david_boveri

As far as a warm up, I would do some dynamic stretching for your arms and hands to get the blood moving. So, for your arms, anything that gets your chest and back moving is good. So, you could cross your arms across your chest, move them to your front back in like a pushup (but not a push up, standing). For your hands, I would try making a fist and then fanning your fingers back out. Do that 10–20 times. You could also try shaking out your hands, keeping in mind the movement should come from your hands and wrists and not your arms.

Have you adjusted the screw at the bottom? It allows for varying levels of humidity. I might guess that your case is leaking humidity to the room, outside.

i think jody's comment highlights and important point: the amount of time played in each year is very important, in addition to how it is being played. i only play one concertina on a daily basis, i know there have been times when i was playing 3-5 hours a day for weeks or months on end. my 5 hours is a HARD five hours... when my instrument was new, i remember a few times getting back from playing in loud sessions (everyone but me mic'ed) and realizing i had noticeably broken in the reeds in the course of 3 hours. additionally, i once ripped my handstraps in half in the middle of a tune (got thicker leather since then) and even broke the air-valve's pad in the course of a few days (to be fair i knew that was going to happen based on what i was doing). with all that being said, i still expect my instrument to outlast me. at first, i thought i would have to refinish it in a few decades. however, now i'm thinking that'll last the abuse as well. also i baby the bellows, so i can't imagine that they would need to be replaced in my lifetime, even though i'm young. i think on any instruments the pads, valves, and straps will need replacement at some point, though many people can play with the same set of straps for decades (i can't). i've had mine about 4 years by now, but my 4 years is probably about 20 years of abuse by someone else. although i'm being facetious with that last point, we can't escape that jody seems to treat his bellows like i treat my hand straps, .

do you know if you want to play anglo or english? also, what type of music do you want to play?

although it's partially true that playing in Eb on a C#/G# does keep the "uninitiated" from joining in, there is something nice about playing in Eb. for some reason, i can't shake how much better i like playing in Eb than in D on the whistle, and a flute in Eb or F feels like a sports car in comparison to a standard flute. there's a reason that professionals tend to have instruments in different keys... they each bring something different to the music.

Hey Dan, should we ask Martin Hayes to go back and learn how to play more like his father? I love studying the old style, but I live in a very different world than those who grew up in the old Ireland. Whereas my great great Aunt Bee played in small, quiet cottages on an old 20 button German concertina using one row at a time, I play in loud pubs and on stage thousands of miles away in Chicago on a 30 button Carroll. To play like her would dishonest to my own roots and background. I study the old styles of course, but try as I might I can only sound like myself.

i would recommend working on that piece a little bit every week. maybe just work out the fingering for the first measure one week and then go back to other tunes. next week, try to work on the second measure, etc. after you've gotten the fingering worked out for every measure, then go back and start working on playing each measure (one a week) in time. then start putting it together. i think it is all too easy to get caught up in the "all or nothing" approach to practicing. the incremental step-by-step method is much more effective, especially because you can have multiple project tunes going at once.

is this the setting you are talking about? http://thesession.org/tunes/248/248 i can definitely play it, but i would say that it is very challenging. i'm with chris in this: this is definitely not a beginner tune. i'm definitely all for trying hard tunes, but i think that this one is particularly a doozy. it focuses on the low notes of the left, and the combination of low Bb and A is going to be hard to get up to speed. a young student of mine asked for some help with it. she plays the fiddle. normally i can fake any tune the kids throw at me, but this one threw me for a loop. an 11 year old on the fiddle could manage it quite well, but i needed to go over it for a minute before i could help her with the tune. so, i would say this is definitely a woodshed or longterm piece. like i said, i find it doable, but it took more thought than i was expecting.

shelly: it was a great workshop! definitely a lot of fun. because of the size of the audience, it ended up more of a master class (to borrow a classical term) with a little tune workshop afterwards in the hall for the rest of us. i'd definitely be interested in a workshop. i'll ask around and see what sort of interest i can find.

if the weather holds up i'll be there!

