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Looking at Ancestry.com again, I've come across a reference to the death of a John H Maccann, father's name John, in Australia in 1915. It may well be a total red herring, but does anybody have access to Australian death records to check it out?
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They now have new homes. Appropriate payment has been sent to Concertina dot net.
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Texas Swing deserves a wiki look as well and swing dancing among the contra dance folks was hot for a while, probably still is in some places.
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Hi Christine, I believe that the wikipedia article ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swing_(jazz_performance_style) ) covers the issue fairly well. Nothing I could possibly add...
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There is no credible trace of him amongst Liverpool's extant burial records - so if he used that name or was recognised as such at time of death he is probably buried elsewhere. His last known Liverpool addresses suggests he is unlikely to have been buried out of borough (it was in proximity to most of the City's main cemetries) unless he had moved away or died in another place.
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I *think* I know what folks mean when they say a tune has swing, but I'm curious about what other people think. Swing could make a tune sound more lilting, but swing is also important in heavy tunes that depend on a drone note. Is swing a feeling? A tempo? A lightness? A digging-in? I'd love your thoughts.
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William Kimber, I'm guessing, in Headington ?
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Peter J. Earle - author joined the community
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South African Concertinas?
Peter J. Earle - author replied to seanc's topic in General Concertina Discussion
So interesting, but so long ago, now. If Allan Green was 75-ish in 2007, now... the question is whether he is still active? We had atrap-orrel beautifully repaired by him and now need a concertina attended to. We live in the Western Cape, not far from Mossel Bay. If he is still in action can anyone please give me a contact number? -
Mike Smith joined the community
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Louis Lachenal is buried in Brompton Cemetery, Fulham Rd, Kensington, London SW10 9UG
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Giulio Regondi is buried in St Mary's Roman Catholic Cemetery, Harrow Road, Kensal Green, London Borough of Brent, London, W10
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More commemorative than morbid, just wondering how many concertina "founders" final resting places have been identified? We know Sir Charles Wheatstone is buried in Kensal Green cemetery in London (with a surprisingly plain headstone), and William Kimber's headstone has that wonderfully carved stone concertina and Morris bells in Headington Quarry, Oxfordshire. The hunt was on at one time for Professor Maccann's final stop - any news? But what about Charles Jeffries, Louis Lachenal, George Jones, Harry Crabb, Giulio Regondi, Perci Honri, etc? If anyone can find these folks, it's the sleuths here at cnet! Gary
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Since 2004, when this thread was started by Radioboy about his "Woodstock Kid's Concertina", I've learned that exactly such an instrument DID exist (though his link never worked for me to see it at the time), but it was basically a toy button accordion (with 7 keys on the right-hand side, and 3 on the left) in a concertina-shaped hexagonal body. Here's the right-hand side of one: In the meantime I think most of us (not surprisingly, all considered) got confused about exactly what the instrument was because we'd only seen the toy accordions with the same number of buttons. The toy accordions are still readily available, but the concertina-shaped ones haven't been available for a number of years.
- Yesterday
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Depending on how high end you want to go, this might be an option for you. http://www.concertina.co.uk/stock-selection/?concertina=3300 -Lep
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Bill’s process gives an impermeable barrier between skin and metal, just commenting. Dave
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This is an interesting thread for beginners like myself. Thanks for starting it. Transposing often happens by accident when you're trying to start a tune and you do it on a different row.... Do you practice scales? I know some ppl hate the discipline of scales - it's a personal preference. But I like to warm up my fingers and it also gets me using buttons I rarely touch and so I actually learn what they are. I play a G/D and this morning I discovered a lower octave for D maj scale, making it a 3 octave scale - and I'd been thinking all along the limit was 2 octaves! As an alternative to a spreadsheet you might find a practice app useful if you have a smart phone. I'm currently using 2 - I can't decide which one is best - both have drawbacks and pluses. Sessions is a free practice ap that allows you to follow other musicians. Not much interaction, but you can comment on their practice sessions if you like (but no one does). I'm the only concertina player listed in the App :) I think it's mostly classical music students that use it (sporadically). Pros - finding other musicians to follow - their practice times spurs you on a bit to keep at it - Cons - too many ppl listed who only tried it out once 6 months ago and never used the App again. The developers need to clean it up. Instrumentive is another practice App that is probably more useful. Pros: You can enter multiple instruments for keeping up your practice schedule with them all, and you can create a library of what you practice, and apply filters to see them all. There's also a recording feature and metronome. Cons: Interface is a little confusing at first - every screen tries to do the same thing. Inputting tunes into the library and assigning them to an instrument so that you can apply filters isn't as streamlined as it should be. You can set goals, but they way the goals feature works best would be to have a goal of say : play for 30 days straight - then it will count each time you practice that instrument and automatically update. If you were to make a goal of learning a piece by heart - that's too open ended and you end up manually adjusting the goal settings to see your progress instead of the App updating your goal progress.
