Angie Burn

If only geography permitted - it would have been great to be there. Congratulations to Alistair. Do you think he might come to my 60th next year?? :rolleyes: -John Wild I dunno about that, but I had my 60th last week, and guess what - Theo from these forums performed with his Ceilidh band! We had a great time!

Aw Heck, I didn't mean to call you M8! I must have been thinking about traffic jams Sorry M3838!

Hmm. maryhadalittlelamblittlelamblittlelamb - thats just reading the dots or picking buttons. Then we go into: mary had a little lamb little lamb little lamb Then: Mary had a little lamb little lamb little lamb Then: Mary had a little Lamb little Lamb Little Lamb Then: mary had a little lamb little lamb little lamb After you are done with this, you'll be sweating, but not profusely. But after on top of this you'll work in stacatto and legato, you'll be sweating profusely, I guarantee. Personal experience. Some people are naturally born with the feel - talent. Not me. Wow! Forget Mary and the Lamb, I'm feeling better already! I try to play like this anyway, it adds to the fun Thanks for the demo M8 Cheers Angie

Oh no! You have to start now. It's not that complex, only smooth playing, when you release one button while depressing another (legato), or depressing buttons very quickly and releasing them (stacatto). It's better to try your tunes both ways, then vary them. Otherwise your music will be a mush, uninteresting to listen to. And even if you are a raw beginner, nobody said your playing should be un-interesting from the day 1. The alternative, unfortuantely, is learning to play un-interestingly, and keep it up to the day you depart this world. Oh dear! An uninteresting mush? I'd better get cracking with this staccato and legatto business now! Cheers M38 and thanks for the advice Angie

Staccato and legato are two ways to play a series of consecutive notes. Staccato (Italian: detached) means you play them clipped, each individually, with space between them. Legato (Italian: tied) means you play them flowing, each note following the previous without space between them. A violinist would (ordinarily) play stacatto notes with seperate short bow strokes and play legato notes on one continuous bow stroke. On the concertina, the difference is usually made by finger control rather than bellows work. Thanks David......I think it will be a while before I get the hang of all this, but it's great fun trying!

Oh dear....all this talk about staccato and legatto and I have no idea what that means! I looked it up on Wikipedia and it said Quote "Legato, like staccato, is a kind of articulation. There is an intermediate articulation called either mezzo staccato or non - legato. Well that's cleared it up for me then

Hi Peter Many thanks for taking the time to do this, especially if you haven't been feeling too good. I'm sorry to learn that you have problems with your hearing, what a terrible blow for a musician like yourself. The video is great, because I can see what your left hand is doing, so it will be very useful to me. Also I've printed out the tablature and your post about the scales so I can concentrate on what you are saying. I'm 60 and never played any instrument in my life, but always wanted to try so I decided the Anglo Concertina was the instrument for me. The trouble is when you get older it isn't as easy to learn things but determination will get me there in the end! Thanks again, Angie

Thanks Peter, That would be very useful...just to hear the type of accompaniment which you use for a particular tune. I feel that I just need a couple of ideas to start me off, as I realise that everyone has their own style. Who knows, somebody else might take up your suggestion and record their version of the same tune. Thanks all, Angie

Hi Angie, Thanks! It's nice to know that I have my uses. I've not made any concertina videos since the start of this year, but I'm happy to record some more if there are aspects of playing technique which other players think could be clarified by a video. Regards, Peter. Thanks Peter, I would like to have a think about this...Videos are really helpful. I can listen to a tune then and play it by ear easily, with one hand! Like a person playing the piano with one hand it's just no good at all. I watch your videos to try to see what the accompanying hand is doing, and this is the hard part because it seems that everyone just makes up their own accompanyment - is this the case? and if so would it be possible to make a video of a typical accompanyment? Oh dear I bet you are all laughing now, sorry if this is a daft question Cheers Angie

Well I'm still learning...trying to learn to read music at the same time as learning the 'tina; so thank you Peter, I will find this useful as I am working my way slowly through the Bertram Levy book. Of course tablature is not ideal and no substitute for reading music, but anything that helps beginners has to be a good thing, and I am sure most people will just use it as a stepping stone to help them progress....that's my plan anyway. Also Peter, I find your Youtube videos really useful, many thanks Angie

Thanks for that info Lucy. I did try, but was put off by shipping charges to the UK and dollar conversions, so I changed my mind about it and bought The Irish Concertina by Mick Bramich instead..... Sorry Frank, nothing personal mate

I am a complete beginner and have a cheapo chinese anglo exactly like the one mentioned above. I have never played an instrument before, and have no idea how I will progress, I only bought it in March. I am enjoying every minute of learning, and feel that because it is a cheap instrument I cannot do it any harm, I feel confident with it. I have to say that it has a splendid sound, everybody thinks it sounds great. (I'm sorry if you all groan at this as I know you are experts) Anyway it makes sense to me to start out with a cheap instrument, then hopefully move onto a better one as I progress, by then I will be in a better position to understand the difference in sound and quality, It's guaranteed for a year and didn't cost me much to start with, so for me the chinese anglo was a perfect choice. Cheers All Angie

There is a definite revival in the Newcastle area, as Newcastle University is now offering some sort of new folk music degree, and many students are choosing concertinas as their preferred instrument. My local music shop owner is able to sell every concertina he can get his hands on, and he often has a waiting list for them.......So who knows, we might soon have a whole new generation of concertina enthusiasts!

Hi All Following everyone's advice on here, and as a keen beginner, I have purchased the Bertram Levy book and would like to also buy the one by Frank Edgley.....A handbook of Tunes and Methods for the Irish Concertina. However I cannot find anyone on the internet who sells the Frank Edgley one in the UK. I have tried Hobgoblin, The Music Room etc but to no avail. Can anyone on here tell me where they bought theirs from in the UK? Many thanks Angie

Thanks mate, will do.