JLAB9

That is brilliant! And funnily enough, the person playing looks a little like I used to.

While I appreciate the concern, I'd like to disagree. I'd also like caution on imperatives. While it may appear that I know nothing about the instrument, I can assure you that is not the case. I did my research before joining this forum, and a lot of it is coming through. My original query has already been more than answered, so now any more information I am given is just a bonus. I do understand the three main types of Concertina and the differences between them. Most of what I am being taught here is what players of particular Concertinas typically play, and how they choose to learn. This is something I could not simply 'Google', nor could I learn this through playing the instrument. I do think that this method is the best. The knowledge people have given me has been almost entirely informative, and I do not feel confused by this at all. This ain't my first rodeo. I had a much tougher time learning how brass instruments work. The concertina feels like a different similar, since I already play the accordion. Again, please kindly consider your use of imperatives.

I think we mean the same thing, if I'm not mistaken. That the English and Anglo have similar ranges and have some amount of degeneracy towards the centre of their ranges, while the Duet has a larger range that extends further into a normal Bass Clef range, and presumably features less degeneracy. Again, correct me if I'm wrong on that, but form what I've heard here that seems to be the case.

Since I compose almost entirely in my free time and rarely find situations where it can be considered 'work' it does take me a great deal of time. I have written two albums, available for viewing on Musescore, however those were made relatively quickly and with little to no consideration of playability - just trying to make it sound good in playback. My proper composed pieces take far longer, with each piece taking around the length of time as one of those full albums. I also plan to release these compositions in a similar way, having at least eight being released at once (or more provided that they fit thematically. I love music that tells a story). That being said, as it stands I have four, only three of which I would consider sufficient quality. This album of composed music will definitely be in the works for at least another two years, but probably closer to four. So I currently do not have anything in my specific composing style detailed in my comment that I want to release (again, I want to release in big chunks), but you're welcome to look at my Musescore page (Username is also JLAB9). Most of the stuff there is just a collection of lazy arrangements for piano in an attempt to get my scores to rank higher in the algorithm (it has not worked), so don't expect any great quality. Most of those arrangements only take an hour to put together. However, if I do end up writing something with a significant Concertina part, I may post a teaser to my Musescore and link to it from a post here. Only time will tell how long that could be, however.

Thank you all again for your help. I think I'll give the English and Duet Concertinas a bit more thought, as it does sound like they may be better suited to my purposes. I suppose the only real difference in how I can use the instruments, from what I've gathered here, is between the Duet and the English/Anglo, due to the Duet's greater bass range. Furthermore, hearing that the Duet could be said to mimic the piano, is of great interest to me as I was first and foremost a pianist.

I'd definitely be interested in the sheet music for Echo at the very least, but what you're suggesting sounds a little like it could be considered light piracy. If it's an official book you purchased from them or their label, and you had no part in its creation, you potentially have no right to share it. A bit like how you can't buy sheet music online and simply repost it to a site like Musescore for others to use for free. While technically possible, it isn't exactly moral, especially with a smaller artist. If you're allowed to share it then yes I'd be interested in seeing Echo, but if it's legally grey then I'd rather not.

I'm not quite sure if this is what you mean, but the song that had made me interested in the Concertina (and part of why I picked up the Accordion) was a song from the small folk band "Talisk". The song is called "Echo" and it's honestly just mesmerising. I love the way the Concertina buttons click when they play quickly, and how you can clearly hear how much effort it is taking to play at the speed they are. I've actually made a little use of castanets inspired by that song, using them to accompany a solo Accordion part in a strange little way. It sounds quite nice and unique, and works great in jolly tunes.

I'll definitely consider it. I will say that in my compositions I tend to lean on violins less than the typical composer. I find that most individuals who are less musical consider the violin to be the most important instrument in the orchestra, and the popularity of TwoSet in the online space, even among non musicians, leads to people thinking much less of the viola (and to a lesser extent the cello). Consequently I like to use far more violas and cellos than other composers, and I particularly enjoy using those sounds that are less typical of a certain instrument. For example, having a cellist playing a solo that would normally be played using a violin. Of course as the cello is roughly two octaves below the violin some computer processing is often required to allow the cello to reach notes slightly out of its range, but the tone of those notes can be delightful. My guilty pleasure is brass, as the techniques used allow extremely skilled musicians to produce much higher notes than a novice could. This lets you mix their typical use cases quite considerably, producing wildly different sounds to what people are used to hearing. Part of my plan for the concertina in my compositions is for it to work predominantly with the brass section, during movements where the strings remain more subdued. I want to be able to make it shine by itself both within and without solos, and by coupling it with brass instruments it may be less of a stark change so that people do not reject the concept as "simply not proper in an orchestra".

