Tootler

That worked fine. Thanks for putting it right. Nice arrangement. I liked the quotation from the French carol at the end.

Daria, there's something wrong with your link. When I try it from your original post, it takes me to my own Soundcloud page. When I try from the reply immediately below, Soundcloud says it can't find the link.

My first concertina was a 30b Hohner Anglo which I bought on eBay for about 150 pounds. It had been little used and was a perfectly good instrument to get started on but the mechanism was not very good and buttons started jamming so I went to the Music Room in Cleckheaton and after trying out what they had in stock, chose a Morse Anglo in CG which is what I have now. About the same time I found a book in a music shop called "Piping Hot" which was really a tune book for Northumbrian Pipes with a keyless chanter so all the tunes were in the range G - g but it had a great selection of tunes suitable for a beginner. That together with the Mick Bramich tutor book is what I started with. I tried the Bertram Levy Tutor but I never really took to the chords left hand, melody right hand technique so I am mainly a melody player for tunes though I do use harmony for accompanying singing. Piping Hot has a great selection of tunes and here is Hector the Hero by J Scott Skinner (transposed to G). Mainly just melody but with chords at the end of phrases.

This was one I was hoping to do last month for tunes in 3 but it fits equally well this month. Minuet from Berenice by Handel - from one of his operas. I have an arrangement for recorder and piano but I was not successful in adapting the accompaniment so in the end, I have just uploaded the melody line. I ran out of time when recording earlier this evening so when I get time, I will probably add the bass line with my bass recorder and re-upload it.

Very tardy of me but thanks for your kind comments, Wolf.

For a theme of the month how about slow airs. Playing slow tunes well is not easy.

Something else I forgot to say. I play anglo and I'm mostly a melody player (but not ITM). I appreciate the ability of the concertina to play harmony but I started as a wind player so tend to think first of melody and I think it's a pity that melody players do not contribute more as playing a melody well is a skill in its own right and should be encouraged.

I like tune/theme of the month as it's a way of getting me to play my concertina more as I have neglected it in recent times. I have some personal observations. I participate in similar activities on two other websites and both operate slightly differently. One has a weekly theme. A different (volunteer) hosts each week and he/she sets the theme and participants submit songs within the theme. It is very active and is getting around 100 contributions each week. It has reached a critical mass where it is also a social site and there is a lot of discussion, banter etc. goes on and has a very friendly atmosphere. It is based on uploading to You Tube and the host sets up a play list of all submissions for the week. Most do a "talking heads" video but some are more creative. The other operates in a way similar to TOTM but on a two monthly cycle. Suggestions for themes are made and there is a poll where two themes are chosen for each two month period. Both are based on themes rather than single tunes and I like that idea. My personal preference here is for the Theme of the Month as it gives some flexibility in choice of what to submit and it makes it a little easier to contribute regularly because if you don't particularly like the choice of tune for the month you are unlikely to participate that month. Be that as it may I actually think that having both is a good idea and worth keeping going. One other observation is feedback. Both the sites I referred to operate a "comment and be commented" principle. This is explicitly stated in one of them. I think feedback on posts is very important, otherwise participants feel their efforts are being ignored and get dispirited. However feedback needs to be constructive and it needs to have something positive to say in it otherwise you are liable to upset people. This is especially true on these forums as you cannot see the person's body language or hear their tone of voice so it's much easier to misunderstand someone and take offence when none was intended. My thoughts for what they are worth.

Not the tune I originally planned (still ongoing) but here's a lute song but done with concertina. Never Weather Beaten Sail Written by Thomas Campion and first published in 1613. I've accompanied myself on my Morse CG Anglo.

Sorry, I've been a bit slow answering. I use Open Shot. Fairly basic but easy to use & with reasonable set of transitions. I'm gradually finding there is more to it than I first thought.

Good theme as far as I'm concerned. I had a tune I wanted to do for tunes in 3 but circumstances meant I didn't get round to it. It will fit this month's theme just as well so maybe I'll be able to get it done.

I have a multi track recorder for audio this enables me to overdub should I wish and I did it for one tune of the month upload here adding a ukulele accompaniment to the melody on the concertina. I take part in a similar activity with the Ukulele Underground forum. Theirs is based on uploading to You Tube and I mostly record video in parallel with the audio and synchronise the files in my video editor. I have made slide shows as well and it's straightforward. My computer runs Linux so I use a Linux video editor but I have used Windows Movie Maker in the past to make slideshows with audio and I've also added a music track over a video of my granddaughter and it's straightforward. In both cases you simply dragged the slides on to the timeline and dragged them out to the length you want. The audio is added as a separate track. I usually put the audio in first then add the slides to the length of the audio file. There are fades and other transition effects available to smooth the transition from one slide to the next. From what I hear from Mac users iMovie is also straightforward.

I have an account with alonetone: http://alonetone.com/ My account is http://alonetone.com/tootlingeoff. There doesn't seem to be a limit on number of files you can upload and the allowance for individual uploads is pretty generous. A 3 minute 320 kbps mp3 is well within their single upload limit. I haven't used it much to date as I am still fairly well within my limit for soundcloud and you can upload files in lossless formats to soundcloud. I also use You Tube. I take part in a similar activity on the Ukulele Underground forum and that is based on submitting You Tube videos. The advantage of You Tube is you are effectively permitted unlimited uploads.

