pugwash

I voted "Something other" The reason, you should have added, provocative. I do realise this was accidental, very easy to do on a forum with some slight wrong wording. Just a quicky on the "Boring" question. I have for the past couple of months been learning some Irish tunes, on my English. Do I find it boring? Yes. I would just like to say, that I love Irish music and still do, so much so, I wish I was Irish! I think the problem I have, is that I find a lot of instruments played solo can be boring, so to overcome my problem, I have found a couple of tracks on a Warblefly album that I can play, I put it on and play along, no longer bored, in fact, I am in heaven. Richard.

Spotted on a Mangers beer advert on ITV this afternoon. There was a traditional band playing in the background, but the camera zoomed in on the concertina, I think it was an anglo, I was talking at the time, so only got a quick look, it was a good close up shot though. Richard.

Si Bheag, Si Mhor Plaxty Fanny Power Tralee Gaol I only know four tunes, so the choice is not too difficult! Richard.

By listening to the beautiful voice of Duffy.

Hello Pamela. I too am a beginner. I have been playing now for nine months, and I also came to that problem at the start, but as stated above, I found using the index and middle finger the best method (For me) I felt very awkward at first but after consistantly practicing it, I now find it very natural. I thought it a good idea to do this, because some three finger cord positions require it. Richard.

Thanks for answering those questions. I had noticed on a lot of the clips that I have seen, that there was economic movement of the bellows, I always wondered why it looked like I was pumping up an air bed (slight exageration) My instrument is a standard 48 key rosewood ended Lachenal btw. I shall practice the breathing exercises you mention with humming, not singing, my singing would start all the dogs in the neighbourhood howling, in fact, my singing is that bad, that when I was a youngster at school, and tried to join the school choir, I not only got rejected, I nearly got expelled. Richard.

I have seen Pro Rats other clips, and indeed, he is a very good player. I have not seen that one before, thanks for pointing it out, but I must ask, why the strap? Why use the top of the bellows only? I also have this problem whilst learning a new tune. My problem is with my breathing, I hold my breath! Now I do realise that I am meant to breath normally, but I can't help it. At the moment, I am trying to learn some reels on my English, the rate that I am going, my wife is going to come in one day, and find me unconscious

Hi Richard, Pugwash, etc. I too, am getting dizzy --- I can't believe the amount of energy we are putting into non-concertina issues. Pam a.k.a. Pamela Berardino Connecticut, USA Who would like to know where people are from, and probably due to her age, prefer to know who she is talking to! Happy New Year All! Hello Pam, Happy new year. I would also like to know where people are posting from. Happy new year to all. Richard.

Merry Christmas John, and Merry Christmas to all. Richard.

I can't keep up with this thread, because my head has exploded. Richard.

I had noticed that people use their real names on this forum. The only reason I use a pseudonym is because that is usually the norm on forums, I do sign my real name at the bottom of posts though. Richard (Knight) P.S. Allan, only a few more days, I can then get to read your book, shall let you know.

RiverHamble, you say "tunes" It is my guess, that maybe you are trying to go too fast. I have only been playing since May this year. I found the best way to progress, is to learn only one tune at a time and to chip your way through it, 2 or 4 bars at a time (as already stated) Do not move onto the next part until you can play the first parts by muscle memory, then move on and so forth. It may be tedious but it works, well it does for me and I am not a fast learner. Trying to learn too many things at the same time, leads to confusion, you need to be relaxed. Richard.

At the moment I play alone. That is because I have only had my tina since May, and recently it has been away for ten weeks to be restored, so I am still learning. I manage to get at least an hour of practice each night. It is my goal to play in a session, with other musicians, I don't care if it is carol's under a street lamp, a session in a private house or whatever that setting may be, I see playing with other people, as the only way forward and that is what I am working towards.

Yes, I am sure I will, I shall give you my feedback after Christmas, Allan. Good contribution on the radio, btw. Richard.

Thank you for that link. Listening to it now. My wife has bought me Allan Atlas's book, The Wheatstone English Concertina in Victorian England, for Christmas. Looking forward to reading that. Richard.

Yes, it was Hobgoblin Music, Crawley. Richard.

