Roger Hare

Apropos nothing at all: I met the drummer from a heavy rock band in Coventry many moons ago. He reackoned that the man who invented the bass run was none other than good old Johann Sebastian... We were both very drunk though... Roger.

>BTW, I see you are based in Brixham. Are you aware of West Country Concertina Players who have >regular workshop days Nr Taunton? Also look up Folk Orchestra of Torbay (FOOT), one of WREN >Music community groups. Thanks - I'm aware of both these groups and am hoping to go to the next WCCP workshop, which will be early next year, I think. Roger

>I have been using this excellent Humidifier (Humistat #1) etc. Very interesting. How do you use it - just pop it in the bag along with the concertina? FWIW a quick search on Amazon reveals that these pieces of kit are currently unavailable, at least in the U.K. Thanks. Roger Hare

This is probably a stupid question, but hey, I'm stupid, so here goes. Since acquiring my concertina about 2 months ago, I've done a lot of looking at pictures of instruments, both here and in other places on the internet. It's clear that there are a lot of 6-fold (and more) bellows instruments about - my instrument is 5-fold. What are the advantages/disadvantages of having more (or fewer) folds in the bellows? There are some obvious answers to this question, but are there more subtle reasons for having more than 5-fold? For example, do 'budget' instruments, using accordion reeds need more air (and therefore more folds), etc? Finally, what are the 'best' materials for the bellows - leather, parchment, paper, high-tech sailcloth, 'plastic'? Thanks in advance. Roger Hare

My first attempt at making this post was 'orribly mangled by the ancient machine I was using, so now I'll try and clean it up... It's nice to know that I am not the only novice on this forum. I have been playing for almost 6 weeks on a 20 button C/G Lachenal. I suppose different folks have different expectations, but I am a musical illiterate (learning fast though!), and all I am after, in the first instance at least, is the building up of a repertoire of 'simple' tunes to entertain mostly myself, but sometimes my long-sufferin' sailing buddies when we go to French festivals. I have been doing this by (1) stumbling through printed sheet music (only in C or G so far!); (2) 'winging it' by ear; (3) using the tablature in the printed tutor I have purchased. I must say that it is all going remarkably well - I am a better concertina player after 6 weeks than I am a a guitar player after 40 years (that's not saying much though!)! The main thing is that I am having an absolute blast - what a fabulous instrument! I've managed to knock off about a dozen simple tunes so far, all old favourites, and I wonder if choosing tunes which are old favourites makes it 'easier' to work 'em out? I've managed to retain the bulk of these tunes in my decrepit and failing memory, and I reackon if I can do this, so can you. I too am trying tricky bits, and have to play them over and over - only a few notes here and there, and the fingers simply won't do what you want them to do. Keep at it - the little buggers will start obeying instructions after a while, I'm sure, and it's worth it at the end (as I say - what a fabulous instrument!). The other thing I am doing which I haven't seen mentioned in these forums is - keeping a set of notes, searching out sheet music, transposing it to C or G using an ABC editor, writing tunes out using the tablature system in my tutor to record the tunes alongside the sheet music, etc. and saving all this in a Open Office document and converting to a PDF file which I then carry around on my tablet. I find this a useful way of recording progress. I don't know if anyone else adopts this slightly pedantic approach. I've also found Roger Digby's article 'Faking It' on concertina.com very useful, as are the accompanying dozen examples in both sheet music and audio form. I don't remember seeing these resources mentioned here so far? RD seems to be a strong advocate of the 'practice, practice, practice' school of management. Seems like sound advice to me! Keep on 'squeezin would be my advice! Roger.

I've looked at the pictures of these instruments. I must be dumb or something, but how do you play them? Thank you. Roger

"...they are not very pretty and they are a lot bigger than a vintage concertina..." Ah! Possibly the killer criteria! I am specifically interested in a 'good looking' and a physically small(er) instrument. Time to stop being tight-fisted I think... Thank you. Roger

"...the usual advice is to buy a new or used Rochelle..." Don, thank you. As a relative new chum, I did not know about the Concertina Connection. The Rochelle looks a very interesting instrument - the specification looks OK and the price including shipping is almost exactly the same as the Wren (using today's exchange rate). Interestingly, the UK dealer listed in the Rochelle website appears to be charging an excess of approximately £70 ($110) over the Rochelle package price, so ordering direct from Rochelle looks like the favourite option. As far as trading up is concerned, CC seem to have a generous trade-in program if you buy one of their high(er) end instruments. Bears some thinking about - thank you once again. Roger

Brilliant! Do you have the reverse side image with the instructions? I can see a few similar (post)cards in the internet - I wonder who George Piper was? There's no real info on the site I found (presumably the one you looked at). Roger

I'm a novice player with a 20-button C/G Lachenal Anglo which I acquired a few weeks ago. I am having a complete blast with this instrument - I wish I'd bought a concertina years and years ago! I'm so enthusiastic (my sailing buddies say too enthusiastic!) that I'm already considering acquiring an instrument with a third row of 'accidentals'. I'm put off a little by the prices of restored instruments, and found this 'entry-level' instrument on the internet: http://www.irishmusik.com/the-wren-concertina/ Does anyone have any experience with this machine? Any advice on what to look out for or beware of? Any advice would be most gratefully received. Thank you Roger Hare

I came across this concertina-related quote the other day: "Anybody who has...heard certain kinds of performance on the concertina, will admit that even suicide has its brighter aspects.", Stephen Leacock, 1912. It's a bit barbed, and of course, has no basis in fact. I reackon Leacock must have been feeling a bit liverish that day. Roger Hare

