PeterT
-
Posts
2,170 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by PeterT
-
-
MY 71 Maccan had thumbstraps when it arrived. The owner must have had tiny thumbs and they were a bit tired anyway, so an ordinary set was fitted and I never tried the thumbstrap setup. I keep wondering about sorting them out, precisely because I think it would allow me to play standing too. The excuse for not getting on with it is that I use my right thumb to play the low C sharp a lot. It doesn't sound important, but it is to me! In theory the same sort of thing would apply to the left hand but I only have one piece where this is necessary.
(Blinding inspiration as I type this: perhaps I'll fit the LH one only as an experiment!)
This should enable you to stand on one leg!
-
Peter Trimming mentioned elsewhere that the palm should be arched. I have noticed that Dippers seem to have a raised bar which looks comortable.
When discussing the specification, with Colin Dipper, back in 1989, he said that many people were favouring the contoured hand-rests, and found them comfortable. I went along with this idea, but this is the only aspect of my Dipper with which I am not 100% happy. I prefer slacker straps, and the facility to move the hand, on the hand-rest, to get the "correct" tension on the strap.
However, it is a personal thing.
-
It's OK Chris has a part time job with a Xmas Cracker manufacturer.
Al
Let us know if he plans to go full-time.
If this thread follows the pattern of others, I would expect a rash of knitting jokes.
-
Does this push people to become better or to play to set standards and does it miss the point that traditional music had a social and communal function.
Hi Michael,
The way I look at it, traditional music differs from (say) classical music, in that it is functional.
If someone listened to a classical concert, they would expect to hear technical excellence, with virtuoso performances by the soloists.
With traditional music, song, and dance, these elements were based in the community. A traditional fiddler, playing for the Morris, might be playing to a technically poor standard, and producing a sound which you would not sit and listen to through choice. However, when coupled to the Morris dance, it would make that music visible; the whole performance being something rooted in that community.
A similar comment might be made of the Church Quire, which ended around the time when Thomas Hardy was a young man. Again, the music was functional, and based in the community.
My opinion is that anything which raises the standard of traditional music is a good thing. I discovered traditional singing competitions in 1985, and concertina competitions in 1986 (having joined the ICA just after the 1985 Festival).
As a participant, I'm guessing that the singing competitions were easier to organise. Any established folk festival, with a traditional bias, could run one as long as they could raise the necessary prize money, and find a suitably qualified and respected adjudicator. Amongst others, I had the pleasure of being adjudicated by Bob Copper, Shirley Collins, Packie (Manus) Byrne. They all gave praise where it was due, and highlighted points where performances could be improved upon.
When it came to the concertina (Anglo), I had been "playing" in splendid isolation for 18 months, before being recruited by a local Morris team who were desparate for a musician (yes; I was that late 20th century version of the fiddle player). I turned out to be a fast learner of "basic" Morris tunes; all learnt by ear, so not necessarily as they appear in the Bacon "Bible". By 1985, I was playing for 4 different dance teams. In 1981, I could barely play a couple of notes!
I must have been doing something right, since the West Country Concertina Players, having heard me play at their 1985 Sidmouth workshops, asked me to teach at their 1986 Halsway Manor weekend (after the late Nigel Chippindale was diagnosed with cancer) and to run an Anglo workshop at the 1986 Sidmouth festival. It was suggested, by Jenny Cox, that I might like to enter the Taunton & Somerset Music Festival of November 1986, in the "Advanced Folk" category. Nothing like starting at the top! This was an incentive for me to work on a set of three tunes, and bring them up to competition standard.
The Taunton & Somerset Music Festival was an established event, and Jenny Cox had worked hard in setting up concertina classes as part of the festival. Adjudicator was Dave Townsend, and the scale of marks awarded would have been in line with normal competition practice. Come the day, the venue, a school hall, turned out to be ideal, and about 70 people piled in to hear the various concertina classes. The "Advanced Folk" was a keenly fought contest, with at least three semi-pro performers taking part. I was "first into bat", which could be a good, or bad, thing. I recall hitting just one "bum" note, which was a harmony to what I should have played!
The top four in the class were as follows:
Iris Bishop (92)
Robin Madge (91)
Peter Trimming (91)
Jean Megly (90)
I was suitably encouraged by this result, which helped me to look at my repertoire as being subdivided into three:
Function folk tunes (never to be considered for competition).
Folk tunes which had the scope to be worked up as competition pieces.
