Henrik Müller

With so much time on my hands I got the itch yesterday and occupied the kitchen table for a number of hours in order to make what I have been threatening myself with for a couple of years: No circles are round, no right angles are 90 degrees, but as an old saying in Denmark says: "You don't notice that when the music's playing..." I still need to get proper pliers with round jaws in order to make the "hook" correctly, but still... The first spring came out like this: Mind, the wire is too thin - 0.5 mm - 0.7 mm would be more suitable, but it's close enough to verify that the thing works. /Henrik

Hi, Michael - My comments on this: I tend to look - after 2 years playing the thing - at: low action (or full travel buttons) button diameter horizontal button spacing - as a single "playability" parameter. Larger diameter, because I find it pleasant and since the buttons go all the way down to the plate, it makes sense to me to have a little more space around them. On top of that we should probably add the shape of the button top: - flat - spherical with sphere diameter = button diameter - spherical with sphere diameter larger than button diameter (Yes, we are into nitty-gritty stuff here, but that's what we do in this forum, isn't it ) Ah - we need to add the spring tension as a final point... === A few button diameters from the real world: - A (44-button) Jeffries: 4.0 mm - A Wheatstone (56 button) EC, mahogany ends: 4.6 mm - A Wheatstone (48 button), EC, hex, metal ends: 5.0 mm - A Wheatstone (48 button Æola), EC, ebony ends: 5.0 mm - My little ol' Stagi mini wreck: 5.8 mm - The Slide Engine (my own): 5.5 mm - the pencil tops... (Could I choose freely, I would choose for 6.0 mm) But all this factors are very personal - people have different preferences, period. But isn't it interesting to see that the top instruments of the instrument with the most "room" between buttons, the Anglo, often has the buttons with the smallest diameter? Changing an existing instrument's buttons/action depth is basically risky, I think. The only "safe" way seems to be to have a full, completely new set of buttons made, to test. So - rambling ended. Not very organized... still on vacation /Henrik

Good, but not a new idea - here is a part of the hand-made poster for the Irish Festival in Stockholm (probably 1980): The artist was a musician Magnus Ek, a good concertina player, who played both EC and AC. Unfortunately, he dropped out of the Irish scene, I think to pursue a career in advertising (obviously as a graphic artist). /Henrik Edited to remove a word -

I don't know if this is usable or even helpful, but: I noted by coincidence that placing my ears in the near-field of the speakers (?!) and playing along was a real kick! Let me make myself more clear (or ridiculous): to be in the near-field off laptop speakers, requires that your nose is basically between "G" and "H" on the keyboard. This makes playing very difficult - the instrument is under the table... But you can achieve the same effect if you use (not head phones - too much isolation), but small ear phones, like you have with iPods and MP3 players. They leak sufficiently and allows you you to adjust the balance between yourself and the tune optimally. Dependent on your level and the tune, you will need to some way of slowing down the tune and of course it is no use if you are trying to pick your way through it the first few times. But do wait until wives and partners are out shopping, or else... But seriously - it can have the well-known session effect: You find yourself carried away, and playing things you didn't really thought you could. Around here, I am known for having a screw loose and family members no longer react to the fact that I seem to be writing a letter with my nose Give it go - but don't say you haven't been warned - /Henrik

Oh, ho-ho - Bull's Eye! /Henrik

Blast! This doesn't fit into my kitchen /Henrik

Hi, Lep - "this is the last thing that stands in my way" - phew! That's was easy - could have been much worse... I am joking, of course - There seems to be two basic ways: flat levers, cut from brass sheet and round levers, either brass or aluminium. I cut mine from 1 mm brass (today I would have chosen 1.5 mm, not that I have had any trouble from 1, but still...hmm). The round ones require that they get a whack in the middle to create a flat section - look at Chris Ghent's excellent close-up. (I have trouble seing this work with brass, unless it is soft. But I know that the world is filled with old instruments with round brass levers. But soft contradicts the whole purpose of the lever. As I see it, round ones have the benefit that you can thread them at the tip, to accommodate the little leather pearl. The square/rectangular ones (from sheet) do not make this easy (yes - I know: the world is full of non-round levers with something that looks like a thread at the tip. It may be something else - I am curious to know). The posts - cut from brass sheet, rivet to the lever. I had special, terrifically expensive, round posts made, because I had a feeling that they should be moveable. Turned out to be a good idea. Again, Chris has a brilliant photo of the finished result. Rambling finished - - hope it was any use. /Henrik

Thanks, Jody - New Year's fireworks in Brooklyn is something I probably can't imagine! Quote: "Always a treat to watch a new players eyes light up..." Unquote. Yes, it is indeed a rare treat to experience that! /Henrik

