SIMON GABRIELOW

Has someone used an old profile for this post? If from so long ago?Either accidentally or for fun? 🤔

Whilst it is great to share views about other concertinas under stagi name ( or other models.. you don't let it all get in the way of enjoying playing your own instrument, and that is what it is also about; learning, understanding, and creating a music .. I could be a £10 old box from eBay. Or £10000, antique. They all have a function and value to each player regardless.

My ( Hohner handed) Italian made concertina has a simple scrim material beneath its simple alloy face plate. The reeds are arranged differently also; there again mine is some 25 plus years old so suppose they have made alterations since then.

There must be a lot of tunes to play on one row only.. in G major, or the C major rows. Sometimes it can be as much challenge to use only one row notes, particularly after even used to playing combinations over rows. That is as long as there are no 'accidentals' occur in the music ( unexpected sharps etc..)!

You can consider it this way.. the concertina as a similar to small reed organ ( like harmonium in a way) but held in the hands. It has its lungs or bellows to fill with air, and reeds within like a singers voice box or larynx. There will be need for performer to use bellows to inflate or deflate when required, like a woodwind player needing to consider when to take breath. The sound will blend surprisingly well With other instruments ( oboe,clarinet, cor anglais also) as its reedy timbre adds its own character. I have found myself that it works well with reedy instruments ( like Chalumeau) example which I have played it alongside myself ( in my own music duos recently. Other reed based instruments will work well and compliment and add to the mix.

I developed this short DUO based upon the initial solo [ voluntary] written just before it was composed also. The instruments begin in unison and then derivate a little, with simple supporting chord here and there. Each instrument responds to the other, but it is not a duet or competition, instead a gentle interplay between two contrasting voices. It's a 'Voluntary' in the tradition of such [trumpet voluntaries etc..] I used my new wooden musical friend "Chalumeau" in C [ no extension lever on it] ..alongside the concertina, and then I put it all together. They are both reed-based instruments, the chalumeau, with its cane organic single reed, and concertina with its steadier metal reeds gives an unusual mix of sound. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlMVTaH-8kQ

Here's my basic numbering system I very occasionally now refer to on chart basis design. I have not put the notes names in - but it shows a numbering tablature on the rows of 30 button Anglo system. Middle C is button 3 on the middle row. [ left side].

Yes, those two ladies in Italy seem to be doing a majority of the construction themelves. My concertina was from the Brunner in Italy ( going back before 1999) Steel reeds, real mahogany veneered frame, brown leather bellows. They can be stiff to begin with and buttons move a lot .. but they adjust to your hands over time. And, I have stuck with mine for nearly 25 years now. I like the big sound, myself. All my recordings ( featured on my own video or audio prensentations are on that one concertina.

I thought Rock Chidley? what is it ...it was a rock group? Looks very interesting little thing, in one of those curious hexagonal boxes [ which can be awkward to remove them].

Oh poor thing ( concertina)! Sounds like a bit of a wreck altogether, I have never heard of plastic faced one; except those very cheap plastic toy accordions they sell! Never mind, you may find a better quality one elsewhere online, often those wooden edged Anglos often for sale, at good price could be better option. Often find the 20 key GDR made ones for sale.. generally reliable, and chunky design. I started on one of those (GDR) concertinas from Kligenthal and used it for years.

Very enterprising as well😊😊😊

Others will give you more technical support, only to say there will be various reasons to cause slow to speak notes. My own instrument had tendancy to be stubborn some times; fluffy notes sound, and indeed spring tension causes my G note to keep sounding off.. I do open it up myself, but try not to do it too often. They have their character in a way ( like people).. slow, or fast, or tendancy to get windy😊. I would say give it time to be used.. things could well free up in time. I had mine two decades or more and you can still get niggles with them, there's a lot inside our concertinas that can alter or need adjusting..new or used or old.🌝

I am lucky to have my camera vlhich has stereo microphones on its video feature and coupled with hd video; provided does a very clear audio for musical sound. All I then do in editing is take into software then sometimes isolate the audio track separately .. to maybe reduce noise or to add mild reverb to lift the sound if needed, the audio is then put back with the video once more, and a clearer sound results. I use NERO video editing software on my computer which gives several options for video and audio. Finally for audio I use a separate audio "music clean go" generic audio software. Sometimes it is possible to reduce noise or clicks of sound accidentally made when moving, in performance, by analyser to take down offending frequency.. So you can achieve virtually any high quality result with very precise edit or cuts being possible.

I just get to know the notes on a stave basis, with their position on a written stave itself.

Brunner us where I sent for spares for my own (Hohner branded) concertina years back ( where I got spare buttons sent for free!). , before they closed, and I believe the new Italian company uses their equipment these days.