Paul_Hardy

My midi concertina (a Roy Whiteley conversion of a Lachenal - see https://pghardy.net/concertina/lachenal_30566_midi/lachenal_30566_midi.html) uses Hall effect sensors to sense button presses (actually pad lift). The contactless switching is much better than contact switched keying.

It's one of those apparently simple subjects that leads one down a rabbit hole into a world of complexity. Firstly, a time signature says little about rhythm, and nothing about speed. It says how many written beats in a bar, and the written length of each beat. Secondly, Reel, Hornpipe, Polka, March, Schottische etc were all originally particular dance step sequences. Now we often use them as rhythm descriptions, even when used for for difference dances. Thirdly, the words are also used differently in different countries (or parts of countries), so there is not a single answer! Also their meaning has changed through time, so a hornpipe was presumably originally just a tune played on a pipe made of horn! Then it was a triple-time tune in 3/2, then a performance dance for sailors, and now it is usually a swung tune in 4/4. The way I understand them and tend to use them in my tunebooks is: A reel is a faster tune, usually written in 4/4 but which has two stronger beats in each bar, so can sometimes be written in 2/2. Reels often have each bar split into quavers, and played and danced in a pretty even rhythm - Abcd Efgh A Hornpipe in 4/4 is a bit slower and has a swung (dotted) rhythm, where each pair of quavers, although written straight are played with the first longer than the second, as in Thursday. They are sometimes written out as dotted-crotchet, semiquaver, but that would mean the ration was 3:1 - however I play them as about 2:1. A Polka is usually written in 2/2 (or 2/4), and the dance has a lively bouncy dash-dot-dot pattern. A March is a more regular tune in 2/2 or 2/4. When you think you understand those sort of stronger dance beat rhythm aspects, then you find that when playing for dance it's not uncommon to stress the off-beats - the dancers will put their feet down on the 'strong' beats OK but the music needs to encourage them to lift the feet, so more complexity unfolds! Also, it's not difficult to slow down a reel, and swing its rhythm to turn it into a hornpipe, so tunes are mutable between rhythms!

I've successfully used this "round end of drill bit" technique in the past, exactly as you describe (but without the lubricant), to cure a sticking button.

I have had intermittent pins and needles and partial numbness in extremities (firstly hands, then also feet) for a few years now. I think it is due to arthritis in the upper neck vertebrae putting pressure on the spinal cord. The trigger is spending much time looking sharply down (e.g. at feet when hiking down hills), or craning the neck back to look up, or sleeping in curled posture. . I noticed it particularly during Covid lockdowns when I was spending a lot of time reading with a book or Kindle down on my lap. Interestingly, it doesn't seem to particularly affect my concertina playing. I had various tests done (including nerve function, which was slightly degraded but not severe) but no real medical suggestions, other than to keep the neck motion active, but avoid lots of looking up or down! Does any of that sound familiar? I'd be interested to hear how your tests pan out.

... And I'm generally only playing one note at a time, other than for final ending chord, as I mainly use it for part-planing in duets/ensembles/bands. I see that others are using their baritones for chordal accompaniments and I can see that five-fold bellows could be a problem then.

My George Case baritone (https://pghardy.net/concertina/case_baritone/case_baritone.html) only has 5-fold bellows, and I've never found it a problem. Mind you, my playing style tends to reverse bellows direction every couple of bars.

This properly should be called Monck's March - General George Monck marched his Parliamentary army from Scotland to London in January 1660, and was then crucial to the bloodless restoration of England as a Kingdom, inviting the future Charles II from France, and escorting him from Dover to London to become King. Charles later made him Duke of Albemarle. This was despite Monck previously having been general to Oliver Cromwell, defeating the royalists in Scotland! Monck had a reputation for avoiding battles, and for turning up late for them, and it is often said that the somewhat stop/start nature of this well-known tune is in honour of this habit. Regards

Happy Birthday Sir Charles Wheatstone! My contribution to World Concertina Day 2024 is Coilsfield House, by Nathaniel Gow around 1800, played by me on a Lachenal New Model 57494 from 1919. .

The Englitina is a remarkable app, and I've praise for Michael Eskin's work in general. It's also by far the cheapest way of trying out the concertina concept. But, and this is a big but, you get no tactile cues to keep the fingers on the right button locations - the iPad screen is flat. If the child can cope and play a tune then fine - they will be able to play on a 'proper' concertina also. However if they can't cope, then it doesn't mean that they couldn't play a proper concertina. I play many different English tinas, and I struggle to get a sensible tune out of the Englitina. I start off OK, but my fingers slide slightly off position, and I haven't got the centring cues that real buttons provide.

It applies the other way round as well. I possess a John Conner English (rare as he mainly made Anglos) which is very loud and fast, but is appreciably heavy because he engineered everything very sturdily. See https://pghardy.net/concertina/connor_2/index.html.