"Full article is here . It was written by c.net member Dan Worrall and later became part of his excellent two-volume book The Anglo-German Concertina: A Social History. More info about the book and Dan's other very valuable projects can be found on his web site: http://www.angloconcertina.org." Amazing stuff - thank you very much. I just ordered the book(s) - looks too good to miss! Roger

"..At any hour of the night a fool in love with a concertina may disturb the whole neighborhood with noises he pleases to think music..." Well now, I've been looking for concertina quotes for the last couple of days - found four so far - you have just increased the total to eight - all four of them crackers! Thank you very much! Must look at the full article... Roger Hare

Yes, I found a few myself when I did a search later. When I get time, I will follow this one up. Roger

>might I suggest you start a thread specifically for postcards & concertinas. It's a thought, innit? Include other concertina-related stuff, and call it 'Concertinabilia'? When I actually have some concertina-related artefact(s), I'll revisit this one... Roger

>I'm presuming that you've checked out eBay? At the time I posted, I hadn't, but I made it my next job, and I see that there are indeed concertina cards out there. I usually look for art shipping cards, now I have another search to do - life's never easy is it... Thanks for your input. Roger

>Roger .Look at your P M's I think I have now sussed how to deal with PMs and have replied to your mail. Thanks for the help. Roger

Hm! I am a postcard collector as well as a novice concertina player (sad, ain't it?). Have you come across any postcards featuring concertinas? I can feel another collecting theme coming on... Thanks. Roger Hare

Does anyone out there know where I can find 'sheet music' for this Kipling poem set to music by Peter Bellamy? Is the tune used by Bellamy the same as the Edward German one? I've had a look but can't find a definitive answer on the internet. I can probably work the tune out by repeated listening to PB (always a pleasure!), but I'd like to hone my rudimentary musical skills by working with the printed score if I can. Thank you. Roger Hare

I won't try and respond individually to all the helpful replies I have received to my queries, but a collective thank you to all those who replied. In particular, it's encouraging that a musical illiterate like me can suppose that there *may* be different layouts, and that it *is* possble to play tunes in key X on an instrument in key Y, and then have that supposition confirmed! It's all very encouraging. This means that I can 'wing it' with a clear conscience! To surmise, without any evidence that maybe, just maybe, different instruments can have different layouts, and then have that confirmed, is similarly encouraging (thank you very much for the diagram explaining the different possible layouts on the 20 button instrument - very useful). The information about dating is also useful. The man who supplied my instrument says that his dating was approximate, and that he wouldn't be surprised if the instrument was significantly earlier. The possible earlier date would also tie in with the suggestion in these posts that the button/note layout on my instrument is similar to the original (and presumably earlier) German manufactured 'Anglo' style instruments. Thanks too for the suggestions relating to the ABC system and the relevant web sites - I have already looked at, and transposed a couple of tunes so that I can (attempt to) play them. Fascinating stuff! Once again, thank you all very much! Roger.

>Mick Bramich's ABC book has what the F# shown backwards from every concertina I've known - either a typo >or his concertina is different from all of ours. I did wonder if it was a typo... >You are interpreting your instrument correctly and in fact it is a conventional layout. Thank you for that. It's encouraging that a musical illiterate like wot I am can spot a problem and come up with a more or less correct solution... Roger Hare

>Nobody has yet put forward a liking for 'tina. Or is it 'teena? I was affectionally calling my instrument 'Tina before I even bought the damn thing. Now, 9 days after acquiring it, I'm already referring to it as the 'infernal machine'... Apropos mis-pronunciations (as opposed to perfectly sound regional/dialect variants), I collect these, sometimes from the august air waves of BBC Radio 4, more frequently from the slightly less august airwaves of BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio 4 Extra. Here are a couple of my farouvites: Narcistic - Narcissistic Apolyptic - Apocalyptic Cohlin - Colin Rohger (sorry! Roger) Hare

I'm not sure of the etiquette on these fora yet, so rather than start a new thread, I'll tag this on to the tail-end of my first post - after all, it's a novices question, and it (sort of) follows on from one of my earlier questions. Here goes: The layout of the buttons on my 20 button C/G Anglo seems to differ slightly, both from the diagram of a 20 button C/G Anglo layout at the Digital Concertina Archive (DCA), and from the diagram in Mick Bramich's 'Absolute Beginners' Concertina' (ABC). I know that some layouts were different, but as I'm a complete novice, a little advice wouldn't come amiss... I *think* that the G-row on my instrument (going left-to-right, 5-4-3-2-1-|-1-2-3-4-5, push-pull) is: G-D-D-F#-G-A-B-C-D-E-|G-F#-B-A-D-C-G-E-B-F# which differs subtly from both the DCA layout on the internet, and from that in the ABC book (button 5 is different for both left and right sides). This isn't a problem, in fact, this would mean that the notes I have in the key of G map precisely onto the equivalent notes in the key of C (ie: on the C-row), so that (in crude terms) anything I can play in C, I can play in G just by shifting rows, and vice-versa. This is my interpretation of what I have on my instrument. Is this feasible? likely? totally impossible? a dream come true? Thank you. Roger Hare

OK, I've tried to attach three pictures to this reply - seems to have worked. These pictures were taken about three weeks ago before restoration by Nigel Sture down here in Devon. Hope they are of interest. Roger

>The figures I use for Lachenal anglos are somewhere on this site... Thank you for the serial numbers and projected dates. A lot more information than I had before! >can you post a photo of yours, would love to see it? I have sent pictures before restoration to your private email. It is my intention to use a picture of the infernal machine as my 'signature' picture when I get my act together... Roger