Jeff Stallard
-
Posts
218 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by Jeff Stallard
-
-
Please don't end this project! I just discovered it this morning, and would LOVE to get involved! I can contribute the following tracks (where appropriate): concertina, bodhran, mandolin, tenor guitar.
This thread really needs to be a sticky!!! I've been on this board for six months or so and this is the first time I've seen it.
-
I say, for the sake of argument, that the number of actively playing concertina players (excluding Chemnitzers and bandoneons) is as follows:
US - 1400
UK - 3000
Australia - 200
Canada - 50
Ireland - 350
Africa - 200
rest of world - 75
(TOTAL) 5275 plus or minus oh, 3000.
Assuming that's correct, that means:
* Concertinists make up 0.00008% of the world population.
* The ratio of concertinists vs. non-concertinists is 1:1,224,109.
I wonder how that compares with a more popular instrument, say...a guitar. Hmm...I'm going the guess that the ratio of guitarists to concertinists is around 3000:1 (remember to factor in non-folk music). That means:
* Guitarists make up 0.2% of the world's population.
* The ratio of guitarists to non-guitarists is 1:407.
What does this prove? Who knows...I just brought this up out of curiosity. Thanks for indulging me.
-
The BEST way would be to replace the bellows, but I'm guessing that's not practical. If it's still functional (doesn't leak), I'd take it to a leather shop and have them advise me. If you use leather dye on the scuffed parts, make sure it's not going to rub off. I used red dye on a leather case I was making, and the stuff rubbed off on my pants (not a lot, but enough...).
-
Given that concertinists are rare, and that the majority of concertinists play anglo, does anyone have any estimates on the total number of concertinists versus those who play English versus those who play duet? I wouldn't even know where to start guessing, but I guess it's gotta be pretty small...right?
-
If you need more beta testers, I'd like to help. I missed the first post.
-
It sounds as though the reed is lightly making contact with the edge of the reed frame closer to the root of the reed. This effectively shortens the vibrating length and hense the higher pitch. When more pressure is applied the slight contact is overcome and the reed can lower in pitch as the whole tongue is able to vibrate.
That's exactly what I was thinking! Thanks for validating my analysis! I know you're supposed to run the shim back to front, but I couldn't get it in at the back (yes, I was using a very thin shim), so I *had* to go front to back. But it seems to have worked out, because now the sharp-pop, which had diminshed significantly, is now completely and totally gone.
It feels strange not hearing it...I think I miss it.
-
Hmm...this is strange. All of the sudden, the sharp-pop thing has all but disappeared. It's technically there, but both the pressure required to make it pop into tune and the sound of the pop itself have drastically diminished. If someone didn't know it had been there, they'd be hard-pressed to hear it. The last thing I did was run a shim down the edges of the reed last week, but it didn't do anything. It's been really humid here, so maybe that did something. If it comes back in the winter, that will tell me something I guess.
-
the sound you describe is usually a valve issue rather than loose reed. Loose reeds rattle or rasp, They usually don't re-seat.
On bellows expand, its often the tip of the valve catching the chamber side wall, then being pulled free to close by the air flow. On push it could still be te same (preventing valve opening), but more likely the underside valve being stiff or curled, standing off from its closed seating position until forced into place
Dave
The valve is new and soft, with no curl. I tested the underside valve by taping it closed, but the sharp-then-pop still occurred, so I can't see how it's a valve. I'll try messing with the reed slot. Thanks for the suggestions.
-
Wow, I'm surprised to get so few responses. There are some very knowledgable people in this forum, and if this one has them all stumped, it seems that it's a fairly unique problem.
I had an idea to swap the push reed with the pull reed, then see if the problem occurs on the pull instead of the push. If so, that would rule out the valve and reed slot, which leaves only the reed. At that point, I'm thinking I'll need to take the reed out of the shoe and clean them both. With the sharp sound popping into pitch, I wonder if there's friction back toward the bottom (thick part) of the reed, near where it clamps into the shoe. It probably means I'll have to tune the reed after I fix it (*IF* I fix it), which I've never done before, but I think I can do it.
-
So the popping sound might be the shoe settling in the slot? How would that explain the sharp note until the pop?
-
However there is a technique foe silent opening & closing without air button. Difficult to explain, dead easy to demonstrate. I will think of a way to put it over.
Dave
I would like to hear any explanation you come up with!!
