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lildogturpy

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Posts posted by lildogturpy

    Now is the winter of my discontent.

    in General Concertina Discussion

    Posted

    At least you can explain what happened. A friend many years ago in Edinburgh did something very similar but refused to tell us how it happened. When we finally put together all the details it seems he did it playing rugby. He missed a tackle and the opposing player ran past him. Not one to give up so easily, he grabbed the guys shorts from behind and got his finger stuck in his underwear :blink:

    What Accompanies A Concertina Well?

    in General Concertina Discussion

    Posted

    I would agree with others that the fiddle and concertina go well together. Unfortunately the wooden flute and the concertina almost always sound terrible to my ears. Only once or twice have I been in a session where the two worked well together and then it was because the flute player was particularly accurate on pitch. When it works it sounds great but the concertina is so unforgiving that unless the other instrument is bang on, the clash can sound awful.

     

    Playing the English Concertina the instrument is tuned to play ok in any key, which means that instruments like the anglo that are tuned specifically for C and G can sound much better in those keys. I find the note that often makes me cringe is when I have to play a C natural. If any note is going to sound bad, that's the one that brings it out.

    Adding An English

    in General Concertina Discussion

    Posted

    After playing the EC for 4 years I went to buy replacement springs at the button box and came out with a C#D button accordion (and the springs)

     

    I thought I would have great difficulties with the push/pull but it was much less painful than I expected. Haven't noticed much effect on the EC so far.

     

    Sometimes in a session a tune will come into my head and I'll start it, only to remember, just before I get to the tricky bit, that I usually play it on something else. Usually I somehow manage to fudge my way through.

     

    In my case, this usually takes the form of getting to the tricky bit and realizing I never learned this tune, just recognized the melody and thought I had.

    My First Time...

    in General Concertina Discussion

    Posted

    Hello Azalin

    I am in Montreal and looking for a concertina that I can try before buying.

    I have been asking around and everyone reacts as if I'm from another planet ... Concertina ??? ...

    Played piano when I was very young, never played anything else, fell in love with the accordeon but can't play it, so I'm thinking this might be my kind of machine.

    Can you suggest anything?

    Hi Diane,

    On Wednesday nights from 8-00pm we have a session in O'Regan's pub on Bishop, just south of Ste Catherine. I'm usually there with my English concertina (although I'll be away for the next two weeks) and Rae is usually there with her Frank Edgely Anglo. If you're lucky Jim will be there and he has one of each :lol: I only know of one duet player in Montreal and she doesn't normally make it out to sessions.

     

    If you could possibly make it down to the Northeast Squeeze-In you would have a huge selection of concertina players to ask opinions of. A wonderful event in a relaxed atmosphere.

     

    If you can't make it to the session, send me a message here and I'll see if we can set you up with something.

    Terrorist Concertina

    in General Concertina Discussion

    Posted

    Howdy:

    So what exactly are they swabbing for???

    I went to Florida this past winter and got my case, not my instrument, swabbed by security going both ways.

    They took to the swab to some sort of swab reading machine and told me I could go.

    I figured there was maybe some sort of questionable residue on the velour of my brand new case, but t was never explained to me and I did'nt ask questions.

    Just wanted to get going.

     

    AND just returning from Bradfield and headed to Killrush I went right through security with no swabbing in London, though my accompanying concertina playing buddy got the swab while going through a different security queue.

     

    Of all the things to swab.

     

    So, what's it all about?

     

    Have fun,

    Perry Werner

     

    Hi Perry,

    I came through Manchester UK once, expecting my Concertina to be swabbed as it usually is. Instead they took a great interest in my carry on bag, swabbed it twice, pulled me over to the side and arranged for an interview with security staff. It turns out a British Army Officer had gone through Airport Security earlier in the day, after spending the morning on the firing range. Contaminated their detection equipment so every other bag was showing up positive for explosives. The security person said he was heartily sick of filling out the mandatory form each time someone showed up positive for explosives.

