Jim Besser

In my 4 years as musician for Bluemont Morris, I've encountered relatively few other Anglo players. My guess is that the BA is a little easier to play with emphatic chords. Many Morris musicians around here are dancers who double as musicians, and who don't play much beyond their sides' dance repetroire. For them, I think, the melodeon is more suitable. Also, as Rich says, melodeons are cheaper. Those melodeon players just keep honking when the weather turns nasty, while I dive for cover. That said, there are some outstanding concertinists playing for Morris sides, including Tom Kruskal up in New England. And, of course, the Foggy Bottom Morris Men have the incredible Big Nick playing his Jeffries Duet. I was playing Monk's March at our Bluemont Ale last year, and started hearing a pleasant echo. I turned around and saw that the very good Anglo player for Buffalo Head Morris (sorry, forgot his name) had joined in. At our last ale, there were 3 Anglo players, 2 English players, 1 Duet and a dozen or more BAs. So we're hardly extinct.

Peter Barnes English COuntry Dance tune book is full of Pat Shaw compositions. An incredibly prolific fellow. Round Pound Relics is also the title of an excellent 1970s vintage record of English dance music -- Morris and otherwise -- by concertinist Tom Kurskal and fiddler Jim Morrison, both outstanding dance musicians.

[One note differs from the version in Peter Barnes' English Country Dance Tunes. In the 3rd full measure from the end (with G and E7 chords indicated), Peter has the F# as a G. (Peter also indicates straight E, A, and D chords, rather than the 7th chords.) I think I have a copy somewhere that was published while composer Pat Shaw was alive. If I can find it, I'll report what it says.] I've heard it played both ways. Around here, people take a lot of liberties with the tune. Why use a 3 chord progression when you can use 6? Most ECD tunes sound like early classical music; this one certaintly doesn't. In any event, getting it up to speed is a great exercise on the Anglo

>You did not give much information on the tune. >I found via Google this link. Is this the tune you > are writing about? Yes! In fact, the Mp3 you linked was recorded by my friend and longtime bandmate! Small world, isn't it? Julie is a fantastic piano player for contra and English country dances, as well as a very good fiddler. She really improvises a lot in this recording. Here's a link to a more basic version of the tune: http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/cgi/abc/gettun...iJacksonRag.gif

Here's a real challenge on the Anglo C/G: Levi Jackson's Rag. It's in G, but gives you a real top row workout. Oddly, it was written and is used for English country dance, at least on this side of the pond. It's available on a variety of sites in different formats. I'm up to about 80 percent of full speed. I suspect the final 20 is going to be tough. But a fun tune.

>Suffice to say, as a street musician, I am in no danger of > quitting my day job any time soon As muso for Morris dance group, I've learned that "busking" really entails cadging enough money from passersby to buy beer. And when I've gone busking with band mates, we do pretty well, but instantly blow it on food and drink. One way or the other, I've actually made hundreds of dollars busking -- but not a penny has ever made it home. I wonder if INternal Revenue considers beer a business expense.

>I loosened the straps some and that seemed to help. As a tendonitis sufferer, I can offer one piece of advice: stretch. LEarn the basic wrist/arm/elbow stretches, do them before and after playing and in the middle, if you're practicing a lot. Buy a "Wrist Wand," available here: http://www.wristwand.com/. I learned this stuff the hard way. > How much money can I make as a professiona >l concertinist? Don't quit your day job.

>The Anglo Concertina Demystified" is on it's way from Elderly. > My impression is that this is one of the fistful of must-have > instruction guides. For English-style, chord-and-melody playing, that and Alan Day's tutorial are the places to start, for sure. Are you in the DC burbs? If so, you're welcome to come to our periodic jams, where we cover just about every musical style, from Irish to oldtime. Rocky Top on Anglo? Weird, but fun. The squeeze in is also great. I went only once, in 1999, but hope to get there this year.

>I have a good mind to have a go at Georgia on my concertina Fly across the pond and come to one of our jams. We did that one recently in Ray's honor. Sounded a little strange on the concertina, but the hammered dulcimer guy did a great job on it. (Don't tell the folks on The Session; I'd be banished for life, and maybe beyond)

>What should happen at the inaugural session > of a bunch of people who probably haven't > done this before? I've been to inaugural sessions where the hosts open the format up for democratic debate -- and it usually ends in angry chaos and more talk about policies and procedures than music. What seems to work: let people know in advance the general parameters (" a relaxed, friendly slow session focusing on Irish music....") and then run in the way that's fun for YOU. people who enjoy what you do will keep coming; people who want to do it differently won't, and you'll be spared the indignant debates that seem to preoccupy so many of the purists on The Session. If you really have fun, chances are others will, as well.

