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marimo-maiden

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  • Interests
    romantic waltzes, Disney tunes, jaunty melodies
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    New England

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  1. Just thought I'd share what I doodled the other day~ Hope everyone reading this is doing well. 🌹 I've been in a sort of art block for a long time, so it's nice to just draw simple things I like: Richard Scarry inspired cats and concertina. I wasn't paying any attention to accuracy on the instrument though, haha. You're going to have to pretend that "cat concertinas" have odd button arrangements accounting for their paws. And if you're curious, it started as a graphite pencil drawing, which I took a picture of with my phone and colored it in Clip Studio Paint. I fell into the old bad habit from school of drawing on lined paper; I did my best to minimize that in post too. (Also, please don't use this image without asking me first. Thank you!)
  2. ah, awesome! It's such a memorable melody, isn't it? I was just thinking about trying to learn this one myself. Your arrangement will help me a lot, if you don't mind me learning from your playing.
  3. Ah wow, this news is pretty sad to hear. As a local-ish, new-ish player, I'm glad I got the chance to visit last September and again in November. I'd never met anyone else involved with the concertina in my life, so going there was the first and only chance I've gotten to connect with the world of squeezeboxes and their players (outside of reading these forums). It was amazing to walk into the showroom and ogle all the instruments. The folks I met (Michael and Judy, I believe?) were super welcoming and patient. I bought my first 'legit' concertina there, and was glad to go back again in November to buy more sheet music instead of ordering it somewhere online. I was hoping I’d get to make many more visits like that! I'm certainly happy for Doug Creighton as he takes steps toward retirement, that’s a wonderful thing. I can’t help but feel sad that the BB’s torch won’t be passed on (besides through its lasting legacy of course), but surely business is complicated; I’d be way out of my depth to speculate the why’s or what-if’s. Either way, it always a bit of a blue day when a small business like the BB closes. u_u, Though relatively I only just came to know of The Button Box, it's already hard to say farewell to what seemed like a beloved, honest, one-of-a-kind resource (and piece of concertina history!). I hope that maybe I can visit for a third and final time in February before it closes. I will definitely be seeking any concertina servicing that I'll need from the Button Box Repair Shop folks in the future! Congratulations Doug on the new changes, we’re wishing you all the best! 💐
  4. Haha, I like to think about this kind of thing sometimes too - like how it's said that many dogs seem like their owners, whether by coincidence, or perhaps dogs adapt to their human's lifestyle. When it comes to visual art, I can confirm that the fellow illustrators I've known seem to reveal a LOT about their world outlook in every detail of their process and art style (if they intend it or not). I suppose on a literal level, it's probably true that different instruments attract the type of personality that is able to accept that instrument's specific limitations and value its strengths. Given, of course, that the player gets to choose their own instrument, instead of it being chosen for them, as is often the case with a kids' first instrument. Speaking for myself, I had to take piano lessons from most of my childhood and briefly dabbled in guitar and ukulele, but concertina is the instrument that has resonated with me the most by far. Some of my favorite things about it are that its sound has an unmistakeable character which suits a few particular genres, the limited set of keys keeps arrangements/chords simple, and my hands are literally strapped into place which I think helps my muscle memory develop faster than when I was losing my hands up and down an 88 key piano. (If you couldn't guess, piano is NOT for me.) So, do any of those things mirror something about me? Well, admittedly I have sometimes been known to 'march to the beat of my own drummer' amongst peers, so perhaps a less common instrument with a unique sound suits me. I'd also say that I'm someone who could be perfectly content with a simple life, finding new fun within the familiar and not feeling any particular need to, say, beat a marathon world record or climb up a corporate ladder. So maybe that can be described in my satisfaction with the limited range of an Anglo concertina..? On a more abstract level, perhaps my concertina and I are similar in that we both like to wear a homey "vintage" style with neutral colors. 🤷‍♀️ I'm curious to hear anyone else's thoughts about their connection with their instrument of choice ☺️
  5. @Don Taylor Thank you for all the great info! That's unfortunate about the new Stagi brand - hopefully they become aware of their recent service reputation and try to improve it. The tip about the Button Box is helpful. I had seen their website and noticed that they had the Stagi used for $695 (not out of my financial realm but it's up there), but I didn't know about all the work that they do on it between getting it and selling it. If it could improve some of the action issue you mentioned, that would make buying it from them more tempting. I was considering the Rochelle a while ago, the price point is ideal of course, but I've seen a few comments that it is large and hard to play for someone who has smaller hands like me. That's the only major problem I've heard about it so far though, so I wonder if I could find a way to get used to it. (but you may be right that it isn't as pretty haha!) It can be tough to decide on a budget, I'm still figuring it out as I browse. If I'm really, really sure about a concertina, I could dip deeper into the savings, but since I'm still a beginner, I'm not sure if it's the wisest thing to spend my money on right now. That said, I play my cheap one every day and every day I think about how nice it would be to have a smoothly working, good sounding, 30 button one :'D It could be better to have patience and invest in a really good quality one instead of buying a cheaper, less durable one right away.. But on the other hand, what if it turns out that I don't end up sticking with concertina after a few years and I regret spending so much.. AAGH! Decisions! 🤯 I guess it's probably best to take my time to think a lot about it first though. Thanks again for your help!