To play along to, I recorded (on concertina) all 685 tunes in my session tunebook (https://pghardy.net/tunebooks/) played first slowly then faster - see https://pghardy.net/greenshoots/virtual/, or an alphabetical list at https://pghardy.net/tunebooks/pgh_session_tunebook_recordings.html. Or the Tunebooks page has instructions for downloading the ABC for all the tunes and using a computer app to play them to you at whatever speed you want.

I too played cello as a child - a beautiful but totally impracticable instrument that tends to get boring parts to play. I gave it up when I went to university. I dabbled with guitar, but then basically did no music making for 20 years (one of my few regrets in life). Just after university, I went to a ceilidh, where one of the band who had been playing a strange small squeezebox came front and centre during the interval and played a range of haunting music on it. In particular he played Planxty Irwin, which is a brain-worm and stayed with me for 20 years. When he finished I located him and asked about the instrument - an English concertina, invented by Sir Charles Wheatstone, and he explained its benefits. However at the time I was pretty penniless so didn't follow it up. For my 40th birthday my wife asked if there was anything special I'd like for a decadal anniversary, and I casually mentioned an English concertina. She didn't respond at the time, but I discovered later went off to the local music shop (Ken Stevens in Cambridge) and got one under hire-purchase - renting it for six months with the rent being deductible from the purchase price. After six months I'd decided I could make it work so I bought it. I still have it 30 years later - https://pghardy.net/concertina/lachenal_58748/lachenal.html, plus just a few more!

Pre-Covid, it was also played fairly frequently at the Anahata/Mary Humphreys sessions around Cambridge. If anyone wants the dots, I had the privilege to meet Mats when he gave a workshop at a Scandinavian Squeeze-in a few years ago, and he gave me permission to include the tune in my Session Tunebook (https://pghardy.net/tunebooks/#session). It's filed under "Streamers and Confetti", but has "Serpentiner och Konfetti" as its subtitle. If anyone prefers to learn it by ear, there is a slow then faster version in my tunebook recordings page (https://pghardy.net/tunebooks/pgh_session_tunebook_recordings.html), along with the other 684 tunes!

Rethinking, numbers #5 and #6 are the same instrument (reincarnated as MIDI), so I only have 14 to track down! I do an annual audit, so that's a New Year resolution to do it this week.

I've owned 19 English and 2 Anglos. See https://pghardy.net/concertina/index.html for list and pictures. I've sold 3 of the English, and 3 more are out on loan, so presumably I currently have have 15. Of these, three English and one Anglo are currently works in progress being re-fettled in the man-shed.

Out of interest, how do you know?

As someone who has played English concertina for 30 years, I find the thumbstraps work well. Over the years, and in contrast to some other players, I've tended towards tighter rather than looser thumbstraps. My thumb goes in only as far as the start of the knuckle joint, rather than letting the knuckle go into the hole. this give me a precise location for one point on each hand. I then start off with the little finger slid to the end of the pinky rest, which gives me a second precise location. My first and second fingers are then automatically on my home position buttons (G & B on left, A & C on right). Once I start playing, my right pinky will slide a bit back along the rest, and my third finger on RH homes in on F#. Having only the first section of thumb in the thumbstraps does give me a further degree of freedom of movement by flexing the thumb knuckle joint. On a standard 48 button English, I can comfortably reach with my index finger the lowest button (G) and the highest (c'') without moving the ends of my thumbs or pinkies. On the odd occasion when my thumb has gone further in, I've found hand movement more restricted. It took me 25 years to get away from using one finger on each row, but I now both alternate fingers on repeated notes, and sometimes use an alternative finger on notes a fifth apart, although other times I work the short pause of using the same finger into my style - I definitely have a more staccato rather than legato style. Incidentally, I've had intermittent problems with arthritis for 35 years in a shoulder, both elbows, and neck, but never in thumbs or fingers, or at all while playing concertina, so think my hand positioning on EC is well relaxed and efficient.

Go for it, and don't be afraid of taking a traditional English concertina apart. They were designed by an engineer to be maintainable. Undo the 6 bolts on that end. I would stick them in some expanded polystyrene in hex pattern so you can put the same one back in its own hole in case they are different. The pull reeds are the ones you can see. Put your thumb through the hole in the reedpan, and pull - if it hasn't been apart for a while you might have to pull hard, but it will come - its only the chamois leather sticking. Identify the duff reed - they will be labeled on the other (push) side, but you can also work it out by pressing the button and seeing which hole opens. Likely causes are: 1) the reed shoe coming slightly loose in the wooden slot - push it home firmly. If it happens again, then a sliver of paper is enough to keep it in place. 2) a spec of fluff stuck between the reed and the shoe. Blow it out, or run a corner of paper down the side of the reed. 3) the leather valve (on the other side) having got misplaced or sucked into the slot - flatten it out with a screwdriver. Reverse the process to put it together - note you can test the reed before putting in the bolts, just by holding the end in place while pressing the button and flexing the bellows.

