JimmyG

Reminds me of my favourite saxophone ensemble, the Nuclear Whales!

Hi Inky - hope you find something that fits your needs! I've a second-hand Swan here (UK) in good nick I'd be happy to part with, however I don't know the extent of any import fees for a private sale. Good luck, and feel free to shoot me a private message for more details if you're after one. It's a decent box for the money.

Go mental; try perspex!!

It would be great, if it's so airtight that the change in pressure caused it to pop!

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Graham is correct. The third of chord 3 is usually augmented which provides the relative V for chord vi, but don't know for sure in this case.

Ja Ja Ding Dong next please 🙏

Thank you for this absolute gift Gary

Tuning? 🤔

No, it's not. But if anyone can make it one it's got to be you Simon. You were one of my concertina 'gateway drugs'!

As a trained pianist and teacher, but admittedly amateur concertina player, the ergonomics of this don't make any sense to me at all. To use a piano layout effectively, two of the most most important things for fluid playing are the ability to 'tuck' the thumb under and to have freedom of wrist position. Neither of these are possible on a concertina with this layout. Perhaps this is why they never really took off, I suggest. Maybe they existed as a novel idea, so that those with a knowledge of being able to play a keyboard instrument were able to play rudimentary tunes. I'm open to disagreement and discussion!

If you'd like to just test out what the proper software can do, I'd be totally happy to just take a random page, and shove it in to the program. See what you think. I genuinely think photoscore is pretty darn fantastic for what it is. Unless it's been written by someone with a neurological condition, or the scan quality is so poor that the ledger lines can't be seen, I bet it can transcribe it fairly well for you. Alongside the supervision and intervention of a trained musician. If successful, let me know and I can do the lot for you. God knows I need more to do in this current climate.

Hi Tim, I've waited to see if anyone with more knowledge would reply but they haven't, yet. I have no idea how the usual tooling on bellows leather is done, or where they get their patterns or dies from. If you want a 'Jeffries' or similar style print embossed into your bellows leather I have no idea how to do that. Others might decide to throw more light on that. However... I do know that high-end bookbinders apply gold tooling to leather retroactively all the time. Often by hand. With proper care, I don't know any reason the local heat applied would cause any issues. If you want something beautiful and unique embossed in gold to add a bit of flair, there are definitely people who can do it for you. One person that comes straight to mind is Paul Delrue in Ruthin (Wales). I don't even know if you are in the UK. If you are, and are interested, DM me and I will put you in touch with him. He's a bit long in the tooth these days (he won't mind me saying) but is an artistic genius and craftsman. I'd be surprised if he didn't revel in the opportunity to do something a bit different.. Cheers

Thanks for the clarification Jim. I'm sorry. I hope I didn't aggravate or annoy you, my intentions were merely out of curiosity. I certainly don't condone 'cancelling Shakespeare'!! 😅 I live just down the road from his old gaff (that means house here), and whilst I haven't come across his use of that word I am quite the fan. However, we don't live 500 years ago, we live now. You're not quite 500 years old are you, Jim? Words and their use can change in their meaning, and we choose them at our own peril whilst understanding how others may perceive us. Older I'd agree with. Widespread? No chance! Maybe it is in the U.S? Then again, I grew up in England. I appreciate the colloquialisms and vernacular I inherited is not going to reflect the rest of the english-speaking world. Perhaps if I was in the business of computer programming I would be more used to the casual use of the word. I do think the general understanding of that word is very different in all parts of the UK, than how you describe it. It is certainly widespread, and not limited to certain areas of London, or even England itself. I'm sort of surprised that it came into use as 'recently' as the 1970's, only 20 years before I was born. I've heard it plenty. I know if I mentioned around here I was going to a 'nonce meeting' I'd get funny looks at best, and a punch in the face at worst! All the best 😄

I don't know how to bring this up in a tactful / sensitive way way, but is it only in the UK that there are unfortunate implications to the word nonce?

The main man himself may well be along to comment! If you've got 'that' excellent book, then look for clues in the first few pages on how to decode the number system etc. It's pretty straightforward once you're used to it.

are you sure?

