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Sidsqueezer

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Everything posted by Sidsqueezer

  1. A cheaper option might be to turn down the heating thermostat a degree or two. I find 20C quite adequate and often switch heating off.
  2. Just watch any international Rugby Union player taking a penalty kick at goal. A classic study in internal visualisation, often in close-up on TV.
  3. Of course I could really upset the esteemed members of this forum and suggest that that OP changes to Melodeon. I'll get my hat.....
  4. I only mention that because a few days ago I had the experience of trying to teach a group of EC players (some experienced tune players, some novices) how to play chords to accompany a tune. I was surprised how difficult they found it. Of course it makes a big difference if a novice EC player already knows music theory and knows what notes are in required chord and where those notes are on keyboard. Novice players often find music theory an added complication and simply need to learn shape of chord, which of course applies for any concertina. I just find EC buttons too small and too close together for my big old fingers.
  5. Sorry to spoil the party, but perhaps you should have bought a 30 Button Anglo if you you wish to play chord accompiments. A lot easier to play chords on than an English. IMHO. Also, on most Anglos the buttons are more widely spaced and laid out more naturally under the spread hand, so you might find less strain on the hand joints.
  6. Excuse my ignorance, but surely a 1/3 interval is a fixed mathematical ratio of frequencies. Any note other than this precise 1/3 is not a 1/3 but nearly a 1/3? So these alternative turnings are actually mis-turnings which may happen to sound harmonious.
  7. I would think changing bellows direction rapidly would be the last thing to do as would then sound very English Dance style. ITM is generally played at a brisk pace with little use of pauses or emphasis, so as much as possible in each direction seems the way to do it. Also, tune only with little use of chords.
  8. But notice that often the same note will be push on one row and pull on the other row. This is really useful when playing chords on Left side and Tune on right. Useful to really study which notes are duplicated and which not so that you can reach for alternative notes instinctively. Remember, F and F# always pull notes. BTW, convention is that note names always typed as capital letters, unless you are depicting which octave a note sits in when upper and lower case letters are used.
  9. We are sorted now with one of our local box players filling in.
  10. Brian Lewis, lead box player for Sidmouth Steppers has been taken ill. Nothing too serious, but means he can't take part in torchlight procession on Friday evening. Anybody free to play with me to bolster the rather depleted Steppers Band. We would be playing Hot Punch (G) and Lady in The Boat (G). We will be meeting at 9:30 pm at Connaught Gardens. Martin Pratt
  11. Good choice. Rochelle comes with a reasonable Tutor book, but I would recommend books by Gary Coover (of this parish) should you wish to progress to playing melodically I.e tune with chords. As a Melodeon player, this feels natural to me although I know a lot of English Conc players stick to tune only.
  12. Rochelle is great instrument for beginners, although looked down on by those with "proper" vintage boxes.
  13. Move the song to D if you must. When we sing in choir, we often go up and down a tone until it feels right.
  14. What do you mean by "mini" and what is your budget?
  15. Sounds like leaky bellows. if you have a 30 button instrument, think about alternative fingering so that some notes change from pull to push etc.
  16. Might I suggest "And the band played Waltzing Matilda" as April 25th is the centenary of the start of The Gallipoli disaster. Question of which key to play it in as I have heard it in G, D, and I think The Pogues sang it in A. Suggestions welcome. Oh, and singing along is optional.
  17. Or could you get a music app to do this and run it on a smartphone, which can be discreetly used in a session.
  18. Would be an awful lot of work, but ideal solution might be to scan all your sheet music as PDFs files into a program like ForScore which then sort them alphabetically by title and permits you to arrange them by key or any label you give to them I.e. 4/4, 6/8, Hornpipes , Waltzes etc. That way you have everything in one place automatically indexed. Also of course, you should then have backup of these saved PDFs on Cloud or similar, just in case you suffer a disaster at home. Such a mighty volume of digitised scores would then possible have a commercial value, subject to copyright of course.
  19. The Basic Music Theory is welcome, but suffers from the same fault as many Music Theory publications in that it goes straight into discussing Modes (with all their antiquated names) without actually discussing what Modes actually are and how they are used in music. In reality, most folk music players think in Keys not Modes. Sorry to be critical, but approaching this as a new comer to formal Theory of Music, I find Modes a bit baffling. I find it helps to play the different modes on a instrument to hear the different qualities. Possibly an area where this article could be expanded on.
  20. Forum members with Tablet PCs might consider investing in ForScore app which handles music scores in PDFs or JPGs. You can download The Session Tunebook directly into ForScore which gives ability to select tunes for set lists and many other features.
  21. I also have invested in Gary's excellent tutor books (Melodic and Christmas). They really are most useful for us novice players and probably of interest to more experienced players. Spotted a couple of typos in Pull/draw markings, but that is no problem as it makes one think as to which is correct note. Slight moan however is the binding method which makes it difficult to open the books flat on a music stand. Would be better if ring bound, even if that increased cost slightly. For those of us with tablet computers, a Pdf version would be quite useful and then of course the video links could be embedded in the text.
  22. Happy to spot a Wheatstone Duet on eBay at moment at what appears reasonable price, but auction 4 days to go so final price could get silly.
  23. That sounds nice. Posting from a wintery England, my thought is that it must be nice playing in a sunny spot where sun hats and sun brolly needed. Cheers.
  24. I also acquired a new Rochelle about 6 months ago and found it hard work on the arms at first. this really surprised me because as a melodeon player I am used to throwing bellows about. Any bellows instrument does loosen up with use and I agree with Bruce that several short practices is better than one long one. I also found that at first I was playing with instrument resting on both my legs, but this limited bellows movement. I then tried resting box on my Left leg (because that is what most players seem to do) but this felt unnatural because being a melodeon player I am used to moving L hand. I now play with box on R leg, which seems to suit me. I have asked various experienced players, to be told that there is no "right" position, just what suits the player. I also note looking at YouTube clips, that many Anglo players don't pull the bellows straight in/out but tend to open the bellows with a fan like action so that when extended the bellows are curved up or down or even slightly twisted. This action I find seems to require less muscle effort. Keep practicing and saving up for a "proper" instrument.
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