Kathryn Wheeler
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Posts posted by Kathryn Wheeler
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On 3/21/2023 at 10:38 PM, SIMON GABRIELOW said:
That was lovely, and very lyrical ..
It must be that scenery that inspires the music, I think.🌝
Thankyou, I do love a good bit of scenery! -
14 hours ago, Gregor Markič said:
Thank you, Kathryn.
You’re welcome
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7 hours ago, CrP said:Reminded me of some nice atmospheric French accordion café music, too.
Yes, now you mention it I can really hear the French influences. Isn’t it funny that you don’t always notice things like this at the time. It’s possible there’s a classical waltz influence behind that somewhere. But basically it feels good under the fingers!
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That’s what I was thinking of, yes, violinistic. In the sense of “lies under the fingers, feels good to play” sort of way. However the concertina version sounded strange hence having a laugh!
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10 hours ago, Mikefule said:
("Anglican" is already taken.)
Oh I like it, because of the potential humour value!-
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So you do like hot cross buns after all! 😆
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Whilst I can see the use of having tunes that people already know, it would also make a lot of sense to have easy tunes that lie well under the fingers and are concertina- istic (if that’s even a word 😆)
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On 3/18/2023 at 6:36 AM, Jody Kruskal said:
But now I have my smart phone. It makes a great recorder of my latest diddle. I can sing the tune into my phone by reaching across my pillow and touching it. I have done this several times, in the dark, even after my head has hit the pillow.
I agree, the recording app on my phone is an absolute godsend!
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If that's a malady, then I heartily wish you never recover!
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This is a warm and wistful waltz for 20 button anglo.It came about after a walk into the sun through trees on farmland just west of Worcester. I'm not quite sure why it came out like this, but it all got just a teeny bit Sound of Music somehow! I shall probably whirl around in a meadow come the late spring!The first section of this tune uses the melody in the left hand, accompanied in the right. The middle section swaps roles. It feels good to play and just dances along.
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I am reminded that this one has a relentless restless, frustrated energy, letting loose!
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On 1/17/2023 at 1:43 AM, CrP said:
Nice, and twisty indeed. It seems to have a sense of perpetuum mobile to it that moves well. Please do more like this.
Thankyou, I see what you mean.
It’s really interesting and useful to find out how a tune comes across to others!
I can’t always guarantee where my tinkering around will take me, as usually I’m channelling a feeling or playing around with an interesting pattern of buttons or movements! Perhaps I need to get lost and frustrated on trips more to produce more like this one 😆
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I got the bug for anglo concertina by being given a Scholer anglo by a friend who had seen it in a charity shop. It was in Eb/Bb and the arrangement of the notes was the same as a 20button anglo (rather than the one the OP posted) i.e. enough to intrigue me. I even came up with a couple of new tunes on it.
So, yes, they're definitely useful!
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Oh lovely!
Wassail to you! -
There's a fun bit at the end of this one!
This is a bit of a spooky sounding tune. I wrote it after coming back from yet another failed drive around tiny rural lanes to get to Woolhope in Herefordshire*. I think it channels the frustration and turned-about feeling we had! Unusually for me this isn't about harmonies but instead about unexpected bellows directions and ambiguity offered by having two B/C buttons on the instrument (one on the left bottom side, the other on the right top) in different directions and playing around with that. Also a bit of pinky finger twisting in the middle section where things are largely on the lower end of the instrument. Ooh, and in the intro bit.
It's a nice one to play with others because you can just alternate Em and F chords and it works - that has lead to some jazzy stuff! At the end of the video I get a bit syncopated and enjoy myself!
*Now I'm a great navigator usually, but this one beat me (and I am relieved that I'm not alone in finding it hard to find the car-park!) We have been trying to go and walk on the Marcle ridge for a while now, with its gorgeous views east back to the Malvern Hills and views to the west towards Hereford and Wales. Turns out that there was a road signpost that had got turned about! Now, you could say the locals just didn't want any folk from Worcestershire coming over and touristing in their area. But actually the very landscape and underlying geology is well confusing too! Rings of ridges encircle Woolhope, providing a feeling of enclosed protection.
There's a direct route in from the west!
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Thankyou so much! I loved working with that tree and all it’s ivy roots.
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Welcome!
