Chris Allert

i'm glad to hear chris droney has a new cd out. the comments about the piano are interesting. his cd "the fertile rock" is one of the few irish music recordings i've heard where i actually enjoy listening to the piano. (i have a whole stack of recordings i never listen to because of the piano/guitar...). i'll definitely get a copy of the new one.

thanks to all those who e-mailed me. i have found a spot. now the waiting is the hardest part. the next few months will seem like years, no doubt.

i would say that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. after trying to play irish music for a little while, i found that when i learned tunes from sheet music, they came out sounding lifeless. on the other hand, i have also found that i tend to exaggerate and over-emphasize a lot of the subtle nuances in tunes that i try to learn from recordings. i would agree that formal training can shape how we will hear the music. there is really quite a lot to hear, and we must filter out most of it to hear anything at all. an audio cd encodes sound waves at 44100 samples per second, and even then, almost everything is being filtered out. so we have to make decisions as to how we will filter things, what we will choose to hear, and what we will chose to ignore. i would take issue with the assertion that traditional musicians understand music more "intuitively" than outsiders. this is a bit like saying non-english-speakers have some kind of mysterious and spiritual way of communicating since i as an english-speaker don't understand how they communicate. i can see clearly that they communicate, but i can't understand the sounds they make, so i conclude that their form of communication is more "intuitive" than my own. but in fact there is something more general than english which is language. the foreigners speak a language much like my own, capable of expressing many of the same thoughts, capable of expressing both more and less than my own language since their language is adapted through the centuries to different people and places than my own. through careful study and experience, i can learn their language, though as a foreigner to them, i will never completely master it, i will never sound quite right, just as they will never sound quite right to me. now to expand on the above example of languages, in addition to the various native languages that people speak, we have the language of science, or more accurately, several different specialized and incompatible languages of different disciplines, the lingo of particle physics, string theory, evolutionary biology, criminal psychology, forensics, statistics, and so on. there are no native speakers of any of these languages. but as people advance in their disciplines, they learn what kind of assertions work and what kinds don't, and those on the inside of any particular discipline will see what a thing of subtlety, beauty, and inspiration an important theory can be. i do not believe that music is language, but i think language is somewhat analagous to what music is, just as western science is analagous to what western music theory is. and "proper english" (or french, not long ago) corresponds in the same way to "classical music". but since most people in the world, i think, distinguish between speaking and making music, i would argue that music and language are two different things that people everywhere do. there is a fundamental difference between the different kinds of folk music around the world and western classical music, and exactly what the difference is is a very complex matter, but the difference is certainly not how intuitive or structured one or the other is. i think in every kind of music, there is a wide range of ability. there are mediocre musicians, completely inept musicians, good musicans, great musicians, and truly inspired geniuses. at the lower end of this spectrum people will try to get by on pure inspiration or pure rule-following. but as you get better, you must have an intimate knowledge of what all the rules are, and the intuition to know when and how to apply them or break them. (the same can be said about any other field of human endeavor as well, especially science) the point i wanted to make, however, is that trying to ignore music theory is kind of like trying to ignore western science or western capitalism. while there are serious problems with both western science and western capitalism, you can't really understand today's world without familiarity with them. a very concrete example of how ignorance of music theory can effect us is in the very instruments we play. you may recall that recently i started a discussion of alternatives to equal temperment. not too long ago, the consensus of the classically trained music world was that equal temperment will be the standard and A will be 440Hz (please forgive me for simplifying the situation a lot). and so most instruments available to us are built this way. and the compromises of equal temperment will effect how the music we play sounds. but if we don't know why playing chords on an instrument sounds so bad, we are at a loss to even know how to improve the situation, and so we may just give up chords and drones altogether. maybe this isn't the best example, but those who are better educated than i can probably think of a similar situation. sorry for the long-winded post.

fort casey is easily accessible by public transportation. it is right next to the keystone ferry terminal, and island transit provides hourly free bus service to it. fort flagler is also bus accessible, and there are plenty of options for accommodation in port townsend if the facility itself can't handle everyone. fort worden isn't as easy to get to without a car since it is a few miles outside of town. (though a bus does go near there a few times a day) i think the weekend before memorial day would be better since there won't be as many people travelling then.

it's a long shot, but i'm wondering if anyone has a spot in suttner's waiting list you'd like to sell to me? please let me know if you are on his waiting list and have an instrument due within the next year. i'm hoping to get an A2 model (31 key metal ended jeffries copy), so if you're waiting for a different instrument, i'm not sure how flexible he is in changing specifications, but we should talk in any case.

a mention of "kensington" concertinas has come up in a few discussions here, but searching google doesn't reveal any more information about them. the only information i can find is that they are made with traditional english-style reeds by an american named dana johnson. perhaps this maker is deliberately keeping a low profile, but i'm pretty sure i'm not the only one who is curious. so does anyone have any more information for all of us here?

has anyone ever seen one of these? http://cgi.ebay.com/Anglo-concertina-48-ke...1QQcmdZViewItem it has wrap-around metal ends with fretwork on the edges. no bids on it yet.