Party pieces (suitable for some competition categories).
So; there we go. A much more rambling response than I had intended; a very personal perspective on competitions, as I experienced them during the period 1985-91.
Regards,
Peter.
-
1
-
-
I have had the use of a few Anglos in different keys recently and it is very interesting to see how various tunes come out. I tried some out with a piper/maker friend Brian Howard, with a flat set for example. A bit like Peter Laban did with Kitty Hayes ( where is Peter at the moment?) I enjoyed it.
Michael,
I guess that Peter is still around, just no longer a member on this forum.
Regards,
Peter.
-
Peter,how did you do in the competition?
I've just checked the results! 1991 was the last competitive ICA Festival, as far as I am aware. Turned out to be quite a good one, for me.
I played Staffordshire Hornpipe in the "Playing by Ear" class, which I won.
In the "Advanced Anglo", I just edged out Harry Scurfield by one mark.
In the "Folk Dance Playing", I finished equal second (with Iris Bishop), one mark behind Harry Scurfield. Harry also picked up "Best Solo Performance" with this result.
Well done, Peter. And what were your marks, if I might be so bold as to ask? Or are you too shy or embarassed to reveal them? I hope they were in the nineties.
Chris
Hi Chris,
87, 85, 88 respectively. So; not the heady heights of the 90's, on this occasion.
Regards,
Peter.
-
Peter,how did you do in the competition?
I've just checked the results! 1991 was the last competitive ICA Festival, as far as I am aware. Turned out to be quite a good one, for me.
I played Staffordshire Hornpipe in the "Playing by Ear" class, which I won.
In the "Advanced Anglo", I just edged out Harry Scurfield by one mark.
In the "Folk Dance Playing", I finished equal second (with Iris Bishop), one mark behind Harry Scurfield. Harry also picked up "Best Solo Performance" with this result.
-
F is not too bad. you just need to find an effective way to get from Bb to A. you can either choose push A in the accidental row on the left hand, or you can use 3rd finger A in the G row. this may seem awkward, but i much prefer it. do whichever works best for you.
Or .....
Draw A, right hand G row (second finger), draw Bb accidental row (third finger). This is for the Wheatstone/Lachenal layout, which I seem to recall is the one which Bob uses.
Leaves the left hand free for nice chords.
-
...if I had a massive accordion playing in my right ear I think I'd look blooming miserable too.
I see that the girl has left her accordion on the floor. If she was wearing it, you would only see a couple of eyes peering over the top!
-
We thought it came from a John Kirkpatrick record .....
John certainly recorded it. Off-hand, can't think which album (but I can hear it now, with John on melodeon - maybe "Three in a row").
I remember this newly-learnt tune being in my head at the ICA festival of 1991, and deciding, whilst practising (downstairs) before the competition, to use it in a tune set in one of the classes where I was competing. So, my first performance of it was in the competition!
-
Why he didn't just steal a sheep and let the government send him, I don't know!
That was a hanging offence; see Note (4) of the text on this link:
-
sorry guys - file was much too large so I have deleted and re attached. please see if it worked!
Got bored, after waiting five minutes for the link.
-
I understand that there's a new invention, called a "music stand", or some such title. It's probably not much good for the concertina, but sounds ideal for resting your music.
Weird!
Personally, I don't think that it will catch on, but you never know. Just needs some clever marketing.
This one could be aimed at the concertina market....
Fine; as long as you don't mind sitting on the floor!
-
http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiSWTHAMES;ttSWTHAMES.html
http://www.8notes.com/scores/6521.asp?ftype=midi
I am hoping someone will tell me that I should be playing the melody on the right side.
You should be playing the melody on the right side.
If you play music, as written, much of the melody will drop onto the left hand. This will cause the effect of single line melody, without much scope for chords etc. If you transpose the music up an octave (in practice, it's easier to read the music "as is", but work out the fingering as if it was written an octave higher) this will move most melodies onto the right hand, freeing up the left hand for chords.
The only "down" side to this is that, on occasions, the music will be up the squeaky end on the right hand. If this is a problem, drop that section of the music back to the octave in which it is written. This might sound to be an odd practice, but seems to have been a traditional solution to this type of problem.
right Peter, Right... and squeaky 
:( Is it unwise to tackle the challenge by hitting 2 buttons (and sometimes 3)simultaneously on the left with one finger to get to get chord effects and a "richer" sound (so avoiding the squeaky and sometimes unpleasant upper right octaves?)
