Tootler

I bought my copy of the original Penguin book some years ago second hand on a trip to Hay-on-Wye. It is a 1961 reprint but the original copyright date is 1959. It was £9.00 when I bought it, quite a lot for a second hand paperback at the time, but it has been worth every penny. It's getting a little dog eared now, so I have been thinking about getting the EFDSS "upgrade" and I can then retire the original to my bookshelf so it doesn't deteriorate any more and have a newer one to refer to for music and song texts. Malcolm Douglass's extra notes should make it worthwhile. The New Penguin book is excellent, by the way. An invaluable reference with excellent notes.

I agree with part of what you say here John but the statement "sight-reading is different for each instrument" is way off the mark. Sight reading is exactly the same unless you learn to play an instrument that's notated in a different clef ( a cello for example) or you move from a melody only instrument (recorder or trumpet perhaps) to something multi-timbrel like a concertina that can play a fistful of notes as a chord , that does require different sight reading skills. Once you've learned to read music and you have a reasonable understanding of musical theory you never have to relearn that, the skills are wholly transferable. I understand what you are saying about teaching your body to have a reflex reaction that's relative to the instrument you are playing but just like driving a vehicle, left and right and up and down are the same so it doesn't matter if you are driving a bus or flying a jumbo jet, the basic rules apply so the new skills you learn are entirely linked to the specifics of an object you are unfamiliar with. Reading music is worth persevering with as it opens new horizons, in the meantime I'm trying really hard to learn the skills of playing by ear! Pete. I don't entirely agree with you on this. It's true that sight reading is a transferable skill in the respect that the actual notation is the same regardless of the instrument. However, sight reading a part on different instruments is not the same. I can pick up a piece of music and sight read it on a recorder as a member of a group of musicians with a reasonable degree of confidence because my fingers know where to go more or less automatically. The same is not true of the concertina, though I know where most of the notes are, I cannot yet place my fingers with confidence and up to tempo when I am playing with other musicians because I have not yet got to that automatic stage with the concertina. Yes you can pick up a sheet of music, read it and know what the notes are, but to play it on different instruments takes time because you need to develop muscle memory and that is specific to each instrument or at least type of instrument.

I play bass recorder which is written in bass clef. When I was learning bass clef, I got a selection of traditional tunes and transposed them into bass clef (computer notation software useful here) and played them from the notation in bass clef. As I was already fairly familiar with most of the tunes, I could concentrate on the fingering of the instrument and associating with the position of the notes on the stave. Once I had done that, I bought a book of solos for bass recorder, most of which were arrangements of well known orchestral pieces. Once I was reasonably confident, I started playing bass with the recorder group I belong to. I'm sure a similar approach would work for your concertina.

Roadworks have redirected your taxi to Holloway Road in the badlands of North London. -- Revenge of the Androids

An Olympian move to Stratford

Good move - leads me nicely to Ruislip Gardens for a spot of tea. Which puts me in a bit of a tight spot so I shall have to Elephant and Castle you

Started on recorder which I still play regularly. Mostly bass and contrabass these days or soprano or tenor for folk music. Dabbled in harmonica as a kid and now take it more seriously. Not really a blues player but give it a bash sometimes. Was given a keyless wooden flute which I play regularly Tried DG Melodeon, still have it but don't play it now Play Anglo Concertina regularly Most recent is ukulele I also sing - which was the reason for the ukulele. I tried singing with the anglo but it was too much rubbing stomach while patting head. Still have a couple of songs I can manage. I'm not sure which is my first instrument. I like them all in rotation Oh, and my daughter's knitted doll likes her anglo as well

I play alongside clarinets, trumpets and saxophones so a Bb/F would be very useful. I'm getting quite familiar with the accidental row on my C/G

I'm also not a facebook member. I simply don't trust it. I don't like its closed model, especially as it is a one way closed model. I'm not a ICA member either but that's just inertia. I simply haven't got a round tuit. Geoff

You play "cross harp". Ask any blues player: you play in G on a C harp and in D on a G harp. Simples I'm the other way round. I choose my harmonicas over my anglo for tune sessions. I mostly use my anglo to accompany singing.

With the sea to your back (watch for high waves rolling in) and river and backpackers on your right walk "up" the road over Spital bridge( Iassume the road bridge is called that) and there is some wide entrance to track/road going off to the left - and into wot looks like trees/allotments growing Fordtransitii and so forth. There are no yellow lines where that meeets the road. The googstreet is so diff to use -- Parking in Whitby is a nightmare at any time of year and when there are popular events on, then it is even worse. Scarborough Borough Council car parking charges are extortionate (and that's being polite) but the car parks still fill up so forget that even if you have the mortgage organised. You have two options. One is to park right outside Whitby and use the bus and the other is to be prepared to walk. You can get parked on the streets but nowhere near the town centre. One year I parked in Sleights which is about five miles from Whitby and used the bus and went to fetch the car after six o'clock when the car parks empty and the charges come off. Otherwise I have parked some distance from the town centre and walked. I can usually get within about 10 minutes walk of the town centre. Don't believe what you see on Google. I found out the hard way. During folk week all those potential spaces you see on the aerial and street views are taken - during the day at least. After six pm, things empty out quite a bit and you can usually move your car to a more convenient location for the evening. I would seriously consider bus or train if the last bus and train to Middlesbrough weren't so early. Geoff

