Łukasz Martynowicz

You definately should try to switch to Hayden (try an Elise if you can) - it is uncompared for such singing accompaniment, mostly because you don't have to think about chords - every single type looks exactly the same, so ompah rhytms are as easy as on accordion and generally chord accompaniment is as easy as on a guitar. I'm guessing that most of your 1,300 hours was spent on memorizing the layout and shapes of different chords and that most mistakes you make is hitting the chromatic keys which are not part of a key you play in (on the left side)? I understand, that it is hard to switch after so many ears, but you should keep in mind two things: 1) some concertina skills are universal regardles of the exact type of box you play (e.g. bellows control is different only on an Anglo; forearm muscles training for staccato (you lift your fingers to make staccato not press the buttons for this effect) will not fade out etc..) 2) after initial confusion on the new layout, Hayden is very (and I mean like "OMG that is so easy") intuitive and straightforward when it comes to chord playing. Try it, even if won't stick to it you'll have a comparison which may give you a new look on what you should practice more.

Or it may be, that you have chosen a wrong keyboard layout for your "brain wiring"- I could not make any sense out of music when I tried traditional staff and piano keyboard approach or an Anglo "memorize everything" approach. But after trying Hayden layout suddenly all became clear and there is a steady improvement of my skills ever since. And if you want to be able to do a chordal song accompaniment there is really no better layout than Hayden - check the thread here: http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=15974&hl= for some details.

@ Stuart: I too came to the world of Duets after playing Anglo (for a year only but…) but IMHO the bisonoric property of an Anglo is it's very fundament. So even that Anglos are side-divided like duets and capable of playing accompaniment and melody at once, they are so different in their nature from any unisonoric instruments. Interesting is your point of view on advantages of Wicki/Hayden as not being as crucial - this consorts well to mine and Matthew point exactly: for anyone I've spoken to date, who learned music on a diatonic instrument (for me, a piano is in it's core structure a diatonic, "chromatized" instrument, oriented around a key of C - a Janko piano keyboard is trully chromatic), the Wicki/Hayden layout is merely a handy shortcut. Your comment about "pianists not complaining about fingerings" was something I discussed lately with three pianists I know, with all of them admiting, that they don't realy think about other layouts mostly because they've invested so much time and effort already. It is true, that music theory can be learnt and prowess achieved to a virtuoso degree on any instrument, with any notation system and different examples and aproaches. But in only few of those systems, as Matthew have stated, "the instrument will become the instructor…" and this is fundamentally true for Haydens. @Wolf: unfortunately, I was unable to try out any instrument prior to buying it - there are no dealers of concertinas in Poland and going abroad just to try a few boxes was and still is way above my budget… But I did considered a Jack or Rochelle when I was deciding what to buy after initial fiddling on a cheap Anglo. But I quickly realised that Englishes were out of the question for me not for musical reasons (I love the use of EC in classical music) but for their ergonomics - I have very long fingers and a wrist injury. But I agree, that the interwoven nature of EC is it's defining property as much as bisonoric nature of an Anglo.

I can only back Matthew up in everything he said about both Elise and Hayden layout in general. I do miss some notes on my Elise sometimes, but it has so much more potential in it than 20b Anglo. The single biggest reason why Hayden is the only duet layout currently in "mass" production is its very steep learning curve - after getting familiar with chords (just a couple of shapes, not huge piano/guitar-like chord sheets) you can just play accompaniments to everything easily, by ear or from fake sheets. Such ability is IMHO the real possibility for these concertinas to get out of a "ghetto" of traditional music: it is perfectly capable of playing punk, rock, world, indie or any modern instrumental music. And since we can observe a steady increase in number of available sizes/models the "dead end" problem of Elise is no longer an issue. @Don: There is really no tutorial needed for Hayden layout - just study these patterns http://www.shiverware.com/musix/wicki/chords.html This is a "roadmap" of all possible chords and for starters you'll need only major and minor (just two shapes) with occasional seventh and sus chords (another four shapes). Also practice scales (only two, one major and one minor) and you're good to go on anything you have dots for. This basic level of understanding of a Hayden is doable in couple of evenings!

You might think of them as two Englishes glued together… Duet vs Anglo comparison however is a lot more complex, as each has it's own advantages and distinctive features, some shared by both and some unreplicable on the other...

Thank you Robert Every time I come back to the original (which is not very often nowadays) I'm suprised, that there is no accordion in their verision, I'm so used to it that way... In my version I still miss the "songfulness" of performance, I hope I'll get it some day.

