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Loikroh

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    Home Position For English Concertina

    in Teaching and Learning

    Posted

    I don't think it's a daft question at all. I would think it's a personal preference thing and depends on where your supporting little fingers rest on the bar and also how far through the strap you like your thumbs. I have my thumbs well through and the natural position is for the index on the left to hit the G and the index on the right to hit the A.

     

    Apart from that, the best position is the one where I hit the right notes:-)

    cheers

    Mart

    Jazz - Sonny Rollins Alfie's Theme - On Tenor/treble E C

    in Concertina Videos & Music

    Posted

    Hi Wolf

    I agree with all you have said here. When I'm playing jazz I'm using the EC very much as a solo instrument rather like the jazz sax or the flute. It's very difficult to bend the notes as those instruments can - possible at a slow speed using very strong bellows and the button hardly depressed -so I tend to grace instead. The EC is perfect for this kind of playing - especially the improvisation - many of the chordal arpeggios run up just one side of the instrument and the chromatic runs are not too difficult to find. Down to practice like everything else I guess. If I'm accompanying a song I tend to use far more chords than single note runs.

     

    I see you have provided a link to the Handel sonata. Again this is the EC purely as a classical solo instrument. It's one of the few things I recorded a long time ago that I still really like! I remember reading somewhere - could have been an old "Free Reed" magazine - that Wheatstone envisaged his invention as a "serious" classical instrument. This was one of my early attempts to prove he was right. I was amazed when it was favourably reviewed on the classical music page of the Guardian newspaper!

     

    cheers

    Mart

    Jazz - Sonny Rollins Alfie's Theme - On Tenor/treble E C

    in Concertina Videos & Music

    Posted

     

    I reckon Coltrane's Giant Steps would be amazing on concertina but I'm not sure I have the technical chops to do it.

    Hi Stuart Glad you like Alfie's - yep,Giant Steps would be a challenge! Like most jazz tunes the head's not too bad to play, even over the 1st line chord progression: Bmaj7 D7 Gmaj7 Bb7 Ebmaj7. A bit unusual! It's just the impro that's almost impossible unless one happens to be a genius like Coltrane - sadly I'm not :D

     

    The solo is transcribed here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kotK9FNEYU

     

    It makes an interesting workout for the fingers to just stop it at random and try to play a few bars - argghh!

     

    cheers

    Mart

    Jazz - Sonny Rollins Alfie's Theme - On Tenor/treble E C

    in Concertina Videos & Music

    Posted

    After quite a lot of Bach has been posted I thought I'd start the year at the other end of the spectrum.

     

    This is one of my favourite jazz numbers and so much fun to play. I enjoy the classical playing but there's something about playing jazz when you get the nod and you've got the next three choruses all to yourself. I have incorporated just a couple of tune snippets in the impro. Most jazz musicians like doing it - Dexter Gordon was the king of this I reckon.

     

    https://soundcloud.com/mart-bradley/alfies-theme-sonny-rollins-concertina

     

    Played on Wheatstone 26234

     

    Happy New Year

    Mart

    Bach On Anglo

    in Concertina Videos & Music

    Posted

    The concluding gigue from Bach's C major cello suite (transposed up an octave to fit the range of my instrument) performed on 30 button C/G anglo concertina. https://soundcloud.com/andy-western/bach-c-major-gigue-1/comment-261162892

    Great stuff. As mentioned above, I'm sure too that Bach would have written for EC if it had been around. Great fun to play his stuff but does take some learning. Here is one of the Cello Suite bourees I recorded on the Baritone/Treble. It was a challenge mainly because I find the B/T takes so much more effort to control than the treble - actually quite hard work!

    cheers and Happy new year to all

     

    https://soundcloud.com/mart-bradley/bach-cello-suite-no3

    Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

    in Concertina Videos & Music

    Posted

    Glad you like it. In response to your question, Defra - yes it's played on the gold baritone-treble - right up the top end. The recording does, however, sound rather different from the original sound on the concertina due to my mic being less than excellent! One project I have earmarked for 2016 is getting decent recording rig set up.....

    Happy Christmas

    Mart

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