    Concertina Players Get Together At Irish Arts Week?

    in General Concertina Discussion

    Posted

    I'm still undecided but won't be there before Wednesday at the earliest. Last time I was there it seemed everywhere I went I was surrounded by concertinas and had a wonderful time.

     

    Or maybe there's a local code that prohibits concertinas from being within 500 feet of each other.

     

    I think the building code is the reason for this since each bar seems to be a couple of miles from the next one - East Durham is very spread out!

    Gearóid Ó Hallmhuráin In Montreal

    in General Concertina Discussion

    Posted

    Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin will be giving a lecture in Montreal on June 11th. The organizers of the Siamsa School of Irish Music and Dance would like to know if anyone would be interested if they could persuade Gearóid to give a workshop in Montreal. If you would be interested you can leave me a message here and I will pass it on.

    Abc Music Notation

    in General Concertina Discussion

    Posted

    Hello Robin, it was me that got you playing the Cheshire Waltz. I felt quite proud when it moved from the 'guest' list into the 'session' list.

     

    Pete :)

     

    It's a nice tune - although when I play it I find a few people wander off into Lord Inchiquin which sounds vaguely similar at one point :-)

    Learning Irish Tunes, Help!

    in Tunes /Songs

    Posted

    I believe a semicircle over a dot is called a fermata, used to indicate a pause or sustained note held longer than usual, not normally an "ornament" as such. Apparently Hayden would love to confuse his orchestra by putting fermata over a rest.

    Reed Sounding Flat

    in Instrument Construction & Repair

    Posted

    Just a note here in fixing a problem that seemed to defy my best efforts for a long time.

     

    My high e on EC sounded flat on the push but the pull was fine. Cleaned the reeds - no difference, still flat. Swapped the push and pull reeds over - no difference, push was still flat but the pull was fine :ph34r: Therefore the reed was fine. Looked over Wim Wakker's excellent web article on how concertinas produce their sound and came across a reference saying the valve maybe too stiff and if it doesn't open far enough the note might be slow to start and when it does may be flat. Aha I thought. Looked at the valves and they all look new and all the same so why would just one note be doing this?

     

    Then I saw the metal pins that project just above the valve. For this one note, one of the pins was loose and had turned in place so now it was almost touching the valve. Put it back in position and pressed it into place firmly so it's not moving. Problem solved!! The push and pull now both sound perfect.

    2007 Northeast Squeeze-in

    in General Concertina Discussion

    Posted

    As always I had a wonderful time at the squeeze-in. Had a great time in the workshops run by Moche, one on Quebec tunes, the other on Jigs in minor keys. Now I have the Wren's Nest running around in my head. Highlights for me were: listening to Rachel Hall playing solo in the concert, normally she plays in a group but having the chance to listen to her by herself was wonderful; meeting all the wonderful people I run into every year; meeting all kinds of new folks who are new to the concertina. Lovely to catch up with Tony and Lynne again, great job as compare for the concert too Lynne. And Perry, how could you fail to mention your victory in the first ever squeeze-in haiku competition? Who knew that Jody Kruskal could be induced to sing Uncle Tom Cobley's and All after so much inebriation and so early in the morning? Bellowbelle's footbass accompaniment in the singing session was fantastic. I must confess my voice was a little rough for teaching my class today after staying up until getting on for 4-00am for the singing on Saturday night. I must confess I had my mp3 recorder going for most of it but I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet. So much to work on before next year's NESI.

    Wikipedia Abc

    in General Concertina Discussion

    Posted

    A few weeks ago I noticed that the ABC notation page on wikipedia had been deleted due to copyright infringement. The page had been lifted directly from Chris Walsh's abc website which is clearly marked copyright. I recreated the page and put a brief description of abc with links to Chris Walsh's site and to the online abc tutorial. Since I am no expert on abc it might be useful if someone who is could flesh out the text (without copying directly from another source)

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