marshall

With all due modesty, Gary Coover did not mention that he has made considerable efforts to annotate the playing style of the instrumentalists he mentions. The written results can be found here: www.amazon.co.uk/Anglo-Concertina-Harmonic-Style-Coover/dp/0615747353 - there are other book sellers! Or if you prefer to look and listen try: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDAFAr6LGkx39G50Zl2L3OssL2o9T_kBn Chas

I think this is the "Cefn Coed Polka" which appears in Brian's tune book "Rattle and Roll". He recorded it on his CD "Lines". Chas

John Connor made me some new bellows about a year ago and the contact details you have were correct then. We communicated both by phone and by letter. I seem to recall that John "didn't do" email. Chas

Dave Mallinson has published "Bal Folk" which contains many of the tunes from the Massif Central books. For some editorial background information have a look at http://accordeonaire.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/update-bal-folk-tune-book.html Chas

You should find what you need at www.mustrad.org.uk/ecmw.htm Chas

Dave Elliott has quite a comprehensive checklist in his concertina maintenance manual - see 3.3 Examination for Purchase Chas

Well done again. I must put this on my Christmas list. Chas

I see that Mally's Traditional Music Store has two new concertina tutors: The Anglo Concertina Absolute Beginners - Chris Sherburn and Dave Mallinson - http://www.mally.com/results.asp?CategoryID=22 The English Concertina Absolute Beginners - Alex Wade and Dave Mallinson - http://www.mally.com/results.asp?CategoryID=43 The Anglo tutor concentrates mainly on a single note style, so it is in contrast to the excellent recent addition to Anglo tutoring material from Gary Coover - http://www.anglotutor.com/. Chas

A small correction for Packington's Pound which I have checked with Gary: In bar 13 the third note should be a pulled 3, rather than a 2.

I reckon you are playing "Banks of the Dee". See you at Winster. Chas

Thanks for the explanation which makes perfect sense. The stave line represents the "normal" tune; the button numbers an adaptation for the anglo which sometimes may differ. I think JW plays a 39 key, so he may well have that D on the pull. By the way, I have enjoyed your Youtube offerings before, so it is nice to be able to put a name to Angloconc! Chas

There may be a mistake in bar 12 of Fieldtown Processional on page 94 regarding button numbers. I reckon the pulled 2 should be a pushed 8. This is just a piece I picked up at random - I haven't worked my way through each page this far yet! Chas

This book sounded very interesting so I ordered from Amazon UK on Saturday. With customary effeciency it arrived on Tuesday by standard post. I have only managed a cursory glance so far, but I doubt I will be disappointed from what I have seen. Well done to Gary. Chas

I have had a little play around now and checked all my chord diagrams against your simulator. It seems to works fine for this. Really useful. Well done. Chas Thanks - I'll add that one to the next build. I'm really only interested in 'standard' builds as the variation in the field is massive! Once I master 'cookies', users can edit/ save/ automatically reload any more idiosyncratic layouts. Is there any 'standard' for duets? C

Chris - here is my layout which is the "standard" (I believe) for the Crabb 40 button anglo. There are 3 differences on the accidental buttons from the "standard" Wheatstone layout. Chas >> E A C♯ A A♭ F♯ E♭ C♯ A A♭ C♯ A C > C G C E G B♭ >> F C E G C E B D G B D F >>>> B♭ G B D G B >>>>> >>>>> >>>> push> >>> D >> F♯ >>>>> >>>>> >> C = Crabb/Wheatstone 40 key C/G layout >> F B♭ E♭ G B♭ C♯ C♯ E♭ G B♭ E♭ F D > G B D F A C♯ >> G B D F A B A F♯ A C E A♭ >>>> A♭ F♯ A C E F♯ >>>>> >>>>> >>>> pull> >>> A >> E >>>>> >>>>> >> C

Thanks Chris. That's look interesting. It could have saved me a lot "manual effort" in the past, though I think I have worked out most of the stuff I need at present. But I must give it a try some time. Is it really 9 years? The Linota still has a good home (I hope!). Chas

Indeed, it is! Mystery solved. See #7 on this page. Never met it before. I have often enjoyed Hexham Morris dancing this one. JK also plays a glorious version on the "Boxing Clever" compilation CD. Chas

Just stumbled across this thread. I would suggest that the first fragment of tune is the back end of "Room for the Cuckoo" (Wheatley). Chas Didn't see any morris dancers though, or even realise it is important in that field. The Upton Upon Severn stick dance is one of the central Border Morris dances and has also been adopted by many Cotswold sides; and as has already been mentioned it is traditionally performed to the Appalacian tune Maud Karpeles put to it. Once again proving that innovation + time = tradition Except that the dance most American teams (and, I gather, British teams as well) call "Upton Upon Severn Stick Dance" is only distantly related to the dance Karpeles describes in the above pdf. It is derived from an expanded version performed by the Chingford Morris Men, and some suggest (read: demand) that it be referred to as the Chingford Stick Dance. True enough, but as I understand the Chingford MM called their version of the dance by the original name (e.g. Upton), those seeking to retrospectively rename it 'Chingford' are fighting an uphill battle by now! Anyhoo we seem to have deviated .... I also don't recognise the first 27 seconds of the original video, sounds Cotswold-ish but no idea.

Nice one, Al. Salmon Tails Up The Water is certainly extensively used for North West Morris, but our Northumbrian friends might be a little upset by this attribution! Chas

Very interesting, thanks Geoff. So when I have seen "Bb CTL", could that mean Continental pitch? Chas

The hand rests look the same as I have seen on other Aldershot Road Jeffries, so I guess they could be original. Chas

You are both in Sheffield - why not start your own tune exploration session? Or even see if you could host something similar during BTMW in July. Chas

Some years ago Steve Dickinson retuned a Crabb C/G to Bb/F for me. I don't know whether this was done by swapping reeds, retuning reeds or a bit of both. The resulting instrument is lovely - still quick and well-balanced with a slightly mellower sound. This success of this operation may well say more about Steve's skills than it does about anything else! Chas

I have just stumbled across this post while I was looking for something else. And funnily enough, I have just finished a stint as the concertina-playing Private Day in the "Godiva Affair" epsiode of Dad's Army. This was staged by the Harrogate Dramatic Society at Harrogate Theatre. I couldn't help smiling to myself as I was thinking that Private Day should have been played by our very own Al! Chas

A new batch of videos from July 2011 have been uploaded to the Clogfest YouTube Channel. If you don't mind the sound of battering of clogs with your concertina, then amongst these are some of my efforts playing the anglo (Crabb C/G) Here are some links: http://www.youtube.com/clogfest?gl=GB&hl=en-GB#p/a/u/2/HygDLws_y_Q - New Spice Girls: French Canadian routine to As the Tide Was a Turning http://www.youtube.com/clogfest?gl=GB&hl=en-GB#p/a/u/1/OryPIu4wgkw - Clogarhythm: Jean's Waltz to Michael Turners http://www.youtube.com/clogfest?gl=GB&hl=en-GB#p/u/29/ejzharFhCLs - Clogarhythm: Lancashire Irish to Pippa Sandford http://www.youtube.com/clogfest?gl=GB&hl=en-GB#p/u/26/rMpX8o_Pn60 - New Spice Girls: North East Waltz to Tombigbee Chas