BruceB

I just received The Concertina Record by Lea Nicholson & Black Boxes by Sarah Graves. After a quick listen to each of them I'm impressed with both. I had never before heard the Lea Nicholson recording which was recorded in the 1970's. I didn't know what I was missing, as every cut is great. I'm not sure how available this CD is, so I'd snatch it up when you get the chance. This is IMO, an essential recording if you like English concertina, and more importantly it's great fun. Contact info is..... Jayls@ jamring.com www.jamring.com I really like Black Boxes too, but I need to listen to it some more. I very much like her playing style. bruce boysen

Well, I do, and for once I am in the same place (on holiday in Indiana) as all my music. Let's see: 1. Side By Side F major 2. Sweet Auburn F major, part of Trio section in Bb major 3. I've Got A lovely Bunch Of Coconuts C major 4. Old Malabar F major, Trio in Bb major 5. Dancing With Ma Baby C major, Trio in F major 6. Love's Old Sweet Song F major Hmm, do we see a pattern here? Apologies if any of these are actually in the relative minor, I tried humming the melodies to myself (since of course I can't play them) and they all seem to be major. Yikes! The list does seem major key heavy. I'm not sure why that is, if anyone wants to suggest a tune in a minor key I'll try to work on it. I made an interesting "discovery" last night. I found my copy of Duet Arrangements for Maccann that David Cornell did some years ago (the arrangements are at the Maccann site), and tried a few out on my tenor English. The first one I tried "Ashgrove" worked fine. I'd say it's moderate difficulty on an English. It's a nice arrangement too. I'm surprised by this as I thought they'd need extensive changes to work on a different system. It looks like lots of them will work with no more than minor changes. Waltzing Matilda is another excellent arrangement that seems pretty good on English. You can check them out at the Maccann site. bruce boysen

Tentative list from Dancing With Ma Baby for Squeeze..... 1. Side By Side 2. Sweet Auburn 3. I've Got A lovely Bunch Of Coconuts 4. Old Malabar 5. Dancing With Ma Baby 6. Love's Old Sweet Song It's fine with me if the final list is completely different, this is just to get the ball rolling. Love's Old Sweet Song is the only one that is really difficult for me. bruce boysen

Jay, Yes, let's make a list. How about 6 tunes? I'm open to any tunes from the book. How about two from the easy section, two from the medium & two from the difficult tunes? Obviously, only work on as few or as many tunes as you're comfortable with, the Squeeze isn't that far away. Anyone want to propose which ones? Sweet Auburn is pretty easy yet sounds good. bruce boysen

Both these pieces are identical to the ones I know from my brass quintet work. Under the Double Eagle is even in the same key. I always wanted to try it with the EC and the B5tet alternating the repeated sections -- it would be great! I doubt I can get any of my quintet (besides myself) to come to the Squeeze-In, however. Jay Lamsa, who hasn't chimed in here yet, is working on this book too. I recall he might be coming to the S-I. Me, I'll work on reading bass clef and play some of those notes for you on my baritone. Ken Ken, do you know where I could hear (CD or online) "Under The Double Eagle?" I hadn't tried this one before. I find some of these tunes at the back of the book pretty hard to play and it sure would help to hear any version of them. Just a thought, but a lot of these tunes were arranged by Henry Stanley and somewhere in the book it said that his master library is actually all Duet arrangements and that he'd adapt them to the ability of the player and to the system it was to be played on. It sure would be interesting to hear these same tunes arranged for & played on Duet. bruce

Hi Rich, I wish I knew what these arrangements are supposed to sound like! I've never heard anyone play them and I've often wondered how badly I might be butchering them. I hope to get some ideas if we get some interest at the Squeeze-in. Like you, I only know a couple of the melodies. I've heard "I've Got A lovely Bunch Of Coconuts" (Danny Kaye singing?) tons of times. When I was growing up my parents had a 78 of this song & my brothers & I played it all the time. A friend of mine has a James Joyce website (http://www.james-joyce-music.com/) and his college roomate sings "Love's Old Sweet Song" on the site. It's from a CD of Joyce era music they made. Other than that and a few melodies I recognise, I don't know what the tunes should sound like. It would be even more fun to hear how they sound on other systems. How about David Cornell? I wonder if he plays any of them on his Maccann? He wrote the review of "Dancing With Ma Baby" that was in an old issue of Concertina & Squeezebox. Rich, are there any paticular tunes from the book that you like? bruce boysen

Hi Wendy, I don't think the book is currently available. Perhaps the Button Box still has some copies, I don't know. If it's not available I could copy a few of the tunes and send them to you. The book is really great, you should try to find a copy. If we get some people interested I'd like to make a list of tunes to work on. Sweet Auburn is pretty easy and is possibly my favorite, sounds great on concertina. Old Malabar is slightly more difficult, and is another that is really fun. I've Got A Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts is a great arrangement. Love's Old Sweet Song has gorgeous harmonies but is a lot more difficult to play than the others I mentioned. Let me know if you can't find a copy and want me to send a few tunes your way. bruce

