Steve Wilson

Thanks Wolf, I thought I did that. Will try again on the next one.

Humm, how do I get the video to appear in the thread?

It's been a while since I posted any videos so here's one out of the blue. I have been very busy these last couple of years so haven't been very active on Cnet although I've lurked a bit. Don't have much to say regarding things concertina, just like to play the blooming thing. So here's a video. I do a fair bit of busking with the help of my puppets, fundraising for charity, and this is one in my repertoire. The puppets are a great hook for busking. I like to play stuff that's not normally done with concertina and we were all having so much fun, got carried away and sped up a bit at the end. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QbjhQopgdU

Delightful.

Have a great gig. Cheers.

Fantastic, great to hear about this upcoming album. Shall look forward to it. I'll be seeing Kate at the end of the week (she lives just 25min away) and maybe get a little insight into what's coming. Unfortunately I'm not going to get to NFF this year Ciaran, you have a great weekend.

Exactly what John said. Just about any concertina can be a singers concertina if it is played in a manner to suit the song and the voice. My E-concer is loud and bright, it's taught me to play quietly when required. Can I suggest the EC and Duet have an edge in offering the full range of keys which can be useful for finding a key to suit ones voice for a particular song. But of course the Anglo in the hands of a proficient player can handle a good range of keys, enough for most singers to be able to adjust to. With my limited ability on the Anglo I'm stuck in C for songs. The Anglo, I think, is actually better for some types of songs, bouncy songs, than the other systems. But forty something years ago I was advised the EC was the one for singing. I've never regretted heading that advice.

Following on from Jody Kruskal's recent post and rendition of "The Ballad of the Button Box" I was wondering about how many concertina songs there are that we know of. And when I say "concertina songs" I mean songs that have the concertina as a main part of their theme or story and not just the word "concertina" mentioned in passing. A list of the ones I know follows, can we add to it? The Ballad of the Button Box - Bob Snope The Good Old Concertina - Henry Lawson/Bob Bolton Lena from Palesteena - Con Conrad/Russel Robinson Arnold the Armadillo - Les Barker/David Galipo The Man with the Concertina - Robert Stewart/ Jacko Kevins, Dave de Hugard I Play My (me) Concertina - David Worton/H C Lovell Multitasking Daddy - Jody Kruskal The Flying Concertina - Steve Wilson/ John Bosserman (Happy Hiker March adaptation) Are there others? Please advise.

May I say you, yourself Wolf do very well in exploring the capabilities of the EC. If only I could have my musical lifetime over...it's a bit of a problem not having enough lifetimes! But we all poke along to the best of our abilities and sometimes gain inspiration from others more gifted. There certainly are trade offs with the EC but I don't find this too much of an issue and for what I do, mostly song accompaniment, the EC is perfect for me. I can play in whatever key a song requires for my vocal range. Over the past year or so I've dabbled with both duet and anglo and enjoy using them. The anglo in particular can be fun but my 64 button McCann is a handful. I can't stand and play with it whereas stand up playing is what do in performance and the English Concertina fits the bill. There are those who can stand with the anglo, well done, I still need a neck strap. Do we ever arrive? Enjoy the journey.

OK David, I'll try that. Wacko, thanks David.

The Parnassus was there. Eleven seconds into the first video you can see me playing Parnie, but don't blink. In the second video I'm playing Kenny, my Kensington anglo which is the system required to be involved in a concertina caterpillar.

Mmm, not sure how to get the videos displaying here?

I recently had the privilege of organizing a weekend event, we called it a "Concertina Convergence", for concertina enthusiasts in the south eastern part of Australia. People came from far and wide and converged upon a delightful little town in north eastern Victoria called Yackandandah, or Yack to the locals. Around thirty players plus hangers on attended and we had a fabulous weekend of workshops, sessions, a concert and just concer socializing. One of us, Pete, is also a photography enthusiast and captured the action. Here is some of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ina89XdgG1A&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URP5j5Y4x0M&feature=youtu.be

Delightful. Absolutely delightful. Nora is such a cutie the way she glances at the camera (audience) occasionally. And the duet playing is fabulous, well done.

That's a very long moustache you have Wolf. Perhaps it needs trimming on your left.

Some knowledge of chord theory would help. One needs to know how chords are constructed. This site should help https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Music_Theory/Chords And this http://www.concertinaman.net/uploads/6/4/9/2/64922025/chord_wheel.pdf Cheers Steve. http://www.concertinaman.net/

Love it. It must be fun playing with that gang and the concer goes so well on this swing stuff, as does clarinet of course.

Stefan, you are outstanding among concertina players, truly an innovator with your use of the instrument. Is there anyone else in the world doing anything like what you are doing? I know of none. Perhaps you may inspire some younger players to experiment with their concertinas and their music.

Thanks Bill N, a very well thought through and useful post. I'll take on board your comments as I progress on my anglo adventure with my newly acquired Kensington concertina. Hope Ada benefits from your experience.

Hi Jody, Just wonderful. The things you do for a buck when you're a musician. Yes I've done them too and yes they can be great (dream) gigs. "River Stay Away from My Door", that's a really nice tune. I should learn it on english, or maybe my anglo I've recently acquired. Are the dots handy somewhere?

Wow,....that is fantastic. Kristina is just wonderful with those spoons. The concertina player, ....well he was alright. What's his name?

If you have Musescore, a free download music notation program on the net, you could devise some scale exercises for yourself. A cursor scrolls across the score while the audio plays and you can set the tempo as you like. Just play along, maybe set challenges for yourself with the tempo control. If you set up some exercises in the key of C you can easily transpose and save the exercise in other keys. I just tried to attach one of my musescore files but was disallowed. You'll have to set your own. Of course playing along to any musescore file, that is tune, is good reading practice. you can do it with ABC files as well. Set your own pace.

You could try putting out a call on our very own Aussie Concertina Convergence email contact forum. The address is concertinas@humphhall.org

I agree whole heartedly, wish I could be there. Robert is it possible with Rainer's permission to video some of the concert to post on Youtube?

That is a Long Way From Texas. Yeah, Binalong is a long way from Texas but perhaps we have to forgive Gbol.. since it's his first post and perhaps he should have created a new thread. At least all you Mill Fest folk now know about Binalong Concertina Convergence and can file it away for future reference. It's less than 24hrs from anywhere by aeroplane. I'm going. You all have a great time at Mill Fest. PS. Don, enjoyed Mr Hopkins song but couldn't hear the concertina bit. Cheers.