allan atlas

STEPHEN: are you staying up late. . . .or getting up early. . . . . .with a six-hour difference (or is it only five?) could be either one. . . . . .Allan OOPS: Anon. IV

Dear Caroline and Folks: First, neither the red nor the large type was meant to express anger or anything like that. Second, as Stephen and many of you know I live in New York (no I will not give you my credit card numbers, though as an employee of a public, state-supported university, my salary can be tracked down on the internet). Were we, in fact, supposed to choose a pseudonym when we registered on C.net? If so, I think I'd like to go with Anon. IV, one of my very favorite medieval theorists, so called because his is the fourth treatise in a series of anonymous treatises by medieval music theorists published by Edmond Coussemaker in the nineteenth century. Thus I am henceforth Anon. IV. Anon. IV

Stephen: you're quite right. . . .i did miss out on Case and his wife. . . . .and we have corresponded about it on a few occasions. . . . .i realize that English is not Caroline's first language. . . .and i was obviously joking when i mentioned Ms. Oliver..................allan

MARIEN and FOLKS: it was not a matter or a test of reliability. . . . but rather a desire to make one's correspondence at least juyy a little bit more personal. . . .even humane. . . . .. obviously, with the votes running against my idea. . . .there's a landslide growing out there. . . .i am very happy to withdraw the motion/resolution. . . .and since i'm not up on Robert's Rules of Order, does the withdrawal of a motion end all discussion about it. . . . . .allan

DANA AND FOLKS: I fully agree with Dana. . . .in fact, i've yet to come across anyone who was not a nice person. . . . . .or did not try to be helpful with his or her communication. . . . . and it was with a great deal of respect -- that is, that in the end everyone will do and should do whatever it is that he or she feels comfortable doing -- that I made the request in the first place............... i'm not tallying the yeas and the nays...............Allan

Dear Jim: FORCE???????. . . . . . .BULLY???????. . . . it was a REQUEST. . . . . . . .obviously, everyone will do what he or she wants to do. . . . . . .but i would love to know with whom i'm corresponding . . . . . . . . FORCE???????. . . . . . .BULLY??????????. . . . . .BE IT RESOLVED THAT WE HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR.................. As of the moment, the Nays lead 1 - 0................or does my resolution tie the score???????????Allan

GOOD FOLKS: by means of exchanging private e-mails with a number of contributors to C.net. . . .i've learned that there are more than a few contributors who, like me, would like to know the REAL NAME of the person with whom they're corresponding. . . . now i realize there's something cute about some of the names. . . . .but at least some of us find it a bit disconcerting to respond to and ask questions of nameless correspondents. . . . .perhaps everyone is identified in the roster somewhere, but to have to check that is rather cumbersome. . . . . . BE IT RESOLVED, then, that as of this moment, everyone will identify him or herself with a real name, at least the one that he or she was given. . . . . . ALL IN FAVOR SAY YEAH. . . . .ALL OPPOSED SAY NOPE.................. Allan W. Atlas P.S.: i can hear the jeers aimed at this humorless request. . . . . . .perhaps this will be one of the very few times that i don't kill a thread. . . . .or will no one respond simply in order to keep my near record running.............

Dear Valse lente: Please tell me just what you don't understand. As you can see, this time I'm writing with normal English punctuation.

Dear Slow Waltz: had you lived in the late 1840s/early 1850s, you might have bumped into ANNIE OLIVER. . . . a canadian concertinist. . . . .but she was already in New York by 1852 and in London in 1854 (age ten). . . . . .more recently, there's the concertinist in the british film "49th Parallel", for which Vaughan Williams wrote the music. . . . . .wasn't it Lawrence Olivier who played the instrument?????????...........Allan

STEPHEN: but is the greater expressivity a result of that difference. . . . .plus the mechanics of the instrument don't feel more comfortable with one than with the other. . . . .and look, there might well be some players who feel more comfortable on the push. . . .i don't. . . . but in the end, it's an individual thing, i think..........allan

ROBIN: yes, i am speaking about the English only. . . . . .i have no experience on any other kind of concertina. . . . . as for planning phrases. . . . .i almost always begin a piece or section thereof with the bellows going out. . . . (i can count the exceptions on the fingers of one hand). . . . .moreover, if along the way there's a rest of some length, again i'll try to get back intio the music with the bellows going out. . . . . .i just find that drawn bellows can be more expressive and capable of articulations than pushed bellows. . . . .i wonder if anyone out there finds the opposite to be true. . . . .and i suppose one can say that a player ought to be able to do anything with the bellows going in either direction. . . . . .but that's not quite the same as being more comfortable one way or another...............thus one might play a sequential passage (the same figure repeated a number of times) with the bellows going first one way and then the other way. . . . one might play them equally well in both directions. . . . but still, one might feel more comfortable in one direction than the other and choose to start the alternation in one direction or the other.............. i will say that at least in the instrument's original victorian repertory i spend more time trying to figure out what to do with the bellows than anything else. . . . .it is truly astounding that none of the music -- including that of the concertina virtuosos themselves -- was published with indications of bellows. . . . .to be sure, regondi has some labored exercises in using the bellows in his tutors, where he signals for changes in direction in meticulous detail. . . .but i've yet to see a real piece of music by him or anyone else of the period in which the bellows indications are present. . . . . . at the risk of some horn blowing. . . .i think the only real discussion of what one might do with the bellows is in my Contemplating the Concertina. . . .where there's an extensive (relatively speaking) chapter about the possibilities. . . . . allan