Firstly I’d think about trying rhythmic stabs instead of long slow chords to see if that works. Long slow chords can be good too of course. If you’re a drummer you’ll already be on the case rhythm wise - try playing it like a drum in that sense
Secondly, try just playing a couple of notes from the chord instead of all three. Try playing one of the notes in the right hand to see what that’s like.
Have a play around and try some unexpected notes and see if they sound interesting. (If you want to play around at home instead of a rehearsal, record the song and play over the top of it. Try recording yourself too and see what sounds good
One of the great things about punk related stuff is that you can play around and be expressive and don’t have to be afraid of trying unusual things. Have a play!
For F# why not play just F# and A# together (you could add the F# on the right too)
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Cello has popped up here a few times and I can certainly see why - it’s providing a lovely bassier counterpart to the much higher concertina and also a very different timbre. Good contrast. I’ve only played with a double bass and then as part of a larger group.
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31 minutes ago, David Barnert said:
The dichotomy between fife and drum (military) and pipe and tabor (dance) is a long established one. In Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” Act 2, Scene 3, Benedick says, talking about Claudio:
Thankyou!
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I’m continually delighted at just how good I find the 20 button concertina is as an expressive instrument - not just for expressing joy but also plaintive stuff.
Thus one touches on loss and grief and how it changes you. About how the most wonderful warm memories come to mind but they are now bittersweet, interwoven with sadness.
I've used this amazing tree, which is completely woven over with interlaced ivy roots, but which is cut off at the base.
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On 10/7/2022 at 4:01 PM, Anglo-Irishman said:
Well, considering that the concertina is a very British-Isles thing, this is not really surprising. The ubiquitousness of drumkits in many music genres - jazz, pop, rock, Latin, what have you - tends to obscure the fact that, in a specifically British context, drums are traditionally associated with war and death. Take the Scottish pipes and drums: that's pure military music, aimed at raising the adrenalin level in the troops. And the Irish Lambeg drum is similar in effect. The concertina is more at home in the domestic drawing-room or the convivial pub, where hatred, bloodshed and drums would be foreign bodies!
But, some might object: What about the bodhrán, which is played in convivial pubs along with concertinas and other peaceful instruments like fiddles and flutes? Traditionally, the bodhrán, which came into use in Irish traditional music in the 1960s, as I remember, was a cult instrument, played by small boys ("Wren Boys") in folk ritual processions. So it was never a "weapon" of war!
I quite agree! In my group, we always did our Carolan arrangements with that combination. A guitar and a bowed double bass provided the accompaniment (AKA basso continuo).
Interestingly enough, I played my trusty, 1990s-vintage, metal-ended Stagi Anglo in those days. When I bought a Lachenal Crane, and had learnt the concertina part of Planxty Irwin, I tried it out at a rehearsal. The unanimous decision of the bandmates was, "Take your old concertina - it blends better!"
Cheers,
John
Ooh I find this really interesting and it will explain a reaction I had to a bit of pipe and taboring, which had a long tradition in England of course.
A friend said she really liked the tune on the pipe but the taboring made it sound military - now it’s entirely possible that my taboring was unsubtle and unsuited to the tune (I suspect so! The tune was one Id come up with on the pipe and the taboring was an afterthought instead of being incorporated from the start as it should be. It was a mellow gentle tune that was out of kilter with the taboring).
That said, it’s been played for dance and the taboring was to support the stepping in the dancing. With a good sensitive taborer I’m sure that no one would think of this sort of music sounding military in this context.
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On 10/11/2022 at 1:01 AM, Jim Besser said:
Playing with one of my favorite partners in musical crime. We did many Morris gigs together - Anglo concertina and nyckleharpa.
Great picture! Wish I could hear it!
One of the musicians in our side plays this instrument too and I’ve had a jam with him - yes it does work well!
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Interesting topic to discuss!
We weren’t sure if a piano accordion and 20 button anglo would work but we’re pleasantly surprised how the anglo was a distinct timbre that stood out well. I also didn’t expect that the concertina would do so well at also playing the accompanying role - one of my favourite bits in a piece I play with an accordionist friend is where it is just a moving slow melody on the accordion accompanied by sustained chords with some lovely dissonances on the anglo. Which reminds me, we should record it
In the meantime here’s something I’ve done on the two instruments - the trick I’ve found is to be more sparing with the piano accordion to give more textures and light and shade and more only going full on for effect!
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Lightwood - a new tune for 20 button C/G anglo
in Concertina Videos & Music
Posted
I do like to look at ridges across a foreground of fields