IT IS (FINALLY!) HERE!!!

I was worried, but MY English concertina just arrived and it’s taking all the discipline I can possibly muster to wait until the work day is over so I can start playing! This waiting is killing me!

Sure, I got it out of the box and tried a few buttons and played with pulling/pushing the bellows. It is LOUD.

Don't expect to see me posting here save for yelps for help. I'll be learning to play and practicing mando.

ldp

p.s. shhhhhhhhhhhhhh. this communique is top secret! my band doesn't yet know i've even GOT a new instrument. it is a surprise. i want to show up with at least two of our tunes mastered for 'tina. ha! one of our vocalists got brave and drug out her viola ... we are gonna be amazing when all the pieces come together, not that they haven't on some tunes ... i'm blathering ... killing time. thirty minutes = eternity. -- ldp

Oh how absolutely wonderful. Good for you.

Bet you are playing away.

Hooray hooray.

Helen

Congrats!

But where are the details.. it's in the details>>
Jeff

Congratulations on your new friend! Yes, we want more details, please! And keep at it- you'll be squeezing out tunes in no time!

Allison

Make up your mind, please.

Yes, hooray indeed! But I'm also terribly jealous, because mine is still in the mail (coming all the way from Australia). It was just sent on Wednesday, so I should be getting it around the middle or end of next week. It's a 48-button Lachenal English.

The suspense is killing me!!
Steven

Details ...

I am starting with a Jackie student model English concertina. She is petite, yet aggressive!

I am trying to find the notes and they me. Scale mastery is the goal at this point. I am supposed to be taking a workshop later this summer. I promised the instructor that I would have at least three scales, locate all the octave intervals for notes, and have two tunes before then. The C scale was not one of the scales on the list, since it isn't a widely used key in these parts, but it is useful. So I'm progressing in the direction of D, G, and A. That's plenty for now.

This instrument is very LOUD. This is a bit of a problem since I am an apartment dweller. I am planning on making a baffled practice area away from the common wall and am making plans to spend time at the park where I can practice away without distractions.

This work thing keeps getting in the way of practicing, too.

ldp

Congratulations! How envious I am.
Something in another thread about Bill Cropp practicing with his concertina in the leg of a pair of sweatpants to muffle the sound. Might be useful

I have two large, quilted 'bags' with long-zippered openings for the 'tina, and gathered-type openings/cuffs for each hand and wrist.

I sewed them for the extra warmth, when it's cold, though, not really for the muffled sound.

It seemed I was often waiting in a (coldish) car for someone somewhere, and it was a good time to practice...and, no one else had to listen!

Wendy
If we tied one muffler to each knee could we start playing a bit of Glen Miller stuff?
Happy days Idp.
Al

Congratulations on your Jackie.

I've had my concertina for a month now and am really enjoying the learning (a stage I normally try to avoid). I too have the apartment with very thin walls problem. Before it arrived I was trying to find a place to practice without causing too much discontent. People suggested trying the University, which had unused practice rooms, or a few of the local churches had rooms they made available for gatherings or other use. I live in a rain forest so the local park is not a viable option.

However, after a month of praticing in my apartment I've had no complaints from the neighbors. Only one has mentioned it, and that was to say she enjoyed it (although she thought it might be a clarinet).

Hope your concertina gives you plenty of happiness and new friends.

-Keith

Edited because it sounded like I had a Jackie also, but mines a Lachenal.

Hm, that just might become 'The Big BANNED Sound!'

If the suspense in waiting for a concertina, and the joy in its receipt is so intense a pleasure, perhaps we lowly repair types and the exalted manufacturers ought to take even more time, just to give customers even more pleasure in their new/ restored instruments?

D

No, see, the waiting is suspense. It's the receipt that's such a pleasure. Therefore, holding off the receipt would hinder the pleasure. Although we would turn more interesting colors from having to hold our breath that much longer!


Steven

Thanks again for all the kind words and encouragement.

I'm working my way very carefully through M. Wakker's tutor excercises. I'm up to the third exercise involving the first four notes of the C scale. I'm not cutting myself a lot of slack. There's no moving forward until one exercise can be played without mistakes at least twice in a row. That is a challenge. I'm not interested in going lickety-split through this. I need to find the notes! I'm also going back and forth between teh first three lines to see if I'm improving. Everything surely must fall into place after that. At least as far as reading and mastery of the keyboard.

What's hysterical is that when I think I have the notes mastered and move to focus on bellows control (or attempt at control), the note accuracy goes straight to hell! LOL! This happens with other instruments and is to be expected. At least I sound better today than in previous practice sessions. Still doesn't sound particularly musical.

Thanks for the advice about muffling. The concertina came out when I saw the neighbors' cars were missing.