Typo. I meant wind band Edit. I did say wind band. The typo was Rod's As you said; clarinets, saxophones, various brass, flutes etc. I play off flute/violin parts so octave transpositions are sometimes needed. It's a good way of learning your instrument and quite challenging at times but I enjoy it.

That's what I"m doing, but my brain is resisting! I eventually got round to having a look at it. I'm not up to speed but have managed to sort out most of my fingering. I play the B part largely on the C row but use the push A/pull G button to play the Bb - A in the first bar. In the third bar where the main problem lies, imo, I play mostly on the C row but cross my middle finger over the index finger to play the two Bb's I use a similar technique for the C# in the 5th bar if playing down the octave. If playing up the octave in that bar, my Morse Anglo has the two buttons C#/Eb and Eb/C# so I would use whichever makes for the easiest fingering. Another possibility is playing the Gs and As on the G row which I suspect is what Blue Jack meant. I play my concertina in a wind band and often have to play in F & Bb so am quite used to jumping around a bit. I find the A/G button on the accidental row very useful and also crossing over with fingers to access accidentals which would otherwise mean fingering two successive buttons with the same finger. I do find, however that it is sometimes easier to slide a finger from the accidental to the C row. I realise that a Bb/F Anglo would be easier for those keys but the price of concertinas these days means I have to live with what I have. If I knew how I would have ended up using my concertina I might have considered and English more seriously but coming from Harmonica the Anglo was more instinctive for me and, anyway, I really like my Anglo.

Here are ABCs from melodeon.net. I'm interested in seeing how other Anglo players approach fingering the B part, in particular. X:117 T:Sylvia's Serenade M:3/2 Q:1/2=100 K:C D2 AG F2 A2 F2 D2|A2 dc B2 e2 ^c2 A2|f4 e4 d4|e2 gf ef ed ^c2 A2| D2 AG F2 A2 F2 D2|A2 dc B2 e2 ^c2 A2|f4 e4 d4|e2 gf ef ed d4:| K:F |:A2 cB A2 c2 A2 F2|Ac fc Ac fc {A}BF|G2 BA G2 B2 G2 E2|F2 AG F2 A2 F2 E2| f2 ef gf ed ^c2 A2|a3 g f2 e2 .d4|BA GF EF ED D4:| Thanks. I'll try and take a look at it over the weekend. Geoff

Interesting tune. Have you an abc and I'll see if I can give it a go. Geoff

I liked that one Wolf. I got the drift of the song even though I only speak just enough German to order a beer There are odd bits that are not unlike the dialect in this part of England.

Here are two airs in 3/4 time that I wrote. Both celebrating the North York Moors near where I live. Cleveland Hills I wrote about 10 years ago. The Road Across the Moor I wrote last year. I usually play them on flute or recorder but I have recorded both here on my Morse CG Anglo, Melody only. Airs need to be played slowly. It is hard sometimes to play slowly enough while maintaining musicality but is well worth the effort. I get frustrated in sessions when people insist on playing airs far too quickly.

I give up. Who wrote it? Yes, the definition of 'hornpipe' is changing, and this one is very .... hornpipey. Which I like. Purcell. A recorder group I belong to play it.

<snip> ... another has uke accompaniment (double track, or another person?). Just me, I'm afraid. Double tracked.

I was looking in the "Hardcore English" tune book for some 48 bar tunes as our band needed some more and I found this one. The Swan Morse CG Anglo with ukulele accompaniment.

What you did sounds good to me. I liked it

Thanks Wolf, I do the sort of thing you suggest for song accompaniment and I had a bit of a look at doing it with this but it was going to take more time than I really had. Apart from that I wanted to try the drone and I feel it worked. With an anglo, I just could not have provided the continuous drone tone with the need to change bellows direction for the notes of the tune. My shruti box is an acoustic one and has a double bellows arrangement which provides a continuous airflow over the reeds. I have a multi track recorder so adding extra instruments on a recording is not a problem. I liked this. I liked the way you used arpeggios for the harmony so it kept a nice balance between melody and accompaniment. If you are going to multi track, to keep everything in time, it's worth learning to play to a metronome and having a metronome "tick" (known as a "click track") playing through headphones while you are recording to keep everything in time. Once you have a couple of parts recorded, you might be able to dispense with the click track and use the existing parts to keep you in time.

I've been away from this board for some time and also neglected my concertina for a time but have come back to it. Here is my shot at Michael Turner's Waltz. It's played melody only on a Morse 30 button C/G Anglo. I first learnt this tune in a more elaborate version so I have started from the basic Mozart and then added the more elaborated version as a variation going back to the basic tune at the end. I normally play my Anglo melody only but I noticed in the score for the original that the horns were playing what more or less amounts to a drone through much of the piece (G in the 'A' and D then G in the 'B' so I added a DG drone from my shruti box to the basic melody. https://soundcloud.com/tootlingeoff/michael-turners-waltz