John, Wexford

Sorry Irina, I'm only seeing this now. Coming from a flute perspective, you're never going to be able to get exactly the same sort of rolls on the concertina, as you could get previously on the concert flute. In some cases the rolls will not be as good as those on the flute, but in other cases the rolls can be very much better. Have a bash at this one, it might be a little bit different to what you'd expect, and see how you get on. I like to use my 2nd playing finger for the first B, and glance it upwards, to replace it with your 1st playing finger, again on B. (You could do it the other way around, but at least, this way, your fingers are back in the "home" position.) Regards, John.

I'm not sure if you have ever played the Silver Spear for a Céilí.

This article by Gearóid is freely accessible from Clare County Library: https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/music/heartland_clare_concertina/introduction.htm I hope this is of some assistance.

Many people have been waiting from between 3 to 4 years for instruments from Juergen, despite what his website says.

I taught a student one time, who had been taught using a similar numbering system. Unfortunately she started with another teacher shortly after, who had a completely different numbering system. She was completely at sea.

What do the numbers mean?

In general F# is draw on the C/G concertina and C# is press on the concertina. It is the other way around for both notes on the B/C style accordion. I made the move in the opposite direction, from B/C accordion to concertina, and, inevitably, I ran into that problem of "is it press or draw", so much so, that I gave up the button accordion entirely. I quite liked the idea, in theory, to try the single row style, so, eventually, I did purchase a C#/D accordion, but that's like a foreign country to me now.

I played the B/C button accordion before the concertina. I decided then to dispense with the accordion altogether, particularly as the notes F# and C# were generally in the opposite directions on the concertina. I decided that the benefits to re-learning how to control the bellows from the right hand side outweighed the effort and so I stuck with operating the bellows from the left hand side. There is an incredible, innate kind of co-operation that goes on between the left "bellows" hand and the right hand side air button. It is a bit like playing the tin whistle with the tips of your fingers, where, ordinarily, there should be more sensitivity, and using the flats of your fingers to play the chanter on the uilleann pipes. You just simply get used to it.

I play "right side anchor" and it is no hindrance to me whatsoever.

Hugh plays the Mathematician Hornpipe on his C#/G# concertina.

Despite what it says on the website a wait of three to four years is not uncommon, and I have heard this from more than one source.

Unfortunately, Jürgen does not update his website very regularly, and wait times of up to 3 to 4 years are not uncommon.

It is very often played one key up in B minor.

These are difficult times. 😀😁😀

You could try Alistair Anderson's own website.