SIMON GABRIELOW

There's many similar looking instruments with bellows think of the portative organ of medieval period. ( Also featured in paintings of the time).And if you create discordant notes on concertinas.. ( deliberately or otherwise!)..then it is very jarring on the soul ( for certain)!!

Oh, Lachenal ...I fear you have re-opened the proverbial 'can of worms' by continuing this topic..oh dear 😊😃

Oh, Lachenal ...I fear you have re-opened the proverbial 'can of worms' by continuing this topic..oh dear 😊😃

I think you should go with your instincts on this; you have learned a lot from trial and error, already, and they do come in different sizes ( buttons bits and pieces etc)... Here will be different views and advice for you; you can pay a lot of money for a concertina, or less, and opinions different as to which is best. I do not have the very top range, but it has stood me in good stead over couple of decades now, ..mine was nearly 300 ( British pounds) cost back in 1999.. and they are more now if you find them second hand online. Mine is a moden produced steel reeded instrument ( which I prefer).. But that is these days very little cost for one, as they can run into thousands for antique ones! As someone who mainly does visual artwork most of time, it is true to use best materials you can, but also I am aware that you can also achieve a great deal with less expensive gear, and produce worthy results! ..For example, a lead pencil, can make a masterpiece as well as a complete paint pallette( but that is a different matter. You the musician will produce result with what you have at hand, and expensive does not make an artist it is the persona of the one behind the art that truly creates the artistic work.

Cackle cackle cackle.. here! Frogs legs, toads knee caps, and mandrake I do mix here me dear, and thereof give to thee a muse to jest .....😁😁🤔🤔🤔🤔

Every one will have their own recommendations, for you; I have only ever owned two concertinas.. that 20 key one ( GDR made)and then my current Hohner branded Anglo 30 button) made in Italy. So, I haven't shopped around for others for many years actually. I still get technical issues with my one ( with years of use).. but used nearly every day of year it hasn't done badly overall. Watch out for those " too cheap deals".. online, etc.. Others here will have their own favourites too..🌝

Whatever you decide to do you have certainly learned a lot about concertinas by bravely attempting to service it by yourself; which for a beginner is commendable. You may find purchasing a working one will allow you to begin to play it, straight away, rather than worry over the mechanics after all? You may still get a few teething problems with new ones also, but they should work there way out with use.

At this stage I would say do not get too worried about the theory side as it can sound daunting to someone starting out; your obvious enthusiasm will get you through everything with time and practice. Some people play well and cannot even read a note on the page,whilst others read like a book, and cannot play without. The 20 key concertinas often come in different key selections; eg. D and A . Or G and C. One row will be in one key, and the opposite row in one of the other ranges. So you will have instrument in a particular range. If you were to play each note of your instrument ( maybe using another instrument or tuning device, you will be able to find each note, and then find how it is set up. Your enthusiasm is so great to hear and this will get you through. Go at your own pace, and everyone here will help you when they can I am sure🌝.

Yes, on C and G type there should not be that A sharp unless you have made mistake in that fact, it is tuned in different key to C and G; maybe F major? Sometimes they came in different scale options, my , own 20 key one had a chart showing the different key ranges they were made in. I do not have chart now; but maybe if you are right on that note, it could be in different key to how you expect?

I am also a 'straight' man. ( As we have to say these days). And actually have been discriminated against many times, for many unkonwn reasons throughout the years; which I will not go into here. And still do get experiences of discrimination. Needless to say I do not take it but usually resolve the issues by firm response. So yes I have experienced direct ( sometimes horrible )discrimination first hand, against myself personally also, and so I do not like to see others also suffer the same. At least Morris's dancing in all its guises is entertaining and gives pleasure to all, and that is something the world needs more of these days.

