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Patrick Scannell

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Posts posted by Patrick Scannell

  1. 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.

  2. . Moving up from an Elise would not involve learning (m)any new note layouts or chord patterns - just play the same patterns on a different part of the keyboard.

     

    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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. > 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.

  6. 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?".

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