If you are trying to play both melody, and chords, on the same side, I would say "yes; unwise". You need to be able to make the melody stand out; sometimes achieved by playing the chords for a lesser duration than the written notation.
Melody, on the right hand, can sound squeaky, when played as single-line. However, when chords (one/two/three note, as appropriate) are added, the squeaky sound is not so obvious.
If you are just using chords, rather than melody+chords, for song accompaniment, I don't see why one finger should not be used to hold down more than one button.
-
If I'm looking at the post I just have to click it, but you could try right clicking and saving the linked file.
I can't get that to work, either!
-
http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiSWTHAMES;ttSWTHAMES.html
http://www.8notes.com/scores/6521.asp?ftype=midi
I am hoping someone will tell me that I should be playing the melody on the right side.
You should be playing the melody on the right side.
If you play music, as written, much of the melody will drop onto the left hand. This will cause the effect of single line melody, without much scope for chords etc. If you transpose the music up an octave (in practice, it's easier to read the music "as is", but work out the fingering as if it was written an octave higher) this will move most melodies onto the right hand, freeing up the left hand for chords.
The only "down" side to this is that, on occasions, the music will be up the squeaky end on the right hand. If this is a problem, drop that section of the music back to the octave in which it is written. This might sound to be an odd practice, but seems to have been a traditional solution to this type of problem.
-
.... did anybody notice the 24 key Maccann which Chris Algar had up for sale on ebay yesterday? The sale was due to finish last night, .........
I wonder who that was made for?
Presumably Chris would have looked it up in the ledger and said if he'd found any famous owner?
(I didn't see it; neither money nor justification for this one though)
No mention of anyone special ... only that it was a very unusual/rare beast.
The more recent Wheatstone Ledgers rarely make reference to the original owner.
What we do know (almost certainly) is that the new owner will be a collector (nothing wrong with that, if the person is prepared to pay a high price for a rare item), since I would have thought that a Maccann player would find a 24 key instrument ..... a little restricting.
-
I wanted to be able to briefly enlarge one I was curious about and have a proper look at it.
(1)
Point mouse onto avatar image
Right mouse click
Click on "View Image"
(2)
Point mouse onto avatar image
Right mouse click
Click on "Save Image As"
(3)
Open image/zoom
This is how I do it, but the results can look fuzzy.
-
What he would be like had he carried on I shudder to think.
Just goes to show that there's no substitute for quality. If I had heard the recording, without your notes, I would have guessed the musician to be aged 45+, and having played for at least 20 years.
It's good that these recordings exist. You can never assume that a young musician will fulfill his/her potential. Life is full of potential pitfalls and distractions. I guess that we have to be glad when a musician does have a full "career", and be greatful for some recordings when this does not happen.
-
I understand that there's a new invention, called a "music stand", or some such title. It's probably not much good for the concertina, but sounds ideal for resting your music.
Weird!
Personally, I don't think that it will catch on, but you never know. Just needs some clever marketing.
-
I can even play with it balanced on my head.
I look forward to seeing the video.
Well if you've got the music balanced on your lap where else are you supposed to put your concertina when your arms get tired?
I understand that there's a new invention, called a "music stand", or some such title. It's probably not much good for the concertina, but sounds ideal for resting your music.
-
I can even play with it balanced on my head.
I look forward to seeing the video.
-
The bellows in and out movement I think would be better to keep the timing. For total hearing loss the concertina being so small could be fitted with some technical equipment that could be felt by the player, for partial hearing once again the concertina lends itself to be amplified straight into the ear.
I can understand the comment regarding partial hearing loss, and agree that it might be feasible.
However, from my perspective, I can't agree about total hearing loss. Maybe it's because I'm coming from the angle of someone who has played, by ear, for many years. I don't know in which direction the bellows are travelling; my ears tell me whether, or not, I am playing the notes which my brain is telling me to play. If I suffered total hearing loss, I wouldn't have a clue in which direction the bellows should be travelling.
-
I wondered if an Anglo would be an interesting possibility.
Interesting thread!!
I would have thought that English, or Duet systems, would be more logical, as bellows direction would not matter. That way, the player would "know" that if he/she was fingering the correct button, then the right note would result.
Wheatstone Memorial 2010 Mornington Crescent Game
in General Concertina Discussion
Posted
I'll be spectating, again, this year. Just one thought, I hope you have Samantha lined up to keep the scores.