Larry Stout

I have one very soft voiced EC which I can use to play lullabies. I also have an EC I can play unamplified to drive a whole room full of dancers. The answer to the original question is "it depends on the particular instrument."

Perhaps my eyes are fooling me but isn't the concertina in the Dayne's music video an English concertina? That would make the connection to the history of the Anglo in the American west about something different.

Could you post a link?

Here's abc I've transcribed from the gif. Page Layout % %%pageheight 11in %%pagewidth 8.5in %%topmargin 1in %%botmargin 1in %%leftmargin .75in %%rightmargin .75in % Fonts %%titlefont Times-Bold 32 %%subtitlefont Times-Bold 24 %%composerfont Times-Italics 16 %%titleformat T0, T0, C1, S-1 R1, N0, P-1 % %scale 1 X:1 T:Pauline mazurka K:Dm M:3/4 C: Erik Theze L:1/8 |:F>E|"D-"D>^C D>E F>G|"A"A>^G A>=B ^c>A|"Bb"d2 f>e d>c |A6| "C"G>E E>F G2|"A"B2 A2 F2|"D-"F2 F>E F>G|"A" F>E| |F>E|"D-"D>^C D>E F>G|"A7"A>^G A>=B ^c>A|"Bb"d2 f>e d>c |"F"A6| "C"G>E E>F G2|"A"B2 A2 F2|"D-"D6|D6:| |:"Bb"F2 D>E F>G| "C11"F2 E4|"F"c2 cd c>A|"Dm"F6| "Bb"F2 D>E F>G| "C11"F2 E7/2 F/2| D6|D6:|

Here's abc I've transcribed from the gif. Page Layout % %%pageheight 11in %%pagewidth 8.5in %%topmargin 1in %%botmargin 1in %%leftmargin .75in %%rightmargin .75in % Fonts %%titlefont Times-Bold 32 %%subtitlefont Times-Bold 24 %%composerfont Times-Italics 16 %%titleformat T0, T0, C1, S-1 R1, N0, P-1 % %scale 1 X:1 T:Pauline mazurka K:Dm M:3/4 C: Erik Theze L:1/8 |:F>E|"D-"D>^C D>E F>G|"A"A>^G A>=B ^c>A|"Bb"d2 f>e d>c |A6| "C"G>E E>F G2|"A"B2 A2 F2|"D-"F2 F>E F>G|"A" F>E| |F>E|"D-"D>^C D>E F>G|"A7"A>^G A>=B ^c>A|"Bb"d2 f>e d>c |"F"A6| "C"G>E E>F G2|"A"B2 A2 F2|"D-"D6|D6:| |:"Bb"F2 D>E F>G| "C11"F2 E4|"F"c2 cd c>A|"Dm"F6| "Bb"F2 D>E F>G| "C11"F2 E7/2 F/2| D6|D6:|

Mine is 2037, so it is somewhat older.

Has anyone tried using a 3-D printer to make buttons?

This appears to be the "improved" English from William Wheatstone's 1861 patent. (See particularly the figures on pages 17-18.) Of course, he must have made a prototype. I wonder if there are others, or if this is the only one. I do hope whoever eventually gets it will let several English players try it out, to give their impressions of whether it really is an improvement. A very interesting find that patent. I'm impressed that you found it. Having a look at the innards of the one on e-bay would be fascinating. The patent notes that this is a way to pack more reeds into a duet concertina, though obviously also for an EC with up to 64 buttons. Is Figure 29 in the patent a layout for a 54 button MacCann (not really since the patent is from 1861)?

Another source from the Victorian concertina literature would be music written or arranged for Crane (Triumph) duet. The left hand part is written in bass clef. The salvation army tutor and the Bulstrode tutor (both available on line free, maybe in the right part of this web site, maybe on concertina.com) have sections devoted to learning how to read bass clef.

Music written for baritone concertina tended to use treble clef and sound an octave lower. I've played my baritone without learning bass clef.

Elderly Instruments has been known to have the occasional good concertina. What you are specifying is very high end. It may take a while to find it.

The program abcm2ps will convert a file with multiple tunes in abc into one ps file. You can then use ghostscript to convert the .ps file to .pdf. This sounds harder than it is. Have a look at the abcplus pages and its manual. Look at http://abcplus.sourceforge.net/ The program (free) does amazing stuff with typesetting music.

