An Ergonomic Handle For English, Anglo And Duet Concertinas

This is mainly a synthesis of my ideas published in "Concertina World", the Newsletter of the International Concertina Association - in the articles "The English Concertina - in sickness and health" issue No 410 April 1998 and "The Anglo and Duet Concertinas - for better for worse" issue No 416 September 1999. Both available by courtesy of Chris Timson on his website Concertina FAQ (http://www.harbour.demon.co.uk/tina.faq/rahm/rahm.htm)

The ambition to find means to improve holding these concertinas is based upon the following claims that the traditional design is unsatisfactory. The factors are indicated by E for (English ),

A for (Anglo) and D for (Duet) regarding their relevance respectively.

When speaking of the "handle" here the whole concept consisting of different attachments is considered - i.e. thumbstraps, fingerplates, wriststraps, handbars,handstraps.

1. Ergonomical disadvantages

1. Eccentric location of the handle (EAD)
2. Palm of the hand has insufficient contact with the instrument on small models (EAD).
3. Contact with the instrument by the hand means extreme extension of the wrist (.EAD)
4. Inferior stability (EAD)
5. Thumbstrap wrongly located (E)
6. Fingerplate wrongly located, uncomfortable and not purposeful (E)
7. Thumbstrap weak and uncomfortable (E)
8. The natural angle between palm of hand and instrument uncompensated (EAD)
9. Limited possibilities to adjust thedifferent parts of the handle individually (EAD)
10. Small muscles engaged in carrying the instrument and working the bellows (E)

1. Musical disadvantages

1. Inferior stability means ineffective bellows-work and impaired tone control (E)
2. Floppy handle resulting in unreliable hand- and fingerpositions (EAD)
3. Instability resulting in muscular tension by efforts to stabilize unwanted movements (E)
4. 4^th finger locked in cramped position (E)
5. Finger msucles engaged in carrying the instrument which obstructs playing movements (E)

All these factors may have influence upon the comfort while playing and the quality of performance for any player but individual factors - like physical constitution, choice of music and musical idiom, place of performance, model of instrument, playing seated or standing and more - will decide whether the disadvantages become significant or not.

The modified handle is firstly meant for playing standing, which may be regarded as the natural or most effective position for playing the concertina but of course playing seated sometimes may be preferred for various reasons.

Here are some comments on the numbered disadvantages.

1)The eccentric location makes the instrument rotate if held horisontally and to deal with this you either have to hold the rotation back with muscular force or let the instrument down to a position with an elbow angle of about 120 degrees (upper arms vertical) to get a balanced and more comfortable situation. This is mostly not unsuitable in itself, on the contrary if you are standing it could be recommended as a good playing position - conditionally that the handle keeps the instrument safely in your hands.

The eccentricity also makes the bellowswork insufficient since the instrument wobbles with push - pull.

This eccentricity of course can only be treated by a complete redesigning of the instruments - or you could compensate for it by stabilizing the bellows.

2, 3, 8) In order to get effective bellowing there has to be sufficient contact between the palm of the hand and the end of the instrument. The hand should at best work with the wrist in a neutral position which is impossible unless you bend the bellows or place an elevation of the endplate under the hand which also prefers a compensation at the little finger side to allow the fingers to work along the axis of the button travel. This elevation is practised with a "wrist support" fastened to the end of the instrument, 10-20mm high at the thumbside, 30-40mm at the little finger side.

4, 9, 10 ) With addition of a broad individually cut wriststrap with well adjusted length, a stable cuff is formed by the strap and the wrist support so that the weight of the instrument is carried by this combination which also offers a much improved control of bellowswork and thus the tone forming process.

5, 7) The traditional thumbstraps are located too far towards the treble end of the keyboard which results in a need to bend the fingers too much to reach the lower notes. The straps should be located about 20mm further down to admit comfortable finger positions.There is not much to do about this on the original instrument but using a wider (30-35mm) and steadier thumbstrap helps.

6) The inventor assumed that the English is played with 1^st and 2^nd fingers only and that 3^rd and 4^th fingers are both resting on the fingerplate which explains the design and location of it but most players use fingers 1-3 for playing and support the instrument with the 4^th. This may work allright in many occasions but for fast or ornamental music it must be considered that if the 4^th finger is kept still it will obstruct the movements particularly of the 3^rd which means that the 4^th finger should either take part in the work on the buttons or be "resting" in the air - i.e. following the movements of the 3^rd finger, never be touching the endplate at all.

The modified handle stabilizes the hand enough to allow the 4^th finger to be liberated from its stabilizing duty and used for button work.

The problems described here are most evident with the English. However the Anglo and the Duet suffer from rotation tendency and instability too and adding a wrist support combined with the much steadier wriststrap offers improved hand positions, better stability and thus more efficient bellowswork and tone control. Adding a thumbstrap to the handle for the Anglo and Duet means even better stability and more relaxed finger work.

On the Anglo the wrist support is fixed with a rotation on the endplate of 30 degrees for these reasons:

1. to allow room for the vent button
2. to get a broader, steadier and more comfortable contact with the palm
3. the elevation at the little finger side makes it necessary to come closer to the buttons
4. to allow room for the thumbstrap

As a summing up - a combination of a wristsupport, a steady wriststrap and a broad steady thumbstrap can be used uniformly on English, Anglo and Duet concertinas to provide a more comfortable holding of the instrument, better conditions for effective bellows-work, symmetrical handling, relaxed finger movements and on the English a purposeful use of the 4^th finger. All of which potentially improves musical performance for the majority of players.

October 2000

Goran Rahm, Uppsala,Sweden