I hope it will be alright to include this related instrument [ just this time] on our C. Net forum; because it uses a very special instrument with a great sentimental attachment, and so does possibly rase questions, also to others here, I hope, of their own special instruments they treasure also. The tune is an old one [ "Bonny Bush"] it is called; I copied it down from one of my many books years ago, and have played it on concertina a few times as it is so simple a piece and pleasing to play. [very easy to play]. The instrument is my late Father's C. sharp Hohner accordion. He played it often over his later years [ it was purchased back in 1984 actually].. as something to keep him occupied, and entertained, and although he never really learned to read music, he did play a selection of his own invented pieces, some recognisable, some made up very full of energy, and cheerful [ and quite loud too!].. Jozef [ my Father] had quite a tragic harrowing series of wartime experience in his lifetime, he was born in Poland, and came over to UK in 1948; at first he went to Scotland [ forestry work] and the he moved down the country where lived rest of his life in York here [ UK.] He eventually became a Charge Nurse at a regional Hospital [ overseeing and helping people in psychiatric conditions]. After he went on his way - I was left with accordion to master myself, and I did over time, began to play it; and as the button method is similar to my Anglo concertina [ just bigger size] I gradually began to play it better. [It has a similar in and out note producing method as Anglo]. My Father recorded himself playing it on a tape years ago - but I never recorded playing it myself over two decades after inheriting it; until now.. It is a C sharp Accordion [ Hohner] I only had it serviced once in nearly 40 years of it being played; and although I have played it hundreds of times in that 20 years since, I never had heard it played back on audio or video. [ never in twenty years]! What memories can be encapsulated in objects, particularly that produce musical sound. So, here it is first day if me playing it on video with audio. Bonny Bush [ with some cheeky additional variations made up on the cuff!] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPbpSZRwQmA

I know others will give you great advice soon; but give yourself time to develop your new found skills. Sensitivity on loud and quiet is combination of bellows pressure, and other things which you will get, with practice. I have found different acoustics in each space you practice within can make sound louder or quieter also. Less pressure on bellows; quieter and more pressure; louder sound.

Bless you my son!☺️

Very eccentric and different [ does it pay out cash/money if you get all the 'cherries' lined up?]

Thanks for the compliments, as it is such an odd subject matter ( man within amoeba) I was not sure what anyone would make of it at all. And it only went on here through discussion of Tarnigade ( microscopic creatures) to begin with..😊 Although it was already written years before🌝

No one should have to apologise for being themselves; white, pink, green, or any other tone. I think hat these days there can be too much 'hyper-senstivity' to how we are; instead of accepting differences are what makes the world interesting.

I spent years transposing music o use for my 30 key Anglo.. most of which was from flute or recorder music. There is no reason why you cannot adapt music intended for other instruments for concertina.. it is, after all, notes in a box, and capable of playing all types of music.

I have seen Morris dancing in York years ago. (when it was a more cultured place)! And people watching seemed a mixture of amused and same time also bemused by the extraordinary process involved. It is such an eccentric mixture of typically British character; steeped in distant symbolism and rights 😊😊

The only software produced part is the printed manuscript lines ( staves) on the paper; the rest is hand drawing and or painted. The musical notes are also drawn using only a ruler and light-fast pigment pens; no more than that. I started years ago by copying music by hand, and so became quite neat In the process from hands-on writing. Since I recently got some actual metal manuscript nibs recently I may use these sometimes later on ( for other unusual layout on pages).

Here it is - the eternally popular Waltz by Mr. Strauss [ the 2nd] I Put the second in numerals [2nd] as this on-screen typeface has no serif so it can tend to look like eleven on screen]. Vienna Life Waltz - with its elegant rhythm, and melody. I always admired Strauss waltzes, as they seem to be more, to me than just a dance music, more orchestral in the real sense of the word. My own little attempt I added accompanying chords as I felt needed as I went along, and enhanced the sound with the mildest echo, as the small room I do the tunes in is small and has no acoustic really at all. So here it is...

Thank you Sandra, of course in those. 24 years I have had to overcome problems also; and still need to adjust things here and there, even now I recently made my own spring to replace a weak one inside for example. ( Out of piano wire)! They ( concertinas)..all have their own character; likes and dislikes, but give great pleasure to musician. ( And hopefully, audience too!😊)..?

My own Hohner branded concertina has felt like valve flaps not plastic, and they seem fine ( over 24 years of use anyway)!

Like that tune; and the two little doggies too🌝 are they called also . "Fiddle trump, and Bordhran?😊

Yes, my own Hohner concertina ( bought in 1999) but possibly a year or two earlier than that in construction..would have been made by the then Brunna Musica I think, in Italy, which the new company has developed from.

Maybe you should by a basic new concertina that is working,straight out of the box, enough to start trying it out at the least, and you can still learn the ropes of repair at same time on your other ones? I cannot vouch for which make at budget price, as some can be quite basic, but maybe for temporary need it could get you going for now? Particularly if it is short term need.🌝🌝