lildogturpy

I remember 8 months ago I went to the Sunday night session at the Whistling Jig in Manchester and there was an anglo player called Samantha I think who was amazing. I didn't see her when I was there over Christmas but I'm sure if you pop in there one Sunday the banjo player, Jim, might be able to point you in her direction. No idea if she gives lessons though.

By hammer on the B button do you mean the equivalent of an 1/8 note B followed by a B triplet or there abouts? There is a hornpipe, Good for the Tongue, where I've been doing something similar in the B section so I'll give it a try. After playing with a short roll I have something that sounds better now. An 1/8 note B followed by C#BC#B in quick succession. I do the equivalent roll on the F# and D in the A part, ie play GF#G and then the 1/4 note F# or EDE and then the 1/4 note D. It also sounds nice if the 1/4 note F# is played straight and then the 1/8 note E is replaced by F#EF# before the next note. Instead of doing the hammering with my finger, I've been holding the finger in and then "wobbling" the hands in and out. That way it's the same whether the note is played left or right handed. <Edited>After reading this I realized I don't really "wobble" my hands, its more a series of hard pushes to bring out the hammering effect</Edited> Yes - Montreal is a lovely city, warming up now and beginning to feel more like spring The End of Winter just seems like an appropriate cheery tune to take to the session today

Hi Perry, Thanks for reminding me about the grotesque, I'd forgotten the discussion about it. Turns out I was in the Montreal St Patricks Day parade with our Prime Minister. Didn't realize he was going to be in the parade beforehand though. Since the title of this thread is "?" I may as well ask this here. I've noticed that in the cold, such as the St Patrick's Day parade, some notes get stuck presumably because of the different expansion coefficients of brass and steel. The funny thing though is that it's always the "push" notes on my english that get stuck while the pull notes still play fine. Is this coincidence? I tried reversing the push and pull reeds for a note that got stuck last time and this time is was still the push that got stuck.

So far I have only been adding cuts and the occasional short roll as ornamentation to tunes on the English concertina but I haven't put too much work into ornamentation, concentrating on learning tunes and playing them properly. I would like to find out more about how to play specific ornamentation patterns though. In particular, I just submitted a tune, The End of Winter , to the tune-o-tron here and I would like suggestions as to what to do with the dotted quarter notes in the B part. With no ornamentation it sounds very flat. A short roll is just not long enough but when I try to figure out the note sequence for a long roll it never sounds very satisfying. Does anyone have suggestions, with specific note patterns, for how to ornament this tune? <note> It seems that the tune I had transcribed as The End of Winter is in fact Burnt River. There is a misprint on the CD jacket. The tune The End of Winter is a reel which I will get around to transcribing sometime. </note>

Hi Dave, Nice an sunny, warming up to just above zero but we still have snow on the ground. In the past few years the weather has warmed up at the beginning of April so I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Looking forward to the Comhaltas in Ottawa next weekend. Last year it was great to arrive in warm and sunny New Jersey from the Great White North. I just hope that Ottawa can come up with some warmth. Planning any more trips over in the near future?

The other name I have for the Old Dutch Churn is Fig for a Kiss. Another lovely tune, with a very similar feel is Garrett's Wedding

One thing to keep in mind here!

Not sure if temperature would do that although I would imagine it would change the flexibility of the steel which might affect it's vibration. I do know (after the St Patrick's Day Parade) that in the cold the brass reed shoe and the steel reed contract at different rates and start to buzz or just not play. Problem disappears again when things warm up. I acquired my Concertina last July and checked it several times against an electronic tuner and it was dead on. More recently it seems to be hovering just sharp across all notes, not just the odd one or two. Haven't checked it at too many different temperatures though.

For those interested, and in Montreal, here is the information I have on the Gearoid O'Halloran concert IRISH TRADITIONAL MUSIC CONCERT FEATURING GEAROID O'HALLMHURAIN ON CONCERTINA with guests Laura Risk (fiddle), Jocelyn Haas (flute) and Golo Goerner (guitar) Thursday March 31, 7:00PM McKibbins Pub - Upstairs Room 1426 Bishop St. Montreal, Qc. Admission: $10 (at the door) For reservations or further information contact: reinhard.goerner@sympatico.ca or call 450-473-5477 (message) In 2001, Dr. Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin was profiled in the "Rough Guide to Irish Music" (London: Penguin Press). A fourth generation musician and a native of County Clare on the west coast of Ireland, Ó hAllmhuráin holds five World Championship Irish music titles: as a concertina player, uilleann piper, and as a member of the renowned Kilfenora Céilí Band, the oldest traditional dance band in Ireland. In addition to performing, he has adjudicated numerous Irish traditional music competitions, including the prestigious Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann (World Championship Irish music forum) and various Irish traditional music competitions throughout North America. A veteran of over 1,000 concerts and multi-media lectures on three continents, Professor Ó hAllmhuráin holds the Smurfit Stone Chair of Irish Studies at the University of Missouri-St Louis. CONCERT DE MUSIQUE TRADIONNELLE D'IRLANDE AVEC GEAROID O'HALLMHURAIN (CONCERTINA) avec invités Laura Risk (violon), Jocelyne Haas (flûte) et Golo Goerner (guitare) Jeudi 31 mars, 7:00PM McKibbins Pub - à l'étage 1426 rue Bishop Montréal, Qc. Billets: $10 (à la porte) Pour réservations ou renseignements par courriel: reinhard.goerner@sympatico.ca ou appellez au 450-473-5477 (message) Dr. Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin est un maître du concertina et historien de la musique irlandaise de réputation internationale. Originaire du comté du Clare sur la côte ouest d'Irlande il représente la quatrième génération d'une famille musicale du Clare. Membre du fameux Kilfenora Céili Band, il a gagné cinq titres de championnat aux compétitions de musique traditionnelle irlandaise "Fleadh Chéoil na hÉireann" (compétitions internationales de musique irlandaise) au concertina et aux Uilleann Pipes (cornemuse irlandaise). Musicien chevronné avec plus de 1000 performances sur trois continents à son actif, Dr. Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin tient la chaire "Smurfit Stone" d'études irlandaises à l'université du Missouri à St. Louis et il est fréquemment appellé comme juge lors de concours de musique. Ses enregistrements sur CD Traditional Music from Clare and Beyond et Tracin' - Traditional Music from the West of Ireland (avec Patrick Ourceau au violon) font partie des "incontournables" du répertoire de musique de la côte ouest d'Irlande.