oops, sorry about the ommission. i didn't mean to leave anyone out...

any new developments on this? should we start a web-site for the event or something?

my new tedrow concertina arrived a few days ago. i sent bob the order to start building it on september 19 and he shipped it to me about a week ago today. he said that this is unusual, but he occasionally has partly built instruments in the shop which he is able to finish sooner. my decision to place an order with bob was based partly on the fact that he could deliver a concertina to me sooner than any of the other makers. i contacted just about everybody: frank edgley: 6 months andrew norman: 14 months harold herrington: 9 months marcus music: 2 months geuns-wakker: no response i kind of had my heart set on a new norman, mainly because i used to own one and knew it for a fact to be a very good instrument in this range, but he is scaling back production. my new instrument is bob's "black with brass 2005" model. (sorry, no pictures yet) since it's a brand new instrument, it's still a little difficult to review. i've only played it for about 5 hours so far, and it already seems to be loosening up a little. i had trouble with one of the buttons when it first arrived, probably due to the climate change between the origin and destination, but bob was able to talk me through the adjustment over the phone. the bellows is constructed in kind of an odd way. i'm not sure how it is made, it is very flexible and this part of the instrument doesn't really need to be broken in at all. there seems to be some extra little folds down at the base of the folds, that gives it added flexibility and greater range. the reedpan and action are all one piece, and the reeds are mounted on the bellows-side of the reed-pan with screws. the action is permanently mounted to the other side. while the ends of the buttons are brass, their bases are delrin, which makes them a lot lighter than solid brass buttons would be. the end-plates have felt bushings for each button, and this is what holds them perpendicular to the reed-pan. while the instrument is extremely light-weight, it's very solidly built, and easy to make adjustments to. the only tools you need are a 3/32" hex driver for the screws that hold the action and end-plates, and a precision flat screwdriver for the screws that hold the reeds, and possibly a pair of pliers for bending the levers if buttons need re-aligning. the reeds are still a little slow to respond, but i expect this to improve as i play it. right now the reeds are still to slow for most of the grace-notes, especially the low ones, but i can play the straight tunes quickly enough. the low notes sound a little reedy, but they'll probably mellow out after a few months. in any case, i'm already impressed with what a nice sound bob has been able to get out of these reeds. the buttons and wrist straps are placed absolutely perfectly for me, but since everyone's hands are different, i'm not sure how helpful this comment is. bob said to send the instrument back to him after six months for a free tune-up. he says that each of his instruments needs this much time to settle into their new climate and situation. that's about all there is to report right now. i've got a good feeling about this instrument. it's very lovingly made, and i think anyone else with one of bob's instruments probably would say the same thing.

Or any other instrument for that matter ... unless its a midi concertina... (as long as its not controlling an analog synthesizer) Are they really accurate to three decimal points of a hundredth of a semitone ? (Electronic tuners are normally only accurate to within ± 1 cent.) i would guess not. i probably should have made a few of those faces you're making along with my comment. but i couldn't find the right one.

Or any other instrument for that matter ... unless its a midi concertina... (as long as its not controlling an analog synthesizer)

do you have any plans to include a concertina patch in the built-in synthesizer? that would make this kind of instrument really useful to me. i find that a daily 2-hour practice session helps me the most. any longer is counter-productive. any less and i don't get any better. would it be possible to add more battery life to an instrument like this? maybe something like the emergency gas-tank on old volkswagons would work. when the juice runs down, flip a switch to run off the other battery.

thanks for the comments. i was trying to base this on earlier comments about how pipes are tuned and i'm not really worried about intervals that wouldn't be played together on the regulators in irish music. as you point out, there is no "perfectly just" scale. ironing out some intervals will make other rougher. the scale mentioned earlier gives pure I, IV, and V major and minor triads in the main key. and you're right about my d being more than "a little" below b. here are the values in cents taken from the music theory link i gave earlier (the last column is the difference in cents from equal temperment): unison = 1/1 = 0.000 cents = same as equal temperment minor second = 16/15 = 111.731 = 11.731 sharp major second = 9/8 = 203.910 = 3.910 sharp minor third = 6/5 = 315.641 = 15.641 sharp major third = 5/4 = 386.314 = 13.686 flat perfect fourth = 4/3 = 498.045 = 1.955 flat augmented fourth = 45/32 = 590.224 = 9.756 flat perfect fifth = 3/2 = 701.955 = 1.955 sharp minor sixth =8/5 = 813.686 = 13.686 sharp major sixth = 5/3 = 884.359 = 15.641 flat minor seventh = 9/5 = 1017.596 = 17.596 sharp major seventh = 15/8 = 1088.269 = 11.731 flat so if i'm specifying an Ab/Eb instrument, then, following my earlier post, i might specify that Bb = 480 Hz and that Bb = unison in the above list. of course this is all specified far more accurately than a concertina can be tuned. P. S. in addition to major and minor triads being beat-free, all intervals relative to the drones are also beat-free