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Ravinder joined the community
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TANZBAR player concertina for sale w/40 music rolls
Ravinder replied to Jere R.'s topic in Buy & Sell
Hi there is the taskbar still for sale or sold? -
Concertinas At Shireoaks In 1893
Robin Harrison replied to michael sam wild's topic in Concertina History
Mike says it is 17th Century in the written explanation...... -
info@josephbertolozzi.com joined the community
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Hi Jim, I have also decided doing both works for me. I also just started a spreadsheet for my tunes this week . Right now I have four columns : Tunes I can play by heart, Tunes that I can almost play by heart, only with notation, just started or I just can’t get. I think I understand how to transpose a tune to another key but I haven’t tried it yet. May become a future personal challenge. Thanks, susan
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Hi Tradewinds Ted, I was really pleased when I read your suggestions. Most of them are how I am proceeding. Right now I have an alternating day process. I have two songs that I am working on by ear and I spend most of my time on them . Usually I have one other that I am just starting and spend just a little time on it. On the alternate days I play through most everything else either with notation or without if I know them well enough. Sometimes I take a day to try something new like you suggest with some tunes I know well, different fingerings or check out how I am holding and playing. I also look at other tune resources I try some things out. so that is what I am doing right now and it is enjoyable and I feel like I got out of the rut I was in just playing the same tunes over and over. Thanks for your thoughtful comments, Susan
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I suggest changing up your practice occasionally. 1) Play through several of the tunes you already know, as a warmup. This also serves as a refresher, so they will be more or less ready when you want them. As for how many tunes: Play through just a few of your standards in any one day, but change them out from time to time so the ones you care for stay fresh. As for how many tunes overall to maintain: You mention 30 tunes you can "kind of" play with ABC notation, and 10 you can play by heart. That is great. I probably have only 10 I can play by heart at any one time, although there are a few more that I've learned and lost track of. I suppose some I've just forgotten about, but might be able to play, or at least work back up to playing, if reminded they even exist.! There are probably more than 30 I would be comfortable playing at speed while looking at notation, but in part that is because playing while reading music notation at speed is a skill I've worked on. (see item 3) Also I've been at it longer, although not practicing as diligently as you have of late. 2) Pick a tune (or two) and go deep. A few different ways: 2a) learn a tune by ear, as others have suggested. 2b) if you learned the tune from some form of written notation, learn to play it without that, working on a phrase at a time. 2c) try different fingerings, harmonies, variations. Possibly different keys. 2d) develop a "performance version" to perfect. For example, three times through with preferred variations, fingering, and harmony for each repeat. Note that this is NOT an ordered list, just several different ways to exploring a tune. There will be a lot of recursion - 2d) isn't really possible until you've spent some time on 2a,b,c but even then going back and trying new variations later is worthwhile. and one I haven't seen mentioned above: 3) Occasionally go for a romp through a tune book, or some printouts of tunes, and sight read through a whole mess of new tunes! A sight-reading romp offers pleasure and change of pace. It can't be the only thing you do, and might not be something to do often, but it also has several benefits in addition to being fun. This obviously stretches your ability to read music notation, but at the same time it also develops your ability to find notes on the instrument upon demand, rather than repeating a well worn routine. Paradoxically, this second part of the skill can later help you to learn (other) tunes by ear, on the fly. Another fairly obvious benefit to sight reading is getting to hear new tunes for which you might have only the notation available, but have seldom or never yet heard played or have no recordings for. I find tunes on the internet and am curious about them, so I'll print them out, perhaps with a few variations if available, to try later when I have the opportunity. Occasionally I find one of the new tunes really appeals, and is worth coming back to for a deep dive to really learn it. I do see you mention playing from ABC notation, so perhaps sight reading from standard notation may be difficult at first, but it definitely gets easier if you persist. I think ABC is a useful tool for transmitting and editing notation as a text file, but I find it really awful for reading at speed. I strongly prefer to translate ABC back to standard notation before using it! But then I have the advantage that I already was reading music from my experiences with piano lessons, then playing horn in school band/orchestra, and dabbling with other instruments in the decades since then, before coming to the concertina. On the other hand, perhaps you are comfortable with sight reading from ABC notation at speed? If so, then you have a skill I don't possess. I do think it is valuable learning to read standard music notation well, but my point on sight reading is to encourage you to occasionally try lots of new tunes, not discourage!
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Thanks ! it deserves to be played , not sat in the box . Since I got my new one from Paul Harvey it’s neglected
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After clamping a displaced veneer chip with a veggie rubber band I realized it would make a good marker for gatherings or sessions where there may be several instruments laying about. Even though I'm sure everyone keeps a close eye on their precious box, mix-ups could occur! They come in spiffy colors too.....😃
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What a lovely instrument!
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Selling Wheatstone Maccann Duet 60 button plus air S/N 26369 dating from 1st may 1914, it is six sided and measures 7 ¾” across the flats I bought this from Chris Algar at concertinas in 2017 for £2500 to learn alongside my EC (which by the way I am also terrible at) it rarely gets picked up now which is a real shame so it is for sale and I am looking for £2000 which I think is a fair price, its in very good condition with nickel ends and eight fold bellows with the original leather case anyone close enough to Doncaster is very welcome to come along and have a play, I will try to upload photos but who knows how that will turn out , meanwhile I will be happy to try and answer any questions you may have, Vin
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More news on 3D printed concertinas...
alex_holden replied to RAc's topic in Instrument Construction & Repair
Apparently there are wood fibres in it, but the raw prints pretty much look like light brown plastic, or modelling clay, but with the characteristic layering artefacts that you get from FDM printers (the 'staircase' pattern you see in the second photo). The wood grain effect comes from sanding and staining. I guess the fibres help to make it stainable, because normal plastic is non porous and wood stain would just wipe off.