I worked on cataloguing / digitising a huge library of hand written scores and arrangements. The answer is with extremely variable results, from spot on to absolute garbage. Photoscore gets it pretty well most of the time. It depends somewhat on how consistent and neat the writing is. Autograph scores from (most of) the great composers would have no chance, for example. They always need some tweaking, especially when there are multiple voices on one stave. If it gets the bare bones down, it can save some time. It's still often quicker to just cut the middle man and input it yourself. Now with the dawning of the age of machine-learning and AI, I bet there are ways to make much more sophisticated and intelligent software.

It is possible to use something like photoscore to scan a pdf and turn it into midi. Unfortunately, the results of this can vary wildly.. you may end up learning nonsense instead of the real tune. A program like Sibelius talks to photoscore. It will plot the notes out on a virtual stave. If you'd like to listen to the score, then Sibelius will play it for you, at any speed you like. It saves these scores as .sib files. In this case you can skip the ABC step all together. The .sib files can be exported to midi, then ABC if that's how you like to store them. Scanning quirks apply where sometimes it'll miss a few notes, or be totally off, but photoscore is usually pretty good with clearly printed music and you can cross check it in Sibelius. Sibelius isn't free, but I think a basic version of photoscore is. I would never promote piracy, but you might be able to find an ancient version of Sibelius knocking around somewhere which will do the job. As for iPhones and tablets, I have absolutely no idea what apps are on the market these days. There's likely to be something I haven't heard of. It might be worth having a crack at learning to read the classic notation anyway, even if you don't play from it. It's definitely no harder than learning to play the concertina.

I dunno whether it's dodgy or not, but the seller is called conmanbillsie 😅

I agree with Pentaprism's thoughts here, and don't have much more to add really! The lack of proper bushings is a shame. I've seen some (newer??) Swans taken to bits which seem to now have the bushing board, as before minus felt, now screwed down between the action. This seems like a better idea. Probably due to similar complaints. I eventually upgraded to a vintage instrument, but kept the swan. Partly because I want to experiment and tinker with it, but partly because it's actually not too bad. It's loud and fast, just unrefined and a bit unwieldy. It got me bitten on the bug, though. No way would I have spent over £1000 on something I didn't know for sure I'd love, but I'm a poor musician. I think you can do a lot worse for the money. Plus I'll be able to take it camping without having kittens. Maybe, maybe not. You might find a reasonable bargain if you keep your eye on this forum long enough. This was what I was getting at, really. It's a dip-your-toes instrument. If you get it out every now and again to have a go, it might fit the bill. It got me to the point of playing well enough to know what I wanted in an instrument. If it's going to be a serious pursuit, continue doing research as you are, and read some of the brilliant advice, discussions, and arguments in this forum. All the best!

I think the 'Akkordoline' looks amazing!! Take a look at the rotating transposition feature.

You are such a fantastic and knowledgeable bunch. A collection of extremely helpful and brilliant replies for John (excluding my own, which I admit doesn't offer much). I especially enjoyed the pointers in regards to playing around with and forming a style. I think you'll be hard pressed to find many musos who disagree that variation is key; more fun to play, more fun to listen to. I don't think anything should be off the table. Through listening, imitation and experimentation, we learn. I am speaking in general capacity as a musician, not an expert in concertina technique. I still maintain, unless your activity at some point becomes commercial, don't stress about it. Outside of commercial activity, reproducing (for example photocopying) sheet music can be illegal, and distributing it is just plain wrong. I've never heard of anyone get into trouble for it, however. It doesn't make it any less an awful thing to do, nor less illegal. As others have mentioned, it'll be tough for any good player to match something so exactly (why would we want to?) as to demonstrably breach someone's copyright. So, it comes down to a matter of general respect and decency, and the intent behind it. It is always good practice to give a nod to any sources of material or inspiration. Especially if you pop a video or recording in the public domain, on YouTube or similar. What do you mean by this, Mike? If I record myself whistling the tune to a Stevie Wonder song, will I have to worry about that file if I share it with someone? I think we both know the answer is no. Then again, I wouldn't try to sell it. Who would buy that? Does anyone have any experience/stories of this being an issue outside something 'monetised'? Otherwise countless amateur musicians would've run into hot water now, performing covers, and sometimes straight up commercially available transcriptions. Jimmy

Hiya, Unless you are reproducing sheet music, selling tunes/arrangements, or making a commercial recording, I wouldn't worry about it. [Edit] However, it is always good etiquette to acknowledge your sources. Jimmy