gcoover

Well, I can say there are times I wish I couldn't hear myself play, and there might be quite a few others who would agree with that!

Shameless Plug Department: For 20-button Anglo, of course I highly recommend "Civil War Concertina" since all 60 tunes are playable on the ol' 2-row Anglo. And not just single note tunes either, many are arranged with full harmonies, and all have QR codes to corresponding YouTube videos. And yes, there's something very satisfying in getting something nice and musical out of a seemingly very limited instrument! Gary

Hillsider - not as much as you're probably looking for! The intent of the book is to teach the basic tunes first, so I've only included a couple with ornaments - "Plains of Boyle" as played by Emily Peterson, and "Wind that Shakes the Barley" as played in octaves by Elizabeth Crotty. The video classes taught by Edel Fox and Ernestine Healy on The Online Academy of Irish Music (www.oaim.ie) are probably the best source for learning ornaments if you don't have a good Irish Anglo player or any workshops handy. Gary

Stuart, Back in the 1980's I played a Wheatstone 61-button (or so) Jeffries Duet with metal ends and metal buttons owned by a guy I met in San Antonio. He told me about his concertinas and how he had one that no one had any idea what it was. Well, of course that piqued my interest enough to meet him at his house, but you should have seen his expression when I picked it up, played a couple of buttons, and then launched into Blue-Eyed Stranger with full chords! But I got the feeling that Wheatstone didn't know much about how they were played, since the low left hand notes were almost impossible to reach given the location of the handrest and handstrap. And yes, I wonder where that instrument is now, having lost contact years ago. Might have a photo somewhere in a box tucked away (definitely from the pre-digital age). I probably wrote down the number somewhere too, so will have to do some digging. Gary

Jim, I see the Thaxted Morris Meeting is June 3 next year and that's always an amazing event, but don't know if they include teams from across the pond. If you decide to attend any Morris Circle events, make sure you can dance the mystical and legendary "Threeple Hammer Damson"! Gary

Perhaps the spring is too strong? It needs to seal properly when closed, but if it's difficult to push you should have a proper concertina repair person have a look at it. Being an older instrument, who knows what kind of spring someone might have added later. Gary

I'm pleased to announce a brand new tunebook of traditional Irish tunes, all in standard musical notation and also with the same easy tablature for Anglo concertina used in my other books. Featuring a mix of 75 favorite reels, jigs & slides, hornpipes, polkas, slip jigs, airs and a few miscellaneous set dances and waltzes typically found in Irish sessions. Attached is the Table of Contents plus an example page for "The Lilting Banshee". Every tune has a graphic showing which buttons are used, and about half the tunes can be played with a 20-button instrument. Irish flute maker and player Hammy Hamilton was nice enough to give his permission to include his jig "The Woodcock". It turns out the version played by Teada is quite different from his original, so just for fun both are included. There are also two versions of "Wind That Shakes the Barley" since Mrs. Crotty's octave-style version is so unusual. And Emily Peterson (YouTube Concertina Hornpipe Project 2010) gave her ok to include her arrangement of the hornpipe "Plains of Boyle". Sorry, there are no big discussions or lessons on ornamentation - this is more about learning the basic tunes first. It's already on Amazon UK, US and Europe, will probably be available at the Button Box fairly soon. I'll let you know when Amazon's "Look Inside" preview feature is activated, usually takes a week or two. Enjoy! Gary 3-TOC-1-75IST.pdf 52-LiltingBanshee-Am-ANGLO.pdf

And yes, although the Wheatstone graphic came from an old ad Steve Dickinson does own the "Wheatstone" trademark, so I've emailed him for permission and even offered the bribe of a few free shirts. Who knows, maybe he'll decide to add a line of "Wheatstone Wear" to his shop? A few years ago a friend of mine created an amazing Guinness t-shirt, best I've ever seen, but instead of contacting the company he panicked and sold them off at a "pre-lawsuit special price". I still maintain he should sell the design to Guinness - it would be a huge hit. Copyright and trademark issues are important parts of intellectual property law that support both companies and artists. Although I see a lot of music books (and online sources) freely including composed tunes, for my books I always make sure to get permission first, even for arrangements (since I know that's important in UK copyrights). And it's just nice to give credit where credit is due, especially in our little folk and concertina world! Gary

Here's a photo of the Wheatstone shirt I made a couple of years ago from an old advert. I also discovered I still have a few new ones left over, 3 Large and 1 Medium, 90% cotton. If you think there is enough interest, perhaps I'll post them on the Buy & Sell forum or eBay. If I have any more printed up, I'll check with Steve Dickinson first to make sure he's ok with it. Gary

