Charles_Mackay
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Posts posted by Charles_Mackay
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Juliette,
This compliation of pieces for your CD sounds an excellent mixture. Can you let all of us on CNet know when it will be available and where from, please? I thought the piece "L'enfant demon" was beautiful.
Bonne chance pour l'avenir,
Charles Mackay
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I started off with a 20 key Anglo, then went to 30 key Anglo (C/G) for the accidentals, but gave both of them up for a 48 key English after 6 months, as the English can play in any key whereas this is significantly more difficult on an Anglo. I've been playing my English concertina for 2+ years now and wouldn't go back to a diatonic instrument. I did however migrate from the mouth organ myself and found myself breathing in and out to the same notes as the mouth organ and thought I'd explode!! - going for the English quickly broke me of the habit.
I guess it comes down to preference and intended repertoire. My guess is English would be better for versatility, but the key signatures of traditional (folk) music lend themselves a bit to the Anglo, though they can played on both.
Charles Mackay
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If you live in Denmark the Concertina Connection in Helmond, Netherlands isn't too far away. Barleycorn concertinas in Stoke on Trent is also a first rate source if you are in the UK. Not sure where in say Glasgow or Edinburgh you'd buy a concertina. Best way is to try it first. I had an Anglo for a year but converted to English, which is more versatile and you can play in whatever key is needed.
'What shall we do with a drunken sailor' would be easier on an English than Anglo if that's any help.
Charles Mackay
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Sounds like a good idea. Teachers of the EC are thin on the ground. Would be a good idea if someone did a DVD , like you can more easily find for the Anglo players.
Hope the podcast takeup is good.
Charles Mackay
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Hi All,
I also have one of Roy's MIDI English Concertinas and had the good fortune to hear John play his on the 28th of February. I really like versatility of my MIDI Lachenal.
For me, it is a pleasure to be able to choose an instrument voice best fitting what I want to play. Not only that but being able to switch from treble to piccolo, baritone or bass ranges is quite an advantage as you can pick the range best fitting the instrument voice you choose.
For those seeking the concertina sound from a MIDI instrument this can be can solved if you use your PC sound card and load your PC up with a suitable SoundFont. I recall some postings on this from last year on this. Searching on 'SoundFont' within C.net will probably get you to those postings.
Regards,
Charles Mackay
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Scams often have suggested payment methods other than PayPal so beware!
Charles Mackay
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'Di Provenza' is one of my favourites too. I guess it would sound good on a baritone concertina. If any of you folks get the chance to hear the Amercian baritone singer Thomas Hampson sing it you'll be impressed with that too. This therefore begs the question of how it would sound as a song with concertina accompaniment.
Charles Mackay
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Hi,
You could try speaking to Chris Algar of Barleycorn Concertinas. He will give you good, unbiased advice and he also carries a good stock of both English and Anglo instruments. It really depends what kind of music you want to play. For good instrument tone it may be better to buy a vintage instrument, which will have better resale value than the less expensive accordion reeded instrments, if you decide to change your mind later.
Charles Mackay
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The Concertina SoundFont works fine in Windows XP and sounds great. Well done Phil Taylor!
Charles or anyone else who has been successful.
What the heck do I do with this Concertina.sit file to make it work in a MS Windows OS
I would rbe great if I could get Tune-O-Tron to play a concertina instead of a piano
Ian
Ian,
The *.sit means the file archive has been compressed with a program called Stuffit. You can get a hold of Stuffit from the following website: http://www.stuffit.com/win/index.html
and the price is quite reasonable.
Then when you install the Stuffit program the concertina.sit file will have an icon like a parcel. Click on it and it will expand the archive and then you can choose which directory the SoundFont then lives in. Load the concertina SoundFont and piano music will be played on a concertina MIDI selection, unload it and piano music MIDI files will revert to the piano sound.
