bellowbelle

I wish I'd known about the apple trick, years ago.... though, it may not have helped, in my case. But, I didn't want to throw away all my personal belongings and clothes! I lived waaaayyy out in the country in an old farmhouse for a brief time, when I was married (the first time...have been married for a second time for 21 years). we had some skunks in the basement, and, my (then) husband shot one (sorry to mention that....it seems so graphic and harsh, to some, especially here on the east coast, but...we had different conditions, then, out there!) Anyway....you should not shoot a skunk in your basement. Very bad idea. So, by the time I moved back east, all my stuff smelled like this weird mix of skunk and wood smoke. Nobody liked it....darn....!

Thanks, all. It does seem to be closer to a flutina (which I'd never heard of before) than to the Vyatskaya harmonika. (I guess I was just hoping my first guess was right! ) I just got this old tintype yesterday. My husband bought it at a paper (photos, documents, etc.) show. So, it's now part of my miscellaneous collection of...everything. It'd be fun if the gentleman turned out to be a famous player, but...? I don't really know too many faces from that era!

My intuitive guess is that this man is Russian or from around that 'neighborhood.' Don't know who he could be. As for the box...well, it doesn't really match up with anything I find, though the closest I can find is an image in 'The Classical Squeezebox' by Henry Doktorski of a Russian Vyatskaya harmonika (from the archive of A. Mirek), which was from about the 1840's. But....I could be way off...don't know. Anybody know?

Hm, I'll have to try that one, sometime.

When I first got my concertina, I asked members here about keeping the climate right for the concertina. (It gets very VERY dry, here, and lots of extreme shifts.) Upon suggestion, by...someone(s)....I decided upon keeping, in my concertina case, a film case (the kind used for a roll of 35 mm film) with holes poked in the lid and a sponge inside it. (I also keep another film case with holes that has some dry rice in it...for some reason I feel like this exchanges moisture regulation with the other case, but, then again, maybe I'm just a case, myself....anyway...) WELLLLL....the sponge was getting a bit old, though, it was a very good and anti-bacterial (so it was claimed) sponge. What to do? I added some drops of spicey essential oil to it, a type that particularly is against bacteria. Now, when I play, the bellows smell very nice, too!!! Mm! Cloves, vetiver, patchouly, sandlewood....orange, cinnamon, juniper....you get the idea! I must confess, some may say that even these few vaporous drops of oil are not good for the concertina, but...it's all okay by me, anyway. EDIT: Should mention, I do keep the sponge wet with water!

Okay....I've updated the thimbles page so far. Still need to work out more info for the tent. http://www.bellowbelle.com/ConcertinaThimbles.html

Back again... I'm wondering, Jay, if you would like the group that meets every Friday(?) in a pub in Portsmouth, N.H. Tom Hall leads that one, I believe. I only heard them once, at a maritime festival....maybe someday I'll go to a session, but, it IS a 2-1/2 hour drive, IF I take the roads I prefer to take. Anyway...I will never be one to start a session, I'm sure, and I am not too familiar with many tunes yet, but, I do have a picnic table in my backyard and people are welcome at it. (Kind of crowded, inside!) In the summer, of course!

Just a quick hello...so great to find another English concertina player that's from Massachusetts! Yeaaayyy!!!! I'll be back...can't even take the time to read this whole thread, now...gotta go, but, just saying 'hi' for now. I play by myself mostly, still...still learning...but, having fun. Sometime, though, I certainly want to join some real people (not just that Automatic Man that The Virtual Session has.....he's okay, but....) Okay...bye for now...more later.

Okay, here's a better pic of two of 'the girls.' Rose, on the left, is singing into her flower microphone. Tina is playing the flower concertina.

You don't know... but before long you will. Hmm...(theme from 'Twilight Zone' plays...)...I...will...know? There is a tidal wave coming, that will wash us all out to sea? Or, maybe...if I keep playing the concertina, my neighbors are going to toss me into the sea, and then.... hmm. Interesting...

Okay....as promised....here's a pic of my dolls that won a first prize in a crochet section at a fair. The first one on the left, though it's hard to tell, is holding a 'flower accordion' which is really more like a concertina. These are crochet-over-wire (not the same as wire crochet). I plan to make some more but I just don't seem to get to it. The pic is not so hot but I have a new camera now so I can maybe get some better views of things...yippee! Oops...sorry...wait....where's the pic...