this is pretty cool, actually! we are now on the fringe of being interesting for 1/10th of a second on national tv. X Factor, here i come!

except that the links in your signature don't work...

this is the clincher. learn to use the air button! even if it is just a quarter note, you should press the air button on a push note if you are running out of air. there are some players that maximize efficiency by doing alternative fingerings, but the best way to go about it is to make the air button your friend,

i think that you should try to play both if one doesn't speak to you very much. everybody is different. some people find they gravitate to one more than the other. i definitely saw the anglo concertina and not only did i know it was for me, but it came to me very naturally. for the life of me i just can't figure out the accordion even with tabs and guidance, but night one on the concertina i was playing full tunes. i am probably alone in this, but i honestly find the pipes (!) easier than the accordion. i only get to play once every year or two at most, but i can squeeze out tunes on the pipes no problem, even though i have never had my own pipes and never even borrowed a set for a day. put an accordion in my hands and i am just crippled. now, i'm not saying that anyone would want to listen to me play the pipes, but as long as it doesn't have a set of regs on them (i can't balance them on my leg, ) i could play a very recognizable version of a simple jig or an air. after an hour on the accordion you'd be lucky to get a whole phrase out of me. in actuality i would say that many people find the concertina more difficult than the pipes. something about using your two hands for melody that have totally different layouts really confuses a lot of people. for me i think that i just get lost on the accordion. without being strapped in i have no idea where to put my fingers, never mind what notes to play. come to think of it, when you play the pipes you are strapped in as well! maybe that's why i like them so much, .

If I was looking for concertina players, I would email all of the London comhaltas branches: http://comhaltas.ie/locations/detail/london/ They are bound to have a teacher or member that plays. I am sure there are some British style players hidin around too, but I don't know how to to find them!

Sam, send me a private message. I can connect you with resources or citations if you need them or serve as an interview subject. I am an academic by trade and a concertina player to boot, so I am well versed in both fields. I can provide a lot of citeable resources on Irish music that you would probably never find on your own, especially about the pipes and concertina. I would just need a better idea about the assignment and rubric to help steer you to appropriate resources.

I don't doubt it. I could break one of those in a few minutes! Let's just say I am good at "breaking in" concertinas, .

Martin O'Brien stays in Dublin during the week. He is a great player and student of Mary MacNamara. PM me for his contact info.

Congrats! I have since moved on to a more expensive instrument, but my Edgley and I spent many happy years together. I have actually refused to part with it and lend it out to friends who are learning or between instruments.

Valves are not needed to block the reeds that are not sounding, they are used to make the instrument more efficient in air use to minimize bellow movement, as well as maximize that enough air is getting to the reeds that are sounding. Many instruments leave off valves on a few notes because it helps the notes sound and doesn't interfere with playability on the lower notes. Many miniature concertinas have no valves, because they don't have air buttons.

I doesnt seem to be available, but I have emailed the researcher suggesting that he could do a kickstarter campaign to raise funds. I think I would want to try one out as well. If they don't come cheap, I think I mint still be interested. I have been looking for a good chair for years!

what type of instrument are you playing? i definitely would press and lift back up and press again, as you describe. this is no effort at all even at top speeds for me on a hand made instrument. now, if i had a chinese made instrument then that might be a different story. as far as the finger goes it is too early here to play along with the recording without waking up my roommates. i would assume they are playing it in Gdor, but might they be playing it in Adorian? i must admit i just woke up and might not be thinking or seeing straight, but i didn't see any Bb's being played by any of the players. as an aside, what do you refer to as the A row? all 3 rows have at least 1 A in them!

If the issue is that you could have bought it in Illinois, show them proof of all the handmade concertina companies being located in other states and countries. Challenge them to find a concertina maker or distributor in Illinois.

Only if you plan on making it permanent.

I do mine all "by hand" with adobe creative suite. I believe I use the illustrator program? Anyways it is not cheap but my brother had an extra license so he gave it me. The first one took a few days, but I can make a new scale or layout now in a minute or two. I prefer to give students only the buttons they need for a given scale or key, and I number the buttons and mix blacks and grays to show default and alternate fingerings.