Hello, Pete - Ha! You are one of the few who reflect on the name! I made the label after having played the thingie a few weeks and realizing that the fact that my buttons go all the way down (I feel the felt and the end plate) opened a new world of technique, like switching fingers on the same note, which felt more like sliding the fingers over the button. Hence the name - the technique also facilitated the playing of certain slides, try e.g., "The Star above the Garter". Finally, I have written a piece of software with same name, but nothing to do with concertinas, though. The sliding can be seen in the last part of my (fairly) old YouTube clip. (Be sure to switch to "Watch in high quality") And here is an extra, short, short demo as well (2 bars of the Doonagore): Not surprisingly, I found that I can use the technique on a standard EC, but not without problems: I hit the neighbours (eh, buttons, that is). The other difference compared to a standard EC is the horizontal space between buttons: there is more of it - I have more "air" around the buttons - like an AC. And I may as well jump into the deep end of the pool: the third difference is the big one: I kicked out the pinkie rest and - in June last year - the thumbstraps (sorry, Sir Charles). Never looked back. I have always felt that when comparing ECs and ACs something was overlooked, felt as if apples and bananas were compared, which wasn't really fair. IMHO, I feel that we can't compare two systems when there are more differences than the systems per se: The dynamic control that the AC has can not be achieved with an instrument you carry on the tip of your thumbs and your pinkies. 10 seconds besides Edel Fox is proof enough - the volume is astonishing. So a more fair comparison should be with an EC that has the same features - systems apart - as the AC. But again - that is my opinion /Henrik

Thanks, Micheal - Those who look at the notation and listen to the tune will find certain discrepancies since I probably play a mix between the notation and elements I've taken from Sharon's style. /Henrik

A Happy New Year to you all! While sitting alone in my kitchen this afternoon, I got the idea of recording a short tune (for your perusal? ): It is composed by a man named Brendan McGlinchey in the 70s and I picked it up from the playing of Sharon O'Leary in one of the Bloom of Youth-series on RTE. And a very apt title for a player sitting alone in a kitchen... I have set the MP3 quality to an acceptable minimum, to keep the file size down, hence the slight "playing under water" effect. /Henrik

Merry Christmas from southern Sweden (no - no snow, but frost) /Henrik

Jim is baiting you to ask:"Why? What's the joke?" Barsebäck, on the coast a few miles north of Malmö is the home (and name) of a nuclear power station that for years annoyed the Danes because of its vicinity to Denmark's capital city, Copenhagen. It was closed a few years ago. Well, you never know: I was woken up this morning by an earthquake, 4.7, the strongest in Sweden since 1904. Very peculiar feeling! /Henrik I may even take a look at the tune myself...

Hi, Jon - good stuff! One question immediately comes to my mind when I see this: What is the diameter of the dovetail router bit? /Henrik ...I am using a 1/4" dovetail router bit, with a 7 deg pitch ... Good - my guess exactly /Henrik

Hi, Jon - good stuff! One question immediately comes to my mind when I see this: What is the diameter of the dovetail router bit? /Henrik

Ah, my favorite machine . It is intriguingly simple - once you have figured out how it works /Henrik

1961 - /Henrik

Oh, it displays well enough - it says: "Thousand stone nul room waltz sessions", or, in plain English: "Never trust machine translation" . ("Waltz session" is OK, though). /Henrik Sorry, Taka - I was a bit fast there; I hadn't noticed your translation. I am fine with Katakana - Kanji not, of course (and I can never resist machine translation...) /Henrik

Oh, it displays well enough - it says: "Thousand stone nul room waltz sessions", or, in plain English: "Never trust machine translation" . ("Waltz session" is OK, though). /Henrik

Eh? Not like it? What gave you that idea?/Henrik

Some list! For Ireland, I think there are a few more names to pick from this: http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=8596 May especially I point out Audrey Wardrick, 13... Mary Ellen doesn't really cut it for "up to 30" - but she was grand to watch! /Henrik

Folks - I have placed a compilation of short clips from a concert at Éigse Mrs. Crotty 2007. The individual clips are short, around 30 seconds - I didn't have as many GBytes last year as this year . But - like in my clips from this August: the audio is taken from the Edirol R-09, replacing the Canon IXUS tracks. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=aPwyHxhIYUU ("Watch in high quality" recommended) The players are: - Katie O'Sullivan - Ernestine Healy - May Ellen Curtin - 86 yrs - Audrey Wardrick - 13 yrs - Dympna O'Sullivan - Ailbhe or Aine ni Caba - Jacqueline McCarthy The final "all together" also includes Bláthnaid ni Caba, Mairéad Considine, Sharon O'Leary and Colin Sheehan (yes - a male!) /Henrik

Oh, no... /Henrik

Thanks, Rusty - now my browser bookmarks has a folder called "Hide glue" -/Henrik