SimonThoumire

Hello! Sorry to spam - two concertina videos in two weeks! I’ve been delving into the tune book The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and The Isles this week. It’s full of tunes chiefly acquired during the period 1715 to 1745 and it was edited by Captain Simon Fraser. We play two airs from the book - Lady to Her Husband Who Was Killed at the Battle of Culloden and Hard is my fate with the fabulous David McGuinness on harmonium and dulcitone. Here's the tunes without me talking all the time...

I made a video on how to make the polka The Rakes of Mallow into a solo performance. Maybe I succeeded and maybe I didn’t! https://youtu.be/6gYJwGxMHA8

I first read ‘funky’ rather than ‘folky’! Keep up the good work.

Brendan told me about his technique years ago. I wish I was so sophisticated and not just lazy!

Just made a video on how to fix a note that has stopped working and how easy it is! Easy Concertina Repair - Fix That Note! I also play a version of the Poppy Leaf hornpipe.

Here’s a wee video I made with great Scottish fiddler Adam Sutherland last week. If you’ve any ideas for technique or tunes videos please say!

Here’s a video I made on my thoughts on bellow technique. Any questions / comments ask away! Hopefully see some of you in Witney this weekend ? https://youtu.be/CVUEhUqKEgU

Here’s a video I made on my technique of playing two finger rolls! If anyone has any questions please fire away.

HI Dave, I agree. Accordion player Phil Cunningham always said he wrote a tune a day and 99% of them were rubbish. Your tune is great and definitely feels authentic. Re Stool my hands were too full with cameras... ?

I’ve made a video about writing a tune on the concertina! I hadn't worked this out in advance so the inspiration (or not) could come in real time! I think the tune worked out ok and hopefully it will give you some ideas to try this yourself. You can have a go at playing the tune here. I’ve revised it a few times since the video (as always happens) and added 4 extra bars! Feel free to record it yourself and send it to me! https://drive.google.com/open?id=1VZBY9YhRsy_dXNrlfs9XZ9--nzqKyfpY I've also made a revisited audio recording here https://www.patreon.com/posts/22462900 If you enjoy this video please consider supporting my Patreon account at http://www.patreon.com/simonthoumire

Go for it Didie! I’ll be it sounds great on duet.

Hey Wolf, nice to hear from you. Here’s the music (I downloaded from the internet) for anyone else to try https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_chVBshKbH3cwrazgfaQxDaNS3JhVytg

Just recorded this classic tune! Trying to play a mixture of treble and bass clef. https://www.patreon.com/posts/21825007

Thanks to all attended my concertina course today. For anybody's information still wanting to attend you can still purchase the course and watch it online in our secure area. http://www.ayepod.net/webcasts/simonthoumire_teaching.htm

Did anyone ever come across a 30 button concertina with accordion reeds in it that was made in Wasps in Germany by an Irishman (I can't remember his name)? I once tried it at Rudolstadt Festival in Germany and stupidly never bought it at the time. I would still like to track one down sometime.

This will be a 4 week course starting this Saturday, 29th April, 6pm. It will look at different aspects of technique and each lesson will last 30 minutes. After the session each lesson video will be available to the particpants for viewing in our secure section. Access to the teaching streams will unlimited and will be available to the participant for two weeks after the end of the 4 week course. Lesson 1: We will look at Simon's tune My Love is Like a Red Red Rose (click on the link to download the music as a pdf) and talk about techniques of vibrato, fingering and chords. We will also talk about different ways of hold the concertina. The 4 week course cost is $36 (approx £20). http://www.ayepod.net/webcasts/simonthoumire_teaching.htm

Hi Poaceae, Thanks for writing. I see where your coming from! I will be recording the lessons and will maybe look at a future DVD release. I am going to make all the lessons available after the event to people who have bought the course. If you can't make the live lessons you can use them and email me with any questions.

Sorry to not be back before this. Poaceae is exactly right. The teaching will be a one of payment for the 4 week course. I will teach live - taking questions - and the recording will be available on demand in a members area so people can revisit it.

Thanks guys. This is a new venture and we want to be delivering lots of different teachingin the next few months.

From Saturday 29th April I will be conducting a live webcast English concertina course. This will follow on from a concert I am doing next Saturday 22nd April, 5pm (GMT+1). There will be live webchat for anyone that has any questions. There's more info at http://www.ayepod.net/webcast.htm or feel free to contact me on simon@scottishtraditionalmusic.com.

This Saturday 22nd April at 5pm (GMT+1) I'm going to be performing a live English concertina concert on the web for an hour. It would be great to see anybody along that is interested. We have live webchat if anyone has any questions they want to ask. The ticket price $5 (approx £2.80) and will be available on the day from http://www.ayepod.net/webcasts/simonthoumire_concert.htm. A recording of the concert will be repeated afterwards for a few hours. The following Saturday 29th April I will be conducting a 4 week concertina course live on the web at www.ayepod.net. I'll post more details soon.

I wouldn't worry about your fingering too much. If it works for you then that is what's important.