Robin Madge

It's worse if you have to amplify everything up to cope with a full drum kit! Blind Panic were Drums kit, bass guitar, rhythm guitar, electric guitar/electric mandolin and me on concertinas through effects pedals. My ears were still ringing the next morning after some practices. Robin Madge

"So if it's not a concertina at all, the buttons are infinitely large? " Please do not try to build an infinitely large instrument as it will have infinite mass and will collapse into a black hole and swallow the universe:) Likewise do not attempt to play irish jigs at a speed where the button movement approaches the speed of light as this will also cause the moving buttons to have infinite mass witht he same result. Robin Madge

I have a cassette titled "Nigel Chippendale out-takes" that I think was put together by Ralph and released shortly after Nigel died. I don't know whether it was ever sold as a CD. Robin Madge

Wells does indeed have several wells, I seem to remember that there are three within the grounds of the cathedral. Not all cities have a cathedral (Swansea?, Preston?), but I can't think of a cathedral that has no city. Robin Madge

I had heard that the main dish at the concertina.net ball was to be a recently rediscovered special chicken dish invented by that renowned TV cook Mrs Craddock. Yes "Cock au Fanny". Robin Madge

Forgot to add that it is another Mike in front of Mike Long and Brian Bibby. Why do I know so few surname? Robin Madge

In the Halsway photo I think that it it Chris Waring on Mike Long's left, with Sally in front of Chris and obscured by someone I can't name. Robin Madge

Some extra names for the Halsway Picture: immediately on my right is Dave (?) from the Bristol area and I can see the top of Anne Rawcliffe(my wife)'s head in the doorway on Barry Wallace's right. Dave is also in the Kilve picture on Claire's right and Mike Long is behind Ian Munro. We escaped the photo that year! Robin Madge

One trouble with having a good gig or an excellent session is that the adrenaline gets going and when you go home afterwards you can't sleep! It helps with driving home for an hour or so at the end of a long night though, but I won't accept gigs with more than 90 minutes driving afterwards as there are too many stories of musicians coming to grief late at night on the road. Robin Madge

Our cat always tried to sit between me and the concertina and complained when I stopped. Robin Madge

I would have answered "nothing", but at a party on Saturday last I was handed a 20 button East German anglo with a button missing and a broken hand strap and told "take it away". I'm considering seeing just what I can do to it to improve it. All the notes sound now that I've made a temporary button and new handstrap and the tuning could be worse:) Robin Madge

Just had an alternative idea based upon the zimmerframe remark. Instead of supporting the concertina from below suspend it from above. Have an add-on frame atached to a zimmerframe or your wheelchair arms etc. and hang both ends of the concertina from that. Are there disability aids out there that work on this principal already? Robin Madge

Minimalist version. How about a pair of velcro patches sewn on the upper surface of your trouser legs and corresponding patches on the bottom of the concertina ends? Both ends supported and you get mobility therapy as you open and close the bellows! Robin Madge

If you want to do it on the cheap like I tend to, then look in a charity shop for undamaged second hand leather belts that are wide enough. Just use the old strap as a template to cut a new one from, adjusting if necessary. You can end up with straps ina variety of colours:). Robin Madge

I'm hoping that Anne and I might make it to some of the weekend, not that we're ICA members though. Robin Madge

The redesdale snippet is used in the middle of the Simon and Garfunkle track "Faking it", and I think it wasa single as well. Robin Madge

I have noticed that I perceive a non-existant change in pitch if I yawn, when the ear becomes a temporarily closed system and cannot compensate. Dare I ask how interesting was the singing? Robin Madge

I found the poem, have a look here for the details (assuming my link works). http://proverbs.bestlatin.net/audioproverb...cus-nemini.html Robin Madge

Shouldn't it be 'bus as it's short for omnibus I remember my english teacher reading us a poem that declined omnibus, I can only recall one line now: "Implit in the Corn and High, vincit omnia motoris bi." Robn Madge

I think I tried out the same Morse and Marcus at Fylde Festival and came to the same conclusions as you. However, I'm not in the market for another concertina at the moment (so I'm told)! Robin Madge

A friend of mine has been recording and analysing concertinas note by note using the audacity program for some time (about 20 so far) and quite often you see a spike of a harmonic that is higher than the "note" of the reed, but it is usually a narrow spike. The interesting thing to my perception of the sound is that the overall instrument sound seems to be most affected by what's going on at lower frequencies thatn the "note". If you have a higher level of sound at muliple lower frequencies the sound is more mellow. I look at the size of the "hump" on the left of the graph. Robin Madge

If "Natural Selection" holds true concertina players will resemble hammer-head sharks in a few thousand years! Robin Madge

I've played along with a couple of half-long pipe sets and they seemed to blend well. I think you need to check the drones tuning carefully and then you're OK. Robin Madge

As I'm habitually playing my 36 button Lachenal Baritone Anglo as a first choice nowadays, I'm starting to think that the answer is not so much finding a lighter instrument as just getting fitter Didn't Kathryn Tickel advocate weight training as a prerequisite to better control of the Northumbrian pipes? Robin Madge

I've had several breakages on the plastic cored, metal capped buttons on my 1960's 40 button C/G Wheatstone. They always go at the lever hole, and as the bushing is quite tight in the end I have been able to play on for some time, wondering why the button is depressing further. Robin Madge