Well, I figure it's no good giving criticism without getting some in return, so here's the piece (or rather fraction of a piece) that I've been working on the last few weeks. An excerpt of the "Andantino" section of Regondi's Andantino et Capriccio-Mazurka, as found in Allan Atlas's excellent book, Contemplating the Concertina. Played on my trusty Stagi (please forgive lingering intonation issues) and recorded on my cheapo Logitech microphone.

My first thoughts on hearing the recording is that I sound rushed. Though it's an Andantino, it's marked "Moderato" so I didn't want it to drag, but I feel like I went too far the other direction. It also seems like my dynamic contrasts didn't come across as dramatically as I had hoped, but I'm just always on the edge of running out of air (so loud bits can be dangerous). Any suggestions (particularly about these issues, but also about anything else) are welcome!

Andantino, by Regondi

Thanks!
Nick

Very nice! You're just bragging that you're so good huh? I can't speak as to the rushed or otherwise, but to my ear is sounds very good. Loud bits? Running out of air? You must be on an Anglo?


Patrick

It's generally really good. My suggestions are:

- If anything it's a bit slow. At least - your speed varies, and I think at times it definitely feels rather ponderous. Other times the speed is fine.

- Varying the speed as you play is fine, but there are some places where it looses sense of the rhythm and I don't think you should let it do that.

- Quite often you're late with the note following a bellows direction change (at least, I think this is what happens), which disturbs the timing a bit.

But... these are little things really - it is very good.

I played this with my school chamber (string) orchestra (arranged by David Hedges, the head of strings at the school) in the summer holidays between school and university (1992?), and we played it in various places around Spain - much fun! I still have the orchestra parts, but no orchestra these days.

Very pretty Nick. My thoughts: I also think the timing's quite slow enough and for the first part of the theme was thinking 'is this a mazurka-sort-of-thing?'. Is that entirely contrary to how you hear it, or could you detach the long notes from the semiquavers and give it a little bit of 'skip'? I like the smooth second bit with the descending bass though.

Very nice. My suggestion would be to pay a little attention to phrasing and articulation. Notes that aren't tied or slurred together should have a little daylight between them. Phrases should arc from beginning to end like spoken sentences. You've got the notes down admirably. But that's the "easy" part.

Thanks for the notes, guys - very helpful.

I kind of played it as a slow - fast - slow. Not for any good reason I guess, other than trying to get as much variation out of thirty bars as possible. Probably a bit misguided.

Interesting to hear that you all think it's a bit slow. Maybe bring the outer sections up to the tempo of the middle section?


David You don't have any specific second counts as to your suggestion, do you? I was trying to pay attention to the phrasing and so forth, and for the most part I thought I'd followed the marked articulations in the book. If you could give seconds/measure numbers where I strayed (or you felt that I became inobservant) it'd be most helpful.

Danny- I definitely understand what you're saying about the bellows direction shift. How do you compensate for this? I felt like I was in rhythm when I reversed bellows directions - do you jump the gun ( as far as your natural rhythm goes?) a bit to compensate for the bellows response-time? I always feel like the notes take a few milliseconds to sound. Then again, I might just be delaying things subconsciously. After all, "'tis a poor workman who blames his tools..."

I didn't realize that there was an orchestra arrangement of this - very cool.

Dieppe Thanks for the kind words. Whenever I feel like I'm having a difficult time managing the bellows, I always think how much more difficult it'd be if I were an anglo player and shudder....

Very nice! More, more.

ocd

Here's what I'd say about the first few measures, anyway. The rest of the piece is similar figures, but I don't have the patience right now to pick through it all. I own Allan's book, but don't have it at hand right now, so I don't know how the articulations are notated.

The initial attack is weak. It sounds like you're sneaking onto the stage, trying not to be noticed. As a result, the two notes speak at different times. Be a little more assertive with the opening, even if it's meant to be quiet. Announce yourself confidently.

Articulate the beginning of the 2nd measure (assuming three beats to the measure), and after the 2nd measure take a breath (figuratively). The "breath" is better after measure 4. Instruments that aren't played with the breath should imitate those that are, which (in turn) should imitate singing, which should imitate talking. Speak the lines: Yaaaa da da da Taa da daa. (Breath) Yaaaa da da da Taa da daa.

Well, that gets to the heart of some of the issues I'm having. The initial figure starts at piano, crescendos, and then diminuendos. The second phrase follows the same pattern. In order to create a feeling of motion, I feel that overall, the second phrase should be louder than the first. This means that I have to start with the bellows extended a little bit, to give me an extra amount of bellows on the push to facilitate the louder second phrase.

What this all means is that I must start the first phrase quietly, because if I don't give myself room to get louder, I run out of bellows. I guess I could try a little more "pop" on the first note to accent the entry, at least to get the notes to speak together.

And overall, I think I need to make the contrasts a little more dramatic. Of course, if I upped the tempo a bit, I might not run out of bellows...

Nick,

I liked it.
It's a classical piece, so the structure is not up for critique (have to get in touch with this Regondi off-forum )

I found the phrasing good, and tempo was OK. My only criticism of the dynamics is that they could have been a bit more pronounced. That's bellows work, of course, and I notice myself that I often have to optimise the bellows movement after I've got the notes together. But then, I'm an angloist!

BTW, I'm also a Stagi player, albeit Anglo, and my concertina improved by about 100% in bellows control when I fitted a replacement bellows by Concertina Connection. I have a lot more volume when I need it, and now I can easily play arrangements that made me "run out of breath" with the old bellows.

One little item that I don't like about my own playing: sometimes you don't press two buttons quite simultaneously, and one note sounds a split second later than the other.

Play the piece as it is for people who don't play themselves, and you'll get little criticism. We other concertinists are far more critical than a "normal" audience.

Thumbs up!

Cheers,
John

I'm not sure that's the problem. I mentioned above that that happens at the very beginning of the piece. I think it's because different reeds have different pressure threshholds at which they begin speaking and if you start playing a pair of simultaneous notes by increasing your bellows pressure too gradually one will speak before the other.

Yeah, that's definitely what's been going on. I've been reworking it a bit, starting louder. I end up with the bellows spread out to their limits (which I'm not all together comfortable with), but I like the sound better.

Thanks everyone for the most helpful criticisms!

Nick