Larry Stout

Take a look at the (at least 16 part) series English Concertina for Beginners. Here's a link to part 12, which shows what the innards look like. Thanks for reminding me to go look for this series again. There's a lot of good stuff on YouTube that I lose track of!

Here's my (non-expert) understanding: Free reeds actually produce tone by cutting the air stream (not through interaction of air with the vibrating reed). This means that the shape of the wave form depends on the amount of space around the reed for air to pass. If the reed shoe had a perfectly parallel slot then most of the air would escape at the tip of the reed through an essentially rectangular opening. If the reed is somewhat trapezoidal and the slot has a certain venting outward then more air will escape earlier in the swing cycle of the reed with air passing along the sides as well as the tip. Stepping way out of my expertise I'll speculate that accordion reeds use a more parallel slot which is also thinner. Classic concertina reeds have a thicker slot with some relief in both length and width. So experts--have I understood reed function correctly?

Is that an argument for riveted reeds?

Resources in the form of tunebooks: Paul Hardy's session books: http://www.pghardy.net/concertina/tunebooks/index.html lots of useful stuff here. Victorian era, from Juliette Daum's web site: This is a book collected in the 1880's and scanned in. I don't know if it has found a permanent home but back in April 2011 Ruediger Asche said "ok, upload is now complete. There are 2 sets of files: On http://www.ruediger-asche.de/jdbook/ , there is a collection of 54 pages of tunes, and on http://www.ruediger-...e/jdbook/book2/ there are 28 pages of excercises, scales and so forth. Please let me know if anything is missing, but I don't think so (Alan has strictly numbered the files consecutively)." Lester Bailey's session tune book: http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=667 Lewes session books: http://www.lewesarmsfolkclub.org/LAFC/LFTunes.html Hornpipes: from a discussion on concertina.net: http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=13563 On concertina.com, a resource you should explore for lots of information: http://www.concertina.com/english/index.htm in particular, look at Butler's concertina tutor tangosite.com/concertina, a blog with tunes from the Netherlands: http://www.tangosite.com/concertina/pub/ec-blog Danny Chapman's page has lots of early music written specifically for EC: http://www.rowlhouse.co.uk/concertina/music/ A complete O'Carolan with links to O'Neill and Allan: http://www.oldmusicproject.com/occ/tunes.html The tunebook for the Montreal session: http://music.gordfisch.net/montrealsession/index.html Jack Campan's web page with lots of Scottish material: http://www.campin.me.uk/ Hope this helps.

I've really enjoyed the tunes shared here in the "Something for the Weekend (in case it rains)" thread. There is a tremendous amount of music available free on line. What kind of music are you looking for? My problem is too many tune books, not too few. Selection is the hard part.

I started on violin (and fiddle) at about 6. When I was in high school I bought a guitar but never really mastered it. While in college I made a lap dulcimer, a theorbo, and a balalaika. In grad school I got a bowl-back mandolin and took up three holed pipe. I've made (and played) several Kits (the dancing master's tiny fiddle). I've tried (without much success) tin whistle, cornemuse, and folk transverse flute. With somewhat more success I've played octave mandolin, 10 course lute, and viola d'amore. At 55 I took up English concertina to stretch my brain. I also have a Crane duet. So what do I really play now? Given some paralysis in my left hand I'm mostly limited to EC (I'm very happy to be able to play that-- I love the sound). If you go back 6 months fiddle was primary, then concertina, mandolin, octave mandolin, and viola d'amore. Wind instruments and I have never gotten on well. Variety is the spice of life, but it does look like I suffer (or enjoy?) instrument acquisition syndrome!

When you are talking about vintage concertinas the variation between individuals may be more significant than that between models. That said, there is a big difference between a 1920's-30's Aeola and a more workaday Lachenal (a difference which will be reflected in price). I think you'll have an advantage I didn't have early on--you might be able to try several instruments before buying one. My first vintage concertina is a Wheatstone tutor from 1851 with brass reeds-- it has a lovely soft sweet voice and I still play it often at home. My second vintage Wheatstone is a model 21 from 1917. It is very loud and is the instrument I mostly play for dancers. I'm very fond of it too. Some years later I splurged and got a tenor-treble Aeola. I got lucky---I bought all three of these having not seen or played them. Figure that there may be some restoration cost in addition to the acquisition cost. Part of my tale here is to watch out for concertina acquisition syndrome but part of it is also that different instruments have different individual strengths. Find one that you like and enjoy.

Take a look at what Wim Wakker has to say at http://www.concertinaconnection.com/concertina%20reeds.htm He's one of the experts I've sent an instrument to for work involving new valves.

I tried the search without success. My (probably unreliable) memory is that the valves are made from leather from hair sheep. It was reported that the valves need to have the grain in the correct direction. I decided that for me it would make sense to buy the valves from someone who understood all of this or, better yet, have one of our excellent repairmen do a tuning and replace the valves as needed.

