I live in a small flat and wondered if there's any way i can make my concertina sound quieter?

Any ideas?

Less force on the bellows. :0)

And if you have a car, go out in that from time to time and practise in a quiet country lane with a view out over the valley and the sun setting over the distant hills. That's what I do.

I do that during my lunch break from work. No sunsets, but just right now newborn lambs bouncing around everywhere.

Bob Copper used to tell how his wife would complain about the noise when he was teaching himself concertina, so he used a pair of trousers to deaden the sound. He stuck an arm down each leg and wrapped the concertina in the, er, main bit of the trousers.

Chris

When I go to sessions, I have difficulty making myself heard! I always practice at home and despite having a steel-reeded concertina with metal ends, provided I don't give the bellows too much wellie, I can play into the wee small hours without sounding any louder than your average radio or TV and disturbing the neighbours next door or even my lodger in the next room. You could, of course, play 'air' concertina. Going out into the countryside to play, or a to a local park or open space, is weather and daylight dependent and nice to do but cheating, if you live in a small flat and simply want to play at home. Alternatively, you could invest in a midi concertina and listen in to your playing via headphones, eh, Chris? The neighbours must be grateful that I don't play the bagpipes, or the melodeon even.

Chris

Imagine, the sight of Bob Copper in his undies, his trousers wrapped instead around his concertina to deaden the sound while practising, so his wife wouldn't complain about the noise! That would make a good Youtube video. Any volunteers? And no nobbly knees please.

Chris

Old trousers aside, make sure you cultivate your neighbours; my experience is that (for example) when people know that the angle grinder they hear is being wielded by that nice car enthusiast next door who would be very upset if he thought it was disturbing them, they can put up with a noise that might be really irritating coming from the unknown. Get to know them, show them the concertina, invite them to tell you if it disturbs them, and get them interested and kindly disposed.

As Chris says, you can be more of a menace with the TV or a stereo; remember that fact, it helps to prevent paranoia.

You have to train them; you get them AND YOUR FAMILY used to it so they don't think about it. Play it quietly and moderately to start, you can build up to pumping hard with all the windows open later....

Finally, get a pair of old cords if it's that or not practice. Practice is all.

(I wasn't joking about family, they're the worst. I was told recently 'I don't mind you practicing but could you stick to tunes you know?')

I am very fortunate. My upstairs neighbors just had a little baby girl. They are so concerned about all the noise of the baby over our heads (which will only get worse), that I feel very secure that their tolerance and acceptance for my concertina playing is wide and deep. My wife and I sealed the deal with a cute little child's book as a "welcome to this world" gift.

Richard

I personally recommend dead neighbors myself. The youngest of my neighbors fought in the local civil war one hundred and forty some years ago. Not much complaining about us playing music.

Alan

Installing baffles.

Removeable external baffles like those created by Danny (C.net member "Ratface") might be what you want.
(A quick Search here on C.net should find the information.)

Nope!
These are only altering the sound, if done correctly (and it's a big question, what is "correctly", but the sound is still loud).
Well, I was making and successfully constructed "Concertina silencer", but fell short of making one for practicing. The need is just not there, I am fortunate to have garage appartment in my house, where, if I close all the doors, the insulation is OK.
So there are two ways:
one is local and one is global.
1.Local:
two rings (that are used for "needle pointing") the size that is slightly bigger than radius of your concertina.
Then heavy vynil about a yard/half wide and long enough to be able to wrap around the rings.
Then wrap it around and fasten with upper part of the rings, leaving long "sleeves on both sides.
Punch holes in the opening parts of the sleeves and thread a long and thin piece of leather.
Put your concertina in, stick one arm in and tighten the sleeve, then put another arm in and tighten the sleeve.
Your concertina will sound wa-ay quieter and rather nice, like muffled clarinet. It'll be heard All right, but the piercing edge will be taken off, and people will be less annoyed.
To those humorous dudes, who will jump at the opportunity to joke about tightening the sleeves with arms inside: if you make leather threads long enough, so they reach the floor, you can tighten them by stepping on them and pulling sleeves up.
The hands get sweaty though, so you need to practice with breaks and letting the instrument out briefly.
It was fun project, I still have the vynil laying around somewhere.
2. Global:
Build a booth.
Put heavy thick rubber mat on the floor, some 2 yards in diameter.
Make circular rack out of some heavy plastic tubing and hang heavy draperies around it, so they overlap, and the bottom part reaches the floor.
On top place same draperies, cut in circle or square, so it makes a roof. Like a tent.
Go inside and play away.
Again, people will hear you, but muffled and a bit rounder and nicer.
I think you'll get sweaty and will need to crawl out frequently.

