Clive Thorne

More details now available on his website. I've booked. https://www.johnkirkpatrick.co.uk/squeezer-weekends.asp

Very sad to hear this. I have danced most of my life, but not for 5 or so years now. I hope to take it up again, probably as a musicain when I retire, so hopefiully my most recent team (Rose & Castle) will still be going when the time comes.

So the Dural(l) simply refers to the plate material, which begs the quesyion of what is the plate of a "TAM" reed made of?

Where do you hold your instrument while playing? If it's close to you lap you could try holding it higher. If you bend your elbows it should come up almost level with your face.

Fortunately (?) my standard is such that I don't have to worry about C#, F#,G# or B, in or out of tune!! Most of my playing is G or G, with the occasional foray into D (working on it), and the very occasional attempt at F.

Sorry, Terry, but I can't accept that. Maybe true of ITM players, but there's quite a few of us around that treat the anglo as a de facto duet in terms of playing style. I'm with Malcolm on this one. I love a fist full of notes on the left hand. Also, regarding the principle of how accurately you tune. I don't think anyone has mentioned the idea that the better you tune it in the first place then the further it can drift before it is audible. I.e. it should be longer before you have to tune it again! And, as has been mentioned, lower reeds tend to sound flat when played hard, so where do you tune them? You might play quietly in practice and loudly when playing out (e.g. for morris). There comes a point where you just have to accept that the instrument is not/cannot be perfect. (I do find, though, that playing the octave above at the same time can sometimes pull the lower note into pitch). Finally, on tuning the thirds naturally rather than equal tempered, am I right in thinking that this can only work for a limited range of keys (one)? - on any one instrument I mean. Clive

To answer my own question - found these via google: Concertina waveform: And the Fourier for it: Unfortunately the scale not in db. And a wave form for a violin: (467 Hz fundamental): And the violin foiurier: Seems to my eye that although the lower harmonics in both instruments are fairly comparable, the harmonics above the 7th are much stronger in the violin. Also, the concertina wave form is visually relatively simple. If you took out the inversions at the main peak you would have something approaching a sine wave, you'd have to do quite a bit more to the violin note to achieve the same. How much this visual impression relates to timbre I don't know. And again, with knowing the exact circumstances of each recording and the analysis tools used comparisons might be useless. What's it all mean? I refer you to the very last line in the film "The Commitments"!

Thanks for that Terry. The thing that stands out to me with these is that although the main harmonics are fairly similar, apart from what you've pointed out, the general 'background' level on the violin is way higher. I.e. if you look at the harmonic peaks on the concertina they start to rise out of the 'noise' at around -72db, where at the violin peaks start rise out of the noise at around -48db, - a big difference. As you point out, without knowing the exact circumstance of the recording it is hard to compare, but the impression , to me, is that the peaks with the violin are less significant than with the concertina, or perhaps I should say that the contribution of the "non harmonic" content is far higher with the fiddle rather than with the concertina. No idea if this has any bearing on the original question about carrying distance though. Does anyone have plots of a concertina and violin waveform, as opposed to the Fourier analysis? Clive.

Well, there's my theory done for then! If I could remember who told me it was a fairly pure note then I'd track them down mercilessly and point them at this thread !! Terry, It would be interesting to see the equivalent fourier plots for a violin and or a classic two reed melodeon, if you had them?

Well, hello chaps. Not been here for a few years, but stuck in Italy and nothing in English on the telly, so revisiting some old haunts. As mentioned already the traditional concertina tone is very pure (compared to most instruments). A fiddle note is more of a saw tooth, which has a very high harmonic content, i.e. a lot of the volume is contained in frequencies many times that of the fundamental. High notes are absorbed by things far more than low notes are, so as you go further away the fiddle note will loose more of its energy than a concertina note due to those harmonics being lost on the way. Also of course, by the same premise, as you go further away a concertina will still sound pretty much like a concertina, but a fiddle sound less and less like a fiddle. In fact as you move away a fiddle, having lost its harmonics, will probably sound more like a (very quiet) concertina. That's my theory anyway.

Hello chaps, Long time no post! I always think of sessions as being for joining in, however if I don't know a tune sufficiently well I will not join in, or play very quietly crouched over my keyboard to see if I can pick it up (and stop altogether if I can't). One of my pet hates is the opposite problem of people who continuously want to play tunes that they know that only they will know, and thereby kill the session atmosphere (I have no problem with the odd party piece).

My apologies for bothering you all again, but quick bump and reminder that the next session will be 10th January, ie next Sunday! We've had a couple already and the The Landlady is agreeable for it to continue and has now written us into her diary for the rest of the year! Dates for this year will thus be: 10th January 14th February 14th March 11th April 9th May 13th June 11th July 8th August 12th September 10th October 14th November 12th December I am putting together an E-mailing list to keep everyone up to date, so if you're interestd in a monthly reminder then please let me know and I'll add you to the list. Thanks for looking Clive.

Firstly an apology, this must be my first post for a couple of years. I haven't lost interest in the concertina, but did find I was spending far too much time here rather than playing, so I sort of weaned myself off it. Anyway, I live in a village called Welton just north of Daventry and we're trying to get a regular once a month folk(ish) session going in the village pub, The White Horse. It is planned to be held on the second Sunday of the month, 8.30ish, which means that the next one will be this Sunday, the 13th Dec, so apologies for the short notice. We had a trial run a few weeks ago, and although a bit thin on the ground, those who came had a really good time, with a mixture of songs and tunes, and even had a couple dancing!. We're hoping to keep it informal and mixed ability, with an emphasis on reasonably well known tunes so everyone can have a go and join in. The ocassional party piece is welcome of course but we want to avoid it becoming dominated by any one person or group. Any instruments are welcome - at the first one we had guitars, mandolins, melodeons, concertina and (just one)double bass - so bring along whatever takes your fancy. Anyway, if you've nothing to do this Sunday night, or need an excuse for a drink, then please come along, introduce youself and join in. Any instruments are welcome - at the first one we had guitars, mandolins, melodeons, concertina and (just one)double bass - so bring along whatever takes your fancy. I'll be the big bloke playing an anglo and a melodeon (but not at the same time) Thanks Clive.

Lionel - as in Lionel Jeffries Clive

A saying springs to mind here, something about glasshouses and stones.... After all the concertina has only been around for 170 years or so, so could be dismissed as not being traditional by purists (of which I am not one). To second what many have already said, its how its played that matters, not what it is. Would a traditional piano be acceptable at a session?, if so, why not an electric (ie amplified) piano. Similarly, why would an acoustic bass be acceptable, but not an electric bass. Clive Edited to add: Actually, to be fair, I've just read the thread again, and I don't think anyone here is throwing stones themselves.