Today I was trying to unravel the wonderful mysteries of Alan Day's bass runs. Normally, I'd just play along until I got it, but he plays a G/D and I play a C/G. Then I tried something. I put the tune on a CD, ran it through the Amazing Slower Downer and changed the pitch. Voila: at +4.97, it was close to in tune with the C/G, and learning the tune became a snap. Ain't modern technology wonderful?

>Alas, I will not. In fact, I had dinner tonight with two > members of New World Sword (Bob and Ellie), but > the team is inactive these days. Too bad. We (Bluemont) are just barely going; injuries have been a problem. >Meanwhile, Jim B, why don't you come to the Northeast Squeeze-In? I may. I was there a few years back -- the 10th anniversary, I think-- but MOrris season has interfered with it since then.

So how many Concertina.Netters will be at this year's Toronto Ale? All things being equal, I'll be there.

> have found the same as you - when printing, it wil >l do two or three lines then freeze so I have to have > two or three attempts, then it works fine. The problem appears to be printer specific. I didn't have the problem with my last printer, but have it consistently with the new laser -- which works fine with every other program. ABC2win is incredibly frustrating, but there aren't many alternatives.

> I haven't cried in a while, Crying might be a good response. Sorry to say, I find abc2win less than stable on XP -- less stable than on previous Windows versions. There hasn't been an update for years. You can try deleting the INI file and letting it rebuild itself, or do a clean install. Those solutions have sometimes helped me. But it's a weird program. It apparently doesn't like my current printer driver and misfires 50 percent of the time when printing. I think little errors are present in many of the ABC files downloaded from Web sources, and they cause some of the flaky behavior. Unless you're a real ABC expert, it's hard to troubleshoot those. Wish I could be more encouraging. I use the program all the time and have hundreds of tunes stored in ABC files, but curse almost every time I load it up. Alas, there are not a lot of viable alternatives.

A most excellent polka; many thanks!

Plain Capers, as noted previously. Grand Picnic: interesting contra dance band with a great concertina (Jody Kruskal) Round Pond Relics: LP only, Tom Kruskal on Anglo, Jim Morrison on fiddle. Also "Over the Water," a CD with the same players. Heavily Morris, but with interesting other things. Wild Asparagus: contra dance band with English concertina. JOhn Williams "Steam." My favorite Irish concertina CD. Noel Hill: anything by. Jacqueline McCarthy "The Hidden Note." This CD is really growing on me. Old Sod Band: contra dance band with great English.

Making this discussion more complex still is what happens to vintage instruments AFTER manufacture. I'd venture to say that a Dipper-Groff rebuilt Lachenal is a very different instrument than the original (and, to my mind, worthy of being ranked with the giants). And, as others have pointed out, variations within a brand are incredible. I've only tried 2 Jeffries -- one spectacular, one really mediocre. I've tried two 50-s vintage Wheatstones, of much maligned reputation. One deserved that reputation, one was pretty darned good. This discussion does point to one thing, I believe: the advantages of purchasing from a reliable dealer who can tell you exactly what you're getting. You can't get that when you buy a car, but fortunately, you can when buying a concertina: ie Paul groff, Chris Alger, the button box.

Sorry you're sick. It was a great dance and a great open band, with 2 concertinas among the 25 or so instruments. The next open band is June 11. If you're around, come up and introduce yourself!

So come on out tonight and help expand the free reed section as the Open Band plays for the Washington Folk Festival dance! Help me not be the only concertina player in the throng.

Although not an accordionist, I show solidarity by sporting this bumper sticker on my car: Pro Accordion -- And I Vote!

It is... and so's Kohler's Hornpipe. But I don't either like or dislike things just because they're labelled "traditional" by someone... even myself. Nor do I care. People spend far too much time worrying about purity.

Regarding the tune we were discussing a while back: I was listening to the great John Williams Irish concertina/box CD, and tune 3 on track 13 kept nagging at me; it sounded familiar, but I couldn't identify it. The CD identified it as "PJ'ss Pecurious Pachelbel Special." Ah ha: it's Kohler's Hornpipe, moved to D major and played unbelievably fast on the button accordion. Searched The Session, and read all kinds of controversy about the tune: purists regard it as a sacreligious pandering to audience preferences, thoroughly non-traditional. But it's listed as a traditional tune on non-Irish sites under the Kohler's name. Making matters more interesting: apparently Natalie MacMaster plays a Cape Breton version of the same tune with a different name. Isn't traditional music incredible?

Wow. Two Jeffries on Ebay at the same time. Check out the duet: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...3727724528&rd=1 I'd better go out and buy some lottery tickets!

>So its not Washington, County Durham? We should be so lucky.