I'm thinking about getting an anglo in GD for playing for a Long Sword side, and am researching options, including a Herrington Square or 24 Key. Is anyone planning to bring a current model Herrington (eg. with traditional springs) to NESI next week? If so, I would love to see and hear one in person.

I like my CG Rochelle, but many of the tunes are in D, and I just barely keep up in the home keys, never mind trying to play cross-row. Also, I can't always hear the Rochelle in the din (2 fiddles, bodhran, PA, guitar, mandolin and sometimes whistles).

I've also thought maybe a cheaper 20 button in GD or DA might suffice, if I could find one loud enough and with a reasonable action. ( I have a double reeded GD Scholer in nice condition, but it doesn't meet those criteria, and is slightly flat of concert pitch) I'd just play in the rows and switch concertinas like I do with harmonicas. In the meantime I would keep working on using the 3rd row on the Rochelle to its full potential.

Any advice from seasoned Morris-type players would be appreciated.

The Morse Ceili comes "off the peg" in those keys and if you're doing a lot of playing standing up, it's very light to hold. I'm not sure that any of the currently available cheaper Anglos come in anything other than C/G.

I can't think of any Morris tunes that you'd need more than 20 keys for, but when you consider how comparatively few Anglos you see being played for Morris, I suppose there's little incentive for makers to produce 20 key models .

There's Glorisher (Fieldtown) for a start, which has a nice run which includes F natural (if you're playing in G on a G/D). Of course, you could play it in D and use the C#, but you've then either got to play in the middle range and compromise the chords, or jump up and down between octaves - G is the better key IMO, but needs the accidental row.

But it's not just a question of "needing" more buttons, in the sense of having additional notes which you don't get on a 20 key. Having a third row opens out far more possibilities for alternative fingerings and chords. including the low B and C.

Having said that, William Kimber managed very well within the two rows, and having to work within the limitations of the smaller keyboard can produce some interesting results. If you find you need a note which your instrument doesn't have, you just play a different note instead (melodeonists do this all the time!)

With the Herrington concertina website being out of date, what is the going rate on his 24, 30, and 30 square concertinas?

US $1250, $1900 & $1650 repectively, plus $100 for case. Still a good price I think. I'm certainly tempted by the 24 key. The way the accidentals are set up, I don't think they'd cause too much confusion.

Hi Bill,

I'd say try in "D" on the C/G. Playing across the rows is much faster than along the rows - it's the way many Irish-style players play. You might have to compromise on the chording, but with so many other instruments in the band, no-one will notice!

Regards,
Peter.

Yes, I know that ultimately it will be faster. In fact, I am already starting to work out alternate "cross-row" fingering while playing in C & G to smooth out the bellows work in some excessively jerky push-pull passages. But playing in the rows seems instinctive (maybe because I've played harmonica for 40 years), whereas cross row in a different key is still a lot of hunt & peck. Also, the barely suppressed terror and panic that I'm feeling playing in public with other musicians makes those home rows look awfully comforting But you're right, this band is a good place to make mistakes Just a matter of practice I guess!

Cross-row is a great and hugely useful technique. I actually feel a bit wierd now playing in just one row. I paid for 3 rows, darnit, I'm gonna use all 3 of 'em.

Because we speak of the "C" and "G" rows it's tempting to think of them as being self-contained, and to play them accordingly. But the anglo is more than a couple of harmonicas in a box. Once you start to think of it as an entire instrument you open up a whole new range of possibilities.

Learning to play in D on the C/G will be a learning curve and will undoubtedly involve a lot of "hunt and peck", but only until you get used to it. However, if you usually play in the keys of G and D it may be worth getting an instrument in those keys. Nevertheless, if you can possibly afford it, I'd go for the full 30 keys or more. My first "proper" instrument (after starting on a 20-key toy) was a 26-key, and having those extra notes was invaluable, but I soon found I really missed the lower notes which the full three-row provides. Now I play a 40-key and find even the standard 30-key a bit limiting.

I play for the Toronto Morris Men, mainly melodeon but also anglo...............come on over to Paris,Ontario for a cup of tea some afternoon and we can talk.
Cheers
Robin
PS.........don't forget that if you are interested in playing English music there are sessions both in Toronto and Cambridge.

What you said got me thinking - I don't read music and play entirely by ear, but I've just compared the notes on my 31 key G/D Crabb with the standard Wheatstone G/D tuning charts.

I appear to have a non-standard right-hand accidental row - using the normal push/pull notation, I have (according to the digital tuner on Garageband):

Bb/Ab, Ab/Bb, Eb/D, Ab/F, E/A

The left-hand accidental row is "as standard" (as is the rest of the instrument). I haven't found any tune so far that I've needed to use the accidental rows for (including Fieldtown Glorishears - I wonder if I'm playing it wrong?), but I wonder if anyone could tell me what (if any) are the implications of this unusual arrangement?

The instrument was made sometime between 1903-1921 and is stamped "Ball Beavon, London". Geoff Crabb thinks it was probably intended for sale direct from the workshop (going by the blank cartouche on the right hand side) but was diverted at the last moment to Ball Beavons.

I think I may have partly answered my own question - I appear to have a concertina with a Wheatstone left-hand accidental row and a Jeffries right-hand accidental row.

Would this have been deliberate, or did the person who re-tuned it from its original Ab/Eb make a mistake? Does it matter?

I thought the 'standard' Jeffries layout only differed in the right hand anyways: the dual reversed C#/D# (or other pairs for other tunings than C/G) buttons, along with a completely different accidental row altogether, and the F#/F at the end of the G row.

OK, you've all convinced me! Let the burning of new neural pathways begin! I got "Nick Barber's English Choice" and accompanying CDs in the mail yesterday. With the help of the fingering chart, dimly remembered middle school music classes, FACE and Every Good Boy etc., I learned the set of Harper's Frolick (D), and Bonny Kate (G) today.

My own bonny Kate, who bought me my concertina and puts up with my practicing without complaint, informs me that this sort of activity has been proven to ward off Alzheimer's, so there's another benefit!

I might still get a GD, but I'm really inspired to use that third row now!

As a morris and sword musician for 20+ years, I don't think I've ever seen longsword danced to more than a single musician. And if you're playing by yourself, it doesn't matter what key you're in.

Edited to add:

See you @ NESI, although I don't have a Herrington.

Bill,
for English tunes a G/D gives you lots of chord options. Much more fun that way.

Hmmm..... with the group I just joined, there are almost as many musicians as dancers. Good thing too, it would be a pretty plodding Papa Stour if I was the only one playing!

I'm still hoping to get to NESI, but a work emergency is making it look less likely. I did go to a session today, and heard an Edgley and a beautiful Jeffries GD.

Orion Sword from Boston: they use a fantastic band that includes at least one Kruskal brother and sometimes two, a sax, a great melodeon player and, I think, a guitar.