Cheshire Chris

Thanks, Peter. I already have both of those. I'm finding it relatively easy to pick up, coming from the English concertina. There are many similarities in playing techniques. Chris

I’ve now bought a lovely wooden-ended 55-button 1932 Wheatstone Crane 🙂, so mission accomplished! Thanks, Chris

I've recently scanned the "Simplicity Tutor for the English Concertina", originally published by Hawkes of London (which dates it prior to 1930, when Boosey and Hawkes merged). There is a scan already elsewhere on this site, but this appears to be a later edition, with an expanded selection of tunes at the end. It can be downloaded from: Simplicity Tutor for the English Concertina Thanks to Terry Evans for lending me the book to scan. Apologies for truncating the title of the tune at the top of page 31; the missing title is "Come Back to Erin".

Cheers, Peter. No Cranes on Chris's site at the moment, which is why I thought it worth asking here 🙂. Chris

Anyone have (or know of) a Crane duet in decent condition for sale at the moment? Ideally Lachenal or Wheatstone, 48 or 55 buttons. Preferably in the UK. Thanks, Chris

Thanks, Kathryn. I play the melodeon already, so "um pah" accompaniments are something that's very familiar to me. On the melodeon you have separate bass keys for the purpose. Have to work out how best to fit them in with the melody on the Anglo. Presumably you use the low-octave of whatever key you're playing in? Chris

Developing the mental flexibility to play across the rows is the challenge I’m facing at the moment, Mike. I can confidently play along both the C and G rows, but I’ve not yet reached the point at which I know when it’s best to cross the rows. I’ll get there! Chris Sherburn’s book which I’m learning from is giving me lots of practice at it. Chris

Thanks, Mike, that's great information. I play the piano, so I'm quite accustomed to doing different things with each hand (plus, of course, I know the chords), so in theory that should be a big help. I'll try the simple exercises you suggest and see how it goes. Thanks again for your extremely helpful response. Chris

Thank you! Good advice. Chris

I've been playing the Anglo concertina for a few months now, using Chris Sherburn and Dave Mallinson's excellent "Anglo Concertina Complete Beginners" tutor book. I started with a Stagi concertina and have recently bought a lovely 1920s Lachenal Anglo from Chris Algar at Barleycorn. I can now play some really nice tunes from this book quite competently, but the book only teaches you to play in the single-note melody style. Obviously it's essential to learn to do that, but I feel that now I'd like to learn to "jazz up" my playing and perhaps move towards more of a "melody on the right hand and extra notes and chords on the left" style, which I believe is often called a "harmonic" style of playing? I've bought Gary Coover's "Anglo Concertina in the Harmonic Style" book. Would this be a good book to use to learn to make my playing a little more sophisticated? All advice would be very welcome, Thanks, Chris

Looks lovely, Maarten! The Edeophone is a beautiful instrument. Hope it brings you much pleasure. Chris

Great! Thank you very much. Chris

Are there any further workshops planned? I'm sorry to have missed this one. Chris

How long do you find a course takes? I realise that will depend on how much you practice, but on average? I was wondering if the 6 month subscription was worth signing up for, or the month-by-month would be more practical. Thanks, Chris