I remember looking at pictures of how the reeds were put in some historic basses. As I recall the reeds in an old Wheatstone were originally for a pump organ. I picked up a set of organ reeds, but I never got around to making the bass concertina.

Thanks but its very complicated to understand. (I'm only 13). I'm 63 and it's still complicated! There are a lot of parts and making a concertina is a big project. Wim Wakker showed all the steps to make a high end G/C anglo at http://www.wakker-concertinas.com/making%20of.htm Since that time Concertina Connection has produced a kit to make an anglo. Others have used the kit to make their own (it's called a Clover). I'm guessing that that would be a bit ambitious, but keep it in mind if you develop woodworking and leather working skills. Making instruments is great fun (it's been one of my hobbies) but I don't think I'd start with a concertina. (There are over a thousand parts!)

I can't help with your instrument repair question, but I'm interested in your musical project. (I just bought an A/D melodeon to augment my free reed collection though EC remains my primary instrument.) Do you have a good source you can point to for the Newfoundland tunes? I did a quick search on "Cleaning reeds" and got 50 threads in response. I remember some of those threads looking promising.

I have a baritone EC from much earlier (It has square cut reed shoes and nickel silver reeds and its serial number appears as a used concertina in the mid 1850's) that has a canted reedpan. There is none of the blocking in the chambers one finds in later concertinas.

I loaded the abc for Mr. Beveridge's Maggot into EasyABC and got a nice score and a passable MIDI rendition. Not as good as Danny Chapman's playing, but then that would be asking quite a lot.

I've played EC for our local start up morris-- the Boneyard Creek Morris. When I was much younger I fiddled for Pokingbrook (I was third string, playing for the beginner side when I wasn't dancing). We tend to use a single instrument to help with the coordination of music with dancers. For Pokingbrook in the 70's it was a fiddle. I don't recall seeing any free reed instruments in the morris teams I encountered in 1976-77. It is particularly tricky to get the time right on capers since the downbeat depends on gravity and how high the dancers jump. The real question is having a loud enough concertina with clear articulation. I use my model 21, the loudest concertina I've ever played. I suppose that all of this should be in past tense since the paralysis in my left hand now makes my playing too unsteady to accompany dancers. The good news is that I've recovered enough to play tunes for my own enjoyment. A good concertina works very well for morris, be it an EC, AC, or duet.

Yes, I can see them now.

I'm quite fond of my baritone. It has nickel silver reeds in hand cut reed shoes, so must date from 1849 or so. A very mellow instrument if a bit temperamental. It is nice to have the variety. It took a little while for the baritone to come along--it was languishing in Australia and went to Wim Wakker for rehab after I got it. It's better traveled than I am. I have also played a steel reeded Lachenal baritone which was much louder and more brash. I guess part of my point is that a baritone could be an early parlor instrument or a later band instrument and the character of the sound could be quite different. Good luck in your search. I'm going to hang on to mine, though my heirs might not!

My tenor treble aeola has very small washers on the end bolts, so at least one high end instrument used them.

You can get English International from the Button Box--- it's in the everything else section: http://www.buttonbox.com/music-cds.html (I have no connection to Button Box other than as a satisfied customer.)

Alistair Anderson's Concertina Workshop has a CD which is available again. I found this source helpful. I collected a bunch of tutors (Butler is on concertina.com as is the all systems chording workshop notes). Mostly what you need is time to practice, explore, and play. Pick out some tunes you know that are in easy keys (C, Am, G, D). Start sitting with the instrument held stable on one knee. When you get tired give yourself a break-- you will be using some muscles in your thumbs and little fingers in unfamiliar ways. Most important: have fun making music.

I get a lot of pleasure out of playing my soft, sweet voiced brass reeded rosewood EC from 1851. I also have a model 21 with metal ends and steel reeds that I can drive a whole roomful of dancers without using amplification. Good old variety.

I play EC (and a little Crane, but no Hayden) so I've identified my biases. One disadvantage to the duet route (Elise, my Crane) is that the upgrade path is hard to find. There are no vintage Haydens and there aren't many being custom made. There are no new Maccans and Cranes that I'm aware of. For an EC you can start with a Jackie or Jack and then have several levels of upgrade before you run out of possible instruments.