Yes, tonight my tina was returned after 10 weeks of being away. My beloved Charsley Stafford gave up the ghost back in August. A couple of notes stopped working and the middle C button jammed because of a broken pivot. Fortunately, I bought this from a reputable dealer (Take note Ebay buyers's) and because it was under warranty, they agreed to fix it. When the tina was opened up, I was informed that is was in a bad way and they advised me to have it re-furbished, the fixing for free, but re-furbishment would cost me several hundred pounds, or I could have a look at another tina that was on the finishing stages of re-furbishment. To cut a long story short, I had a look at the other tina, a Lachenal/Wheatstone, totally re-furbished, new bellows, pads, valves, etc, it looks and sounds great, so I decided to accept it. Although my other instrument was higher end, this one was given to me at no extra cost and I should'nt have to worry about repairs for a long time, hopefully. Anyway, this is the benefits of going to a reputable dealer, I am just so pleased to get it back, even if it is a different instrument. Now I must refresh myself of everything I have learn't, and I intend to do so by the end of next week, as I have some Christmas carol's to practice.

That's a nice couple of boxes you have there yourself ennistraveler. The festival you attended, was it near the coast? Because I know that salt air plays havoc on anything metal or leather. Thank's for the welcome and good luck with the repair.

Yes Chris, I shall try a session, just want to build a bit more fluency into my playing first. I have already tried that method with my wife, it did'nt work, the irish concertina is in the cupboard! Its not too irritating for my wife, now that I have cut down to 20 minute sessions (three to four time a day) I did go a little mad on it for a couple of weeks, sometimes practicing for an hour and a half at a time, so my own fault really! All is ok now though. Richard.

Thanks for the advise Woody. I practice the tunes I know every day to polish them but the reason I was learning them, is not so much as to build repetoire but to move around on the scales, for some reason, I get to know the position of the notes better by playing a tune on them. What I am going to do now, is transpose the tunes I know into a different key, I shall polish them in the original though! Richard

Ok, word of advise, I used to buy clothes from the US (ebay) and my wife used to but hers from Canada. I no longer do this because I was hit with a 48 pound charge for an item valued at 84 pounds, thats 56%. My wife also was charged a similar amount. There does not seem to be a set charge, it's a lottery, or is that robbery! Sorry to bring you bad tidings, I thought it best that you know the worst case scenario. My advise is, try and persuade the company to undervalue the item, or you could be in for a shock! Of course, this is illegal and shameful, I mean, you would'nt like it if the government allowed private enterprise to rip off your pension, would you.

UPDATE. Well, I have had my concertina now for two months. Been practicing my scales for the first four weeks and have now moved on to some tunes because I found myself going backwards and forwards and felt the need to move around on the keyboard a bit, it also helps me to remember where the notes are. I can play four tunes now from memory, just need to polish them up and work on my timing. I know four tunes is not a lot in eight weeks, but I was ill for a couple of weeks at the end of May, this left me unable to play. Back to full fitnes now, I have tryed to make up for it by practicing for about two to three hours a day over the past three weeks, unfortunately, this drove my wife near insane, so I have now toned this down to twenty minute intervals about four times a day. I must admit, that I find this better because when my thumbs and wrist ached, I was messing up. I have been dropping into this forum regually to gather its very usefull information, I have also downloaded Finale Notepad so that I can get an idea what some of the tunes sound like first, very useful program indeed! On a final note (no pun intended) I was chatting to my son today, he is learning the guitar, he went for his weekly lesson last night, he was asked to practice some jigs and reels by his tutor, while in conversation with his tutor, his tutor told him that his tutor (the tutors, tutor) had a very good concertina player in his old band and that they were getting together for his 60th birthday bash, I asked the concertina players name, he said "John Kirkpatrick" I looked at him and said, "bit of an understatement there" and explained who he was. Just goes to show what a small world this is! Anyway, enough rambling, I have some tunes to murder. Richard.

You may be right. My son was watching channel five morning TV yesterday, he saw a kids band performing(five alive, if I remember correctly) a couple of members of the band were playing concertina's, so thats a good sign, encouraging the kids to play. Richard

Thank you for the information and welcome, much appreciated. I have just noticed the link to your website Stephen, when I can prise this tina off my thumbs later, I am looking forward to reading through it in depth. Richard.

Thank's fella's. Yes Stephen I do have the number - 18336 I would be grateful for any information you can give me about the instrument, thank's for that. It not only looks good but feels and sounds good, to me anyway. I was so into it yesterday, as it was a bank holiday, that I forgot to feed my two dogs, the first time I have ever done that in 30 years of dog ownership. I printed out the link you provided, thanks again.