Larry Stout

For a working version how about Bob Snope's Frankentina. See the thread at http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=5775&st=54&p=60489&hl=contrabass%20EC&fromsearch=1entry60489

I play the fiddle that my grandfather played for dances when he was a student at Purdue (he graduated in 1916). He got the fiddle from his father, who got it from a great uncle. Or at least that's the story I got---it probably traces the fiddle back further than its likely date of manufacture. My father played stride piano, not fiddle. So it skipped a generation. I'm the first concertina player in my family. I have one son who is a punk rock drummer and another who plays no instruments, but is married to an opera singer. No grandchildren yet, but I hope to pass on my fiddle, concertinas, mandolins, viola d'amore, and lute to a later generation who will play them.

I'm just back from my first March gig-- we were playing for a dance with a demo at a fund raiser for the Lincoln Log Cabin historic site. The cabin is where Lincoln's parents lived in eastern Illinois. I was playing both EC and fiddle with Flatland Consort. I played concertina on Johann Strauss's Martha Quadrille (a dance done at Lincoln's first inaugural) and the Waltz Cotillion. Most of the rest of the time I was playing fiddle, with occasional breaks on EC. Next week there's a dance in Urbana, the following week there's a dance weekend in Urbana for wich we're playing for a workshop. Great fun! Now if only the local Irish session would get organized so I could have a regular place to play without a 100 mile drive.

I have a case rather like this one that I use for storing my baritone, It fits in the case on its side rather than on its end. The case isn't blocked, so I keep the bellows closed by putting a pillow in the case along with the concertina. I suspect I should spring for a proper case or make one to fit the instrument. I suspect that there is enout room in the case a s pictured for the concertina to go in with proper orientation. It does look like the instrument might rattle around a bit.

I'm rather fond of the tone of my nickel silver reeded baritone (purchased a few years ago through the good offices of a forum member and then restored by Wim Wakker). I also find myself playing its slightly younger brass reeded treble sibling a lot when I'm figuring our tunes in my study. When I play unamplified in a session or for a dance I use a metal ended steel reeded instrument which is much louder. Different situations bring out the strengths of different instruments. They also give an excuse for concertina acquisition syndrome.

I've gotten a bit used to the notes in the upper register. I also play fiddle and if the music goes above third position (that high D in these variations of Morpeth Rant) I switch to concertina because I'm more likely to be able to play in tune. At our dance last Sunday we played a Quadrille by Johann Strauss, Jr. The dance is easy; the music is devilishly hard. Here's an abc file: X:1 T:Martha-Quadrille T: Poule C:Johann Strauss K:A Q:3/8=112 M:6/8 P:A (e|a) z (ce) z (A|c) z E Ace| (f6 |a) zz z2 (d|f) z (Bd) z (E| G) z B deg| (a6|c') z .B .B.B.^d| .e z (GA) z (=c| z .e g3| (f3 c2) c| f2f c2^d| e z (GA) z (=c| z e g3| f2 f c2 ^d|.e.e.e .e.e.(e|| P:B a) z (ce) z (A|c) z E Ace| (f6 |a) zz z2 (d|f) z (Bd) z (E| G) z B deg|aeb aeb|a z z A, z|| P:Coda c| .c'.a.c' !trill!b3| c'ac' !trill!b3| .c'.f'.e' (d'/2e'/2d'/2c'/2)d' |be'd' c'ba| .c'.a.c' !trill!b3| .c'.a.c' !trill!b3| .c'.f'.e' (d'/2e'/2d'/2c'/2)d' |.c'.g.a .f z e||

Not so terribly hard, provided you play it very slowly Thanks for posting this.

A question on the .abc file: Is the structure of the tune AABBCC or AABC or AABCBC? There's a |: which doesn't have a matching :| to see where the repeat is supposed to come.

I actually do both squishing and using one finger for two notes. There are other good reasons for using a more widely spaced chord (notes from a different octave)---they often sound better than closely spaced ones. There's something about the overtones on the thirds. That said, a lot of Victorian arrangements for EC use a lot of parallel thirds.

Most instruments are played without looking at them. The big issue for those with poor eyesight is being able to see the dots. That's why I'm trying to learn how to play by ear. So far I find that easier on a fiddle (which I've been playing for 55 years) than on a concertina (which I've played for 6). If the family eye disease holds off for a few more years I should have enough tunes in my fingers to keep me amused by the time I go blind. Or maybe I'll just keep my vision, so far so good.

