Steve Wilson

Well, well, fancy that. There's been the announcement of my new CD, "The Flying Concertina" sitting down at the bottom of the page in the News and Announcements forum for a couple of weeks now with a link to the promo video of the title track. And there has been quite a lot of look ins on the thread and a fair few viewings of the video to date. However I'm a little surprised as there has been not a single comment on this song, a tribute to the use of concertina in the circus, about "the lovely young Sabrina with her Flying Concertina". Here is a song I composed especially to appeal to concertina players but there seems to be not much interest. No musings about what that little box may have done next and not a single purchase inquiry from the C.net community. I'm not sure whether to feel shunned or neglected. Or rather perhaps it's just poor promotion on my part. Well for all to appraise, the song in it's entirety is here And since I've ascertained that postage rates from Oz to anywhere international are quite high I've decided to offer those who identify as C.net members the discounted price of A$15 + postage. At current exchange rates that works out at about 18 bucks fifty US or 14 quid UK, reasonable in those parts I feel. Of course anyone could always just record the song from the link but I would hope they would consider a small donation to the Leukaemia Foundation.

G'day Dan, For your Australian correspondent I don't think you could go past one of Cnet's own, Warren Fahey. I've not canvassed his interest but I suggest you PM him.

I am pleased to announce the availability of my new CD, "The Flying Concertina". For the listener's enjoyment there are songs across various genre albeit with an Aussie slant. There are bush songs, novelty items, contemporary and original material and even a dash of jazz and a couple of tunes thrown in. Not hemmed-in by musical boundaries, in a sense, my concertina flies. As well, the title track is tribute to the use of the concertina in circus but with a fanciful twist. Take a peek here or there. To purchase go to my website via the above link where you can peruse the track list and hear a few audio samples. Sorry there is no Pay Pal or CD baby option, you'll have to make personal contact. How good is that? All sale proceeds are being donated to my preferred charity, the Leukaemia Foundation but if you don't want to buy the CD you could just make an appropriate donation to the foundation and receive a free CD! Cheers All, Steve.

Inspirational. Thanks for posting. At first I thought this fellow is playing a duet but on closer inspection is it an anglo?

Why would anyone want to avoid you anyway Chris, you're such a gentleman. Thanks for coming along to Con Con last weekend and for bringing your friends.

Wonderful as usual. Played with finesse and discretion. Is that a tuba in the mix, are you playing that too? And the CD will be available.........?

I caught up with him at Cobargo Folk Festival just one week ago. He's been a regular performer there over the years but this time he was a shadow of his former self. Myself and probably all who knew him had grave concerns which now so soon have been sadly realized. He was hoping to make it to the National FF this Easter where he was booked to perform. I expect there will be a memorial performance at the National now and he will be there in spirit. RIP Danny. https://www.facebook.com/cobargofolkfestival

Nice playing as always and nice job on the bellows. I watched a couple of the other videos on the bellows construction, you've certainly put in a lot of work. You are quite an all round concertina player and craftsman.

Good advice Adrian. It is exactly what I do and it fact I keep a list of "tricky bits" which I work through regularly and don't cross any off until a bit is thoroughly nailed. I also list my entire repertoire and have date columns to the right and just tick off an item when it is practiced on any particular day. Looking back across the page I can see immediately if I haven't practiced a song or tune for a week or two. A book keeping type of book is good with their many narrow columns or of course one could do it on a computer. I find if I don't practice a song at least every week or two I will sometimes start to lose it which means wasted practice time getting it back up to scratch. Cheers, Steve.

Nice one, enjoyed. You're playing lots of chords Mike and so working the bellows a lot. How do you rate the air economy on your Aeola, albeit with only five fold bellows. I have an Edeophone, six fold, and I find air economy very poor compared with my Wakker concer.

Check out this thread. Concertina.net member ematuse would be Boris' son Eric. I'm pretty sure he would be glad to give you permission. If you PM Eric, he should get an email saying you've done so. If that fails, I can think of two other possibilities for contact: Maybe our member Randy Stein is in contact with Eric? Randy's a former student of Boris, and it looks like he and Eric don't live too far apart these days. Or try getting in touch with Eric through the ICA (International Concertina Association), since they published "The Matusewitch Family Story" in Concertina World magazine issue #463, September 2015.. Good luck. Thanks Jim, I've sent Eric a message. I didn't realize he was a member so thanks to you and your vast knowledge of Cnet postings there is "movement at the station". I did think of contacting Randy, will do if I don't hear from Eric.