Thanks, that's more helpful than you know! Gives me good insight into how people approach arranging a song, and where they have to make tradeoffs to make the piece work. Definitely enough info here for me to start properly adding Concertina parts to some of my scores. Thank you both for all your help (Steve & Sean).

I think I'll stick to ties. They make sense to me as they are used for practically every instrument, and further ease the job of switching the instruments around. Chord names will probably not be included. Guitarists are rarely included in my compositions (something I want to work on in 2024), and when they are their parts are notated too (and refer to my response to seanc on why adding your own harmonies on the fly is rarely a good idea).

Well for my purposes (Orchestral) it really is quite important that things are played exactly as written. Notes can sometimes be missed, but it's risky for someone to add extras on the fly without consulting other sections. When you have whole Woodwind Sections, Brass Sections, Strings Sections, and more (often synthesisers too these days, not to mention Pitched Percussion, Keyboard Instruments, and Vocals), any note added could create a lot of dissonance and a horrible tone. Personally, most of my time spent composing is simply trying to find the sources of dissonance and either mold them into a nice harmony, or remove them. It takes A LOT of work, and someone improvising in new notes (unless in a solo) is generally not a good idea when you have 30+ musicians playing at once.

From what I had found during research, the Duet was preferred for those that played multiple instruments. I believe their reasoning for this preference tended to be its similarity to other instruments (not sure which instruments, or to which Duet Layout; I didn't look too far into it).

Thanks for all your help Steve. I want to try to make the most out of the instrument to really make it shine (I've heard some doubts from others as to whether bellows instruments can work in an Orchestra, and I'm determined to prove that they can). As for tab or sheet, since I have very little experience playing the Concertina, I think it would be unwise for me to dictate specific fingering to an actual Concertina player, as I will have no idea which of the buttons to use for a specific note (I don't know what movements are easy/difficult). I will of course notate bellows direction for phrasing purposes (I do this with Accordions also, despite them being unisonoric). May I also inquire as to the purpose of the dashed lines below the staff, and of what importance the chord names are to a Concertina player? Thanks again.

My statement "Highly Technical" was intended to refer to players who are at the top of the game, so to speak, and those who play for a living. In my research I found that these individuals tended to prefer the Anglo, though the Duet was a close second (I must say I am not super familiar with the English, as did not see much evidence of it being as capable of an instrument as the others, purely from the opinions of players). Do correct me if my information is wrong, however. I'm always willing to learn directly from musicians who are well versed with their particular instrument, however I tend to research thoroughly myself before reaching out to a community for advice, so I will not give up my researched conclusions without any evidence being provided for the contrary. Apologies if I come across as rude, it's just the way I like to work in this endeavour.

Thanks for the help! I think I'll go for using the Wheatstone 30 layout, as I've seen that one quite a lot more in my research (and it gives me a continuous range, A3-G6). However, I am slightly concerned regarding the statement "Single Staff, Treble Clef". If I am using most if not all of that nearly three octave range, would it be advisable to make heavy use of 8va when writing high up in the range, or do Concertina players get good at recognising notes that have lots of ledger lines? If I am using 8va, this will then apply to all notes, not only the high ones. To work around the problem which is likely to arise here, is there any generally accepted stave text to say which notes the 8va is affecting and which ones are independent of it? Finally, on your note regarding tablature, is this something that Concertina players use to make reading music easier and not require memorising all buttons? I ask this not to be demeaning at all, rather because I do have a strong passion for standard sheet music and mastery of one's instrument in spite of its shortcomings in some cases. This is partly as it allows musicians not well versed in an instrument to easily adapt notation designed for it onto their own, which tablature can impede and sometimes make nearly impossible. This last point is of particular import to my use case. Is it reasonable to expect a professional Concertina player to be able to play from sheet alone, without the aid of tabs? Thanks again.