When I play EC my hands are arched so that my palm is about 2" from the end of the instrument. My hands are quite large. On an EC this causes me no trouble, but the straps on my Crane aren't long enough to let me get my hand in an uncramped position. I think I need straps about 1 or two inches longer than the ones I have. I'm tempted to have a local shoe repair shop make me a bigger set, so I'm reading this thread with some interest. So my question for other Crane players: how much arch do you have in your hands for optimum playability?

Northern Lass in this arrangement fits nicely on a Crane. Top line on right hand, bottom on left. Northern Frisk will need a bit of rearrangement; the left had goes below the available notes (at least on a 48 button Crane).

The loudest concertina I've ever played is my Wheatstone model 21. It's a metal ended treble I use when I play for Morris or in noisy sessions.

There are several pieces by Regondi available from Wim Wakker in the music editions section at http://www.concertinaconnection.com/music%20editions.htm In particular he's got Remembrance in the music for baritone solo.

Nicely played and cleanly recorded.

I once tried out a baritone EC then for sale at the Button Box which had flat buttons except for the c's, all of which were domed. I think it was a Geuns-Wakker which had been specially ordered that way by its first owner. I suppose it gave a tactile way to identify where you are on the keyboard.

Those angles are 120 degrees for a hexagon. David Leese sells wood strips cut with a 120 degree angle specifically for making replacement blocks. Look at http://www.concertina-spares.com/catalogue.htm about 2/3 of the way down the page.

My twentieth century Wheatstones all have domed keys; my 19th century ones have flat keys. Until you asked the question I hadn't noticed. At least for my playing it doesn't make any difference.

I've played in a session with a very good erhu player. We played some Irish tunes, some from western China, some American Old Time, a very eclectic mix. The combination of baritone EC and erhu is quite nice. More on topic. I've tried Julia Delaney on the Crane, but I haven't mastered the instrument well enough to get much more than the melody yet.

Is there any way of editting it so that the parts are combined onto one 'piano style' stave, Larry? In the second score for Personent Hodie if you replace the %%staves 1[{2 3] 4] command with %%staves [1 {(2 3) 4}] you'll get a vocal line and then a piano staff with the remaining voices. In the abc for Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent the lines %%staves (S1V1 S1V2) | (S2V1 S2V2) V: S1V1 clef=treble V: S1V2 V: S2V1 clef=bass V: S2V2 Give you four voices: the first two are on a treble staff which is joined to a bass staff with the other two. Putting the voice names inside parentheses like (S1V1 S1V2) puts them together in the same staff. You can join the staves with | or {} or []. You can find much more information at http://abcplus.sourceforge.net/

The abc files with the %% comments in them work well using abc plus (the program is abcm2ps which produces a nice score with multple voices and staves). The abc plus website also has a means for turning this into midi, but I haven't used it. It does produce a very nice score. Things like %%staves 1 [{2 3} 4] and %%MIDI program 91 % choir in unison are commands to abc plus. Those with a single % are comments.

I had to laugh-- this reminded me of the time that my wife and I broke into a rant step to a lively piece of Afro-pop at our social dance class. We were supposed to be doing salsa, a rhythm I had trouble getting. Our rant was certainly more upright and rigid than the hip swivels we were supposed to be doing. To bring this back to concertinas, we very much enjoyed waltzing in that class to Josephins Dopvals from the CD "Grass Roots" by the Old Sod Band-- which has an English concertina as one of the lead instruments. (Edited to credit Josephins Dopvals to the right band.)

Two more that I know only from their CD's: Tim Jennings (USA) plays in the group Sheefra. The CD I know is "The Water Kelpie" There is also a cut of his playing on English International. Denise Martin (Alaska, USA) has a CD entitled "Laptop"

I'm not sure if I count-- about 1/3 of the music I play at home is Irish, but I've been playing for several years in our weekly Irish session and in monthly English country dances, so I play Irish music in public somewhat more often that the other styles. I live in central Illinois, USA. There is an old and active Irish music culture in Chicago (which is, after all, where O'Neil did his collecting), in Champaign, and in Madison, WI. When I've visited sessions there no one complained that I play an EC rather than an anglo. I also play fiddle.

Very nicely played with a good hornpipe feel. Send him our best wishes. I look forward to hearing more.