Jeff Jetton

Thanks for the review, Doug. One of these years I might take the plunge myself.

There's also the Berklee "Developing Your Musicianship" course. Next round starts in a few days: https://www.coursera.org/course/musicianship

Which one did you get? Stagi or Rochelle?

Nice! Love the "natural" look. So, no leather reed valves then?

Ack! Spoke to soon. Amazon just emailed me that they're shipping out Gary's book ahead of the other one.

I actually wound up ordering another book along with yours (to get over the $35 "Super Saver Shipping" level). The other book has a bit of a wait on delivery, so the order is far from being shipped. Which turns out to be good for me! I'll let the rest of you guys work the bugs out while I wait. :-)

Perfect for concertina players who have a tin ear.

I come, firstly, from a piano background. So I'm normally a standard notation guy too. But standard notation tends to drop the ball when it comes to instruments that A.) have multiple ways to play any given note, and B.) have not developed any sort of universally-accepted system for playing notes, given those multiple ways. A specific arrangement of a piece is really dealing with three dimensions of information: What pitch (or pitches) to play, when to play that pitch (and for how long), and where (on your instrument) to play that pitch. Standard notation just covers those first two dimensions (unless you want to use multiple staves, as with organ). For piano, there's only one option for the "where", so that's no big deal. For violin, there are fairly standard assumptions about the "where". For Anglo concertina... not so much. :-) (For me, I prefer a combination of the two: Standard notation on one staff, tab on another. But that's just me and YMMV...)

Okay, so I'm working my way through "The First Gun Is Fired", which so far sounds like I'm going to really enjoy. The few parts my meager talents are currently able to play in full are sounding quite nice! But... should that be a "2" over the E note in measure 15? Or maybe that note should be G instead of E? (Or maybe I'm just misunderstanding the tab?)

Actually, even as an Anglo player I was a bit thrown by that too when sussing out the tab. I agree that it would be nice to see the accompaniment notated along with the melody as reference to what the finished product should sound like. But I just now bought a copy, so it obviously wasn't a dealbreaker. :-) Looking forward to getting it!

Incidentally, this thread prompted me to seek out the "Leaving Lerwick Harbour" CD. Found a new copy from a 3rd-party seller on Amazon, reasonably priced. Very pleased with it! It is a fantastic album. Thanks for bringing it up, Peter.

And, while this may be reading too much into things, the town name might have been picked partly for it being symbolic of bold exploration and of new and undiscovered worlds laying ahead of you. The narrator seems to be abandoning the city of Columbus along with the idea of "Columbus". (Note the bit at the end about his "sails" going slack.)

Glad to hear you say that. Because... https://soundcloud.com/jeffjetton/zelda Not nearly as good as I would like it to be, but since it is now May, I figure it's time to abandon this one where it lay and move on to the next. :-)

For anyone who might find it useful, here's a leadsheet I put together with chords based on that Mozart scoring (I find it easier to have the harmony summarized like that, rather than have to always read down all the parts--particularly when there are transposing instruments involved). I've never heard anyone play this in a folk context, so I don't know what chords, if any, are normally used when it's going under the name of "Michael Turner's". I'd imagine they're more or less on the Mozart lines, eh? Mozart Deutsche Tanze 2 (Trio).pdf

Thanks Jody, I'll give that fingering a test drive and see what happens!

