Kathryn Wheeler

Like the drone button you sometimes get eg C in both directions?

I thought I’d update this thread with the videos I’ve been doing, so they are in one place:

I’m trying a 30button at the moment - a very recent thing) (as well as continuing with my 20) and find that it opens up new doors of possibilities and choices. So I can imagine having even more buttons does the same! (Goodness, just having a button with G on the pull and A on the push, is a lush and amazing thing. That’s what I am enjoying right now! Such gorgeous dissonance possibilities as well as providing smoothness if needed).

The more I play anglo, the more I’m finding what an incredibly expressive instrument it is. Obviously it naturally lends itself so very well to movement and danceability in a tune, but I’m also realising just how well it can lend itself to other moods. Id love to hear any examples you might have of anything sounding sad, soulful or wistful and what ways/techniques you might personally convey that using that. Here’s an example of what I’m trying at the moment: I’m also trying something new for me here in that this is largely unadorned melody (and only sparsely harmonised in the second half) whereas before I’d be trying everything in my “box of tricks of accompaniment” it seems!

It depends on what you are intending with a piece I think - melody unadorned can be a powerful and effective thing. For the whole performance or for part of it when used for effect.

Thanks for that! Yes, sometimes things can look quite busy when it’s all going on in both hands and more and more over time (especially when things are in G major) a melody will cross between hands whilst the accompaniment moves around it. I’ll have a play around and get more tunes written up from their pencil scribblings The only problem is that it’s even more enticing to play around on a concertina (ooh I am sorry, I realise that we are commenting on Maarten’s thread about his own tunes on English concertina and have veered away from that!)

Thankyou! Right! It’ll be a useful exercise to write it down. I am now wondering what might be the best and clearest concertina notation style to use. Especially because there is a lot going on in both hands at the same time and it varies a lot, so some of the left hand tab I’ve seen wouldn’t work. I need something that indicates pitch and rhythm and duration! I might start a discussion thread

Fascinating- I’d always pronounced the ch as in German pronounciation!

Just before the New Year arrives, here's this odd little piece for this singular time of year! A no- man's land, liminal zone between Christmas and New Year that in the past would have been one of the twelve days of Christmas, each with it's own brand of festivity or activity, culminating in a big cake on the 6th! And what’s more, it was completely foggy outside! I picked up the concertina for the first time in a few days after all the Christmas preparations were finally over, just to see what came out of it. I'm not quite sure what genre you might call it! But there's a good dollop of 7/8 So, a peaceful and healthy new year to you and I wish you much merry concertina-ing in 2022!

Hi Maarten! sorry for the delay in getting back to you I haven’t made them into a book yet - I hadn’t decided if that was the best way forward or whether to make sheet music available for individual tunes instead. I wasn’t sure there’s be any interest!

I don’t play English concertina but I do really understand coming up with new pieces for concertina as a way of exploring the instrument, because that’s exactly what I’ve been doing with my 20b anglo!

That’s wonderful! Thankyou so much!

My goal is mainly to put down what my final arrangements for a tune were so if I forget I can remember what I did 😛

Thankyou, happy to contribute in some way to the discussion. I’m interested to see the various ways music for the anglo (especially harmonic) can be notated clearly

I forgot to mention (and this might be obvious) - when I notate harmonic stuff on one stave, left hand has stems facing downwards, right hand upwards. And of course the left hand fingerings go underneath. I can imagine a few downsides of this approach. Whilst it has all the information there (I think!), it could look daunting to some. I am used to reading music (not for concertina I might add - I've learnt that myself through mostly coming up with new tunes and playing by ear. But I come from a background of both playing sheet music on other instruments and playing by ear/improv/coming up with tunes)

Yes, of course Here's an example https://ko-fi.com/post/Sheet-music-available-for-anglo-concertina-N4N63CUNU I have to allow more space for the staves when there's a lot going on in right and left hand, I noticed. In this example everything has fingerings in, I think, so as you can imagine when there's a lot happening, it can get busy. Also, this music is for 20 button. With a 30 more notes go lower, and I can't be having with lots of leger lines! So, I do like the idea of having bass and treble clef/two staves for that. I'm still really new to notating this music (neatly) - most of what I have done is written out in pencil on manuscript and probably in no kind of sensible order! So, I need more excuses to write out my tunes and arrangements neatly like this - or just get on with it as it'd be handy and nice to have them all neatly done (I use Musescore which is freely available. Took a while to get used to how to add fingering numbers and lines to indicate "on the pull". There are probably all sorts of advantages and disadvantages to different notation methods. However, I must say as a player that loves harmonic stuff, that just having numbers underneath a stave and only the "melody" notated is insufficient - I like way more information about note duration/articulation really!

I do a lot of harmonic stuff where there can be a variety of different accompaniment styles going on within a piece. As a result it’s important for me to show exactly what’s going on in both hands. So I do something very like the first examples - both hands shown on the stave (on the same stave so far, although I can agree it can occasionally look busy or overwhelming). The difference is I use the same way of indicating bellows direction (and any fingering necessary - I don’t indicate everything) as Gary Coover

Oh that’s perfect, thank you - just the sort of image I had in my head (except of course I have only got the English countryside to illustrate it rather than what’s in my head!) What sorts of things did he like to play?

I love how an anglo concertina can remind you of a harmonica (not surprisingly I guess!) This one reminds me of old westerns/cowboy movies, where someone is looking out on a vast landscape with long horizons - playing their harmonica! - maybe with a good dash of Copeland - and then ambling off on their horse (complete with horse clip-clopping music..you know the sort I mean?) It's funny because this new tune is actually based on Scottish folklore (maybe not so funny when you consider how influential Scottish music has been on the American sound). Not only Scottish folklore and American overtones, but also a poem recited with hints of an Australian accent and set against the English landscape of Worcestershire