Thank you Jim

Susi: Thank you for your compliments:) It fells under indie-rock genre, but is really a mix of influences from different buskers around Europe (mostly french and balkan music), done by one Zachary Condon, after his vagabonding for a year through different parts of "the old continent". It's a kind of music that really sounds great on accordions and was one of my target genres when I switched from playing simple shanties on an Anglo and undertaken "the path of duet". And about timing: the tempo throughout an entire tune is uneven… I have a great difficulty not going faster when the part that I'm playing requires complex fingering. It is a bit strange realy, that my fingers "remember" note sequences only with fast tempo and I often make mistakes when trying to play slowly… That is also the reason why the whole tune is played too fast.

I'm very glad that this "theme of the month" idea finally came to life - recent TOTMs (as great as they were) were too far from my musical interests to spare even a small amount of time for them.. The tune I would like to present to you could easily fell into many categories, as this was the first tune I've tried to learn on a duet. It became something of a "progress bar" of my skills on a concertina (it took me couple of months to even try to play melody line with simultanous accompaniment) and is one of two pieces I play when I just have couple of minutes to grab concertina and play. It is a cover of a song called "Sunday smile" by band named "Beirut". Trying to get this recording good enough to publish it showed me how much work it still needs, especially on steady timing and bellows controll (you can still hear that it "looses breath" sometimes and rhytm is very unstable and too fast...). As I don't want this "Theme of the month" idea became a sort of a showcase but still a learning aid, I'll try to overcome those problems in the following weeks and send another rendition at the end of month. So, without further ado, here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-bySYW3XVA

I found the font I was PM you about, it is available for download here: http://www.barfly.dial.pipex.com/download.html If You have something better or of different tone (metal ends perhaps?) I'll be interested in it too

@ 31 chord trick: each time I came upon such tricks and hacks for understanding and playing chords, be it for concertina or piano players, I'm very glad I play on Hayden But other than that it is a very true and usefull article, especially for all of those who like to play modern popular music, as this often can be found only as a combination of vocal melody line plus guitar chords fake sheets or even simple guitar tabs. As for the original question on how musik works. I have recently came to a conclusion, that the answer for this question depends heavily on history of ones musical education, especially instrument choices. This came to me after discussing the matter with couple of friends, who play piano or guitar or both, one of them tried also a russian diatonic accordion. And particularily one realisation was striking: while learning music on a piano or most of other instruments is arithmetic and linear, learning music on a Hayden or other isomorphic keyboard (e.g. various CBA systems) is geometric. And this applies not only to fingering patterns, but understanding music on any level. Also, there was some interesting disagreement on what is "simple and basic" on different instruments: on a piano, learning simple melodies is very straightforward, but understanding and playing chords is difficult and time consuming and "chord sheets" are huge; on a hayden chords are the most basic level of understanding (all chords and their inversions, and I mean all up to 13th, can be learned in one evening (practice of course takes some time, but because each chord has only one basic shape plus some "edge shapes" on small keyboards this is very easy)) and it is very fast and easy to learn harmony and diatonic functions and to do "inverted faking" - playing quite complex melodies and accompaniments from simple guitar chord tabs… This dependency becomes more visible when self learning and not taking lessons from scholars or players of other instruments (especially pianists) as this makes this different path more "pure".

If you'll look closely, it has a hinge:) There is a strap joining sides at the bottom of his concertina - it is clearly visible at the very begining of the video.

John, do you have something like this in mind? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1VW2HEZzbs&list=LLMz0Pq4s9eRLXoxNZU_PH7w

I disagree, that only because a century worth of players used unmodified instruments and acomplished great things, one should abandon all attempts to make the instrument more comfortable for himself. Especially when there are so many people suffering from repetitive strain injuries caused by original concertina ergonomics. But all different types of concertinas has their own ergonomic issues and one cannot simply compare EC ergonomics with Anglo or various duet systems or even styles of play. E.g.: EC neck strap works fine on EC, but IMHO it's shoulder variant (over right shoulder and below left arm) works better for duets, making (together with left thigh and hip) a very stable foundation for rhytmic accompaniment. Thumb strap is a great thing for EC and Hayden, as it gives much needed freedom of reach to far notes, but indeed comes with a great handicap in terms of bellows control. I have recently worked on an a different approach on a thumb+hand strap, that I'll use on my DIY Hayden - I'll show it to all of you as soon as it'll be ready.

