Marien

Marien, what about mine? You've tried it. It looks identical to the 45-button anglo in the photo. Hi Jim, I must be that someone ... still having to admit I am a Jeffries novice... I remember your jeffries system duet very well. and the Crane duet even better. What I remember best is whether they play fine and less of the fretwork. Are you going to take them along to Sweden in spring? Cheers, Marien

Dick, I think the 45b once was (or still is) a Jeffries Duet? The jeffries duets I have seen are newer and they all had raised ends. I am not sure that having flat or raised ends tells us something about the age. Marien

The financial crisis must be gone by now as prices for concertinas have doubled in 2 months. This seller has a history of exchanging reeds in a concertina before returning it to the owner. Not that I am interested to buy this one but does this wheatstone have single reeds in single frames? Maybe Ben can tell.

You'd think they do and know a bit more to help to justify the buyer's premiums. Right Steve, I found out they don't..... Marien

Indeed The auction people do not seem to know what they are selling. I asked them about the tuning of the 2 Jeffries Anglos. If I know more I´ll share it here. Marien

Several concertinas in a UK auction up for grabbs at Bonhams. Lot 1 to 4,,, One is described as a Bariton - this must be something for Dirge... - it is a MacCann Duet here There are 2 Jeffries duets - in need for restauration or reed plunder I guess and the last one is a Lachenal eola - no picture - english??? Marien

Hi Leo, Yet one - the word concertina wasn't in the description... It is the Jimmy Kelly Christmas Party in Cologne - 26 Dec 2010. Check the part between :48 and 1:05... Marien

Does a set of bagpipes fit in your pocket? A remarkable entry contains a prisoners defence about pocketpicking a set of bagpipes in 1831. It is half way down this page. Nothing about concertinas there but I just asked myself - how could anyone be pocketpicking a set of bagpipes. How did the set of bagpipes get into a pocket in the first place? The answer may be in the headline, it happened on St. Patricksday - 160 years ago. As criminal offends have increased I was wondering - do these things happen more often nowadays in UK?

Also interesting that in this archive stolen "accordion" already shows up in 1837...

Hello Richard, Indeed the Crane lachenal ebony ends is relatively soft, and I have the same experience that it can not compete with a three voice melodeon in an Irish session. But it is not just a Crane problem. My anglo has a beautiful sound and also this concertina cannot compete with loud instruments in a session. I must say that my 70b Crabb duet with all its resonating metal parts is much louder and will certainly be heared in sessions. But still the duet is not ideal for modal music I think. There is more than just the volume. Some music just asks for an anglo. For Irish music I tend to play the anglo. But for klezmer, tangos and jazzy music I tend to play the Crane, sometimes with chords and somtimes without using chords. It may help to "do things with the bellows" to make the sound suitable for session music (direction changes / steadiness of the movements / pressure variations). The effects could make the music more bouncy like in Irish music, I forgot who told me that on this forum, but changing bellow direction can put some emphasis on certain moments. Changing bellow direction on a Crane can make that same bouncy jump like on an anglo in Irish music. Many tunes do not ask for chords at all and that makes it more easy to play at session speed. If you produce only one sound at the time you have a lot of fingers at your disposal to play many notes in a short interval. On the Crane - when chords are involved - you will have to know the chords you want to play (time for thinking may be gone if once you know the tune by head. But it may take more time to move five fingers from one chord to another. It is impossible to play full chords as snappy as single notes on an anglo or english. Also - when you play a chord and then press a button - the additional sounding reed may be less responding. A prt of the air has already gone through another chamber. Without playing a chord - a melody reed will be more responsive. I think music can be beautiful when you play single notes without chords on the Crane, sometimes with the same note an octave lower on the left hand. Apart from playing chords and melody, I sometimes play fast instrumentals with a guitar player that plays the chords. Apart form fast melodies I use it for slow airs - the melody may be not very loud (single notes and no chords) on the Crane and the guitar accompanies the melody with chords. Maybe this is not the kind of music for crowded sessions but it is a nice way of playing in a `sit and listen` settings like a small house room theatre. Playing chords on a Crane is not compulsary... Hoping this helps. Marien

John, To read that is much more interesting than reading the computer programs I wrote.... Marien

Like the english word song, the dutch word ´lied´ refers to a bunch of words together that can be sung on a specific melody. An old Dutch song goes: "Elke vogel zingt zijn lied..", in english: "Every bird sings his song...". Does a bird sing words? To be honoust I don´t recognise words when I think of a singing bird - ignoring parrots, craws and charlie parker - The old use of the word song refers to music coming out of a mouth or beak. One could say an instrument sings, when it resonates better compared to an average instrument. If you hear a great violin player you can say that the strings are singing as if they were alive. I don´t use the word tune to refer to the words of the song, but the melody of the song can be called a tune. To me a tune is nothing more than a melody. But it may be so that "let's play this tune" is an invitation to do more than just play that melody... But what is in a word. Words fail when it comes down to music, you got to hear it...

