Stephen Mills

Same as above, times 2, an accidental posting while trying to edit the above (bad cognitive night, nothing malicious). Steve Mills

edited to remove general stupidity, which left nothing remaining. Steve Mills

If you buy a cheap concertina, you should be prepared to experience some of the following: (1) inferior tone. As compared to what? As a terrific wine is wasted on a poor palate, only you can determine what is acceptable. Ebay won’t help you here. I’ve been ok with the tone on mine. (2) unusual or wrong key placements. Recent postings suggest the Chinese Englishes from Microscope City may be susceptible to this, but it may be otherwise rare. My Chinese Anglo is fine in this regard. (3) sticky buttons. Look on C.net for some solutions. (4) troublesome reeds. These can be harder to fix, depending on how they’re mounted. (5) bellows that are not sufficiently airtight. There are several questions only you can answer, even apart from the system you want and the style of music you want to play. If you are prepared to throw away your modest investment for the introductory experience, then the cheapos can be a good way to go. My cheap starter instruments have had some problems, but have allowed me to learn the systems and produce some music I’m not ashamed for others to hear. This July I expect to buy a nice instrument at Button Box or Groff's music. The early investment I made was not in the instruments, which will be throwaway within a few months to a few years, but in myself. There is probably no one person who has tried more than 1 or 2 of the ebay models, so no one will be able to accurately assess the situation. I personally would stay away from Microscope City. I’ve driven by the address, not a storefront, and the guy is clearly an importer of very many different things that he ships out of his garage. Nothing unethical about this, but you get the point. Perhaps some of the recent Microscope City buyers could comment on their instruments' tonal and playing qualities. My Anglo was from JLDyer. Even with some problems, I’ve been happy with the transaction. He has only English for sale currently, and 1 20 button Anglo I personally find hideously ugly. His 30 buttons sell for about $225. I knew myself well enough to know that I would not be happy without accidentals and more than 2-3 keys, so I went for a 30 button (Anglo). Keys and accidentals aside, a 20 button will not allow you to develop many alternate fingerings, but this is not necessarily a bad thing at first. If you go for a $80 - $125 concertina, I would expect that you would be dissatisfied quickly, perhaps immediately. Whether you get sufficient compensation in experience and enjoyment out of it depends on both luck and your own personal factors. Good luck.

According to this site concertina meetup, 19 concertina players near Oslo are signed up for a July 6 meetup. Why don't you sign up? edited comment: Upon further examination, that is 19 players worldwide who have signed up for July 6 meetup, all but 3 in the US (1 Japan, 2 Australia), so, never mind. (The software had said 19 near Oslo!)

I have had a Jackie for about 6 weeks. The instrument is clearly far superior to my Chinese noname Anglo in construction and probably also in tone. I do think the differences in tone are somewhat stylistic, like the difference between my cedar top and spruce top guitars, but the Jackie seems "sweeter". In truth, I have had a few problems I think are probably unusual. Two different buttons would continually pop out of their holes on the reed pan. This turned out to be a lifting of the lever unit out of the reed pan. I am positive the Concertina Connection would have made good, but I didn't want to go through the shipping hassles, so I opened it up. This involved unscrewing the offending end, exposing the reed pan and pushing the lever fully down again. I then applied a spot of glue with a sharp stick around the lever pin where it enters the reed pan. Removing the spring (also easy) is best until the glue is fully set. This has worked well. Finally, one reed is getting slow to speak. I haven't decided what to do yet, as it is not a serious problem at present. As Jim Lucas and I have both noted previously, one more note on the top end would be extremely desirable. I need that B a lot. Still, there are many fine tunes that don't require it, and often ways to get around the problem. Those were the negatives. My opinion is still that the Jackie is the best new concertina to be had under at least $600, probably quite a bit higher. I am firmly of the opinion that for most of us, a cheap concertina is the way to begin. After a year, you have learned a lot and have a good idea how serious you are and where you want to head next. A further hidden benefit lies beneath the curse of the cheap concertina: I personally now have gained a lot of experience looking "under the hood" and tweaking the engine, but here's hoping you don't have to. Someday I'd like to see a thread with comparative remarks from those who have learned both Anglo and English systems reasonably well. Let's hope both of us can contribute.

Very nice view, Jim L., but I shudder to think of the winter wind doing a hambo across the Oresund strait (no thread drift here!).