STEPHEN: OK. . . . and your system would be good. . . . .i think that one can generally do more with the bellows on the draw. . . . . .allan

STEPHEN: i may be wrong. . . .but in the videos that i've seen of Piazzolla. . . . .he seems to play with the bellows moving in both directions. . . . .correct me (or anyone else correct me) if i'm wrong. . . .in addition, based again on the few videos that i've seen, don't most of the argentine players (i'm talking about the guys from the thirties and fourties) play on the draw. . . . .or am i wrong twice in so short a space. . . .wouldn't be the first time............allan

STEPHEN AND FOLKS: two things: (1) a bandoneon with English fingering. . . . .in principle it sounds fantastic. . . . .we could all be "faux" Piazzolla's. . . . .BUT: bear in mind that the bandoneon is a heavier, somewhat clumsier instrument than the English. . . . .and that the bellows extend much further. . . .i wonder what it would be like to have to constantly alternate the hands just to play a scale with the bellows that far out. . . . .i'll say this: for the past few years i've been playing on an 1870s instrument with FOUR-fold bellows. . . . . .when i switch to my six-fold bellows AEola (Boris's instrument) i fell as though i'm losing control. . . . . . (2) another "famous" concertina: the one that belonged to Burl Ives resides in the BASEMENT of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York...........allan

STEPHEN and folks: PRECISELY!. . . .it had to do with the "dots". . . . .that he could not improvise easily and needed everything written out for him. . . . .i believe you'll find the reference in the article by Stuart Eydmann in volume 4 (i think) of the British Journal of Ethnomusicology, which, i believe has now changed its name to British Forum for Ethnomusicology (or something close to that). . . . . . . i've met Peggy S. twice. . . . .i'll say nothing more...............Allan

FOLKS: one of the things i have to work hard at when i do lecture recitals here is to disabuse people of the notion that the concertina is an ITALIAN instrument! Allan

m3838: let's do everyone a big favor and drop it. . . . . . .please..............allan

Weren't it you who said that from the building in New York one can see California? Now that's an exageration. My comment about the forsight of Adolf Hitler was not an exaggeration, but a paraphrase from "Mein Kampf". Amongst the other ideas, Hitler laid out his views on how to keep sub-humans subdued. 24 hours a day sports and music, no philsosphy, no serious politics.

Dear m3838: One of the problems with exaggerating is that one often loses credibility. Thus much as the current political situation in our country (USA) disturbs me (and the list is a mile long), there is no one around, whether now or on the 2008-election horizon, who can be mentioned in the quite the same breath as H.! One of the things -- a very positive one -- that's always struck me about this country is that ideology generally gives way to common sense and a basic feeling of decency to and tolerance for one another. To be sure, this gets lost at times (or at least seems to disappear from view), but it usually manages to come to the fore. Please excuse the political "rant"............no more in that vein...............just trying to keep things honest................ Allan

ROGER: the BBC has a studio on West 35th Street in Manhattan. . . . .it's all the way over on the west side. . . . .in fact, on a clear day, one can see California. . . . . . .it's in the same building as New York's two public TV stations. . . . . .state-of-the art. . . . . and what, pray tell, was amusing about NEWCASTLE. . . . . .isn't it New + Castle. . . . .is there a hidden trick that i don't know. . . . . . . . funny thing is this: i always tell students to make sure they can pronounce any "foreign" words/names/etc. if they're reading a paper someplace. . . . .did i slip up in my own language. . . . .. .Allan

ALAN AND FOLKS: perhaps. . . . .but i suppose we should be grateful for the little things in life. . . . .let me say that such a program would have been well nigh impossible on this side of the puddle (i think). . . . .allan

STEPHEN: VERY NICE. . . . .we should mate it with the Boris Matusewitch (a good friend of Alf's) concertina that i have. . . . .perhaps they would spawn a family of super concertinas. . . . . . . .Boris's is somewhat older. . . .vintage W.W. I. . . . . . Peggy S. did not have very nice words to say about A.E. . . . . .rather unappreciative of the tremendously talented musician that he was.............Allan

AS FOR THE "CLASSICAL" SNIPPETS: if i remember correctly, the order was Regondi, Leisure Moments, No. 4 Blagrove, Morceaux, No. 3.................those two played by me Regondi, Serenade Regondi, Les Oiseaux...............those two played by Douglas i don't know why Blagrove got in there..........Allan

CHRIS AND FOLKS: for better or worse, that's what i sound like. . . . . . .hope my "pronunciation" of "free-reed" wasn't too labored. . . .it's just that if i say it quickly, many people think it's THREE-reed. . . . . .so i lean on the letter "f". . . . anyway, i thought Paul Evans did a very nice job of putting the program together..............Allan

RICHARD: i really hope you do enjoy it. . . . it's ten years old now. . . .showing its age a bit. . . . but i hope it still makes a good "introductory" read.................would enjoy hearing your comments..........Allan