My 1851 Wheatstone tutor (brass reeds) came to me with the original spruce baffles. My somewhat earlier nickel silver reeded baritone had lost its baffles. When Wim Wakker did a restoration of the baritone he fitted it with spruce baffles. I'm quite fond of the resulting tone. The articles on installing baffles in duets to improve the balance between the bass side and the treble were aiming for a different result. The use of a thin fabric probably had more to do with insects and visual aesthetics than sound.

May your 2012 be filled with music. Happy New Year!

I'm not trying to hijack this thread. Help on how to play our chosen instruments is one of the really helpful aspects of this list. My primary instrument used to be fiddle with an increasing focus on English concertina. I also have a 48 button Crane (a Wheatstone from 1942). I used past tense in describing my instrument choices because I'm fighting stage IV lung cancer and have a lot of weakness and some paralysis in my left hand. I can still play a few tunes on EC but I wonder if I should make a shift to the Crane, where I could do melody with my (much less disabled, but still not strong or agile) right hand. So some advice I seek: should I spend my time and (very) limited energy trying to recover my EC playing or should I try to master the Crane one handed? I know that several members of this list have overcome disabilities like strokes and use injuries. There aren't a lot of Crane players out there (I've never met one), but I think I could profit from the experience of those who play both EC and Crane.

Thanks for sharing how this was (is) done. The knowledge shared on this site is amazing.

I can't say anything useful except that the sound and the playing in this clip are exceptional. You are a true master of the instrument. Thank you for the post. Larry

I love this thread--I always get good tunes from it. Thank. Larry

Tenor-treble Wheatstone aeola from 1926. It's a wonderful instrument. These days when I can get my hands to work I tend to play a tutor from 1851 or a slightly earlier baritone.

Here's a link to the only video I know of of my own playing. It dates from summer 2010. http://gallery.me.com/slgould_01#100055 Larry

Try "Money in Advance", a clog any musician should appreciate, if only for the title! It's in F and Dm. Larry

Beautiful playing and beautiful pictures. Thanks Danny.

I've used abcplus to turn abc files into very nice sheet music. I tried lilypond and found it harder to learn. I've also used abc2mtex but for that it helps that I already knew LaTeX well.

Many of those who don't say anything may be finding your playing a gift and a high point of the day. I've been home from the hospital for a week. I had surgery to remove several vertebrae and take pressure off nerves which was leading to some paralysis which was making playing concertina very difficult. Now I find it therapeutic to play, though my playing isn't up to my earlier standard. I have stage 4 lung cancer (seems unfair to a non-smoker!) and I see a hard fight ahead. One of the nicest pieces of support one of my friends has given has been to come over on two occasions to play for me. One time he brought a harp and one time a fiddle. Music is a valuable gift to one in pain, terror, and exhaustion.

When I was just starting I found that I needed the instrument to be stable so that the columns of buttons stayed in predictable positions. I also tended to keep one finger on each hand touching a key (not depressing it, just touching to have the home feeling you ask about). I think it was the g on the left hand (with an index finger) and the f# on the right (ring finger). Now that I'm more comfortable with the keyboard I've relaxed and don't use the contact as much (even the little finger rest on the left hand sometimes gets released). Rachel Hall suggested in a class I took with her that you find the first note and look to make sure you are not off by a row (giving a note a fifth off) before you start playing.

I have a copy of Coles 1000 fiddle tunes that I bought in the 1950's. It is on paper that is crumbling. I recently replaced it with the Mel Bay reprint of Ryan's Mammoth collection. The music is identical-- the Coles version seems to be a facsimile of the Ryan publication. The Mel Bay version has a better binding and clearer print. The Mel Bay version has an introduction giving a scholarly and interesting discussion of the sources and history of the publication, including the connections with O'Neill. This has been a source for American fiddlers for over a hundred years. My grandfather used it. There are some great tunes in it.

I've done several approaches and ended up with five vintage Wheatstones that I'm happy with. My tutor (which will be 160 tomorrow) I got on eBay and had the Button Box restore. My Model 21 I bought from Lark in the Morning when they were selling off a collection of antique instruments. That instrument is in the range between the hybrids and the aeolas; very nice if you can find one. It is my workhorse for playing for dances. I bought two instruments from folks here on concertina.net: a Crane and a very old baritone, which I then sent to Wim Wakker to restore. I also have a tenor-treble aeola that I bought from Button Box. A vintage instrument bought unrestored might need on the order of $1000 in work (routine, not extensive, restoration). Most of the repairers have waiting lists, so you might need 6 months or so as well. If you find one with promise and can get it for under $1500 that might be a route worth taking. There are three on eBay right now I might be interested in if I actually had need of another instrument and a spare $1000-$2000. Buying from a reputable dealer gives some guarantee that the instrument is in good playable condition. You pay a fair price for that, though.

It would help to know the serial number, since then you can (probably) look up the instrument in the Wheatstone ledgers. The tip of ne reed shows in one of your pictures, so we can see they are steel. A picture of the reeds to judge their condition would be helpful. A buyer would probably also want to see pictures of both ends (to judge the condition of the fretwork) and the bellows to see if there are visible leaks.