Kathryn Wheeler

They also use sticks sometimes!

Yes I agree - I took up dancing a few years back after being a musician for years and now I aim to play the music just as it feels to dance it. Watching the dancers closely and how the feet fall, the rhythm of the stepping and the atmosphere of it all. Mind you I’m mostly dancing these days rather than playing for dancing! It’s also given me an appreciation for what tunes feel like they’re suited well to the steps and structure and what doesn’t - and also things like if and how things are swung, rhythm wise.

Thankyou very much!

This one whirls and swirls along, but then gets a bit ominous in the second half. A bit like the river Severn! Sometimes you can be having a pleasant stroll along the meadows, thinking about your next pint, but at others it's a real force of nature. It might sound a bit French in name and style. It's inspired by the memory of my friend Mike Kerslake who played hurdy gurdy, who lived at Bevere in north Worcester, a stone's throw from the river. The word Bevere, however, doesn't sound half as refined as it looks! - it rhymes with "every" and is related to beavers!

I do like to look at ridges across a foreground of fields

Thankyou, I do love a good bit of scenery!

You’re welcome

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!

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!

Oh I like it, because of the potential humour value!

So you do like hot cross buns after all! 😆

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 😆)

I agree, the recording app on my phone is an absolute godsend!

If that's a malady, then I heartily wish you never recover!

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.

I am reminded that this one has a relentless restless, frustrated energy, letting loose! https://youtu.be/lpiDeZRWIMs

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 😆

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!

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!

Thankyou so much! I loved working with that tree and all it’s ivy roots.

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)

Thank you!

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.

Thankyou!