SIMON GABRIELOW

What a deep voice ( concertina I mean😊... A wonderfully amusing little performance. And that super deep..gruummmmbling note at the end🌝😊!!

Very happy cheerful performance🌝

Large padded photo equipment bag could be option; the sort that fits more than just the camera. Some have removable compartments with Velcro to adjust space within.

With patience and a bit of time you can transpose music into a key to suit other instrument ranges. But it can be a test of patience to get it done.

They came in all kinds of different key ranges. Ii had one made in GDR back in the 1980s and it was in C and G. But I used to have a chart that came with it, and it showed a variety of other key tones ( sone very surprising). I no longer have that printed chart, but perhaps you could just accept it in its key range and save a lot of time in tuning it? The music you would play from ( if you read from sheet music) will just sound in a different tonal range to that printed but will still work. Only my own thoughts; others may have different views🌝

The playing of tune flows as easily as that little brook and water in the video accompanying the music.🌝🌝

In August I was writing this music in my secluded back room, and part way through a beautiful fox walked through my garden. It was sleek, and red, and very striking to see [With a wonderful tail of fur swishing behind it.] So the tune, which until then was just a melody going down on the page, suddenly acquired its title "The Foxe's tail".. Illustrations followed more recently. I also used my recently acquired metal manuscript nib pen to make the inked manuscript page stave lines, on the finished manuscript [after many weeks of practice.]

Well, I suppose there was similar method developed when musical bellows were first being created in days of yore. But good to find out by practical experience these days anyhow how to make them 🌝

Yes, the Carin [Sparky] sort of made singing noises and a sort of waa waa' mouth movements [ only way can be described] It may well have been a musical reversion to his Scottish ancestry! [bagpipers]..When i used to play music in my room, in those days, he used to come in and wait patiently to be taken for his walk. [ maybe his noises were a sort of accompaniment? [but they were never done at the same time] as my attempts though! 😊

Very colourful!😊

I used to have tortoises called George and Rosy ... And later on a Cairn terrior we called Sparky .. and he used to make funny noses like a 'Bag pipe'! Then there was Fred and Betty ( guinea pigs)!. Just thought I would add to the theme.. with its one musical likeness bagpipe Sparky!

I have only played my Anglo concertina ( no other kinds).. and taught myself from the start, and so therefore my own method is not in anyway the usual ( as far as fingering concerned). But I have found my own methods to playing it. I try to use all.availsblevfingers when I can, and do not restrict to only a few, little finger right hand gets used also to reach awkward higher notes, and you get quite supple in hands from ensuring you use as many fingers as you can, when playing music. I started with very basic music books years back that gave a very simple numbering method, and little else which allowed me to then develop my learning in a way that suited me personally. I believe that a too rigid 'one way of doing it'.. method may not suit everyone, and can also discourage innovation in playing technique. Air can run out on playing tunes, regardless of how careful you do it, but that is part of the physical makeup of Anglo system; a bit like a singer learning where to take a breath, between long passages of sound.

Sometimes you can choose a really good discordant sound ( quite deliberately) to give strange atmosphere to a performance; a stormy or dramatic effect maybe. All kinds of things are possible within the hands given practice and experience over time. What you have is really a small reed organ with big capabilities🌝

Of course, you can also find out chords quite simply in Anglo by fact that most adjacent buttons will make a 'third' when pressed together; eg. Button 3 left side ( middle C natural).pressed with next button to it will be C and E... Whilst same buttons with bellows moved outward and you now have D and F ..Of course that is incredibly basic explanation but it is also good to find out by pressing buttons together and learning by ear which do and does not sound good.. pressing a few buttons together at one time can make interesting results!🌝You will soon learn which sounds good and which sound horrible!😊

As someone who owns a concertina of playable but not super expensive variety. (!Hohner branded, Stagi Italian made .. bought in 1999).. I cannot vouch for other kinds. I also think that it is also the musician who can bring out the best in any instrument, not only the desired ideal names of the box itself. Once I could also hae afforded the very top price range myself, for a limited period; and considered it carefully, but stuck with what I knew best.. as I did not feel I could justify the cost. But if you can then go for it; Also I have never liked the idea of their being say 'student' level or beginner models, as a label applied. You will have to decide what is best for you.

By the time you get it back you will also probably have found you were even having dreams about it 😊😊

The concertina I had least teething problems with was my first one ... A 20 key Anglo; one of those made in GDR ( in 1980s)! It had buttons on lever mechanism with rubber like washers...! Very simply made inside but it kept working .. that is until.i went up to my 30 button later on, ( as for 20 button one)..then Curiosity made me open it up to see how it was made ( so long since passed on)🌝 My current one has tendancy to cause little problems here and there, but nothing too much that I cannot adjust myself.

Even dream machines can have 'teething' problems when you are new to using them. I hope and am sure other here will also hope you soon get back to your new found novelty🌝. It is also good to learn to find the notes and adapt them to your own way ( I think anyway).. as that is something I had to do years back when I first started having to go through the process myself.

I do not know about English system practically speaking.. but on Anglo the way bellows are pressed can affect the intonation of note sound quite effectively. Jerking bellows can make a quivering, or staccatto effect, and a sort of increase in volume can be made by pressing lightly on bellows..and then increasing pressure slightly to 'swell"' out the sound. Possibly similar for english!? I would imagine it is?

What a jolly tune and although the 'midi' electronic version here was useful to hear tune; it was a little robotic and I am sure best played by a living person!😄

That is virtually identical to my own (Hohner branded) type; sane face plate, also. Mahogany veneered and the brown real leather bellows!🌝 Maybe they are relatives ( brothers etc😊... Bought mine back in 1999 .. but would have been from existing stock earlier than that

Envious of Chalumeau? Well, it is not a concertina, but has a reed of its own, and is very simply made of wood, ( keyless variety)..and that's all there is to it ( rest is up to you)! And when you first start playing one .. it takes a lot of breathe to make it play notes! Whereas concertina bellows do that job for you of course!🌝🌝

Welcome, I think you picked the right forum ( in my opinion). I started on here a little while back and have not regretted it ( I also have my late father's button accordion as well as concertina, and lately a Chalumeau).. so there is a mix of folk on here. All different backgrounds, views, and character ( as you will find out)😊😊

I was wondering if sometimes the reeds would be tuned to different note; if diatonic instrument were to be used ( one note in other out)?

Yes, there can be a lot of twiddle on those sites. The You tube ..has also had reputation for eg. Our Aunty Fran's cat playing with Percy parrot type silly things! But there again you can make them interesting too; as many here link videos to c.net from tube channels, which I suppose is better.