I have small dents in A buttons on both sides of my Elise and on my MIDI Hayden (which is a project in playable but still prototype form, on hold for much too long now...) and I will make them on my in-progress DIY 66 button Hayden as well. It makes finding rest position automatic by just swiping the tops of the keys around the center in one motion (my rest position is as I was to play A minor chord - it is in the center of a keyboard and makes great reference point for all other chords and notes positions). On Elise this was in fact more cruicial on the begining of learning this instrument (and after each modification of handrests/straps/thumb-straps I've made to it) but on my 64 button MIDI it was absolutely necessary to find position in the middle of a tune if for some reason I have to move my left hand from the buttons (e.g. when playing RH solo with vigorous bellows movements). But after couple of years playing I got used to using also just the keyboard to navigate any Hayden size: both Elise and 46 standard layout can be easily managed, because they only have Bb on the top of a keyboard so you can rely on C buttons to "find your way" mid-tune (for me it is a two step "calibration": set fingers for C major chord then move middle finger one button to the side from G to A and form A minor chord). On larger instrument however, like Wakker H2 (the layout of my MIDI box), having no marked A button makes this a two-step calibration for the right hand (Gmaj->Amin or placing fingers on first row then moving middle finger one octave higher) but a 3 step calibration for the left hand (or 2,5 steps when simultanously changing fingers and moving whole hand from F-G-A position to my resting A minor). So having a dent/mark on As is now just easier and more efficient, especially in the middle of a tune. For me, relying solely on a handrest/strap/thumb position usually ends with a one-button accuracy (usually in a G-A-D or A-D-E triangles) and since original Hayden keyboard is not mirrored and have a slant this usually means that my hands are not aligned to the same key. @ John: yes, You're right, there are no rigid finger-note allocations on a Hayden (at least for me, even on instrument as small as Elise) - I play major and minor tunes with different fingerings and because on a Hayden chord shapes are constant you move your hand constantly while playing accompaniment - this makes playing ompah rhytms very easy and steady. Also, it is sometimes imposible to play different melodies in the same key (or even different variations within a single tune) with the same fingerings when playing legato because you'll have to use the same finger on two subsequent notes.

Thank you David, the fact that You were unaware of this detail is a sort of an answer by itself - obviously You would pick up any clear differences between character of notes:) I'm aware that many other concertinas have perpendicular reeds: Elise, Bastaris, cheap german anglos etc.. And that bandonions and some multi-voice german concertinas have a mix of perpendicular/parallel reeds but they always (?) have a mix between voices, not between notes. @Matthew's Elise: the best way to upgrade this instrument is to replace buttons to fully bushed ones - I've done it right after purchase, as Elise turned out to be a downgrade in quality from cheap german anglo because of the buzz of buttons... I don't know if suitable buttons can be found as I have done mine myself. And you'll have to re-drill the holes in the case to bigger diameter to acomodate bushings. But after this replacement the action on Elise becomes quiet, responsive and rigid (no wobbly buttons) and much easier (and faster) to play.

David, a little question for you about Beaumont: on a ButtonBox site, there are two pictures of inner workings of this concertina: the action board and the mixed reedpan-reedblocks reed mounting of the right hand side (don't know if the same applies to LH side). But one of the main differences in sound between accordion and concertinas (apart from reeds of course, but this is a hybrid) comes from reeds orientation - is there an audible difference beetween depth/richness of those reedblock notes when playing Beaumont? I think I can hear them in the recordings on the site, but this may be as well caused by recording setup used or me imagining them...

Ha! Your recording was my only sample of an Elise tone when I was buying one two years ago. I remember that I wondered how much of such a nice sound was from the acoustics of the surrounding. And I see we share same regret on the Thummer never getting to market

Maybe I took to little time and effort to put my thougts clearly... What I wrote about squezing into octaves was obviously not about instrument compass or sticking with whole acompaniment througout a song within two octaves. It was about building harmonies (plus melody) over more than 2-3 octaves AT ONCE. We play concertinas with 6 or 8 fingers, pianists can use 10 fingers (I personally can span on almost 4 octaves ona piano, benefit of long fingers), accordinists have registers and multiple voices. At least on a Hayden, it is difficult to add notes to triads (e.g. you can build a major chord with the root strenghted by repeating it an octave lower (4 fingers) but it is extremely hard to do the same with minor chord). Only few finger configurations that allow simultanous play over full compass make sense musically and are comfortable enough to be put into practical use (another example: even on 64 button Hayden one cannot use all available chords in some edge keys, because it is hard to jump the whole keyboard just for one note...) Range is continuous of course, but only biggest duets have sides and overlap large enough to think about hands independently and not bother about incorporating accompaniment into melody line or vice-versa and enable using all the fingers at once, like on the piano. Many concertinas are baffled, it is more of a personal choice really, I wouldn't say it is hamstringing... On Rock and Punk music - I had a solo accompaniment or a guitar+concertina campfire duo in mind, not the fully blown band with bass and percussion with each instrument playing it's sole role. And you seem to agree on the matter, that it is hard to play convincing rock on a concertina. But it is perfectly playable on an accordion, because of multiple voices and better ballance between LH and RH side resulting in richer sound and more "power" of music played. You can imitate that on a concertina, but playing it in a "bandonion like" octave manner, thus dropping halve of your compass - it sound absolutely awfull if you are forced to drop a bass note or canot play arpeggio on just one chord of the whole song, because you're forced to switch sides on the melody. And it is perfectly possible to be your own "percussion" with a duet concertina, it just makes playing in more than 2 octaves at once extremely difficult, with one hand being permanently occupied by rythm and requires big instrument to be able to separate hands completely. And that is what I said earlier. There is nothing to "sorry" about, we just disagree or misunderstand each other and that is perfectly fine with me. It is obvious, that I speak out only my personal approach and thoughts, not universal "revelations". Try to ask for clarification next time, I will gladly response. [edited for misspelings]

