Ken_Coles

Done. Ken

More uncommon systems take longer to find a buyer, so patience helps. It would also help to tell us what system it is (Crane? MacCann?). And a pretty picture never hurts either!

Someone once had this problem at Noel Hill school with a new bellows, and the suggestion was shoe polish (we found some neutral color polish) lightly applied to the gussets, with the excess wiped off. Overnight it cured the noise.

I'm sure I speak for Paul when I say we get something out of it too; it's not just a one-way street. I hope to get some of the backlog of revisions done today...Why? Yesterday I was driving from Pennsylvania to the state of Indiana (about a 700 km drive for you non-yanks) when my truck quit, near the halfway point. So I am having a sudden "vacation" in a motel in central Ohio. No, it's nowhere near Helen or I'd go over to her house! I hear they're serving a community meal down the street. If it were the Sally Army I'd take my concertina and play for them, but it is some other outfit. But I'm still happy this Thanksgiving, I have 2 hands, 2 feet (and 2 concertinas), more than many this day. Now where did I put all the files that have been submitted since last summer???

You guys lost me a long time ago, but I note with interest the references to Arthur Benade. One of his popular books ("Horns, Strings, and Harmony") was a great boon to me as a kid, combining as it did my interests in music and science.

Best wishes for a successful meeting. You will enjoy it, I am sure! Ken

Not only have I idly wondered this myself, but I have also wondered, are modern makers keeping files of numbers and dates so in 50 years it is easier for us to date a Morse (say), that it is to date a Lachenal now? Or is production a proprietary secret? Maybe figures could be released after so many years. And I know Rich Morse numbers his boxes (I have 036, first sold in October 2000), but I'm not aware that Tedrow or Edgely do. Gentlemen?

Maybe Rich Morse will chime in with suggestions in western Mass. Geoff is awesome, definitely find him a venue in your area! Ken (likely too far west in Pittsburgh)

Oddly enough, I find myself sight-reading pretty well on anglo (all that scale practice) though I also play it by ear. I am playing English now primarily by ear; it just works for me. Which is all backwards from the reported common experience. I guess that tells you how useful my advice is! Just have fun, whatever you do!

Bill McHale pegged it in my case. I got my first concertina at age 34, after years of being interested in one but too poor as a graduate student to get one (or any of the other stuff I was interested in!)

I'm a lefty too! But in 1999 I got RSI in both wrists and lost most of that year from concertina. (See 2 articles here on c.net) I limited myself to 5 minutes a day for quite a while. I do fine now. The challenge was that the cure (as with many things orthopedic) was time. That is a tough medicine in a society like mine where they want you to think that a(n expensive) pill is the instant cure for everything. So all I can tell you is go slow! Ask your PT; show them your concertina.

Yes, it was fun. Evidently it was a first-time deal, and may have other themes (Scots, Breton, etc.) in future years. One person at "meet the tina" said she was going to lobby for an Irish concertina class some year (Frank E., can we get you?). Nice to put faces to some names, including Mr. f-green and several others who may chime in here. I had to skip all of Sunday to get back for a work-related meeting. Hope it ended well. C'ya.

Surely you mean Ken Sweeney?

Well, I looked behind the curtain and have found no information unique to this forum system. But I'll guess Paul configured it in the usual way; normally you don't let users change their username because there are mischeivious folks out there who will do it multiple times in the midst of a thread to stir up other people and so on. You can always create a new account with a different name and start using that. But we enjoy knowing who you are, Jim, something I wish we could have everyone do, along with putting their location in their profile. Ken Coles

This has been discussed at considerable length and many times over at The Session (http://adactio.com/session/). You might check there.

Well, as a reminder to everyone, not necessarily just present company, Paul has requested a modest donation to C.net for some of the site hosting costs if this site has helped you sell an instrument (see his note on both the old and new buy and sell pages). A while back I asked Paul (we don't talk all that often, actually) how many people who sell instruments here actually did this; the impression I got was not very many. Anyone interested in doing this should contact Paul directly, not me. Edited to add: Daniel beat me to the punch here, thanks.

Well, I'm certainly interested, as an individual, rather than speaking for concertina.net. [i'm sure Paul and I would be even slower than you Rich about getting permissions!] Write me offline if there is anything specific to discuss. I was a regular listener to WKSU the one year I lived in Ohio (1988-89) - very good. There is not much on broadcast here in the Pittsburgh area. The former "folk" station is too much rock (whether Adult Alternative or not) for my taste.

As an American folk DJ myself, whose show has been more or less squeezed off the air as the station shortens it and keeps moving it to less desirable time slots, I have to agree. Station management, which was so enthusiastic about volunteer folk DJs coming on in 1994 and 1995, has been enamoured of talk radio for years now. It was a relief to move away and have an easy excuse to "retire." Before I commit to my next radio gig I will look carefully at the station's commitment to the music. Ken Coles WBAA radio, May 1995- December 2004, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA

Since 9/11 they _always_ open the case to see what it is, and immediately always say "Oh," and put it back. I have not been asked to play since an Italian security guy in San Francisco asked for a tune...turns out someone in his family played. That was maybe 10 years ago, my big red Renelli. Taking it out of the case to put in a tray is an interesting idea that might speed up all the nonsense. My only reservation is the cascade/traffic jam of trays coming out of some x-rays might actually knock it out of the tray.

We received this interesting and moving account from Concertina.net member Len Rheaume about his time playing concertina for many different people in Iraq. We know the situation Len found himself in is one that arouses strong feelings among many of you. We do not wish to open a debate on those feelings here; as with all of Concertina.net, the tie here is to the concertina. Rather, we wanted to share a remarkable story of the role music plays in our lives. This is not the first such story we have heard, and we are sure not the last either. Thanks to Len for sharing such a personal story. Ken, on behalf of Concertina.net Concertina in Iraq

The press A/Pull G, especially on the left, is a key button for some Morris styles I've been shown, by Tom Kruskal and by Jody Kruskal. Bertram Levy also alludes to this in his book. Having this button on both sides is one of the things I like about the Lachenal layout (I have other reasons for liking the Jeffries layout also. The A/G is still there on the right side, but on two different buttons). I do use the left side A/G a lot for harmonies and chords in song.

I got to listen to Sean Minnie play at the recent Northeast Squeeze-In and enjoyed the music. It is indeed different. Let me issue an open invitation to Flip for any manuscripts, photos, CD info, sound files, or maker information that I could add to the permanent parts of the site. Just send it along. Cheers, Ken

That is my impression, yes. Again, I've gotten the impression that many tunes in East Clare are in C and F rather than D and G. That's pretty much what I do. I also check multiple sources (printed, recorded, living informants) to see what key(s) is/are common. Ken

Speaking of speedy youth playing in Eire: At Willie Week in 1999 I couldn't play due to injury so I took the music appreciation class taught by Paddy Glackin. One day one of the beginning players in the class said she was surprised that kids in Ireland played the tunes way too fast; she thought only Americans did that. Paddy smiled and replied, "Youth will have its fling." He went on to point out they would slow down with maturity, and that it was better outlet for their hormones than some other kinds of mischief (trouble) that 16-year-olds could get into!

In the U.S. you get both too-fast players and sessions that are clearly still connected to the dancing. The session I'm joining up with in Pittsburgh is one of the latter; one of the leaders is fiddler Oliver Browne, brother of piper Peter Browne. (and Oliver studied Astronomy in school, so he and I have twice as much to talk about) Sorry to hear this is rare in the U.K. The longer you're around, the more amazing things you see in the music world.