Just wondering if there are any English players going to the NE Squeeze-in who would like to get together to play tunes from "Dancing With Ma Baby." I've never heard any of these tunes played by anyone else and it would be interesting to hear how others play them. If there's any interest we could pick some tunes from the book to work on. I'm willing to work on anything in the book, but some of the more difficult tunes in the back are somewhat beyond my ability. Any interest? bruce boysen

Thanks for the congrats! My enjoying the "New Model" *so* much has been a real surprise. I liked the feel of it right away, but it took a while for me to completely warm up to it's bright tone. The action on my tenor Aeola has a smoother & more precise feel, but it doesn't seem to translate into being any easier or better to play. It feels like the button travel on the "New Model" is slightly less, which is probably better for me. bruce

Hi everyone, I posted a week or so ago about my new to me metal ended New Model English that has a loud bright tone. After playing it a bunch more there is no possibility I'll attempt to alter the brightness in any way. I've quickly grown to love the sound of it and I'm getting better at playing it with a little less force & volume. It really has a great dynamic range and sounds very crisp. I like playing it more than my tenor Aeola. Partly, I now realize that I prefer a bright sounding concertina, and the Lachenal is easily brighter & louder than the Aeola, but it's more than that. I can't put my finger on why, but the Lachenal feels faster and easier to play. It's not the action as the Aeola has great a new action from The Concertina Connection. Maybe it's the reeds, they feel & sound so fast, powerful and crisp, the notes just jump out at the slightest touch. Whatever it is, I've never before played a concertina that I enjoy so much, perhaps it's just that this one suits me best. This is a seriously fast, bright, powerful concertina and I love playing it. I wouldn't trade it for any of the many, many Aeolas I've played over the years. bruce boysen

My top ten (or so) concertina CD's are mostly English players. Dave Townsend's Portrait of a Concertina is the recording that made me want to play concertina in the first place. It's an amazing recording, it seems almost impossible that anyone can play an English like that. The Big Day In and Simon Thoumire Three are both wonderful. I've played these recordings more than any other concertina CD's. Simon is my favorite concertina player, any system. The English Connection by John Nixon is another favorite. Tons of great stuff on it, with Wave, Estrellita & The Shadow of your smile among my favorite cuts. I've listened to this one tons too. Simple Gifts, Other Places, Other Times, with Rachel Hall on English Concertina is really good. I recently listened to the tunes on Mary MacNamara's website and loved them. The next CD's I buy will a couple of hers. From Boxing Clever I was most impressed by Harry Scurfield. I loved how he did Over the Waves. I need to get Anglo In The Dark. I've never heard any Duet recordings that I really liked. All the Duet stuff on Boxing Clever doesn't excite me at all. Are there any recordings out there that are easily available, like at The Button Box? I think the lack of excellent Duet recordings is really holding the system back as there are lots of great Anglo & English Cd's. I've heard Duet players at the Squeeze-in that were wonderful. David Cornell & Nick Robertshaw were great fun to hear live. Is there a reason why the Duet systems aren't well represented on recordings? bruce boysen

I've been working on Dancing With Ma Baby too. I've also been working more on Irish trad. What ever happened with the Brandon Falkner book of arrangements that recently was sold on ebay? I think Jim said he knows who bought it. bruce boysen

I always heard that as: "Yer pays yer money, yer takes yer chances."Well, yours is a new formulation of the old saw to me.Difference between British and American cultures? I've always heard "takes your chances." I grew up in California. Google prefers "choice" 3040 to 1820.Just wanted to see how many levels of quote the system would handle At least one more, I guess. Now look what I've started ! There seems to be no way out of this labyrinth. It looks like a set of steps, ... But are they rising to a peak, ...... Or descending into the depths? I know! ... We're looking into an accordion bellows! I don't follow. Does this mean you do or do not think that the tone will change with use??? bruce boysen

Yes, when I was considering this concertina it was made clear to me that it was bright & loud. Part of my thinking was that if it was too bright for me I could always tone it down with baffles. It would be a lot harder to go the other way! I'm not sure I'll want to tone it down, maybe in a few months. I wanted to get it because it was also (accurately) described as being such a good player. It's really fun to play and I'm happy with it. I could have had a metal ended Wheatstone that wasn't as bright or loud, but the dealer said this one was better so I went with it. I think this one is on the bright side even compared to other metal ended concertinas. It's totally different than the wood ended "New Model" Crane I traded in, which was a mellow concertina. It also feels a lot more responsive too. It's in better condition and appears to have been played less. I much prefer this one over the Crane. bruce boysen