One way would be to format the whole thing as "code": In (C) vain I try to (F) dry a tear which (C) falls down from my (G) eyes, It (Am) makes me (G) think of (F) one I love who in this cold grave (G) lies; The button to do that looks like this: <> Code formatting also preserves spacing and every character takes up the same amount of space. So you can do stuff like this too: C F C G In vain I try to dry a tear which falls down from my eyes, Am G F G It makes me think of one I love who in this cold grave lies;

Their website has a search box. When I put in "I Sinclair", several references to an "Ian Sinclair" popped up. But Googling "David D MacKenzie of Sallachy Ian Sinclair" doesn't yield much at first glance. :-(

FWIW, here's my current fingering for the tune. I made up the tab method, but it's pretty straightforward and I wouldn't be surprised if others have come up with the same idea: Each line is a row on the concertina. Buttons in each row are numbered 1-5, low-to-high. Pushes and pulls are indicated with down bow (table-looking-thing) and up bow (bird beak) marks, respectively. So you can see some awkwardness in the B section. Not sure if that's the best way to go about it. But it keeps that repeated abc figure consistent on the buttons at least. Zelda Tab.pdf

Thanks Jody & Alan! Jody, to be honest I wasn't even thinking about playing it in a "harmonic style". I was going for more of a Irish vibe, with just the melody line, figuring I could always multitrack in an accompanying instrument if I felt it needed it. And that's the nice thing about being a beginner--you're tickled pink to just wangle a melody out of the thing. :-) But your advice still does help. I was playing around with adding the odd harmony here and there this morning, and it did help narrow down things, even if I don't ultimately use the harmonies. And it helped me sort of "let go" of the need to finger the song in the best-most-optimal-super-efficient-no-chopping-allowed way and instead just play the dang thing. All that, combined with a good night's sleep, and it's starting to not sound half-bad! - Jeff

Okay, I've got to admit... I'm having some trouble with this tune. Most of it is due to my extreme beginner status--I feel like I'm trying to play this tune before I've really learned how to play this sort of tune (if that makes any sense). A lot of it is that the melody strongly features those notes that are duplicated on the G and C rows, and sometimes even the Accidental row (I'm on a 30-button Anglo, Wheatstone layout). Sometimes I feel like it's better to play them one way, and other times the other. Maybe I should just pick on way and practice that, whether it's the "best" way or not?

Bryan, I was in the same position as your just a couple of months ago and took that "usual advice". The Rochelle turned out to be a great starter purchase, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. New, they're only slightly above your price range ($415). Used would probably run $50-$100 cheaper. I don't see them used on eBay much, but The Button Box seems to get used ones in from time-to-time. I'd check there first.

In a pinch, I suppose you could just order a screwdriver from the flight attendant. Anyway... I don't think I've ever taken tools like that in my carry-on, so I can't help you on the "personal experience" front. But you're correct that the "official" rule is that screwdrivers that are 7 inches or shorter are allowed. However, since the TSA employees may or may not be familiar with the rule, I would recommend printing out documentation and keeping it with you. If they try to disallow it, you can politely and respectfully show the print-out to them. Here's a section of the TSA's own website that mentions it: http://www.tsa.gov/traveler-information/prohibited-items#7 And here's a link to a pdf of the TSA-published brochure on the matter: http://www.tsa.gov/sites/default/files/assets/prohibiteditems_brochure.pdf

My first thought was "a concertina is an anachronism in a medieval setting!" Which was immediately followed by "Oh wait, Game of Thrones is actually quasi-medieval high fantasy and they can do whatever the heck they want." :-)

Wow, that is impressive! The real-time WYSIWYG ABC editor on there is pretty slick too.

I'm a concertina newbie who just has a single Rochelle. However, I'm also a piano accordionist, and I do have several of those. Some of the reasons for multiple accordions don't really apply to concertina. For example, I have a range of weights, depending on whether I'm playing sitting or strolling. It also affords me noticeably different sounds (reed brightness, wet/dry tunings, etc.). But I can see hanging on to my Rochelle after I "upgrade" for the same reason I keep a small, entry-level piano accordion around: Because it's good to have a "beater" instrument sometimes. :-) You know, that instrument you bring when the weather might not be too good. Or when there's a very high chance dirt/sand/beer/whiskey/blood/etc. is going to get all over it. Or when you're going camping. Or have to travel on a plane with it. Or want to keep it in the car for those times you're waiting for a tow truck... You get the idea.