here are my ideas for a low tuned concertina: on a lot of willie clancy's recordings, he plays a low set of pipes were d is about 480 Hz. this is a little lower than b (493.8833 hz) on an equal-tempered scale with a = 440 Hz. here are the ratios for a just tempered scale: unison: 1/1 minor second: 16/15 major second: 9/8 minor third: 6/5 major third: 5/4 perfect fourth: 4/3 augmented fourth: 45/32 perfect fifth: 3/2 minor sixth: 8/5 major sixth: 5/3 minor seventh: 16/9 major seventh: 15/8 with d=480, this translates to the following values in Hz D: 480 Eb: 512 E: 540 F: 576 F#: 600 G: 640 G#:675 A: 720 Bb: 768 B: 800 C: 853 + 1/3 C#: 900 i think the augmented fourth for the G# is a better choice than the diminished fifth (64/45) since tunes in A will work better with it. my idea for a low-tuned concertina is the basic c/g layout with the above values for each of the notes. so in this system, middle c is 426 2/3 Hz. I guess this would actually be an A/E instrument with a wierd tuning, but it seems less confusing to think of it as C/G.

well, after all this i'm going with equal temperment for now since i'm not really sure what i want yet. i haven't played since early 2002 since i don't have an instrument. (if anyone sees suttner #128 around, let me know. it's probably in ireland somewhere.) bob tedrow will be done building me a new instrument any day now. it will take me a while to get my repertoire back so i don't think i'll be playing chords for a while. when i get a couple more nickels to rub together, i may get a low tuned instrument (Ab/Eb or so) and have it tuned with a traditional piping scale on D (or Bb since it's low). i really like the low-tuned pipes that willie clancy plays on his recordings and it would be nice to have an instrument tuned to match them.

for people who may not know what we're talking about in this discussion, i just found a very good introduction to the topic of temperments here: http://www.dolmetsch.com/musictheory27.htm

on the concertina.net links page there is a link to something about wheatstone's harmonic diagram here: http://www.ghg.net/bdwright/CW/Harmonic.html but this link no longer works. does anyone know where this page may have moved to?

at last so paul, what do you do about the other notes? do you just leave them in equal temperment? there are a few tunes that use the g#. also, the chanter is fully chromatic, isn't it? is there a standard for how the rest of the notes are tuned?

ok thanks for the links. but i'm still a little confused. how exactly were concertinas tuned back in the 19th century? was werkmeister iii most common? or was 1/4 comma mean-tone used more? (and does anyone know how uilleann pipes are traditionally tuned?)

since i play irish music, i've been thinking of having my next instrument tuned in a just intonation system instead of equal tempered. has anyone else tried different tuning systems for a c/g anglo which you play mostly in g, d, and a? i would think the most logical approach would be to have all the notes on the concertina tuned relative to d, which would make g, d, and a all sound about right. one thing i'd like to do is play more "piping chords", that is chords that simulate the regulators on uilleann pipes, and these kinds of chords sound a lot better, in my opinion, when they have the beating tuned out of them. what have people here tried and what did you think of the results?

hey roy, will the built-in midi expander include a concertina patch? and will there be an easy way to add patches to the built-in expander? also, will you be offerring compeleted instruments or will you only be retrofitting existing instruments? one thing i would find useful would be an electronic concertina with built-in speakers. it would be interesting to hear the thoughts of makers such as morse, edgley, tedrow, herrington, marcus, and norman on how easily they could build electronic instruments. not having to deal with the reeds and tuning seems like it could save a lot of labor, but they still need to build the action, bellows, and ends. what percentage of labor is building the reedpan and installing and tuning the reeds? and what percentage of materials are the reedpan and reeds? the concertinaconnection.com midi anglo is listed at 2200 euro, while their italian-reeded geuns-wakker anglo is 1800 euro, which i find surprising as i would have expected the concertina with reeds to be more expensive.

thanks larry, the edirol looks pretty cool. i think i'll probably get one if they upgrade the firmware with more pitch and time shifting options. has anyone tried the superscope ps340? http://www.superscopetechnologies.com/prod...340/index.shtml too bad they don't make a flash card based version.

i used to own a marantz pmd 221 cassette recorder. it made really great recordings with the internal mic, and was really handy for picking up tunes by ear since you could slow it to half speed. does anyone know of any portable digital devices with similar capabilities? i'm looking for something that can * transpose keys * change tempo * let you fast-forward and rewind in small increments like a cassette deck (to more easily pick out phrases and ornaments) * does not have any drm restrictions on live recorded material one option, of course, is to just take a laptop with me everywhere and use software for all the features i want, but this isn't really ideal. there must be something like an ipod for musicians, but i can't seem to find it. sorry if this topic has already been covered, if so, someone please point me to the right place.

i wonder who will record the album "switched on reels". but seriously i've been wondering about a few things: has anyone developed a convincing concertina patch? i'm not sure this would be very valuable for performance, but it might be nice to have a way to practice without disturbing neighbors drawn notes have a different sound from pressed notes. do any midi concertinas take this into account? (perhaps by using a different midi channel for each bellows direction?)