-
Reed 13 (E), on the push only - If you work the bellows very softly, the note sounds slightly sharp, then if you increase the airflow slightly, there's a pop and the tone drops into tune. The concertina maintenance guide says there's something obstructing the reed, and the increased airflow overcomes the friction of the obtrusion and pops it into the right position. I ran a shim down the sides of the reed shoe and there were no obstructions, and when gently pushing on the reed, I don't feel any friction. At first I thought this was a valve problem, so I secured the valve out of the way so it couldn't pop shut, and that didn't work, so I'm thinking it HAS to be the reed itself. Any ideas on how to fix it?
Tonight, I'll try to make a recording of the problem in case anyone wants to hear it.
-
Well I didn't bid on it BECAUSE it was a hump box, but because the dimensions are almost ideal, it's a nice match with the concertina, and it's cheap.
-
So I'm biding on this item:
It's an antique english hump box. I plan on using it for home storage of my lachenal. After I bid on it, I did some research and discovered the origin of the name. Back in the old days, it just wasn't proper for a wife to pounce on her husband and ride him like a show pony, so she would use a hump box to signal to her husband when she was ready for marital relations. She'd open the lid and place it next to the bed, then he would know. After I learned that bit of trivia, it dawned on me that I'll have a hump box regulating access to my squeezebox. Not funny? Then perhaps you're not aware of the other meaning of squeezebox, made popular in America during the 70s...
-
My sight reading is fair to average I suppose, but honestly I don't know, as I've never compared myself to anyone else. I'll just have to talk to them and see if it will work out.
-
Check This Out: http://www.cmconnection.org/ It's right in my backyard (Worthington is 10 minutes from me). They have an adult program, but it doesn't say much about it. I'm going to try to contact them to see just how amateur the adult program is. It might just be music teachers who want to play on the side, in which case I would be horribly out of place, but if it's average Joes and Janes, I might just fit in.
What I'm wondering is whether they would have a problem with my instrument of choice. Since I don't play a normal classical instrument, would they tell me to grab a piece of fat and slide off?
-
Excellent thread! My favorite musical genre (to play at least) is English Country Dance, but sadly I only have one book (Kitchen Musician's book), then a few individual songs here and there. I'll be ordering one or two of the books mentioned above. Thank you all for the information!!
On a side note, this morning, I discovered the English tune "Bath Minuet" and quickly placed it in my top 20 tunes list. I love the combination of a rigid dance tune structure and the depth of a classical song, and there seems to be a lot of that in ECD.
-
I've got nothing...
I'm still playing as much as ever, I just don't feel a need to talk about it.
-
Of course...it wouldn't hurt to figure them out yourself, then they'll be firly planted in your head. I've done that with some 7th chords. It's slow going, but discovering truth is more gratifying that just just learning it.
-
On this very concertina website you can find an interesting page on EC chords.
I used these charts all the time trying to figure out the chord forms. Belle...very interesting charts, though they are pretty hard to understand at first glance. I'll print them out and see if I can figure them out.
-
I should have rephrased what I said. I am to mostly to blame for this thread going astray.
To get it back on track, I wonder if an accompanist could use the question/answer model to plan their accompaniment. I'll have to think about that...
-
We seem to have gotten off the subject of song ACCOMPANIMENT...but as long as the thread originator is okay with it, so am I.
-
Sometimes I'll just have a tune looped on the computer or CD player or whatever while I perform some boring task like the washing, and eventually the tune just "soaks" in.
Excellent suggestion. If I want to learn a song by ear, I don't attempt to play it until I can hum it correctly. Once I can sing/hum it, I know it has sunk in. Also, it helps me if I think of the different phrases as a question and answer kind of thing. It works best with Irish music. For example, let's look at Irish Washerwoman. Think of it like two people talking and it makes more sense and is easier to learn. The first person asks a question, and the second person answers is. The question/answer thing keeps going throughout the song. In my example below, I made the questions short, but the length of the question should be dictated by the feel of the tune. You might even find a song where the entire A part is the question, and the entire B part is the answer (an extreme example). Anyway, try thinking of it in those terms and see if it helps you figure songs out.
Edit: Think of each Irish tune as a spirited, but friendly, debate between two people. I think it would be fun to have one musician play the questions, and the other play the answers.
-
Have most of you picked up tunes from recordings? I've done that for years - twenty- with the guitar but have yet to attempt it with my box. Would you recommend learning that way?
Most songs I pick up by ear are from midi files. The way I recommend learning tunes (I'm sure everyone has their own method) is to sight read it (sheet music) about 10 times or so to get a sense of the phrase patterns, then put the music away and force yourself to do it by ear only.
C.net Big Band
in General Concertina Discussion
Posted
Is there a way to hear the current composite songs?