D two octaves higher. LH same an octave lower, but only extending up to B. Completely chromatic except missing lowest C# & D#. Some notes in the overlap octave are only available on one side (C#, D# on left, Bb on right).

Edited March 7, 2008 by David Barnert

[michael stutesman]

Nice playing Jeff. My only comment would be that, as waltzes, they could be played a bit slower, e.g. at the tempo dancers would waltz to, say 100 bpm.

 

Chris

 

 

Ballroom dancers tend to prefer the slower waltzes typically 90 bpm. Contradancers generally like them faster with a comfortable range between 110 and 140 bpm.

 

Michael

[m3838]

Nice playing Jeff. My only comment would be that, as waltzes, they could be played a bit slower, e.g. at the tempo dancers would waltz to, say 100 bpm.

 

Chris

 

 

Ballroom dancers tend to prefer the slower waltzes typically 90 bpm. Contradancers generally like them faster with a comfortable range between 110 and 140 bpm.

 

Michael

 

I didn't notice any dancers in the video, and as far as those absent dancers are concerned, this waltz could be played as a funeral march.

To those who are indecisive about the rhythm: there is no such thing. A senior will sometimes dance much faster then junior, but in all cases with more grace.

[Dirge]

I have to agree with that one. If I played a dance tune as I thought nicely and you said 'But it's the wrong speed for dancing' my instant reaction would be 'I'm not playing for (Anglo Saxon optional) dancers.'

[Chris Drinkwater]

I have to agree with that one. If I played a dance tune as I thought nicely and you said 'But it's the wrong speed for dancing' my instant reaction would be 'I'm not playing for (Anglo Saxon optional) dancers.'

 

Just a personal opinion Dirge and others but regardless of whether a tune is being played for people to dance to or simply for the pleasure of being listened to, I find many tunes, especially English country dance tunes and waltzes, are spoilt (massacred even) by being played at the wrong tempo, usually too fast, rather than too slowly. The essence of the tune gets lost and for me, in the case of a waltz, as I listen to such a tune, if there are no dancers dancing, I like to imagine dancers dancing gracefully (or not) to the melody, as a way of enhancing the beauty of the tune, in my mind. The tune 'Seven Stars' is another example. I have heard it played at such breakneck speed at sessions, that, not only can I not keep up, but the lovely rythym that the tune conveys when played at a more sensible speed, is lost, making the tune meaningless to my ears. I have heard people comment that they never liked a particular tune until oneday, they heard someone playing it slowly, for once, giving the tune a whole new dimension and allowing other instruments to be heard properly for their contribution and texture adding qualities, something, again, that can get lost when a tune is speeded up and the whole thing sounds like a jumble. Some Irish reels spring to mind! Before I sign off, I shall go and put my flak jacket on, just in case.

 

Chris

[David Barnert]

Although I can certainly appreciate a performance of dance music that presents an alternative tempo to the usual dance tempo, one sure sign of a good performance in my book is if it makes me want to dance.

[Dirge]

Oh I wasn't saying 'No one's dancing so it should be played faster' Chris and David. I don't think there's a big difference between us. All I'm saying is that I wouldn't allow myself to be constrained by the fact that a tune was originally a dance when picking a tempo. When I play it it isn't, if you see what I mean.

[njurkowski]

I suppose how you conceive of a piece of music has a large part to do with your musical background. I've never danced, played, or even listened to much contradance-type music, so I don't have those connotations attached to tunes like this. I played around with the tune on my English a bit, and I personally much prefer it at a faster tempo. Different things about the tune will be emphasized if you play it fast or slow, and I don't think it ruins the rhythm to play it at 150 instead of 110 (the piece might get a little less meaningful of you played it at 300...). If, in your mind, the raison d'etre of this type of music is dancing, then I could see how it would lose some meaning for you as the tempo picked up. The same kind of thing happened with jazz in the late '40s.