Jim, those are cooool! Love those. That straw-type figure is especially interesting...and is that varnished, too, or just shiny straw? Well, we should have a special header in the forum for more photos of all our concertina and related figurines. (Um, yes...whales could be related...somehow....) In fact, now I think I'll have to gather up all my 'children' and photograph them for a page or something. (Might even have some whales hiding around here....you never know...) I'm going to see if I can find my crocheted concertina-player doll pic...she won a first prize at a fair, several years ago, even. Though, I was calling it an accordion at the time, since I hadn't yet even thought about the concertina. I don't know about the pic, though....one viewer said the doll just looked like some kind of big insect, so...?? Oh well.

I just posted a note in 'Buy And Sell,' but, adding a bit here. I don't know if anyone else likes to adjust the fit of the thumbstrap(s) at times, but, anyway, I use a crocheted thimble.... Re the thimble -- My concertina's thumbstraps are as tight as they can conveniently be, and I wouldn't want them any tighter (or looser). Usually, while playing, both my hands are working quite evenly and the slightly-loose fit of the thumbstraps is no problem. BUT, sometimes when I'm sitting and playing with the concertina 'propped' on my right knee, my left hand is doing more of the pushing/pulling, and my left thumb slips way into the strap and gets stuck there! This is when I appreciate using a thumb thimble.

Just a note about my crochet-and-brass-rings 'concertina tent' shown in my forum signature and described at my website, AND about the crocheted thimbles (for thumbs and/or pinkies) also shown at my website (with free pattern instructions, too): They are for sale, though I am just not very 'official' at this point. I am willing to e-mail a response about these items, to someone who is interested and inquires. I do hope to put some finished ones on Yahoo Auctions at some time in the near future, so, if I do, I'll let you know. (Yahoo/Geocities, where I have my website, has rules in their TOS that prevent site-owners at my service level to sell directly from the website. Edit added: Oops, maybe I'm wrong, I think I can use the Paydirect Button on my site...shall look into that.l) I really do find these 'gadgets' useful...but, I can't speak for other concertina players, of course, who may even think they seem rather ridiculous! Re the thimble -- My concertina's thumbstraps are as tight as they can conveniently be, and I wouldn't want them any tighter (or looser). Usually, while playing, both my hands are working quite evenly and the slightly-loose fit of the thumbstraps is no problem. BUT, sometimes when I'm sitting and playing with the concertina 'propped' on my right knee, my left hand is doing more of the pushing/pulling, and my left thumb slips way into the strap and gets stuck there! This is when I appreciate using a thumb thimble.

That one is so strange, I'd almost like to buy it just in case there's none other like it...but, I guess I'll just admire(?) from afar. No more room in here for stuff.

I don't know if I've ever actually heard a Salvation Army Band. Here in Massachusetts, they have lots of stores, and I have seen a few worship centers, but....? Musical doings? I'll have to ask my father if he's heard of any. I know that, somewhere, I do have a very old hymn book from the Salvation Army. Why I mention my father is because he the pastor of a small Baptist church near here, but, that doesn't necessarily mean anything specifically as far as my own beliefs, or my own particular 'opportunities,' or whatever, go. He does go into at least one local nursing home to minister, and my old accordion teacher used to go with him and play. I do remember a few times when I went along, as well as some other people, to play/sing, years ago. (I've also been employed by one of the nursing homes, a few times, in other capacities!) But, of course, being in that kind of family makes some people hate you and some think they love you. Or, they just think all kinds of whatever. It's not always easy....can be slightly like being an irreputable criminal, sometimes. Oh well! Though I enjoy the 'spiritual' types of hymns/songs that I arrange for concertina simply because I'm familiar with them, I can't even easily play in any church or in any religious capacity...can be frustrating...too hard to explain it all...but, anyway, I have 'church' with my parakeets or with the cats! So, if I play my concertina and use my Sally Army book (if I find it), then....maybe I'll be on my way....

...Well, I guess recorder players are more 'concertina related' than are owls. Hmm, I guess I never really thought about that, but, recorders do sound like owls, sometimes...

http://www.craftsayings.com/projects/funni...es/hooters2004/

Hope you're okay, Alan! One of my dogs is presently wondering why I'm still up...yes, it's 3:30 a.m. here...but, I've had the flu or something, too uncomfortable to sleep normally. (Coughing, etc..) Anyway, two of the recent times I was at the doctors, one time being an emergency room visit, was thanks to our dogs...indirectly. One, while defending my cat and trying to save him from the pitbull (which I did succeed in doing), I was clawed by the cat and needed a tetanus shot. Then, a bit later, I was washing out a dog food can and ended up in the emergency room...cut my finger and got it all taped up and bandaged....I made sure that I mentioned that I didn't want any weird bumps left on my finger when it was healed, since that would interfere with my playing, heheh. The ER nurse said she couldn't promise me that, but, anyway, it did heal up okay!