I did say "slightly pointing up". I agree that they want to be more or less in line with your forearms. However if I raise my feet a couple of inches on a block, or just cross my legs, then my knee is a little bit higher than my elbows, so my forearms, and relaxed wrists and hands point very slightly upwards.

My suggestions are below to prevent the concertina on the knee drooping forwards and down - you want your hands slightly pointing up for comfort and to keep fingers on the right buttons: 1) cross your legs to raise the knee (not for long periods). 2) sit on a lower chair 3) put your foot on a guitar stool 4) put your foot on your concertina case (if hard case). 5) put both feet on yoga blocks to raise them (Google for yoga block) - they are light, cheap, and about the right height for me. My preference is (5), or (1) if I have no blocks.

It's a very close match to one of mine - see https://pghardy.net/concertina/lachenal_36733/lachenal_36733.html. A nice simple sweet English concertina by Lachenal. This is available for sale (in the UK) for £300, but I wouldn't want to ship it to Kansas.

Which video - https://comhaltas.ie/music/video seems to have several.

Yes, I noticed it provided several very authoritative points that were just plain wrong! 1) "It consists of two flat wooden or metal end plates connected by a series of parallel wooden or metal bars that form the sides." It would be hard to play a concertina where the ends were connected by metal bars! 2) "Each button is connected to a set of reeds, with higher notes typically placed towards the center and lower notes towards the outer edges." It's not clear whether this is talking about the buttons or the reeds, but both are wrong! 3) "the musician holds it with both hands, thumbs on the sides and fingers resting on the buttons." Thumbs on the sides would be an interesting way to try and play an English!

Copilot just quotes the first section from Wikipedia. ChatGPT says: A concertina is a musical instrument that belongs to the family of free-reed aerophones, which also includes the accordion and harmonica. It is characterized by a small, portable, and bellows-driven design. The concertina consists of a series of buttons or keys on both ends, which, when pressed, open and close valves allowing air to pass through reeds inside the instrument. This action produces sound. There are two main types of concertinas: the Anglo-German concertina and the English concertina. Anglo-German Concertina: This type of concertina is mainly used for playing traditional folk music, especially in Irish, English, and Anglo-American musical traditions. It is typically diatonic, meaning it produces different notes when the bellows are pushed and pulled, similar to a harmonica. The buttons on the Anglo-German concertina are arranged to make it easier to play in specific keys, which suits the requirements of folk music. English Concertina: The English concertina is chromatic, meaning it can produce the full range of musical notes. Its buttons are arranged in a uniform pattern across both ends, allowing for easy navigation of scales and chords in any key. This makes the English concertina more versatile for playing a wider range of music genres. Concertinas have been used in various musical contexts, from traditional folk music to classical compositions, and even in some contemporary and experimental music genres. They offer a unique and distinctive sound, often associated with a nostalgic or rustic ambiance. Due to its portability and distinctive sound, the concertina has remained popular in folk music circles and has even found its way into modern genres, contributing to its enduring appeal and cultural significance.

And a third AI: ChatGPT says in response to "Describe the English Concertina": The English concertina is a musical instrument that belongs to the family of free-reed aerophones, which also includes the accordion and harmonica. It is a type of concertina, a small, handheld bellows-driven instrument known for its distinctive sound and portability. The English concertina is characterized by several key features: Shape and Construction: The English concertina typically has a hexagonal or octagonal shape, though some variations may have a rectangular or square design. It consists of two flat wooden or metal end plates connected by a series of parallel wooden or metal bars that form the sides. This creates a chamber where the reeds and bellows are housed. Bellows: The bellows are a crucial component of the concertina. They are a set of pleated, airtight folds made from cloth or leather, which are squeezed together and expanded to create airflow over the reeds. Reeds: Inside the concertina's chamber, there are metal reeds attached to reed frames. These reeds are responsible for producing sound when air flows over them. Each button on the concertina corresponds to one or more reeds, and pressing a button opens a valve to allow air to flow over those specific reeds. Buttons: The English concertina features buttons on the front face, which are used to control the flow of air to the reeds. Each button is connected to a set of reeds, with higher notes typically placed towards the center and lower notes towards the outer edges. Playing Technique: To play the English concertina, the musician holds it with both hands, thumbs on the sides and fingers resting on the buttons. By compressing and expanding the bellows while pressing buttons, the player can produce a wide range of musical notes. Tonal Range: The English concertina has a wide tonal range, often spanning multiple octaves, depending on the specific model and number of buttons. Sound: The English concertina has a bright, crisp sound with good articulation, making it suitable for a variety of musical styles. Historical Significance: The English concertina became popular in the 19th century and was widely used in various musical genres, including folk, classical, and popular music. Portability: Due to its compact size, the English concertina is highly portable and was favored by musicians for its ability to be easily carried and played in various settings. Overall, the English concertina is a versatile and distinctive musical instrument with a unique sound, making it a valuable addition to a wide range of musical ensembles and genres. Even more wordy, but covers wider scope?