Please drop me an e-mail to let me know which version of Windows you are using and whether you are using a Soundblaster card and I may be able to give you more precise instructions. I have a Soundablaster Audigy card and am running Windows XP if that's any help.
Regards,
Charles
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I am now the proud owner of Whiteley MIDI English No 4, formerly Lachenal 26736. Good bellows feel and the advantages of switching between treble and baritone ranges in an instant hardly need stating. Octave and instrument voice switching is very easy, all in all a very novel invention.
Roy did a really nice job with this, both from a technical and aesthetic angle and he gives good, patient, advice on options like playing via a PC, MIDI expander or MIDI keyboard, so I came away confident I could make good choices on these options. For now I am using my PC as the amplifier with a USB MIDI connection.
Charles Mackay
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The Concertina SoundFont works fine in Windows XP and sounds great. Well done Phil Taylor!
It replaces the first 3 piano sounds in General MIDI, with concertina, octave concertina (like double reeded South African Anglos) and accordion, when the Concertina Sound font is loaded
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I assume this means you liked it. I've always been better at understanding words than smilies.
I, too, have been very happy with the quality of the Concertina Sound Font. It is the default sound on my copy of BarFly (when I notate a tune in abc, I hear it on Phil's concertina).
I don't know if the Mac sound fonts work on Windows PCs either, but it would certainly be interesting to see if the MIDI concertina develops in a manner akin to the Roland V accordion, where a selection of sampled sounds could replicate treble, baritone and bass concertinas at the flick of a switch. Even better with the added sophistication of making the sound characteristics of steel versus wooden ends, steel versus brass reeds, Lachenal vs Wheatstone timbre etc.
Charles Mackay
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Hi Robin,
In the 2+ years I've had my EC it's about evens. I don't think there's any rhyme or reason to which need attention more frequently. Maybe some more experienced player will tell you different however.
Regards,
Charles Mackay
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I mentioned at the start of this thread that I had played "around" with english for a number of years before finding an anglo and deciding to really work on Irish music.
I have fallen in love again with english concertina and am working harder than ever at it. Marvelous, logical instrument!
But I must confess that I have really come to appreciate what a special instrument the anglo concertina can be. In playing dance music the instrument and its bellows movement takes on a life of its own. Almost like holding your heart in your hands and...yes, keeping the beat.
I remember the first six months of practice and how it was almost impossible to separate my own breathing from the bellows movement. Now the challenge is to allow the instrument to pulse with the accents of the music in moving the dancers along.
Great instrument! Why didn't I do more of this 20 years ago!
Greg
Greg,
I can identify with the breathing thing. I played the harmonica (still do) for 25+ years before buying my first anglo (now play English) and I thought I was going to explode at one point! Took me 3 weeks to break the connection, breathing in with the pull, and out with the push notes!
Charles
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My first tune was 'Santa Lucia' on a C/G 20 key Stagi Anglo. Why? - because I really like the song. Only needs one accidental F#.
Since gravitated to a 48 key English (Wheatstone) and love the versatility of the English system.
Charles Mackay
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I assume this means you liked it. I've always been better at understanding words than smilies.
I, too, have been very happy with the quality of the Concertina Sound Font. It is the default sound on my copy of BarFly (when I notate a tune in abc, I hear it on Phil's concertina).
I don't know if the Mac sound fonts work on Windows PCs either, but it would certainly be interesting to see if the MIDI concertina develops in a manner akin to the Roland V accordion, where a selection of sampled sounds could replicate treble, baritone and bass concertinas at the flick of a switch. Even better with the added sophistication of making the sound characteristics of steel versus wooden ends, steel versus brass reeds, Lachenal vs Wheatstone timbre etc.
Charles Mackay
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I started out with a 20 button anglo, bought a 30 button anglo 2 months later and have been playing an English since 6 months after that (2 years now). I started out with the anglo because the in/out diatonic system was familiar to me from playing the harmonica. The weirdest thing was I was conditioned to breathing in and out according to the direction of the bellows. I managed to break myself of that unfortunate habit after about 2 weeks, otherwise I would have probably exploded - messy!
