jdms

...and in case you're thinking "well, dagnabbit, I said it was a Hohner in the subhead, why's he rabbiting on about Stagis?" I believe some Hohner concertinas are in fact re-badged Stagis. The numbers: 48 buttons, 96 reeds, no idea what 8L means. It might indicate its range; if not, there's nothing here to tell us whether it's a baritone or a tenor. Too late anyway, if it's this one. Unless, of course, you're the winning bidder... jdms

There is, it seems, A Thing happening in Somerville, MA, on September 17th. All I know is what the Facebook event page says: Dunno whether I'll be going--we expect to have a two-week-old (give or take a week) baby at that point--but it looks like it could be a good day. Joshua Mackay-Smith

"Rosin Up Your Bow" (or "The Good in Living"), by Steven Sellors. jdms

...which has since appeared on Anglo International, done by John Kirkpatrick. jdms

Here's an interesting thing... jdms

Sirius Cybernetics Corporation. No, I'm not at all obsessive. Not a nitpicker either. Why do you ask? jdms

Some while back, John Mock of this forum (at least, he was then) recommended the Gator Cases double pedal bag, noting that it held both his Morses in their cases nicely. I followed his advice and found my Morse and Wheatstone cases fit nicely; the bag itself isn't a whole lot bigger than the two cases together, and adds some padding to the protection from the cases themselves. I've never tried to carry it on an airplane, but I'm certain it would fit in an overhead bin. Under the seat, though, would be out of the question. I believe I've also seen John Roberts carrying two of his concertinas in a double pedal bag--I don't recall the maker of that one. Perhaps one of these days I'll manage a UK trip, concertina in hand...er, bag... jdms

Never having set up a poll, I don't know the answer to this: is it possible to adjust things to let the second question accept more than one response? Most of my playing has been Morris and English country dance music, but I do also play some traditional American tunes... Also, I'll swear I only clicked on the "Tune RH, Chords LH" button, but it apportioned my vote evenly between that and the "Tune RH, Octaves LH" response... This concludes today's Polling Software Gripe. We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread. jdms

Of course it's got bones in it! If it didn't have bones in it, it wouldn't be crunchy, now, would it?! jdms

It's not bad thanks and i've got as far as Bob Minor. The bells! The bells! Joshua Mackay-Smith (I only recognize these references because I've read Dorothy Sayers' The Nine Tailors, which I understand does not give the most accurate view of change-ringing one ever did see, and is sadly lacking in mentions of concertinas. Lots about the area where my mother's family lived before journeying west in the 1630s, though).

I'd think you'd need direct access to the reed, whether it's the reed itself or the valve that's causing the problem. I had a draw note cease sounding on my Morse last year; it turned out a valve had come adrift (Doug Creighton diagnosed the problem by email). It was beyond my ability to fix, since it required removing and replacing the accordion wax, but the folks at the Button Box took the reed pair out, glued on a new valve and put it back in with fresh wax with impressive rapidity. You, I see, are in Ireland, so taking it to the Button Box isn't the most convenient option, but I would think anyone accustomed to working with waxed-in accordion reeds would be able to deal with the problem. Joshua

Details here. Joshua

I'm going (and spending the next two weeks in eager anticipation). Joshua

Well, yes, of course...but it's still interesting. jdms

It's here, and while at first glance it doesn't look like it has anything to do with concertinas, if you mouseover (that is, put your mouse pointer on the image without clicking), you'll see why I've posted it. Joshua

I've nothing helpful for you--I play Anglo--but I'm curious: does your userid come from the Merle Travis song "That's All?" Some people go to school to learn how to teach And some people go to school to learn how to preach. If you can't preach without going to school Then you ain't no preacher, you're an educated fool And that's all...

Handy trick for this problem (it takes some practice, but I promise you that it can be done): let's say you're running out of bellows on the push notes--there aren't enough on the draw to make up for it. What you do is get more air in the bellows by holding down the air button partway while you're playing a note on the draw. The need for practice lies in finding the right amount to press the air button in order to let enough air in while still sounding the note you're trying to play. Naturally, this also works in reverse--if you're getting your bellows out to their full extension from lots of notes on the draw, use the air button while playing on the push. Joshua

Can't really take credit for writing them, since I just copied and pasted from the Morris Ring site...one thing you could do for learning a tune in ABC, as these are, by ear is copy and paste the ABC notation into the Tune-O-Tron ABC Convert-O-Matic (follow the links from the c.net main page, or click here); one of the options after you hit "submit" is to play it as a midi file. As for the time signature: both of these versions are in 6/8--that is, six beats per measure, one beat being an eighth note/quaver/corchea--except for one measure that has only three beats. Joshua

The Morris Ring's tunes site has two versions, both of which seem to be in 6/8, aside from one measure in 3/8: X: 14 T:Over the Water to Charlie, Bledington 1 M:6/8 L:1/8 A:Bledington P:A(AB)4 K:A P:A |:Ace ece|fgf e2A|B2B cBA|F2G A3:| P:B |:fga gfe|fgf g3 |fga gfe|\ M:3/8 L:1/8 f2g| M:6/8 aba g2e|fga e2A|B2B cBA|F2G A3:| and: X: 15 T:Over the Water to Charlie, Bledington 2 M:6/8 L:1/8 A:Bledington P:A(AB)4 K:A P:A |:Ace ece|fgf e2A|B2B cBA|F2G A3:| P:B |:gaB gfe|fgf e2e|fga gfe|\ M:3/8 L:1/8 f2g| M:6/8 aba gfe|fgf e2A|B2B cBc|F2G A3:|

I think we can safely assume that Ah Peter, but can we really? Or were you just being sarcastic? Dick, because I'm that sort of person, I draw your attention to the italicized and emboldened (if that's the word) number above. Joshua Mackay-Smith I also offer my apologies if (a.) you were well aware of this and/or (b.) my comment does not strike you in the humorous vein in which I intended it...

Of course--I should have remembered which name went where--and I can say from personal experience that you pack instruments (well, have them packed) very well indeed. "What's this guy trying to pull?" still applies. Joshua

...our own Paul Read, I believe... ...and I don't believe for a second that Paul, an experienced seller and repairer of instruments, would ship one without packing material. What's this guy trying to pull? Joshua Mackay-Smith

He wasn't a concertina player, of course, and there's nothing Irish about ragtime, but Scott Joplin often put a note on his published sheet music warning the musician not to play it too fast. "It is never correct," he said, "to play ragtime fast." Joshua M-S

Chris Stevens is based in Maine, but does come to Boston to teach from time to time--there was a thread about it nearly a year ago (should be right about here). He plays Irish style, and I've heard good things about his teaching from a number of people. I've also been hearing good things about Jody Kruskal's Skype lessons. jdms

That's interesting. The price quoted to me was for the one with padded dividers (iM2075-X0002), so it is close, but who would think that some nylon covered foam pads would add so much cost. Who indeed--maybe it's particularly fancy padding? Not impossible, since Jim Hardigg made his name with cases for sensitive electronic equipment...