...but, that's what I was doing, just before I fell...heheh...standing, at the top of the flight of stairs...and it was the threat of my becoming new subject material for my paper-route customer's next suggestive 'joke' that made me turn on my heels just a liiiitttlllle bit too quickly... and then, next thing I knew, I was at the bottom of the stairs, and unable to move for a moment. The 'gentleman' was kind enough to ask me if I was okay, but, once I was out of there, I decided NOT to go to the doctor because I was afraid that my route customer would try to make sure there was no big problem to him. So...I figured that if I didn't even mention the incident to anyone, then he wouldn't have any problem (at the time, I wasn't even really sure if he had pushed me, or not, though, I really doubt it). I was worried that people would wonder WHY I fell down some stairs on my paper route! Geezh. I don't know WHAT I was thinking. Shoulda gone to the doctor, I guess. Anyway, about 15 or more years later, my husband, daughter and I moved into an apartment, and JUST as we were entering the apartment complex parking lot, there was my former customer -- all packed up and leaving. He'd been evicted. As he went past, he blew me a big kiss. So, I guess he remembered me. I just laughed. But, it really wasn't very funny!

Hm, I don't know if I've played this on my piano accordion. I'll have to try it...tomorrow, that is. See the post I just added in this thread, to Dave Barnert, for some more info, too... As for Anglo, I'm totally lost, there -- someday maybe I'll want to play one, but, I don't know if this could even be played easily on one.

Thoughts...hmm.. Well, I've since put 'Sacred Mountain' into the Tune-O-Tron, and that seems to be working okay. Same midi results, but a corrected copy, and comments are included. The one at my website that you weren't able to see...? Hm, that should have worked (?), but, anyway, I've just deleted the old (that) and added the new, but WITHOUT the comments that the Tune-O-Tron one includes, which I think shed some light...anyway, the new (but less informative) site link is here. Best bet is to see the Tune-O-Tron copies, I think. Hey, I like your new 'sig,' BTW (at least I think it's fairly recently added as a sig)!

Okay.... The mistake was simply that 'Measures 1 through 9' should really be 'Measures 1 through 8.' There's a division in the eighth measure that shouldn't be there, since it makes it too short. So, that's all. Back again with this edit to say that I've added the tune w/explanation, etc. to the Tune-O-Tron here.

Yes, I think 'simple hard practice, practice, practice' is probably 90% of the solution. (I'm still working on it.) I don't really have extremely large or broad fingers, they still trip over each other, anyway. Some days, more than others. I find that by playing a set pattern of chord progressions, first trying to use three fingers for each and then two fingers only (dropping one note of each), I can get to where I can easily use the three fingers. Not that this is recommended for any real tune or practical playing, as far as I know. I wrote a little 'song' or whatever for practicing this (and probably a few other things I wanted to work on, at the time). It's called 'Sacred Mountain' and can be found at http://bellowbelle.com/PPoemsMidis/Other/S...MountainCC4.mid as a midi, and at http://bellowbelle.com/PPoemsPics/Other/Sa...ountainWeb1.jpg as printable music notation. Maybe it'll give some inspiration and ideas, don't know...and, of course, I am not any kind of pro, just one of the crazies in the neighborhood.... anyway, good luck. (hmm...if that notation is really unreadable, let me know and maybe I can find a better file.) Back again...After having a good cup of coffee this morning, I am able to see that there are a few minor mistakes in my notation of Sacred Mountain (nothing serious), so...oops..sorry, I'll fix that soon.

Hmm, sounds to me like that COULD be or develop into something with recurring pain/symptoms....maybe you should go to the doctor. Though, I know what you mean about not wanting to! I wonder if you should keep your arm motionless or force it to keep in motion? You know, keep it from 'freezing' or settling into its 'wounded' posture. I fell down a flight of wooden stairs once, all on my back, when I was 16. I didn't go to any doctor...don't know for sure that it would have made any difference....but, though I had relatively little pain right after falling, years later, I developed problems with the left arm/shoulder that I believe may have come from that. (Pinched a nerve, maybe? Dunno...) I've often wondered if I could have prevented these symptoms (not too frequent, fortunately, these days). Anyway, I'd do regular checks on your ROM (range of motion) and so on! Hope you'll feel better soon!