Alan Caffrey

Morrison's jig is a great tune; I'm looking for help on how I might play it. I'm looking at the Comhaltas tune book and the first barre is a long E followed by a long B both notes marked with snakey squiggly line above them: this is repeated twice more in the first part of the tune. How might you play this on concertina? I live in the heart of Arkansas and I have no one else to ask! Help appreciated. Alan.

Thank you very much! A really fun tune - I knew I had heard it before. Alan.

Hello all, here's a link to lovely u-tube clip; Iwondered what the tune was called? Best wishes , Alan

Hello all, I have a friend who brings a stand-up bass to session; and recently a young lady has brought an acoustic bass which she sometimes plays through an amp. Now the first person, the stand-up bass, assures me that the first picture in existance of a session (Irish) shows a bass player (stand-up) in situ. Do bass players, either kind, have claim on being trad instruments? Alan.

Hello all, quick question on hand rest position, and when I say position to be specific I'm talking about anglo, up and down adjustment; as in, if it were sitting on your knee, north, south, up and down adjustment, not nearer or further from the buttons. And, further more, really the left hand side. My right hand is fine - I reach all the buttons I need without difficulty; but on the left it feels like I could really move the rest south and reach the lower notes more easily, and not miss hit them so often. That adjustment (North, South), does anyone else have different placement of their handrests on the left and right sides of their instrument? Discuss. Alan Caffrey.

This is what I've done: took the pad off and gently reemed out the hole the pin goes into. Question: I have a new pad and washer, what kind of glue should I use to fix pad, washer and leather stirp together? Thanks to all for your help, Alan.

The former: it sticks down leaving a note playing. Alan.

Yes, excuse me - I actually meant 'remove the pivot post' - I realize dismantling the lever from the pivot post might be a disaster. Alan.

It 's sticking with the grill off; I removed the spring and added a little tension and the spring seems to be in good shape - extra tension didn't help much. I guess I need to remove the lever: I've done that on a dipper before - is it the same process on the Jeffries? It really does appear to be sticking in the hole, I guess we'll find out if I pull the lever. Sorry! No pics, I'm a techno numbskull I'm afraid. Thanks, Alan.

I have a Jeffries C/G anglo with a sticking button - it's the B/C first button middle row on the right side. I took the cover off and it appears that the button is physically getting stuck in the hole, not everytime it's played but frequently. I don't want to start pulling leavers out until I know what I'm getting into - I don't even know what's on the bottom end of the button or what's in the hole. Can anyone walk me through this repair? Best wishes, Alan Caffrey.

Hello all, simple question here, how is the tile of the jig Gillian's Apples pronounced? I live in an isolated part of the States so have no one to ask here. I have an Aunt Gillian in Britain and her name is said the same as Jillian; so Gillian' Apples, is it Jill.. or Gill.. (as in fish gill) ? Best Wishes, Alan.

Nice pics. Question, the 'mini Dipper' that is shown has black buttons - they look like delrin (I think that's the name of the material), but I thought Colin used delrin for button cores but usually capped them. Are they plain delrin? It would seem odd to make such lovely end plates and put delrin buttons in. Alan.

hello to all. I was just curious about the title of this reel (which has another name too, which I don't recall off hand): 'three scones of boxty'. "Scones', 'Boxty', what are these? Thanks, Alan.

I have to say I don't begrudge any of the great concertina makers making a good living; these are skilled craftsmen and most of them are in Europe so their prices, looking from the west side of the Atlantic are very high, but that's related to the weak USA $. They SHOULD be wealthy men, they have a great skill, they stuck to their craft through thin times and I'm very glad for them that the revival in trad music is going to feather their nests for their later years. They absolutely deserve it! Yea Dippers! Yea Wheatstone! Yea everyone else making a good concertina! But of course they are not really 'rich' even now. Alan.

I agree with everything Richard says. Also, what ever I pay for an instrument really doesn't matter so much as they are a good investment. I could sell my Dipper now (it's not for sale!) for much more than I paid for it three years ago. So really I get to play it for free, and someday my kids will sell it and probably get a very good return on my initial investment. That's how I explain it to my wife anyway!! Alan Caffrey.

I guess I should have said, about $200 for the DM20. Alan.

A techno friend put me onto the olympus DM20, which is a small dictation type recorder. At it's best recording level, with built in mic, it will record about 8 hours high quality onto solid state memory - no tapes or discs. Downloading to the computor was easy even for me. Sound is excellent. It records more than 20 hours with lower quality sound. File management is a breeze, this is one of the best things about the DM20. You can also download music to it ipod like. The only catch is I'll probably need to take my laptop along to workshops to download to, as I wnt to use the high level record quality for all my recordings. Alan CAffrey.

Thanks to all for the responses. I was really wondering about the button accordian; I had worked out for myself that the fiddle and the pipes were major undertakings, perhaps each in slightly different ways. But button accordians: I started completely new to Irish concertina but have found myself suddenly ahead of the accordian players at my session who seemed such accomplished players just two years ago. And a concertina player/friend I know from the East Durham festival (you know who you are, I won't name you) told me he tried button accordian but gave it up - if I remember correctly, I quote: 'too much right hand'. Comments welcomed my dear friends. Alan Caffrey.

Evening all! out of curiosity, where do instruments stand in as far as difficulty to learn? If I were to take an interest in playing Irish tonight, where does each instrument (pipes, concertina, whistle, flute, button accordian, fiddle etc) stand as far as a learner starting off? Alan

hello to all, I was listening to 'Tracin' last night which features Gearoid O'hAllmhurain with a fiddle player - a really great CD with nice tunes, not too fast, and not overly ornamented; and I wondered what style of playing Gearoid uses. His playing was understated, and I mean that as a compliment, does he play 'along the rows'? I'm sure someone out there has done a class with him and will know. Thanks, Alan.

I think you've got things mixed up there. I play an along the rows Irish style and use a C/G concertina. I play most tunes on the G row just picking up other notes as needed from the other rows. The Frank Edgley tutor is about the best way to go; I certainly got more tunes in my fingers and quicker from that tutor than I did from others I tried. I had the great pleasure to sit next to Chris Droney last year and watch/hear him play. He plays along the row I think, and yes, he plays a C/G. Really, I don't know of anyone in session , what ever style they have, who plays Irish tunes on a concertina other than C/G. Good luck, Alan.

thanks for the responses - I agree with you Ross on your point about festivals, I usually go to the Catskills Irish Arts week, the festival is great but nothing much changes in my playing. You'll probably see me in Cincinnati. Later, Alan.

Hello there, well I'm thinking of doing a Noel Hill class this year (my first) and I think Cincinnati is my closest. Has anyone been to his class there? What is the setting and accomodation like? I've requested info from Noel but thought I might get some additional from previous visitors too. Thanks, Alan.

Further to my questions would someone be kind enough to explain how this works musically: can I substitute rolls and crans for the triplets indicated in the written notation in this tune? How do you choose which roll or cran to use? and how will that sound against other musicians (fiddles/flutes etc) who may be using different ornaments in the same tune? I live in a community with very few musicians who are knowledgable about Irish music so I appreciate your help.. Alan.

Thanks for the responses; further to that three more questions: firstly, I've tried the described phantom roll trick and it works great, but the effect I'm achieving is really from the tap effect on the bellows and not from bouncing of the left hand digit on the button. Is that right? It works anyhow. Secondly: where are we using a roll in this tune? to replace the triplets? Should I use the same roll throughout? Thirdly: where does the title of this tune come from? Thanks again, Alan.