Hi Everyone, The "New Model" English (#48883) that arrived the other day has me wondering about it's tone. It's really loud & very bright. While I wouldn't quite call it strident it's not far from it. From looking at it I'd guess that this concertina hasn't been played much. It's very clean looking with almost no damage to the wood. The left metal end is almost perfect with little to no wear to the finish. The right end has some tarnish on it, but no signs of wear around the buttons. Looks like maybe that end developed some tarnish from sitting, perhaps from facing down in the case. It plays great. It feels very quick and responsive, both the action and the reeds. As I said, it's loud & BRIGHT sounding. I'm happy with it as is, but if it mellowed just a bit perhaps it would be even better. It sounds great outdoors but in a small room it's pretty powerful when I drive it hard. So, this has me wondering if part of the reason it's so bright is that it hasn't been played much, and maybe not at all in the last 75 or so years. If so, will it's tone change now that I'll be playing it daily? I know the tone of new concertinas improves with regular playing, but is this also true of a vintage concertina that's sat for a long time? What do you think, I'm sure some of you have had a lot of experience with this situation. bruce boysen

Hi, the "New Model" English came from Barleycorn Concertinas. The action is great on mine too. It's just as fast as a riveted action and this one, at least, is also quiet. I can't feel any difference in playability between the Lachenal & Wheatstone actions. The Lachenal is louder & brighter than my tenor Aeola. The lachenal has only a five fold bellows and I do notice I need to be careful not to try to expand it too far. The Aeola has a new seven fold bellows (and a new action) that The Concertina Connection installed. It will be interesting to see which one I play the most down the road a bit. bruce boysen

Thank you very much Bill! The different methods narrow it down pretty well. bruce

Tom, Beautiful! I love your playing, the tone of the concertina and how it looks. Thank you for posting this. bruce boysen

I recently traded in my Lachenal New Model Crane for a metal ended New Model English and it arrived today. The english was described to me as being loud, fast & bright, and boy is it ever! It's sassy! I've played it for about 30 minutes and it's great fun. To me, it feels & sounds just right for iTrad. It's very air tight and in great condition, just some tarnish on the metal ends. I think this is going to be one seriously great concertina. I'm really excited about it. Anyone remember where to look online to get an idea of when it was built? bruce boysen

>>AS FOR MY PDF -- I did also make one using all sharps, on the same type of paper (using 'Graph Paper Printer,' which I no longer have). I like the option of thinking in sharps OR flats<< Wendy, It's fine to look at the english keyboard layout any way you prefer, but when talking about it in a public forum I think it's important to use the standard that been in place since the early days of the concertina, which is to call the accidental next to d d sharp, not e flat, g sharp next to g, not A flat, b flat next to b, etc for all the notes. I have an excellent chart taken from Regondi's 1857 New Method for the Concertina, which lists the notes this way, and every other chart I've ever seen is also this way. It's confusing when you do it a different way, and it also makes it more difficult to see the beautiful logic of the system. I had no idea at first what you were talking about in your first post in this thread. bruce boysen

Henk, This is a really fun tune on english concertina too! I started playing around with it the other day and it's kind of hard to stop playing it.....it's the tune that never ends! It does point out some differences between anglo & english. On my english the notes all fall right under my fingers and it's very easy to play, I barely have to shift my hands. Start throwing some octaves in and it would be a different story. It would be interesting to take two people of roughly equal ability, one playing anglo, the other english, and see where they take some tunes; how they might ornament differently, or the same. Would they end up taking the tune in much different directions then say two anglo players might? Perhaps the different systems wouldn't matter that much and just the individual players would account for most of the differences. bruce boysen

I'm in the process of trading in my Lachenal New Model Crane, probably for a New Model English. The English is described as being an excellent session instrument, with loud and very bright sounding reeds. It's also described as fast. I'd describe the Crane in almost the opposite way, kind of mellow, not overly loud and not very responsive. I've also played an Edeophone English that was certainly more mellow than bright. I'm wondering what's going on here? I know of another New Model English that is also on the loud & bright side. It seems like it's more than just random variations between different high end Lachenals. Were there two or more steels used for the reeds? Did Lachenals offer concertinas with different reeds depending on what sound you wanted? *Just an edit to add that I'm talking about steel reeded concertinas only.* Anyone have experience with this and care to offer some ideas? How would you describe your Lachenal? bruce boysen

That sure is pretty! Is the wood piece on the bottom of the right side end some sort of wrist/hand support? Perhaps just the right end because the left would normally be resting on the knee? bruce boysen

Hi Everyone, After six months I've decided to trade in my crane for another english and stick to one system only from now on. I really like both duets & anglos, but for me, trying to play two systems is one more system than I have the time and ability for. After experimenting with duets (crane, chidley & hayden at various times) quite a bit I'm now sure my first choice was the right one. I was recently listening to Simon Thoumire play a jazzed up version of Fisher's Hornpipe (Simon Thoumire Three, track 5, I think) and it was obvious that I should stick with the english since I prefer the sound of a well played english over the other systems. Ultimately, I think this is by far the best way to pick a system, just decide which one sounds the best to you and don't worry that you may find that system difficult or harder to comprehend as you'll adapt quickly enough to any of them. Anyway, I'm sure I'll play only english from now on. No more experimenting for me. bruce boysen

I'd like to find out more about this too. Jim, if you find out if the seller is making more copies available I'd like to know. I really like the Faulkner Brandon arranged pieces in Dancing With Ma Baby, so I'd probably enjoy these arrangements. Is anyone from concertina.net bidding? bruce boysen