AnnC

Hello, will those be the tunes for Whitby Folk week too? Cheers Ann

It would have been 4 concertinas but I fell asleep and didn't get to any of the sessions (Have a good excuse though, OH is terminally ill in the local hospice and all the sleep I've missed recently is catching up with me)

Luckily I noticiced this thread before going to open the PM and by the time I got around to warily looking at my folder to delete it the rogue message had been removed Any photos of your Dipper so if it passes this way I can recognise it and raise the alarm? Cheers Ann

..... the Last Waltz perhaps?......

Perhaps she was playing in the same band as this......

Will keep my eyes open for it too

I'd say she was very bright... to have 2 languages at 7,musical ability and the fine motor skills to draw well and to be happy, what more could a Dad want for a child of that age.

I had piano lessons as a child too and had to be locked in the room to make me practice Never did get the hang of sight reading but 20 years later when I picked up a concertina I found that I could pick out tunes quite easily without the dots infront of me. If the tune was already 'in my head' then it was a fair bet that I could find the right buttons to push to play it. If I'm learning a new tune I always find it easier to hear it first before looking at the dots if they're available so I'd definitly put myself in the learning by ear camp ...... which is probably why I play tunes in unexpected keys Let your daughter play tunes she knows and when she wants to learn new tunes from the dots play them through for her so that she can match the tune in her head to the pattern of notes on the page but don't push her, she'll learn more if she's happy going at her own pace

If I get a small child wanting to have a go I keep a firm hold on the concertina and tell them to press one button at a time as I work the bellows, moving their finger up a button after each push/pull until they've played a scale Then I tell them how clever they are and they go away pestering their parents to buy them a concertina

My cat is unbothered by the concertina, she will happily try to get on my lap for a snooze if I'm sat playing knowing that she'll have a comfy seat for a good while I used to practice during my lunch breaks, going to a nearby wood with a field of cows next to it and they would always amble up to the hedge for a listen

Unfortunately I'll be nowhere near ( OH is terminally ill so being more than 10 mins from the front door is a luxury) but it sounds like a really good, and reasonably priced, evening

Usually people are friendly and interested, older people often smile and say that they had an old uncle or other relative who used to play concertina and how pleasant it is to see one played again while younger ones have often never seen one before and want to know how it works I usually show them how to play a scale (telling them it's like playing a mouth organ but with your fingers, pull push instead of suck blow pet ) and they go away pleased and happy

Whoops, my last post should have said ' no tricky fingering' instead of 'no accidentals' as there's the F sharp on the G row

ooh I tried playing that one the other day...found it really tricky loads of accidentals. Any tips on how not to get my fingers in a twist? On a C/G Anglo start the tune on the G above middle C on the C row or, on the G row use the D an octave up from middle C ( both buttons are the last ones on the rows on the left hand side before changing up the scale to the right hand side) no accidentals required

'Oh I do like to be beside the seaside'

A concertina player let me have a go on his Marcus last year and it was a lovely sounding instrument and had a good button action so it would be worth considering

I got 88.9% on the musical memory, haven't done the others yet

Here's a link, it's not played on a concertina unfortunatly but it's a lovely piece http://www.we7.com/#/track/La-Cumparsita?trackId=396283

Maybe you mean 'La Cumparsita' - an argentinian tango -? Cheers, Fer That's it, never could spell it properly but it's a cracking tune, guaranteed to get toes tapping and cheer people up.

Ooh, that's a hard choice to make but probably ' La Campasita' as it always makes me smile

If you're coming to Whitby during this year for any of the festivals PM me and you can have a go on my Dipper

The "accidental row" doesn't just contain accidentals, some of the buttons offer alternative ways of playing notes from the home keys. This gives you the choice of playing a phrase legato when you don't want to break up the chords with a change of bellows direction, or with lots of push-pull when you want to emphasise the rhythm. This can be just as useful for English trad or morris as for other types of music. like playing 'David of the White Rock' in Eb minor

If I have a couple of drinks before playing I'll play quite happily but the tune coming out note perfect at the fingers won't be the one that was expected

I got all excited about the do in Pompey until I realised you were probably talking about the one several thousand miles away from where I know. Never mind. Ian I was the same last year when reading about the Northeast Squeeze in