Hello All, I have followed this thread with some interest since I may have some copyright issues with a CD I'm currently working on. The CD will comprise some original and traditional tracks but also four tracks of others works. Two of those I have cleared with the composers but two are more difficult. One is the arrangement of "Around the Samovar" by Boris Matusewitch. I fell in love with this piece of music when I first heard Danny's version on Soundcloud via Cnet. I presume it is a traditional Russian tune but do I have an issue with copyright regarding his arrangement? Do his descendants hold some copyright over his arrangements? My connection is I bought my (almost) first concertina, the one I learned to play on, from Boris. The second regards a song, the lyrics of which I've composed but used an adaptation of music composed by John Bosserman, an American composer of march music. He has a website where he posts all his music and says it's available for free. I've emailed John but recieved no reply. He is ninety one and I wonder about his health. The sale proceeds of the CD will be 100% for charity, I'm not interested in profit for myself. The production run will be reasonably small and almost all sales in Australia with a few internationally (hey, I'm counting on some of you lot). Considering the circumstances (remoteness, small run, charity) I'm inclined to just go ahead and deal with any unlikely repercussions later. Wadda ya think? Cheers,Steve.

Congratulations, have a good gig.

It's taken a little while since I've not logged in recently but let me be the next to commend you on the concertina and the musicianship. Wonderful. On mics, I only use one in my home environment studio. It's a Sennheiser MK4, a condenser mic set up straight in front. Seems to work OK to my ear. No doubt a professional sound engineer would have issues.

Three concers already, gettin' a bit greedy Bob!! Congrats. Delightfully played as usual. PS. I have three concertinas too and I don't feel I'm being greedy. I know quite a few folk who have just one but never or rarely play them. At least I play all of mine. Enjoy yours.

Lovely Mike. Nice sounding concer. Did you arrange this piece or is that the written music?

Some sound samples would be good. Any chance?

I'm pretty sure Jody Kruskal does lessons via skype. If you are going to have lessons it's probably advisable to have them with an experienced teacher and excellent player of the anglo concertina. Jody certainly is an excellent player. With skype there would be no travel involved at all so no petrol or tube ticket costs. I've no idea what the cost would be but a bit more expensive these days for Brits after, what was it you did? Brexit?

I totally agree, Danny is a wonderful player with such "smoothness and expression". On a level above most of us I'd suggest. Some just have the gift and don't have to labour over technique and I suspect this is the case with Danny. He's just really good and probably the recording technology doesn't play too much of a part except for his latest offering and the use of multi tracking. He does have a very good concer which makes a huge difference. What does Danny think? yes I'd love to hear from him too. A few years ago I heard his recording of Around the Samovar and fell in love with that piece of music and felt some affinity as many years ago I'd acquired my (almost) first concertina from Boris Matusewitch. It took me a long time to learn "Samovar" but I certainly can't play it like Danny and doubt if I ever will.

To all beginners, or others, just be aware with three chords or sometimes even just two, it's possible to accompany yourself on squillions of songs (if you're a singer). It's (almost) instant concertina accomplishment.

Hi Tim, Good luck with your concertina journey. Practice lots. Sounds like you're on the right track if you "just can't get enough of it". Here's a link to my tutorial page http://www.concertinaman.net/tutorials.html that demonstrates a bit about how I use chords for song accompaniment. From there you can also download a chord wheel PDF which will allow you to determine the notes for just about any chord you might need to play. The wheel will help you to visualize the intervals between notes, just like you can on a piano keyboard. Cheers, Steve.

Well,well, strike the bell. I know this tune as the Aussie song "Click go the Shears" but of course one of us back in the 1890's borrowed the tune from the song "Ring the Bell Watchman" which is apparently an American Civil War song. Is "Strike the Bell" another version again? Nicely played and sung Jody. Did enjoy.

I'm not sure ganglions "burst" but rather fade away if they go. Two days ago a friend advised he massaged his cyst constantly (well almost I suppose) and it vanished! I've been massaging a lot since. I think it's working!!

To answer the first question, wrist straps have definitely helped me. A few years ago after I started playing an hour or two every day I developed pain in my right thumb and wrist straps manage the problem. I still have some very slight pain pretty well all the time with the issue developing into a ganglion cyst but the wrist straps make a huge difference. Otherwise there is a lot of pressure on the tendons when drawing the bellows. I'm still playing an hour or two most days. As for playing the anglo, well why not? Simply to enjoy another system but not instead of the EC, you've already put three years into it! http://www.concertinaman.net/

Lovely, very lovely.