Or.
Buy a MIDI instrument. To avoid paying too much, buy a Rochelle or Jackie and send them to Bolgaria, to that guy, forgot his name, and he'll MIDIfy it for some $500.

My approach was to buy a very early Wheatstone tutor with brass reeds. It's the quietest concertina I've ever encountered. Very sweet tone, too. One might be cheaper than a sound booth.

I fitted internal leather baffles (as described on the C.net site) to my Jack and they've reduced the volume considerably. I can even feel the extra resistance.

If its a large pro sound booth, then the concertina could be cheaper. I priced ready made booths, and for the size I wanted they were quite expensive. However, voice over booths are much smaller and thus cheaper, though you may find your self a bit cramped.

If you only need a little quieting (a 10db reduction equates to a human perception of half as loud) you might be able to get away with a rubber maid garden shed or as M3838 suggetsed some nice heavy curtains.

I will be be starting a seperate thread on the booth I'm building once I have a few more pictures.

For Concertina I had thought of building a small plexiglass rectangular box with arm inserts on each end, like a chemists isolation chamber, you could see the concertina inside, there would be plenty of air internally to push/pull, plus you would have movement room of the box. (You could possibly use clear flexible vinyl and make a see through bag)

You might look and feel a bit foolish with an aquarium on your lap, but then again if youve gone this far and actaully own a concertina....

Aquarium is an interesting idea, but there is a problem of holding.
Inside soft bag concertina can be placed on your knee (with the bag), or if it touches the bag - iit's safe.
When inside of hard plexyglass box, you have to be very careful not to touch the walls, but it's impossible, so you are in danger of damaging the polish, the corners ans what not.
A garden shed is attractive option, but I think it will cost from $300 to $500, no?
Is there room inside for adult to sit? I will have to look into it.
Hmm. A little toy house for concertina, sounds mighty attractive.
Nobody walks into my Concertina's house! I'll have it nicely arranged, with carpet and a tiny TV and tiny Stereo, and pictures of various concertinas, old and new.
Next thing I'll new is my wife calling the doctors.

Hi,

Living half a mile from the nearest neighbours, and having a concertina tolerant wife, I do not suffer from your problem.

The most attractive (and expensive) solution is to buy a top quality concertina. A good instrument with well made and set reeds can be played very quietly but can be 'wound up' to full volume when the circumstances permit.

A top instrument should be capable of being played at every level from 'quiet as a church mouse' right through to levels that are likely to result in noise induced hearing loss. A good long scale reeded wheatstone is particularly suitable for quiet responsive playing. I have a Linota that so sensitive that it can sustain a mid range note played quietly for up to two and a half minutes on one 'lungful' yet, when you open the throttle a bit, produces more than sufficient volume to serve, unamplified, as the sole instrument for dancing at an outdoor ceilidh.

By all means, try fitting baffles or making some sort of indoor or outdoor booth/shed structure to sit in, but personally, I think that anything that wraps around the instrument would prove unwieldy and would only serve to increase frustration levels and take the fun out of it.

Regards

Dave

$8000 equals of one nice concertina.
Or two Hawai'i vacations for 3 weeks.
Or one Hawai'i vacation for 4 weeks and one nice midrange instrument.
But you are right, and the benefit, besides having a nice instrument, is that after initial wife shocking, marriage shaking, kids crying payment you are in the club of very nice instruments. You can exchange them, with very good trade-in value. It's like buying luxury car. From that moment on, with only moderate installments, you are "sentenced" to spend your life driving luxury cars.

Do you exchange them as a package or does the wife go to one place and the kids to another?

I play expensive concertinas, drive very cheap 'boneshaker' cars and do not go on foreign holidays.

Purely a lifestyle choice

Dave

ps - if you think you can part me from any of my concertinas for a mere $8000 - think again !

What a coincidence. My partner Rosie is on vacation in Hawaii right this minute. Fortunately, she also plays the concertina (and melodeon) and so, is well tolerant! Unlike a concertina playing friend of mine, whose wife can't stand him playing that infernal thing (why they got married, I don't know) and banishes him to the garden shed.