Thanks for the pictures. It looks like a chemnitzer to me, but I am not a chemnitzer man. I have no clue about the age, my best guess is between 1900 and 1930. As Stephen Chambers telle in another thread: `Friedrich Lange was Uhlig's son-in-law, and the business carried on into the early 20th century.´ Lange usualy made them with zinc plates. I think the signature means that Arno Arnold has repaired it. If you have opened it up you will know the type of reed. Arno's bandonions usually have accordion reeds (hohner type of reeds - 2 per aluminium frame). If the reeds are like that then the instrument may be newer. Marien

Indeed, Arnold and Lange were bandonion makers. So is it a concertina or is it a chemnitzer or a bandoneon ? Is it square or hexagon? How big is it? How many keys are on both sides? A picture of the ends (showing the key layout) could help. Marien

it may be the grand father of this concertina: galotta concertina on ebay

Stephen, When there are 3 voices in this kind of model / is it always with one low voice and two trebles like in this box (which may be good for Morris and French)? Or are there also 3 voice concertinas like this model where all 3 reeds have the same pitch? I have never come across the latter but it could be interesting for Irish if the three reeds are tuned flat. Marien

Best bet is probably to ask Stephen Chambers if he doesn't chime in on the thread on his own. I'd guess 1870 to 1890, but this isn't really my area of expertise... The levers look better than in many other german boxes, but I wonder if that tells something more about the age. I would gamble about 1890/1910. If anyone would say 1868 I could believe that, but also 1932 could be accepted as birth date.

I guess it may help to see the precise pattern on the wheatstone. I will try to make a good photograph of the papers on the bellows at daylight and post it here. Marien

Thanks for searching Theo, Alas the drawing is different. I think I'll have them printed somewhere. Marien.

I made up this obvious tune on a GD concertina. I didn´t realise whyle playing but it shows how 4/4 can develop and change to 6/8. Much early music shows similar variants. It is

My Wheatstone Linota leaks a little air and I think I'll have to replace the bellows. Originally it has black bellows paper and gold stars on them (similar to the lachenal gold dots on white papers). Does anybody know an address for these black wheatstone style of bellows paper? Thanks Marien

It is true an anglo can play all notes, but you will have to change direction a lot when you want to play a sequence like C, C#, D, D#, E etcetera. On a 30 button anglo it is impossible to play full chords in every scale. Early classical music (before 1800) and contra danses often don´t use much different scales, and much of it can be played on a 30 button anglo, but on a C/G anglo I wouldn´t try to play tunes in G# or F#. Or if you want to try jazzy improvisations, better take an english or a Duet, although it sometimes makes fun to try and get strange noise out of an anglo - using its limitations and the specific features of the possible combinations over three rows. Still there is a lot of the less complicated work of Bach and Schumann that can be played on an anglo. Marien

Nice tune Fernando!

Here is a traditional Galician tune with oriental influences. galician tune.mp3 The basic scale is D Eb F# G A Bb C D. In some parts it goes to another key, using F in stead of the F#. Without the chords it is easier to recognise the scale. If you like I can also upload a version with chords. Marien

Al, That is interesting, do you know where I could order these two books???? Some french sources I use for music from the Central Massif are: - The AMTA books - check this site - Chants et Danses du Massif Central by Huguette Cochinal - many tunes and it also explains the dances. - dots I got from french musicians (people from Brioude, Clermont Ferrand and festivals - Chansons d'Auvergne by alain Bruel, Fifier Huguet and Jean-Claude Rocher (275 pages with tunes and songs). - a bunch of tunes on the web page of tradfrance - not to forget - live music and tapes and records It is typical that in small villages I picked up tunes that are in no book.... ...except a small number of tunes such as "para lo lop". For the Irish - this wolf - lo lop - is the lark in the morning of Auvergne.