I like the versatility of the English not least as the chords/harmonic possiblities are greater. If you buy a vintage instrument of either type, you'll get a better deal on resale price if you decide the concertina is not for you.
Good luck with whatever you choose.
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Sounds like an Anglo concertina to me - nice tone.
Charles Mackay
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Hi All,
I find a 72 -100 dpi scan is generally fine for on-screen display of photographs. (My other hobby). If using JPEG format you can compress the image up to 32 times without significant loss in image quality. A 7" x 5 " photo will generally compress to 50-80 Kb doing this. Higher resolution is only needed for showing detailed pictures (like the insides of a concertina magnified).
Hope this helps,
Charles
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Nice thought on NAA Jim,
I guess energy dispersive XRF, using an X-ray microprobe with the reed sitting on a sample plug in a scanning electron microscope would do it as well, but I guess this is now drifting a bit away from the musical aspects. This too would be non destructive, but wouldn't pick up carbon or oxygen, but there shouldn't be very much of either in brass or steel.
Charles
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For those curious about the composition of brass reeds this would probably be quite easily solved if they were sent for elemental analysis by ICP emission spectrometry or X-ray fluorescence. Most university Chemistry departments with decent inorganic analysis capability should be able to do this, or alternatively, I suspect that certain of the Public Analyst services in the UK could do it. I feel almost certain that the Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC) (in the UK) would have this capability.
Carbon content in steel reeds might be a bit trickier though.
Problem is both cases is that it would require sacrificing a reed since good quantitative analysis is more readily done in solution. If anyone knows a better way please say.
And then there's the cost aspect........not huge but not trivial.
Charles Mackay
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Depends what sort of sum you are prepared to pay but I would have thought £750 or the $ equivalent would get a reasonable starting instrument, and good dealers may well offer buy-back/trade-in if you trade up later from the same dealer. (I assume you are thinking of a treble as opposed to a baritone instrument)
I'd guess you could get a second-hand Stagi 48 key English for about ½ of the above price, depending on what your budget is, if you don't want a large outlay.
£1000-£1500 should get you a fairly good steel reeded treble instrument. Steel ended concertinas are louder, but wooden ended ones have a more mellow tone. Basically it depends what sound you like best.
Hope this is of some help. Best thing is to visit a dealer with a reasonably good stock and try out a few instruments in your price range.
Regards,
Charles
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Anybody tried Neapolitan songs like Dicitencello vuje, Santa Lucia, Core 'ngrato? They sound fine to my ear as do Salut d'amour and Chanson de matin by Elgar.
The Aria from Bachianas Brasileiras No 5 by Villa-Lobos (originally scored for soprano and 8 cellos) is good too. On a 'note' closer to (my) home the Scottish tunes 'The Dark Island' and 'Flower of Scotland' are also worth a go.
Charles Mackay
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I got some spares very quickly from David (Leese) and he was very patient with a newcomer to the instrument like me and took the time explain things thoroughly before I placed my order. I have now replaced my first pad on my Wheatstone English - succesfully!! The photos on his website of the parts are a big help too.
Charles Mackay
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From Angle To English Newbie Question And Commentary.
in General Concertina Discussion
Posted
Hi,
I started out with a 20 key anglo, moved to 30 key (both Stagi) and then moved to a 48 key Wheatstone English treble. If you are needing to be a little careful with cost, a vintage Lachenal may be a bit less expensive than a Wheatstone. The one piece of advice I would suggest is that you buy from a reputable music shop or concertina dealer, preferably one you can visit.
The advantage of the EC over the Anglo is that you are not limited by key signatures and if you are also thinking or chord accompaniment to songs, all manner of chords, major, minor diminished etc are possible on the EC, but not necessarily on the Anglo.
Good luck,
Charles Mackay