I try to sit straight up with the concertina supported on my knee at a comfortable distance so my arms are in a relaxed position. I have a bit of weakness at the bottom of my back as the result of a fall many years ago and try to ensure when I am sat for any length time that my back is properly supported or I pay for it later. I don't play my concertina much in tune sessions preferring flute/recorder and harmonica for tunes. I mainly sing with my concertina so adopting that position is better for singing as well. I must admit that playing wind instruments, it is easier to hear what you are doing when playing with others, but it's surprising how, after a time, you do get to sense what you are doing. Anyway, you usually know when your fingers are going wrong anyway. Geoff

Leo recently posted a link to this video of Edel Fox playing a set of reels. If you listen, she's playing quite a lot of chords both for emphasis and at times to support the rhythm.

Here's mine: It's about the size of a laptop, maybe a bit thicker. This particular model is made in the UK: http://www.shrutibox.co.uk/ The range is one chromatic octave. Mine is G to G. You can also get them C to C. It's possible to make chord changes during play but you can't make quick changes as you have to open and close the flaps for each note individually. I usually play a I-V drone to accompany either singing or an instrument. It's possible to play it with your feet and play an instrument with both hands - in fact that was how it was being used first time I saw one. The player was playing it with his feet to make a drone to accompany an English Concertina. I usually use it with a harmonica as you can play the harmonica one handed. Like here: Of course you can use it to accompany singing:

Seen it already on YouTube, Geoff. Very nice tune. Chris I hadn't noticed that Leo had picked it up already. Geoff

Here is a slow air by Tom Anderson. Played very simply on my Morse Anglo. I have also put it on You-Tube with added pictures.

One tip I saw somewhere which seems less drastic is to glue one end of a strip of thin plastic to the palm rest where your thumb sits so that the other end rests on the air button. This way you don't need to reach the air button with your thumb, just press on the plastic strip and it will push the air button down. It struck me as a good idea though I never needed to use it as the air button is easily to hand on my Morse Anglo. Geoff

I didn't go to your workshops as I was only there a couple of days but I did enjoy the session you ran last year.

With my much less experience I would agree with the earlier posters about getting a better instrument. I started with an inexpensive instrument and fairly quickly found I wanted (needed ) something better and after trying a few, I got a Morse (C/G admittedly but it suits me) While I find when playing tunes the presses and pulls more or less balance out most of the time, when accompanying myself singing I find not infrequently that I have a lot of pulls and not many pushes because of the harmonies I am using. In that case there is nothing for it but to use the air button and push the bellows back in. I see it as not unlike playing a wind instrument (which I also do) where you have to breath and you need to find a convenient place to do so. I try arrange it so I push the bellows back in at the end of a line of the song where a phrase ends. As a matter of interest, I was following some links someone had posted here to some South African Boermusiek (sp?) and they seem to play mostly on the pull, pushing the bellows back in at the end of every [musical] phrase.

My view of the Anglo as well True, but then you don't blow into a concertina. That's why you have a bellows There's no doubt in my mind, though that these different views of the Anglo will affect your approach to playing it. Geoff

If you mean tune sessions where someone starts and all jump in and play there is not much on Teesside as far as I know - unless someone has been keeping one secret. Plenty of singarounds though and you would be welcome to play tunes at most. I tend to mix it. To add to those already mentioned, there is the White Hart at Mickleby on Saturdays, two folk clubs in Guisborough: the Rugby club on Sundays and the Cricket club on Fridays. Geoff

Which one? Amazing Slow Downer? Transcribe? Speedshifter? More than one of the above? Speedshifter. I tried installing it with Wine. It wouldn't install. I've not tried the others. Geoff Before someone says "It's a Windows Program", Wine lets you install and run Windows programs in Linux. Some work very well, some work with tweaking and others don't work at all. Speedshifter is in the last category.

It's useless if you are a Linux user.

I tried my anglo in sessions a few times but I found I could not really hear myself so I either play harmonica or flute now. I do play in a wind band and I can't always hear myself there unless I get it wrong then suddenly I am aware of my own playing

again that would be another reason why I can't play with others. I notice you didn't respond to the other parts of David's suggestions; Which is pretty much what I was going to suggest. It seems to me that you have got yourself boxed in by insisting in playing in one particular way and seem unwilling to explore other possibilities. Your quiz asked about two possible approaches but there are many ways of approaching anglo concertina as this thread has made clear. Also single note melodies is not a bad way to start playing with others. If others are playing chords then unless you are all playing the same chords it is better not to be playing chords at all, so being able to play melodies between left and right hand is useful. I know both melodeonists and accordionists who will often just play right hand in a session especially if there is a guitarist present. If you genuinely feel that is the case, then it is best to admit it to yourself, sell your concertina and concentrate on your other instruments. No one will think any the worse of you. I came to the same conclusion about the guitar after several attempts and realised it was better to concentrate on instruments that I felt more comfortable with and so would ultimately achieve more.