RatFace

Thanks for posting the update - they must have swapped the video just after I posted (which was seconds before I dived into the car to go off camping for a week).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6A8f8YcpSI

I tried reduce the button travel distance long ago (on my english) by making a set of cardboard (I think) washers to go over the beg - next to the existing felt washers. However, whilst it worked, it had two side effects (that I remember - it was a very long time ago!). One was a reduced volume and a more muted tone, which I didn't mind at all. However, it also introduced tuning problems - getting the same effect (though to a less extent) as the technique for bending notes on a concertina/accordion - only partially depressing the button and increasing the pressure. Concertinas have tuning problems enough (i.e. their pitch depends a lot on the volume, to the extent that they always sound out of tune to me), so this experiment was pretty short lived. I'm sure it would work if the levers were changed to get the same pad lift as normal - but then the springs would have to be stiffer to compensate (in order to get the same air tightness when the pads are down).

Super playing and sound. It's very nice indeed. (I sent an email ages ago about the web page error - are you aware that internet explorer (the only browser where it works, and that's because it's broken) is only about 30% of users? Probably a lower percentage of non-work users, since many firms only let people use IE at work).

I think that the mark of a really skilled musician and performer is to convince the audience, whatever their preconceived notions, that what they are hearing is exactly what they want and expect to hear (even if the listener didn't really know what they wanted/expected to hear beforehand)! Mangling rhythm etc to keep the playing within the mechanical capabilities of the performer never convinces me... unless it can be done in such a way that I think it's being done for good musical effect, and don't realise the real reason. The Kathryn Tickell clip is AMAZING She plays the piece just how I wanted to hear it, and just how it _should_ be played (i.e. she totally convinced me!).

Oh really?.

You mean Anglo

The music is good... ... but I find the recording painful to listen to through headphones. The concertina is recorded so that notes on the left come out in one ear and notes on the right in the other, which gives me a headache. Also the voice clips on Rambling Sailor clips... but maybe that's due to the processing between the CD and the web page?

Here it is

I wrote out an arrangement for English/tenor treble, if you want it...

another Simon Thoumire one that I think slipped through your net last year.

I have the book, and an EC, but don't think I've ever tried playing anything from one on the other. The reason is that most of the tunes are pretty ideomatic - they're written by diatonic accordeon players for the diatonic accordeon and most of the info on each page is specific to playing them on the diatonic accordeon - accompaniment, counter melodies, ornamentation etc. There are some nice tunes in there, but if you just want nice tunes, there are much better tunebooks/sources. The benefit to the book is that it gives you an insight into how some great diatonic accordeon players turn dots into the music you hear when they play, and that particular benefit is going to be completely lost if you just pick it up for the tunes. It is a pretty book, too, though

I should have thought, with all that sand, a screwdriver and a copy of Concertina Maintenance Manual (Elliot, D) would be more appropriate...

Thanks for the nice comments I should have also uploaded at least a sample of the raw recording. Listening again today I think the sound would be better with my other mics (Rode NT1 instead of NT5 - don't know why I didn't use them in the first place!), a little further from the walls, and perhaps even more cushions/damping...

I've had in my mind for a long time now an idea to try recording the English concertina with what I suppose is an unconventional microphone setup. Co-located mics are fine if you have a really nice acoustic and want to make a concert-like recording, but that's not always the case. I've always found when recording at home then using X/Y or mid-side, a metre or two back from the concertina results in: 1. a left/right bounce where the tune jumps around in space. I find this positively painful, so the only solution without additional processing is to narrow the source stereo recording. 2. in spite of the above, a really localised sound. The more you echo-proof your recording space the more this is true. It's realistic... but not actually particularly engaging to listen to, and I've not yet found a good way of widening up the sound without causing other problems. So - I had an idea that using one mic in front of the concertina and one mic behind would pic up the same sound but with different details, so would get interpreted as a single wide source. Here's the setup: The sound gets attenuated by the player so the rear mic (right channel) needs to be increased, but the idea definitely works - a simple stereo mix (with no reverb etc) has a nice wide sound with no disconcerting jumps from left to right. I'd like to hear comments on this (does anybody else to it?) or ideas about other ways to get the same effect. Here's an example (with a bit of reverb and equalisation) - a Frédéric Paris tune called Ganivelle, with improvisation/doodling. http://www.rowlhouse.co.uk/concertina/music/GanivelleImprov.mp3

See my earlier post for ! I only realised after I'd uploaded it that the cello/concertina parts (it was multi-tracked) were out of sync. My soundcard (drivers, under windows) introduce a 60ms lag. Anyway, I corrected that, but youtube doesn't allow you to replace videos, so had to delete the original. I've subsequently worked out that you can get effectively lag free (down to about 5ms) using ASIO drivers (under windows). I recorded Gussondall Bay to test this (arranged by Bryan Creer in the ICA music supplement #448).

I couldn't stand the lack of synchronisation between the cello and the concertina in the second tune so did some investigation (recorded a metronome, and then recorded a second track by playing the first through speakers into the mic - worth doing!) and found the soundcard/computer were introducing a lag of 60ms! Anyway - the fixed version is . Thanks - Danny

That's exactly what I'm looking for. Only there is no way of listening to the samples on the website. Any other hints? I haven't been able to find any clips online, but if you buy it I'm almost certain you (and your child) will love it!

I'm not sure what's being asked here either... ... however, at the risk of answering a different question, we were given a _really_ nice recording of children's songs/nursery rhymes - here. It's all acoustic, sung very nicely and accompanied brilliantly by melodeon & fiddle. Our daughter Hazel (just 3) loves it and we can sing along/dance etc, and it's actually nice to listen to as an adult too (if you like the English folky/trad sound!).

Whatever you call it on the concertina (and I would call it tremolo because it's fundamentally about varying the volume, even though the pitch variation on in the mid range of a concertina is about 10 cents between min and max volume, so it's probably classifiable as real vibrato too, but mainly as an unwanted side-effect), I don't do it because I think it just sounds bad. I freely admit that's a personal preference, influenced by my musical experience... but when I hear those wobbles it just makes my brain feel like it's wobbling too. For the same reason, swinging the concertina around results in a sound that is just unbearable, to me.

This is indeed a great book. I recorded some of the tunes for practice purposes here (towards the end of that page).

I have the simpler tascam DR-07 and it's fine for reasonable quality recording. One other thing to remember is that you can also use these devices to record directly onto your computer - i.e. use them as an external microphone (and pre-amp). This is probably better quality than using a simple microphone going through your computer's pre-amp (I've found), and a lot less hassle than setting up "proper" mics/external pre-amp etc. With my tascam, that involves plugging the line-out from the tascam into the line-in to my computer/audio card. I think I remember reading somewhere that the Zoom H2 works as an external USB microphone, which would (probably) be even better - not sure though.

From memory, I'm pretty sure there is one, and English that never makes it out of the box, in The Return of Sherlock Holmes: The Priory School. I may be wrong about the episode, but it's well worth watching all the Jeremy Brett Sherlocks in any case!

All these are consistent (I think... well I only checked the first one!) with it being 4 in the original, but if the copy isn't very clear then that 4 can look like a 1. The original fingerer seemed to be a fan of the one-finger-per-row method, which is a bit bonkers

If there were ABRSM grades for the concertina I'd expect it to be around grade 5, at most...