Kenglish

Great stuff Geoff! Thanks. I can PM you my real name, if you'd prefer to record it on the document?

Thanks Howard. I've sent Geoff a PM.

Thank you Stephen, that's very helpful. The interesting thing is, on George's list, 9272 isn't within a range, with only three numbers (including a reported one) quoted for 1937 and 3 for 1936. How do I get mine included among the 'reported' concertinas?

Hi George, Thanks for your updated document. I have a 48 key H Crabb & Sons treble English and the photo attached shows the ID number, which seems way higher than in your lists. I'm unable to find any other numbers inside the instrument. Can you help please?

I only opened the discussion really to obtain guidance on fingering repeated notes and have received some. Yes, of course the C# in Uncle Jim's is part of the appeal and delight of the tune. The score is simply Gavin's variation of the tune. Naturally, there can be many variations of these dance tunes, as each musician may interpret the tune a little differently.

In answer to Wolf, I'm not so worried about the C/C# in this particular tune, naturally. I shall come to another example shortly. McDouglas, that is the fingering I tried originally, then wondered whether ST used 1 & 2 all the time. 2 & 3 seem more natural in that position, but feel weaker, although perhaps that is simply down to a need to practice and build up muscle strength. I thought that I would share an excerpt from a modified "hornpipe" in jig form. It isn't in its original key and was modified to be played on a D/G melodeon. 212 in the left, then 121, 212, 121 in the right seem to work here since we have C not C#. The tune is in the key of G. What follows is D in the left. So far with searching I haven't found a clear example with C# and I think it's more likely to occur fleetingly for two notes rather than three in tune composed in D or partly in D.

Thank you John. I am sure that Gavin will forgive me for posting the whole of his version of the tune. I hope this helps in the discussion. I think I have other tunes where there is a repeated C# (right side) and others where there is an F# on the top left.

I posted the text below elsewhere. However, I thought that it might attract further discussion by being posted on its own. It concerns the question of whether to finger consecutive notes on C# and F# on the English concertina using fingers 1 & 2 or 2 & 3 (two-finger rolls by Simon Thoumire's terminology ?). In a jig on the English moving across to the lower F# on the right, for example, the two-finger roll technique to play a triplet (three consecutive notes on the same button) implies using fingers 1 & 2 all the time, yet this requires one to travel quite some way across the finger board. I've given a sample. It's a decoration, of course, but one that I wish to conquer. When attempting this with fingers 2 & 3 it feels much weaker and slower. There are, in fact, four F# notes to negotiate in this, so there is the problem of how to ensure that one's fingers fall on the buttons in the correct order. Looking forward to suggestions as to how to overcome this difficulty.

In a jig on the English moving across to the lower F# on the right, for example, the two-finger roll technique to play a triplet (three consecutive notes on the same button) implies using fingers 1 & 2 all the time, yet this requires one to travel quite some way across the finger board. I've given a sample. It's a decoration, of course, but one that I wish to conquer. When attempting this with fingers 2 & 3 it feels much weaker and slower. There are, in fact, four F# notes to negotiate in this, so there is the problem of how to ensure that one's fingers fall on the buttons in the correct order. Looking forward to suggestions as to how to overcome this difficulty.