Sir Locust - Satie's "Gymnopedie No. 1"??? I'm not sure that would be playable on a 30+ button Anglo! But kudos to you for being ambitious. Here's a version on concertina, but played on a one-of-kind custom duet (that only looks like an Anglo): https://youtu.be/vbJqi6K3B-0. Gary

And you'll be offering these for sale when and for how much? Or through an online service like Zazzle or CafePress? Hope so! I made some t-shirts a few years ago from an old Wheatstone advert, will have to post a photo (and see if there are still any extras). Nice work! Gary

Sir Locust, I forgot to mention that all the "Civil War Concertina" tunes (and some of the "Easy Anglo 1-2-3" tunes) are on YouTube (angloconc), so you can hear a fairly wide variety of tunes that are playable on a 20-button Anglo. And I can totally agree with Rod since I felt the same way for many years. But I found it a great challenge to see just how much sound could be coaxed out of only two rows, and was quite surprised at the results. If I'd realized that years ago, maybe I wouldn't have switched to EC quite so readily! Gary

Sir Locust, It depends on the type of music you want to play, but I've posted a few free samples from "Civil War Concertina" elsewhere here on cnet, and a few more might be on Amazon.com's "Look Inside" feature - all for 20-button instruments. Same for "Easy Anglo 1-2-3", since it teaches 1-row, 2-row and 3-row playing. Hope this helps you get started! Also, just pick it up every day and get familiar with what sound is where, it's also good for playing by ear. Welcome to cnet! Gary

Jake, thanks so much for posting this, a recent discovery for me, and nice to see a bio on Walter Dale. I've got one of his 78's with hornpipes on one side and I don't recall what on the other, and have offered mp3's to the site (assuming I can find them). Gary

I ended up using a photo from Randal Bays at Ceol Cascadia, but big thanks to Chas and Chris and Lawrence and everyone else for sending in some great possibilities. It's always great to have such support from the cnet community! Gary

Sounds like she's playing an English concertina. But unless it's in a funny key you should be able to play the same notes on the Anglo, just not quite as smooth sounding. Gary

Jake, as opposed to taking the ends off and making new handrests which I've had to do several times, I was thinking maybe something like the adjustable screw levelers used in survey instrument tripods might work? A simple turn of a wheel embedded in the handrest might do the trick. This way it would be easier to share and play other people's instruments without having to demolish them first! Gary

Yes, love it - very modern and very stylish looking! Perhaps you can come up with some sort of easily adjustable height mechanism for handrests? With hands coming in all different sizes, I've always been surprised that handrest heights are locked in, and that it's often a big hassle to adjust handstraps if switching players. Gary

If you're just wanting to play Irish tunes only, then the most important thing is where the C#'s are located on the top row, and in particular the high one on the right hand side. The other top row buttons are used so rarely for ITM you probably don't need to worry much about them at this point in time. It's probably more important to make sure the old Lachenal is up to the task of playing quickly with (eventual) ornaments. Things like airtightness, bellows capacity, reed responsiveness, quickness and quietness of action will be fairly important. Of course, that's assuming it's already in tune with good pads and valves. Hybrids can have a wide variety of tone, but are usually built pretty well once you get past the cheap ones. Metal ends will typically sound a little brighter. I definitely recommend checking out the higher quality hybrids built by Morse, Edgley, AC Norman, Marcus, etc. Happy hunting! Gary

With emphasis on the "mental"!

Excellent research, Andrew ! And what a great chase it's been to track down the details of the musical Professor's life, both good and bad. Although I'm sure the limelight of the music hall could be considered a career high point by some, I rather like the idea he ended up playing the half-time show for football games. To deliberately confuse English and American football, that would put him right up there with Beyoncé, U2, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, ZZ Top and The Blues Brothers! Gary

Does anyone have good photos of a 30-button Anglo concertina at an Irish session that could be used on the cover of a tune book? Color or B/W, roughly square in size (after cropping), maybe even a bit artsy? Or maybe even some original artwork? In return I can offer copies of the book, full credit, the usual fame and glory, and with luck maybe even a few $. Please send PM, or email to gcoover(at)swbell.net. Thanks! Gary

The Professor plays two concertinas, one in each hand, and produces some most harmonious effects." Maybe that's what drove him crazy?!?

At one point Cajun musician Wayne Toups had a special accordion made with four stops so he could play in two different keys - two were in "C" and two were in "D". It would be a bit unwieldy for a concertina, but maybe some brave soul wants to try it? I once worked on an old 20-button German concertina that had a pull bar near the thumb side of the handles that added or removed an extra octave, but that's the only one I've ever seen like that. Gary

Well is it snorting, or BARKING? A perfectly acceptable move for a dogs body.