After looking over the Catskills website it looks like the concertina teachers will be ango rather than english. Is this the case? Will there be any english classes there? Might be good to go just for the music though.

Thanks to Richard, who attended the concertina workshop in San Francisco, for the website where I found this info. WEDNESDAY, March 30, 8 pm * Public Lecture: "From Kitchen Cuaird to Global Stage: An Illustrated Lecture on the Changing Role of Women in Irish Traditional Music" Center for Canadian Irish Studies Concordia University Montréal, Québec CONTACT: Linda Teoili, 514/848-8711 THURSDAY March 31 7:30 pm * Concert with Special Musical Guests: Golo Goerner, Laura Risk & Jocelyn Goerner McKibbons Irish Pub (upstairs concert hall) 1426 Bishop Street Montréal, Québec CONTACT: Golo Goerner 450/473-5477 Seems it's a concert rather than a workshop but I'm not complaining

Is there anyone out there planning to attend the Comhaltas festival in Ottawa: March 31st to April 3rd? I'll be there since it's only a couple of hours from Montreal. It would be nice to meet up with other concertina players. I remember meeting Doug playing Anglo last year in New Jersey and having a great sing with a group of others in the courtyard of the hotel. Will you be there again this year Doug? I think there is a photo somewhere of me: fast asleep in a session, concertina in hand balanced on my knee in the wee hours of the morning at the last one If there's interest we can design a badge for us C.Netters to wear so we can be readily identified. Maybe even a group photo ala the NESI last September

While I didn't get all the details, I believe Gearóid O'Halloran will be giving a seminar on Irish Traditional Music at Concordia University and a concertina workshop in Montreal and will be attending the Irish Comhaltas Festival at the end of March in Ottawa. If anyone knows more of the details (Azalin?) please fill them in otherwise I'll post more information when I have it.

I take size 13's - does that make me a good or bad musician? Still as my mother used to say - at least I don't blow over in a high wind

What a small world this is - thanks to c.net Playing in our little session here in Montreal Sunday afternoon when someone approached me interested in my concertina. I've had several people want to know what it is so I was quite surprised when our guest introduced himself as Dave Elliott. Hope you had a safe trip home Dave and it was nice to meet you!

Concertina Posters Anonymous? I'm getting worried - where is our Jim?

Good point - I forgot about children, thanks for pointing that out.

I'm sure that would be fine

"Oh no he didn't" "Oh yes he did!" "He's behind you!" Ah I miss the atmosphere of the Panto, being in North America

When I bought my English from Barleycorn concertinas, once I had chosen the one I wanted the first thing that Chris Algar did was hand me a screwdriver and had me take one of the ends off. He said I'd need to know what I was doing and he was right. I've never seen what causes the buzzing but I've had it a couple of times. I slide a very thin piece of paper between the reed and the shoe. That has always done the trick so far. Better than my brother who plays the melodeon. He dropped something underneath one of the keys and thought - I can get that out, where's my screwdriver. He managed to get it out, with about 300 washers that landed on the floor. Took him about 3 months to put most of them back in place.

Jim, I believe things will start around 8-00pm. O'Regan's Pub is 1224 Bishop Street, Montreal, Quebec H3G 2E3. Just South of Ste Catherine's Street. About 8 blocks West of the main gates of McGill University in the heart of downtown Montreal. I've included a Maporama link below if that helps. Do you have a place to stay? If not, I can see what I can do for you. O'Regans Pub on Maporama [edited since my link to mapquest didn't work ]

Hi Jim, By coincidence, Jerry, the owner of O'Regans, is having a small christmas party for the musicians on the 15th. It's not a closed affair, very informal and you're more than welcome to come along. Were not strictly traditional ITM - maybe we could give Chocolate Rabbit a go and if I put my thinking cap on I might be able to learn Limey Pete by then Look forward to meeting up again.

Oops - it was already in the database Ken - can you take out the second entry for this tune added by me?

Came across another - Paul Cranford's Map of Cape Breton. I'll post it here in the tunes section

I have a wheatstone english system treble concertina I bought from Barleycorn Concertinas four months ago. I have noticed over the last few weeks that the bellows now make a creaking sound - like new shoes. Should the bellows leather be conditioned to keep it supple. If so, what with and how often. Do you apply the conditioner from the outside or inside?