Hello Folks

My main instrument is a 30 button Wheatstone Anglo. I have just acquired 2 inexpensive 20 button, double reeded German Anglos for fun and to have a different sound. It is a strange feeling when switching back and forth.

I am wondering what other's experience is: whether playing on the 20 button Germans is helpful or detrimental to my 30 button Anglo playing. Perhaps it is good for my brain and reinforces the muscle memory of my fingers and hands? OR Perhaps not. Perhaps it is harmless?
I'd rather not confuse my hands and brain if it means not enhancing or impairing my 30 button playing.


How about folks who play English and Anglo, and/or other sorts of concertinas?

Thanks,

Richard

You don't need to use all 30 buttons!
Kid yourself it is only a 20 button and learn the old style - listen to some of the old Irish mistresses, Mesdames Crotty and Hayes.

It shouldn't cause any harm, and it might even help. Because of the differences in dimensions and design (not just buttons, but shape an placement of the hand bar, balance, etc.), you'll find yourself exercising some new muscles. These should be in addition to those you use for the 30-button, not in place of them, but once they're strengthened, you might find them more generally useful.

As for switching back and forth, if you can drive more than one make of car, it should give you no trouble.


... ... ... Well, that's me.

Switching between a 20- and 30-key and should not be much a challenge. My South African friends, in particular, love to switch between 30-key Anglo and 20-key double-reeded German-made Anglos. One of my SA friends plays these instruments plus English and duet concertina.

He gave me one of the best pieces of advice ever for playing more than one system. Play an individual tune on only one system. Tune A on Anglo only, Tune B on duet only, etc. He said that, even though he has been playing all system for some time, he finds that switching between systems for the same tune is most challenging and downright counterproductive.

Not my experience at all, and I heartily disagree!
Learning the same tune on more than one system helps you establish the relationship between the instrument -- each instrument -- and music in general, rather than learning each piece as a unique pattern and then being unable to transfer what your fingers have learned to new pieces of music. After all, each tune can be broken up into smaller sequences of notes, and these occur over and over again in may tunes. If you can learn one tune with (e.g.) a d-e-f# triplet on one system and a different tune containing the same triplet on another system and have them not interfere with one another, then why not a whole tune?

I, too, disagree.

I've been learning Anglo for six months after having played English for many years. I find that playing the same tune on both boxes helps me see the tune in a different light.

A tune I've been working on is The Humours of Kilclogher. I learned it on Anglo from a recording by John Williams. After getting it down (more or less) on the Anglo box I found that I also enjoy playing it on English. The necessity of using different ornamentation on the two boxes could be seen as a drawback, but I prefer to see it as opening up new possibilities.

For similar reasons I'll try to play tunes in different keys: I'm playing the Humours of Kilclogher in both D modal (as Williams recorded it) and in E modal (as Danu recorded it).


[edited for spelling]