Stunningly gorgeous, Tom. What is the wood on that? It reminds me of the cocabola on the sides and back of my sprucetop guitar. Frank Edgley uses cocabola, but looking over his site, some other wood seems more likely. Absolutely beautiful in any case.

An experienced note-reader is not mechanically visualizing and processing notes, not even the first time through. Instead, experience causes a more chunky processing of groups of notes and the relationships between them. On repeated playing, many cognitive links are built up and the chunks are constantly changing. One example is simply knowing where you need to look at any given time; despite your perception, you have not really been rigidly following the notes. Naturally, time away from reading combined with memorization will disrupt your previous strategy and you will be temorarily worse. New repetitions will incorporate both cognitive processing modes into a new synthetic way of dealing with the notes, probably better, but temporary just like its predecessor. Ultimately, you want to get away from the notes altogether, but have the components, including chord structure, somewhere in your subconscious memory. Two old experiments: (1) Chess amateurs and grandmasters were each presented with random and midgame chessboards. The grandmasters could remember scarcely more than the amateurs of the random positions, but exactly recreate the meaningful positions. (The amateurs of course could not.) Musicians similarly process music based on their experience. (2) Some idiots savant (Please excuse the term; I can't remember the modern substitute) can tell you what day of the week any day in the future will fall on. Normal persons can be taught the very complicated algorithm, but perform far, far more slowly than the savants. Then, one day, they suddenly perform equally well, but they can no longer verbalize or easily remember how they do it. These observations may seem peripheral, but the human brain is an astonishing processing machine, and even simple processing (like note-reading) is never as simple as it first appears. Just my opinion.

Henk van Aalten once supplied this link of performers registered in some database. I eventually downloaded it into MS Excel so I could sort it and see what was there. I'm attaching the excel file, if that's a permitted file type. It reveals 4 or 5 players in Connecticut, all about an hour to 90 minutes from you. That's a bit much, but maybe some of them know teachers closer to you. Unfortunately, the link does not discriminate among types of concertina. concertina_performers.xls

I'd give a guy named Dan Alloway, who's apparently associated with KTEP folk radio, a call. I've seen his postings on Irish music elsewhere and he may know what's available around there. Don't forget to check out the learning page on the C.net home page for advice, and Chris Timson's site, if you haven't looked these over yet. El Paso may not be a hotbed of concertina musicians, but, consolation prize: As you probably know, you have absolutely the best Mexican food anywhere, right around there. California and the rest of Texas, don't even bother to protest. New Mexico and El Paso have it hands down. Maybe you can send me a bucket of enchilada sauce and I can send you the John Williams tape.

Try this, Samantha. It's an air called Ardaidh Cuain, or Ardaigh Cuain, or Quiet Land of Erin. It has only two flats, but is a joy to play. It moves nicely across the accidental row, especially if you use G draw on each hand. Surprisingly to me, it also harmonizes easily on the Anglo. I thought I got it from Mudcat, but there are differences from this version. You can download a harp version by Kim Robertson for free at: harp version in order to hear it. No criticism of her skills at all, but I think it sounds better on the concertina. I don't have an abc, but here is a .jpg file you can send to your printer.

I also am exploring a new Jackie, coming from a 30-button Anglo. The Jackie is a nice instrument, but the big frustration is the range. As noted, it stops at the A above the treble stave. A quick survey of my repertoire, much of which is in G or A dorian, found that the vast majority called for the next B. Even higher notes were not such a problem. I have no prior experience dealing with this, as my other instruments had wide ranges. Solutions: (1) Transpose down. The octave is rarely a solution, as most pieces would transpose below the bottom of the Jackie. If you transposed from G to F, say, your fellow musicians would likely object. In my case, these fellow musicians are imaginary friends, but they try to be faithful to reality. (2) Just substitute the B in the middle of the treble stave. This works occasionally, but rarely sounds good, in my experience. (3) Substitute another note, say the G just below the missing B. This often works in tunes where the B is a "transitional" note, but not where the B is pivotal. (4) Substitute an ornamented note in that range. This often sounds good, but I sometimes get the feeling it's like mumbling when you've forgotten the words. Help! You more experienced musicians, perhaps especially those of you who also play whistle, must have extensive experience dealing with this. How do you solve this sort of problem?

Less cute in the middle of the night. This group was serenading me last rainfall.

For a visit, sometime pretty soon, I hope, thanks to international scientific conferences. If I'd taken up concertina sooner, I probably would have made it to one in London last year. For this year, a detour from a meeting in Vermont to the Button Box will have to do, and then, in Australia, maybe I can find a good musical pub in Sydney or Brisbane. Any pub recommendations, you Australian squeezers? Another not exactly cozy country.