And sometimes it is required to use up to 6 notes on a chord accompaniment to build up volume and density (in rock/punk music) by doubling chord in two octaves at once, so there is no place for added melody...

@Don: speaking from duet world, which is somewhere between piano and anglo - sometimes accompaniment is built on melody enriched with chords, not the oposite way, depends on character of the song. Also, often the melody line of the instrument is not exactly the same as vocal line. On a piano, you have all octaves at your disposal so you can build accompaniment across 3+ octaves (same goes with accordions) while on concertinas (even on duets) you have to "squeze" into 2 octaves at best (except for big duets). One example is "fake basses" on concertina in om-pah rhytms: it is root and chord on a concertina, but bass and chord on an accordion. This makes melody line often in the same octave as accompaniment, so it must be thinner not to sound "muddy" and not to overtake melody line. Another important matter when trying to imitate piano accompaniment on a concertina is key velocity on a piano vs bellows pressure on concertina (and accordion). We have on/off "binary" buttons so it is impossible or extremely difficult to play with different volume on melody and chords, which is easily done on a piano. We also have same number of voices on left and right hand side (unlike an accordion), so we can either baffle left side of a concertina / strip down chords to 2 or even 1 note / use sparse accompaniment / forget the melody line completely and leave it to vocals... On large enough duets baffling is a good idea, because one can still use the right side to play all the melody. On smaller instruments however, left hand side is often used for melody also, so cannot be "turned down" permanently...

Glad you enjoyed it Yes, it's a cover of a song written in 1950s but performed just in '90 by a son of a composer. It's in the style of Warsaw street bands (losely resembling french street accordion tradition) and is about polish "real-socialism". We have a quite messed-up history here in poland, so we don't have as strong influence of national folk music in our pop culture as other countries, exceptions only for street bands mentioned above (early XX century), folk of our mountain area and... ukrainian and belarus folk music - half of Poles were resettled from todays Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine and our country border is now completely different than throughout almost entire history... And we have no concertina tradition whatsoever... And playing modern popular music on concertina is difficult mostly because... it is often so plain and "dull" and simply sounds bad on this instrument. Obviously, songs written for an accordion will sound nice and I found that songs incorporating woodwind/brass section are perfectly suited for transcripiton. But "campfire guitar" songs and typical rock music require hard work to make them sound well. And there are usually no dots for them... Traditional music is easer to find written, more demanding on a player thus more rewarding and in countries like UK or Ireland it has so strong position in the culture, that there is very little urge to find another niche for concertina. But I agree with you that duets are perfectly suited for non-traditional music and I hope that one day they'll be more popular in modern music.

As I can read from all of you, we all have quite similiar approach:) That is to take and mix together what is best from guitar, accordion and piano styles of accompaniment and render them on concertina to the extent possible. Here you have an example of my accompaniment and singing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9HH37QlVF8 The accompaniment on this one is a mix of accordion style om-pa with bits of melody line, quite closely resembling the original arrangement.

From my experience, I can advise practicing some common rythms (om-pahs) and fingering of chords as when fingering strings on guitar. A good example of what I mean is "The house of the raising sun", which can be played in simplified form with only major and minor chords played in melodic way. This way you leave main melody line for the vocals and accompaniment gives a "feeling" of the original. Other type of acompaniment I do (I play on Hayden Duet, so I have plenty of chords available) is an "accordion style" rythms built on 3-6 notes at once to make them "thicker", often with sustained bass notes or mix of rythm on the left and melodic fingering of the same chord on the right hand. This feels much like "campfire quitar" and is great for popular music, as popular music often have very simple melody and singers don't like "freedom of interpretation" :>

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