sidesqueeze

I bought a Rochelle to keep as a beater or an emergency backup to my better anglos. It's more difficult to play, of course. The action is stiff, but you can still get a lot out of it and you can learn lots of tunes with it. Enjoy!

OK, this is too good to miss. Does anyone have information about nearby lodgings? It's always fun to stay where the teachers are staying! Wondering if I'll need to rent a car for the week.

Good point, sqzbxr. Having thought it over, I've decided to go!

This will be a rare opportunity to study with Gearóid, who has said in the past that he has retired from teaching in workshops. If I had seen the posting earlier, I would have flown out from Los Angeles to participate!

Gary, I'm looking forward to your book. Would you tease us a little with lyrics to The Empty Sleeve? Thanks, Ken

I started with a nice Lachenal anglo, and began practicing regularly for at least 30 minutes every day. After a year or so, I thought it might be nice to have a cheaper "beater" around, so I bought a Rochelle for $300.00. I continued my practice routine on the Rochelle when it arrived. After about a week, I developed chest pain. Within a couple of days I realized it was not cardiac in nature, but it was from the strain of playing the stiffer concertina! I had a scheduled physical exam and I had decided not to mention it to my physician. When he put his stethoscope to my sternum, I winced and he gave me a deep, questioning look. So I told him the story and he agreed that it was just costochondritis, and recommended Ibuprofen, Tylenol, and Lachenal!!!

That's a great quote, and very appropriate. You can't take it all in, but you won't come home thirsty!

It's beautiful! Also, the placement of the 4 extra buttons seems optimal! Could you post the button layout for us?

Ouch, sorry to have missed this. A friend has asked me to watch for one.

Kevin, these are important questions. I've been chastised for not being punchy enough by other Irish anglo players, and yet I've sat through master classes where I was told that too many bellows changes will wear out your bellows! I didn't actually believe that, but the message from that player was to try to string more of the notes together. After workshops with half a dozen great and well known players, I've cut my phrases back just a bit so that the bellows are not opening quite as wide.

Oh, bad choice! Much better would be "D" for "depress bellows" and "D" for "draw bellows out". "S" for 'squeeze air out of the bellows,' "S" for 'suck air into the bellows.' Thanks for the great chart, Gary!

Agree with RatFace - you have to learn the rest of it! Jazzy variations can come later.

Bill, I'll plan to be there too. They like reels, and they like long sets of tunes! Ken

I'd buy it in a second, if I didn't already have one! Consider this as an endorsement

Great book, Gary! I ordered from Amazon and it arrived yesterday, in less than 24 hours from when I placed the order! It will give me somethong fun to do at the Xmas gathering with the in laws this year. Ken ps what's this about a Hawaiian domicile?? I did notice the shirt on your youtube videos!

LA, Long Beach, and San Diego have Irish sessions that are concertina friendly. Look for them at The Session website.

I'd agree that the 26 button is a great deal. Some of those old 26b Lachenals are high quality and low price! The other 4 buttons are rarely used by most of us! Rochelle is OK, but a bit stiff so difficult to play smoothly and quickly. Best wishes!

Thank you, Ben!

I have a possibility of gettng Wheatstone #59152, which is descibed (by non-players) as being a 40 button Anglo with 7 fold bellows. Can someone advise me of the year it was made, or any other details? I wasn't paying attention when similar issues were discussed in the past. Thanks, Ken

We all have different levels of tolerance for dissonance. Our harmonic system moves between harmony and discord with our chord changes. When that dominant seventh chord resolves to the tonic, peace and harmony return. It's the changing degrees of tension within tunes that keeps then interesting! The dominant seventh chord includes a tri-tone (the devil's interval!) within it. In a theory class, we were asked to rate the degree of dissonance between all of the possible intervals within an octave. The only unanimous agreement was that the two notes of a minor second (c and c#) when sounded together were the most harsh, even worse than the tri-tone.

In the heat of a good session, the red W on my chest will actually bleed and soak through my shirt, exposing my shame ...

I think of it as the electronic version of having a tattoo.

LOL!! My wife was victimized by this a couple of years ago. I didn't get the request, but her friends were told that she was stranded in Scotland after a robbery. One sweet lady sent a thousand dollars to a PO box there (without contacting me first). I heard about it from a long list of our friends who were asking if it was true.

That's a strange arrangement of buttons! Has anyone seen this arrangement before?

That's amazing! Can anyone help me find a picture of the Lachenal with piano keyboard? There's a local ophthalmologist who plays piano accordian and swears that in his world travels, he has seen a concertina with a piano keyboard. Thanks for any help - Ken