Patrick Scannell

An upgrade to a Beaumont allowed me to keep the LHS high-A, and keep the Elise which I still use almost daily. I moved the Elise handrest to eliminate the slant.

Button Box has a 72-key Aeola. http://www.buttonbox.com/concertinas-in-stock.html#duet

Thanks. I'm unhappy with the hesisitation in the B part, but my wife is tired of it, and I want to get going on the Blues.

Valse Petit Déjeuner

I'd be interested. How about hacking a cheap touch-sensitive screen like a nook simple touch for the button-field input? Gamers have the skillz: http://www.techhive.com/article/2010070/hacked-nook-simple-touch-plays-sega-games-wont-collect-chaos-emeralds-for-you.html

Nice Jim. I didn't know this tune was so sad.

BES and David, thanks for the support and constructive comments about aspects that I was not paying attention to. This forum is so helpful to me.

How's this?

I find the horizontal arrangement of the Beaumont's buttons lay under my fingers more easily than the slanted rows of buttons on the Elise. I'm using the smallest hand-strap hole on the Elise, and the largest hole on the Beaumont. If you have big hands and are ordering a Beaumont, you might want to let them know. Unlike the Elise, the Beaumont bellows have a break in period. I'm a beginner and have only the Elise to compare it to, but I'm very happy with the Beaumont.

He has been making beautiful contributions to TOTM under the handle tona. http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showuser=8656

Correct. I moved from an Elise to a Beaumont (34 to 52 buttons) and there has been nothing to learn except how nice it is to have those new notes right where you expect them to be. I've heard of issues with staying oriented in a large button field. David Barnert has reported his experience with a large Hayden here.

A single strap that passes behind your neck, and around the concertina ends, worked well for me. I fastened the loops "slip knot" or choker style, so the weight of the concertina tightened the loops. If you could weave a big button hole into each end of your strap to secure the loops, that might be nice. No damage to the concertina. No drilling holes in it. And it comes off easily. But I'm new at this and may be overlooking something.

I plan on being there.

Thanks for your kindness. The syncopation is intentional, the rubato, not so much.

Here is my tune number two played on a Morse Beaumont. Thank goodness TOTM accepts late homework. Apologies for my stumbling fingers. I keep practicing, but improvement has gotten too slow to keep waiting. All comments gleefully appreciated.

I'm in the same situation as far as learning on your own goes. i do follow the tune of the month here, and folks are wonderfully supportive. I'm going to NESI (http://squeeze-in.org/) and hope to pick up some good direction there. It is just around the corner for me, but if you can do it, come on over. A Hayden duet round table/workshop thing is going to happen.

I'm also very new to concertinas and have a CC Elise duet. For the first few months I played with my thumbs inside the top straps like you show in the second picture. It gave me a feeling of better control at a time when all positions seemed awkward. It didn't seem to do any harm, so it is probably better than not playing until you get your straps shortened.

> why do you drop out the melody when you do the walking bass thing? Also, they move at twice the speed I had in mind. They should replace an "oom-pah," not just a "pah," as you have it. That was a run from the G in the G-chord to the C in the C-chord which I thought you suggested. The passing B note overlapped a B in the melody, so I passed the lead to the left hand for 2 notes hoping it would sound interesting. Guess it sounded more like a dropping than a passing, so it didn't work. At least is was intentional. I'll try something different next time, and keep working on how to incorporate a walking base. >I would avoid the parallel octaves in the B section, in the measure with the C#. Whatever you do with the left hand (A-E or A-G, followed by F#), don't double the C# on the left. It makes a strong statement in the melody that doesn't need to be repeated in the harmony. Your observational skills are way better than mine, and I was playing! Per your advice I was trying to avoid duplicating notes between hands and missed that. I'll try to be more attentive. Thank you for your helpful suggestions.

David, is this a move in the right direction? It is unedited, and played on a (hot-diggity!) Beaumont. Thanks.

Sweet! Sounds like you made that just for me. It clearly projects the nice clean (mostly 1-5, yes?) accompaniment that I'm working on. Also, thanks for your advice. Yes it does make sense. I'll give more attention to the melody as well. Lots to work on....

Nice. Thanks.

Hi Robin: <practice like crazy;> absolutely, every minute I can find. About the anglo, my hands are full with the Wicki/Hayden system, so I'll stick with that for now. Thanks though.

Looks like you voted for Roslyn Castle, the current winner.

Geoff: <this is not your first attempt at playing music.> Thanks for the compliment, but I've had no musical training, skipped band and choir, and although I've wanted to make some music for years, it took my wife getting me the concertina for Valentine's Day to make it happen. David: Thanks for the coaching. By "stepwise base run" do you mean the notes of the chord played one at a time rather than together? Is that also called a walking base line? I'll try your suggestion of thinning redundant notes out of left hand chords. I've downloaded your entry and listen to it over and over at speed and slow, but my ear has a ways to go before I can understand and use what I'm hearing. I'm still struggling to get a grip on "What is the left hand supposed to do?".

Hi all, Total newbie here. I've greatly enjoied learning from this forum. Here is the first (too slow) tune off Elise, my first concertina. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.