Chris

Thinking outside the box (or booth). . . my other really expensive hobby is large format photagraphy and for loading film holders outside of the darkroom I use a "changing bag", which is usually a double lined bag of rubberized fabric closed by a couple of zippers and having two arm holes. I stuck my stagi (should have my Tedrow in another week) in mine and it really muffles the sound. My bag is 16" x 16" and really to small for concertina playing but you can get them up to 24" X 30" and that might do the trick. They're warm too (well, actually sweaty on a summer day) so if you're banished to practising on a mountain top it should be splendid. Anyhow, you can find them on ebay in the camera section.
Kevin

My small children beg me to play when they go to bed. You may be doing the little girl a service by providing her sleep-time serenades! Don't be surprised if at some point the neighbors come down and ask you to play to calm their baby!

Brilliant!
Thanks.

If ya got a closet you can fit in...try doing that & put some pillows around you. But it can get hot in the summertime.

I find myself doing that occasionally on the trains around here.

Normally I don't play on the train, since while some people enjoy it, others don't. But no one has yet complained when I've taken out my instrument and used it to quiet a crying child. Only once have I been unsuccessful, as opposed to more than a dozen times where the child quiets... some smiling, some sleeping, and more than one waving goodbye as we parted.

thats a good suggestion, your not supposed to be looking at the ends of the concertina anyway while you play.

Now you need to sell that idea to singers as well :0

Has it occurred to you lot that you might be losing the plot slightly?

I heard of an accordeon player who insulated a small closet underneath the stairsn with egg cartons. I tiny place where he could practice. For myselfe - my neighbors must suffer a little. On sundays I sometimes go to the river and play and sing under the bridge - harbor left and right and a nice sound and from time to time a boat of the water police as an audience.

I find it difficult to play jigs and reels in a quiet hushed way and therefor would prefer buffles (or give away earplugs )

Egg cartons will not do anything, they are excellent sound conductors, loudspeakers are made the same way, and often with the same material.
That accordion player was in the state of blissful ignorance.

On a long drive up from Devon to Nottingham today, I stopped at Brent Knoll: an iron age hill fort overlooking the sea in one direction, and with Glastonbury Tor visible across a wide green plain in the other. I sat in cool spring sunshine and played for a bit with no complaints about the noise from anyone. I also had the benefit of an invigorating walk!

You dwellers of a tight world, crowded with Glastonbury Tors in all directions, will not even understand the self-conclusiveness of omny-present american wilderness. There is no wall to turn your back to, only wind. So much, that the idea of sitting down and playing in the woods makes no sense. Human presence here is so superficial, it's disturbing.

i myself take some blankets and sweatshirts and put them on top when i really want to be quiet. it works pretty well. i ironically ended up learning some good lessons about bellow control from doing that (somehow), thus enabling me to play quieter, and then not needing the blankets.

On the other hand we shouldn't go too far into playing quietly. For one, not everyone's concertina is top notch, and it's responce on lower pressures will be rather different.
For two, I remember my CBA teacher always pointing that I play too quietly, and I need to learn to send the voice without making instrument scream. When I tried, I always was missing the buttons and my playing was much worse. There is this different attitude, when playing loudly.
I vote for a minivan, must be cheaper than sound booth, and has some other minor uses.

i myself tend to push it too loud, which means i get to a session (which isnt very often) and if i dont watch it it goes flat.

there is nothing wrong with playing quietly. if you play quietly, you can then accent more notes. i would say the problem might not be your volume, but how you are controlling and using the bellows. if you are applying pressure to the buttons, and not using your shoulders and pecks to apply pressure, your sound can be dull and lifeless. by playing loudly, you would therefore be adding more energy to your playing. you can add more energy, however, by adding more energy while still playing with a delicate touch.

It's not about non-delicate touch. Playing loudly doesn't mean screeching. One has to be aware of the max limit of one's instrument and dance with that. Within the limits loud playing simply means more dynamics. There must a room up from those off beat notes. Loud playing also allow the reeds to show their full spectrum (given you have good ones). I haven't mastered loud playing, to tell the truth. It's something I have started trying recently, only to discover that I have to learn not to miss the buttons again.