Finding of the 5th Assizes, Horley, Surrey, England. Based upon the following new evidence, the defendant Alan Day is released from custody, if he agrees to to 6 months of rhyme counseling. The pictured animal, surname Cusick, is barred from entering the United Kingdom. (Ha! Don't mess with me, Helen. But let's hope I didn't preempt a new Alan Day poem.)

Paul is himself the single red dot east of L.A. Jim, when you gather at the SSI, raise a glass to the luck of being in the thick of so many fine players in so many styles. You lot in the NE U.S., also, next NESI. My colleague, Ruth, the fiddling Neurobiologist, who’s played at the amateur level with many noted international players and is in the thick of the Irish scene here, has heard only a rumor of another concertina player, besides me, in the Houston area. My daughter's harp teacher, who the Chieftains tap to play their concerts when they're in Texas, hasn't heard of any. Kurt, you're hosting the next (first) Gulf Coast Squeeze-In at the Baton Rouge Dairy Queen nearest your house, right? Paul, I’d only suggest you check out the local festivals and slowly grow some contacts. A quick look at southern California netted me Lark in the Morning’s festival, which is, however, in Northern California (Mendocino) at the end of July. I did notice Jack Gilder, a noted concertina player is heavily involved, although no concertina workshops appeared on their schedule. This link Henk van Aalten once provided lists concertina players. Some, like Chris Cooper, are based in LA. [Note in edit: Sorry, Paul. You are of course the GREEN dot east of LA.

Exhibit A: UK vs. Alan Day (Sorry, Allison. I didn't do it.)

Nice try, Alan, but poet laureate is a lifetime job. Here's hoping for a great many more years of your musings.

Alan a’Dale was telling a tale when his fingers failed him one day. He tossed his lyre into the fire and looked for else to play. He spotted the bellows and said, “Look, fellows.” Squeezing it produced a fine wail. He pulled up some weeds and fashioned some reeds, while the bones from the mutton provided many a button. But his mates started to rail when he kicked over the ale, and sent him along on his way. Alan a’Dale lost his ale and became just plain old Alan Day. It’s been a long chain, but his loss was our gain. For through the years, from ales to beers, we crowned his grandson 20 times yet the official poet laureate of concertina dot net. ------------------------------------------------------- It was my forebear, Much the Miller’s son, who witnessed all these things that were done. None knew of his heart’s desire to trade the Miller’s wheel for a lyre. But from Miller to Mills, we’ve all had the curse We always write doggerel, never quite verse.

Just FYI, the concertina is apparently not unknown in Angola. Here are links to two albums by Angolan performers that feature the concertina. Angola music and Waldemar Bastos. The Bastos review has the following charming anecdote: Waldemar remembers many Christmas celebrations filled with concertina and organ music his father played. “One day”, Waldemar recalls with visible tenderness, “my father arrived home and found me playing his concertina. I felt bad for having been caught touching, without permission, an instrument which was almost sacred for him. But he was pleasantly surprised, I think he was even satisfied to hear me playing popular radio songs.

The Angora possibility also occurred to me when these things were first brought to our attention, but since the proprietor has an Asian surname, I was afraid I'd be accused of cultural insensitivity.

Let's buy one and start the Angola tour!! Let's see, 21 subscribers at 5$ each. I could pick it up in Spring, TX and save shipping. After the tour is complete, we could blow it up like that Cubs baseball. It's true, shipping between contributors would quickly exceed the purchase price (and presumed value). Sorry, I'm just feeling a little isolated down here, far from the SI's, concertina camps and other festivals, and looking for a little excitement.

Thanks for bringing this up. I've been thinking this needs to be called to the attention of newer members. It was Simon Wells who posted it. The doc was posted at: http://users.tpg.com.au/cghent/tutor.doc

Practice with a specific purpose in mind. Everything else is just details and personal preference, IMHO. I practiced classical guitar for many years, i.e., always using stereotyped fingering. I try to practice concertina so that I can change fingerings and ornaments on the fly and not always play passages basically the same way. So I can play like Alan Day, in other words. Learning how to practice with this specific purpose hasn't always been easy.

I loved that phrase too. Perhaps it's because we're a concertina site that it resonates so strongly with others, but I could never escape fighting "against" the classical guitar, and losing.