John Wild

This is a set of 3 tunes for all instruments. The chords are those generated by the program ABC Explorer. They were called "First practice set" by my music teacher who put together a set of tunes that everyone could play together. 1st practice set.pdf

Check out Ringing Strings. Published by The Shetland Times Ltd, Prince Alfred street, Lerwick, on behlf of Shetland's Young Heritage. ISBN 0 900662 40 9

My hard copy is orange but not as bright as this appears.

Kettle Bridge Clogs and Kettle Bridge Concertinas are based in Kent, South East England. The Clogs dance side have been going since 1984, but sadly this is the final year. Older members have been retiring and despite lots of effort, there is a lack of younger dancers coming in to carry on the tradition. "Kettle" is a medieval form of cattle, and the name refers to an actual bridge, now a footbridge only.

http://www.concertina.info/tina.faq/images/finger6.htm This is a link to a chart for a standard 48-button treble. The tenor treble has one extra button at the lower end of each row. On the left, across the 4 rows, these would be D#, D, F, F# On the right, across the 4 rows, these would be C#, C, E, Eb

I heard a fiddle player who was one of a duo giving a concert performance at a folk festival last year. While it was technically brilliant, I came away feeling I could have been listening to a robot. The bouzouki player accompanying him only ever strummed chords. I am sure he could have done much more.

The dancer & musician seem attuned to each other (I'm unsure if my choice of words convey what I mean). The music sessions I was thinking of are just that - music sessions with no dancers to take account of.

I am reminded of "Irish music sessions" which I encounter at festivals in England. There seems to be a philosophy that ultra fast is the right way to do it. Some one once described it as "wall-to-wall notes". I feel they often have no feel for the melody. I am sure that Irish musicians in Ireland play it all much better. There is nothing wrong in principle with playing something fast if it is appropriate to the type of tune, but my brain switches off if there is nothing else.

http://www.lesession.co.uk/abc/abc_notation.htm this is a link to part one of an ABC tutorial. It has links to lead you on to parts 2 and 3. If you master all 3 parts you will be ahead of most people. Regards, John Wild.

MP3 files can be converted to WAV files, or vice versa. WAV is the format needed for CD's. If you burn MP3 files on to a disc, it will not play in a CD player, but it WILL work if played in a DVD player.

Do the boxers have to punch in time to the music? 😆

I have downloaded this from Musescore. It may not be the complete piece. Modern_Times-Charlie Chaplin.pdf

Definitely worth listening to. Thank you for sharing it.

A posting in a discussion thread in the concertina history forum produced a quote from 'Three Men in a boat'. This set me thinking of other books which contain literary references to the concertina. I have three to start with. firstly I repeat the quote from 'Three Men in a boat', originally posted (I think) by Chris Timson:- From Three Men In A Boat, by Jerome K Jerome:- I still went on pulling, however, and still no lock came in sight, and the river grew more and more gloomy and mysterious under the gathering shadows of night, and things seemed to be getting weird and uncanny. I thought of hobgoblins and banshees, and will-o'-the-wisps, and those wicked girls who sit up all night on rocks, and lure people into whirl-pools and things; and I wished I had been a better man, and knew more hymns; and in the middle of these reflections I heard the blessed strains of "He's got `em on," played, badly, on a concertina, and knew that we were saved. I do not admire the tones of a concertina, as a rule; but, oh! how beautiful the music seemed to us both then - far, far more beautiful than the voice of Orpheus or the lute of Apollo, or anything of that sort could have sounded. Heavenly melody, in our then state of mind, would only have still further harrowed us. A soul-moving harmony, correctly performed, we should have taken as a spirit-warning, and have given up all hope. But about the strains of "He's got `em on," jerked spasmodically, and with involuntary variations, out of a wheezy accordion, there was something singularly human and reassuring. The sweet sounds drew nearer, and soon the boat from which they were worked lay alongside us. It contained a party of provincial `Arrys and `Arriets, out for a moonlight sail. (There was not any moon, but that was not their fault.) I never saw more attractive, lovable people in all my life. I hailed them, and asked if they could tell me the way to Wallingford lock; and I explained that I had been looking for it for the last two hours. ================================ My second reference is from Charles Dickens. The concertina is mentioned in Dickens' book 'Our Mutual Friend'. In 'book the second, Chapter V, 'Mercury Prompting', the character Fledgeby tries to establish a name by asking a question based on rhyming words, and the discussion is between the two characters Fledgeby and Lammle: Fledgeby: 'is the right name Georgiana or Georgina?' Lammle: 'Georgiana Fledgeby: 'I was thinking yesterday, I didn't know there was such a name. I thought it must end in ina.' Lammle: 'Why?' Fledgeby: 'Why, you play - if you can - the Concertina, you know' 'And you have - when you catch it - the Scarlatina. And you can come down from a balloon in a parac - no you can't though. Well, say Georgeute - I mean Georgiana.' I do not know in which year this book was first published, but it must be one of the earliest literary references to the concertina. =============================== My 3rd reference is originally a book but I heard this in a radio play version. I have not checked the original book text. In 'the Go-Between', at least in the radio version, there is a scene with a cricket match on the village green. After a player jumps up to make a catch, another player says: 'I thought that ball would sail over your head but you stretched up like a concertina. ================================== Do others know more? In the old discussion forums we had quite a long thread on concertinas in films. I wonder if this will be a short thread. Regards, John Wild

I have come across some musicians who declare themselves "Traditional" musicians with a capital 'T'. For those in that category, the traditional music content was something that could not be added to by newly written "contemporary" tunes. My response generally was to comment that everything they now call traditional was contemporary to someone once. Another feature I have observed is that there is a significant regional variation in the tunes that crop up in sessions. That may mean tunes that are rarely played outside a particular area, or it may mean the same tunes with local variations, or played in different keys.

That sounds very plausible, especially the beer.

Maybe what you call old time music IS your traditional folk music?

Someone once asked me "How come all your concertinas play Jamie Allen?" 🙂

If you look at the concertina.info website, makers and repairers page, there are several in Australia listed, but I'm not sure if they are in your part of Australia. http://www.concertina.info

I could not find a recording or video involving concertina. You may have to settle for this link to May it be sung by Enya. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7MLT4MmAK8

You might find it might be useful to describe the note range outside the standard 48-button treble. Are the extra notes all extended upwards, or are there any lower notes?

Thank you.

May I ask what extra notes this has over a standard 48-button instrument?

I have EasyABC version 1.3.5, running on Windows 10 home. I pasted the ABC text above into a file and exported a PDF without changing anything. The score displayed correctly with Q=150. Newcastle.pdf I can offer no explanation of why your program produced a different result. You could try entering Q:150instead of Q:1/4=150. It may not make a difference but anything is worth trying.

"Scotch" is Whisky! The people are Scots. 🙂