Wendy -- any tips on how you made your 'tina mute? I'd be interested in attempting to replicate your efforts with thick batting and heavy duty Velcro. I think this might get a little sweaty as summer arrives, but I'd obviously rather practice than not.

Thanks again everyone for your kind words.

Most important, any packages from Australia yet Steven?

ldp

p.s. more time would have been spent practicing, but i had a gig (which went fabu, thanks for asking) and a meeting to promote local music to attend this weekend. and i was good and got some housework done! yay me! ouch! my arm hurts from too much patting myself on the back. -- ldp

Hi ldp. Nope, no packages yet. I'm expecting it to arrive sometime between tomorrow and Saturday. I try not to think about it TOO much, though, or I'd go crazy!

Sounds like you're having a good time and making some progress. Like you said, it sounds better today than yesterday. That'll keep happening, and before you know it, it'll sound like music!

I'm still working on my borrowed concertina, which is going pretty well. I'm starting to make fewer mistakes with hitting the wrong button. Still enough to make me cringe a lot, but fewer! I've been working mostly on waltzes, partly because they're slow and partly because I like playing them a lot. I've got a couple down pretty well, and a couple more I can play from the music. Plus a couple of other tunes I can get through, even if they don't always sound real good.

One big problem I've been having is when I get really into a tune and forget to notice that I'm out of bellows. I then get really confused, because I'm still squeezing, and still pushing buttons, but the sound dies out and stops! Gotta pay more attention to that, especially since my new one will only have a 5-fold bellows (instead of the 8 I'm working with now). With flute it's so much more obvious when you're about to run out of air!!

Let's keep at it!


Steven

Well, I never really had to mute it...the quilted thing was more for some warmth, on my hands while I played, while having to spend time waiting in a car in...September or October in New England, I think.

Condensation/sweat, yes, even in the cold weather was a problem...so, sometimes I'd leave the zipper open to let some air in.

Needed the zipper along the length of the tube/bag, since the hand openings were small, gathered into the smallest openings possible.

Main points...long nylon zipper, and a fabric that's got loft -- NOT flannel, etc., which is too flat.

Quilted fabric, either pre-quilted or hand-sewn, can still be light-weight but it'll stay off the concertina for the most part. I suppose you could add an extra layer of something, to mute it more, but....just consider the moisture factor, too!

No pattern drawn out...just free-lanced it.

You might be surprised and discover that you run out of bellows less quickly with the new one. Bastari bellows folds are shallower than Lachenal, so it needs more of them just to come out even. And if the Lachenal is tight (which it should be after refurbishing by Malcolm) and the Bastari isn't (almost a given)....

A couple of things to try, though.
.. 1) Practice changing bellows direction regulaly every so many (2, 4, or 8 if your bellows will take it) measures. This will get you used to changing direction, and you can later learn to be more flexible about when to change.
.. 2) Try playing just single extended notes until you nearly run out of bellows, then change direction and repeat the process, ad nauseum. You can do the same with chords instead of individual notes. After a while, try looking away for the first part of each stroke, then gradually more and more of it, until you can feel when (or actually where) the change is needed without actually looking.

Once you can do both those exercises without concentrating on them, you'll be well on your way to mastery of your bellows.

For something "easy to make", how about an old sweatshirt with the sleeves missing. Stick the concertina up the middle and a hand through each armhole for playing. (Try to find a shirt with nonvolatile fuzz, so you won't get fibers clogging your reeds.)

This prompted me to dig out an old post (from the old Forum, so it wasn't accessible from C.net) that I hope you might find useful. I've re-posted it in Teaching & Learning, right here.

Thanks for the advice, Jim. I already do some of those things, but you've given me a couple of good exercises to work on. The problem is just when I get really lost in the music and forget that I actually have to deal with the mechanics of playing as well. It's a great feeling, at least until the music suddenly stops! La Valse des Jeunes Filles (Waltz of the Little Girls) is great for getting lost in like that....


Steven

I just had to check in. The sun is setting on another day of practice ...

Today was just great. Out of seemingly the blue, I picked out the first notes of "J'Attendre." I also have had a chart of "La Mer" in my office (which is where I'm practicing). IT IS IN the Key of C! Whoo-hoo. I played all the notes I could and sang the remainder. The triplets are interesting. But the important point is I TRIED. And here I'd promised to work on "Star of the County Down." Silly me.

The even better news: still no banging on the wall from the neighbors. Forearms and pinky are toasted, however.

I may be playing an actual tune before too long! HOORAY!

ldp

p.s. i'll try to respond to folks' replies soon. promise. -- ldp

Oh what fun ldp. Forget about us and keep exploring your instrument. We'll still be here when you feel like taking a break.

Helen