  6. Hello, I'm looking for information/experience with certain make of concertina. I'm looking at this website: https://www.fabbricaconcertine.com/eng/catalogs-concertine.html I'm interested in finding out more about the W-15 LN model listed under Diatonic Concertine with 30 Keys. I think they may be known as the Stagi W-15 LN. It looks like they are made to order, but they don't list any price estimates. Does anyone know how much one might expect to pay for this model new, from this seller? (Sorry that I'm not yet very familiar with the brand's history, maker, etc.) Context if you're curious: I'm relatively new to concertina, and hoping to upgrade from a cheap 20b Amazon one that is pretty flimsy and shrill to a nicer one that will last, if I can manage it with my budget. So far I like to play harmonic music, and I'm trying to find a 30b Anglo C/G concertina. I'm willing to buy used, but for now I need to decide what make of concertina would best suit my criteria.
  7. @Breve I can read music and have Muse Score application, but I didn't know much about the online site. I'll definitely keep it in mind next time I'm looking for sheet music. Thanks for messaging! @arkwright I was mostly looking for videos of someone playing it on any concertina (just to hear how someone else might play it), but I thought I'd ask about sheet music too just in case. By that, I think I mean concertina tablature. I can read basic music, but for concertina I'm not yet able to play just from music without concertina notation on top of the staff. I can find plain sheet music for Moonlight Densetsu elsewhere, but I was hoping to specifically find concertina tablature for either the melody or the melody and harmony. But you're not thinking of transposing it, are you?! If that's what you mean, I should admit that I might not actually even be able to play it: I have a 20 button Anglo C/G (diatonic), so I don't know if it would sound complete without many accidentals. I'm thinking of getting a 30 button Anglo C/G (diatonic) in the coming year though. Anyway, it's really nice of you to consider but if it's not something you would enjoy playing yourself, don't go out of your way since I know it can be tedious to write out tab. Thank you though!! P.S. I regret that I couldn't be more specific, I'm new to the instrument as well as the terminology so sorry if I'm using any terms incorrectly or stating the obvious.
  8. Hi, I was wondering if anyone knows of any cover videos or written scores of "Moonlight Densetsu"/"Moonlight Legend", the main theme from Sailor Moon, on any kind of concertina. In Japanese it's "ムーンライト伝説" (according to Wikipedia). It might also just be known as the Sailor Moon theme, or the Sailor Moon star locket song. I've tried googling in both English and Japanese, but I can't find anything. I was wondering if maybe someone from a Japanese concertina community might know of any videos or sheet music. I've also found accordion covers of it on youtube, but I was hoping to find one on concertina just because I'm curious. It's not very important, but I'd be grateful to anyone who can help. Thanks!
  9. @gcoover :0 Oh so that's how it's supposed to be done? That makes sense, then it'll be a lot less crowded between the staffs when I get to the left hand. I'll try it that way once I can figure out how to on Musescore. Thank you for the example! Anyhow, I can't take credit for inventing this notation system, since I was trying to mimic the way it's marked in one of the books I have. This one is "Mel Bay's Deluxe Concertina Book By Frank J. Converse". I attached a pic of the cover and a sample from inside. I don’t know if that’s the origin of that notation system or why they did it that way. Perhaps to be simple for beginners to reading sheet music? The other book I have is totally different from both of those systems too, because it marks "D" for draw and "P" for push over each note. It's not the most elegant, since D's and P's kinda look similar when reading quickly. If you're wondering, that book is called "the Best Concertina method-yet! by Bob Kail" distributed by Hal Leonard (it's got a guy riding a crocodile on it).
  10. Hi all! I'm a concertina beginner with a 20 button C/G anglo concertina. I can't sight read from regular, non-concertina sheet music (yet), and I really enjoy learning songs from the two concertina sheet music books I have. I'm starting to run out of songs that I like to play in them, so I figured I'd try to make some basic sheet music for myself. I can figure out simple melodies by fiddling around just fine, but when it comes to inventing chords, I find it hard to memorize them without sheet music to help me learn. For arranging, I downloaded Musescore and I'm getting hang of the program. I'm beginning with Alice in Wonderland (the main theme from the 1951 film). So far I just put in the basic melody, but next I want to figure out some left hand accompaniment. I thought if there's any other beginners that maybe just the melody would be helpful to them. Open the PDF (alice4concertina.pdf) if you just want the sheet music. I've also included the Midi file (alicemidi.mid) should you want it. Please let me know if you have any thoughts on it or recommendations! Hopefully I will have a more fleshed out version of it ready to post soon. alice4concertina.pdf alicemidi.mid
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