Jody Kruskal

The only problem is that you have to feed it distilled water in the winter and empty the reservoir it in the summer. It does take some vigilant weekly maintainenananananance to keep things stable. Still, worth the trouble for me. The other thing I like to do is to re-seat the end-plate screws from time to time. I back them off and then bring them back up to a gentile finger tight level of torque. I believe this relieves humidity related pressures from swelling or contracting wood.

David, I'd say 38% is not ideal but rather, on the low side of OK. For me, in New York City with central steam heat in my home, I've measured humidity levels as low as 8% in the dead of winter. But not inside my climate controlled concertina cabinet where I have seasonal electric humidifiers and de-humidifiers keeping it around 50% year 'round. The waxed-in reed frames don't much care, but the dovetail slotted traditional concertina reed shoes have stopped their yearly fluctuation between either squeezing and buzzing or rattling and flattening since I plugged in my big concertina case that keeps the humidity constant.

Anglo is easier to do that than English IMHO

The Morse boxes are extremely quick and lightweight.

Concertinas do not generally go out of tune. That's one of the great things about them. Just pick it up and play. However, things can go wrong and I always bring a repair kit to a festival or gig. Lots of things can break. Springs snap, pads and valves fall off, bellows get punctured and reeds can fail. Reeds can corrode or get lint caught in them and they can crack. Playing as much as you do, especially if you play loud, could crack a reed. I've done it by over-playing. A cracked reed might well sound as you describe. Another thing that has happened to me and may cause your calf to bawl might be something touching the reed as it vibrates. Perhaps the bellows is impinging? Especially when the bellows is almost closed completely.

back in 2006 I posted about mine. Lots of discussion back then.

Oh my! I lust after a B/F#.............

This from a review of my playing on our Paul & Jody album. "...he's able to make the anglo-concertina sound like a mouth organ... bending and blurring notes, so that his playing could never be mistaken for that of an English or even Irish player. ” - Rod Stradling, Musical Traditions

I too use the Trial and Error method (T&E). Otherwise known as Hunt and Peck. The Anglo is just so unknowable. The only way for me to figure it out is to play a bunch of ways, listen and adjust to make what I hear align more with what’s in my inner ear... or something. Could be any number of things. I could list them. You can’t really know how it feels or how it sounds unless you try, T&E is the way for me. I think that a good arrangement is one that both sounds good and feels good to play. That's what makes these screen sharing lessons so interesting and fun. E.H. has little playing experience but very good taste in tunes. He (delightfully) presents me with a score where all the grunt work of data entry has been done. I get to just play around and edit his rough version on the fly and instruct E.H. at the same time. It’s really a blast for me. I might say to him... “If you do it that way in measure three, you are forced to cut, but if you use the right hand 5 button on the push, then it sounds smooth, right? Listen, I’ll play it both ways for you. They both sound good, but this way is easier, right?” Easier and simpler are usually better in my book, right? Together we cook that tune down to its essence through the exorbitant use of T&E. Then it’s recorded in tab... set aside to work on later. Back to T&E; In our sessions I will often play a passage in an E.H. score a dozen times using T&E as I tease out the best way for him to play it. Then together, we make the edits, him on his computer keyboard and me with my words. For example, I might say... “See if you can get all those button numbers to line up”, or “Put the UM lower than the PA there”, or “Where your curser is? Thats a 4a not a 3”. That kind of detail stuff.

I have been teaching students of the Anglo concertina for many years. All of them adults with various abilities, interests and goals. Every student wants something different and I work with them to get the most out of their concertinas. Most often, I give my students harmonic arrangements of tunes and songs that I pick for them, then we work on learning and playing the music. Not so with my unusual new student E.H. He is a professor of interactive media at a major university and knows his way around a computer. Though not much of a player yet, his musical knowledge and curiosity is wide ranging. He wants to learn traditional tunes on the Anglo and I’m there to help him. Although he is a beginner on the box, he has managed to get through a few of the tunes I’ve given him and practices studiously. Then, a few months ago, he started giving me tunes that he wants to arrange. Not just titles and recordings; rather... he pulls good tunes off The Session or other ABC sources, drops them into Musescore (a free notation app) and with his charts and meager practical knowledge he begins to craft written arrangements in the Coover tab. He has grasped the principles of my harmonic style. Each new arrangement he makes shows his growing understanding, yet he is unable to play any of these new scores as his instrument is at the shop for repairs. Still, we work together on his scores every two weeks on Skype. Before our lesson, he sends me a few new scores that he has been working on. Then for an hour, he shares his screen with me and I go over his work. First we discuss and correct any melody notes that seem questionable to me. I give him instructions verbally, and watch his curser move about as he makes the changes I suggest. Then we tackle the chords. Based on those improved chords, we adjust all the bellows direction markings and start figuring out his options for the (mostly) left handed accompaniment. There are many possible ways to get the melody, rhythm, chords, accompaniment buttons and bellows all working together. We work through these options and agree on the best way for him to get the job done. I play the tune this way and that until we both like the result. Then I tell him verbally what to change in the score to reflect our agreed on arrangement. E.H. makes the document changes as I watch him edit on his shared screen. Any miscommunications or mistakes are easily corrected as I monitor his work in real time. This is a strange way to learn an instrument. One that I have never encountered before. E.H. has a bunch of scores now that he really likes, but is not yet able to play them and that is fine with him, all part of our process. The creative act of collaboratively arranging and making a beautiful score is very satisfying to both of us. Now that his G/D Morse Anglo is back from the shop, E.H. has his work cut out for him to start learning to actually play these finely crafted scores. I’m sure he’ll do just fine with time and application. Our lessons, using this unique learning system, foster deep insight into the possibilities and limitations of the Anglo concertina. If you want help creating your own custom Anglo scores in tab, I would be happy to assist. Here is Sweet Jenny Jones, one of our creations. (Note that left hand draw 3a is pitched at a low A on this modified G/D box). sweet jenny jones 2.pdf

Henry is a planchette, a marionette puppet controlled by a single string attached to my knee. While singing and accompanying Henry on the concertina, I bounce my leg and Henry dances to the music. Henry always makes folks smile. Many stay to laugh at his antics, and then to listen to the unique sound of the Anglo concertina. The instrument I play is a fully restored antique squeeze box, loud but sweet, rhythmic and punchy, great for dancing and above all, cheerful. I talk to the audience, sing songs and let kids pull Henry's string to make him dance. People seem to enjoy this, and I usually gather a crowd.

Anglo concertina singer Jody Kruskal and clown-baker Beth Leonard tell the story of baking a delicious Gooseberry Pie. Yum!

Hi Randy, For quick and dirty audio editing I use Audacity which is exclusive to iOS. Destructive editing only though. For PC, check out this link: 6 Best Audacity Alternatives for Android https://helpdeskgeek.com/reviews/6-best-audacity-alternatives-for-android/ For precision non-destructive editing and mixing I use Protools. I think they make it in PC. It costs $. Good luck

I visited the Deansboro, NY musical instrument museum twice. Amazing collection. I would guess that would be the collection Wunks is referring to. Read about it here. Update On Fate Of The Music Museum

Last night I played concertina with my Punjabi neighbor Abdul and his friends including the famous Salamat Ali & Azra Riaz. Look ‘em up on google. They are the real deal. Actual celebrities with numerous recordings available. They sing songs from Lahore, Pakistan and the Indian Bollywood classics and accompany themselves on harmonium and tabla. There were a dozen of us in Abdul’s music garage, just across from my back door, singing and clapping along to the music after our delicious Pakistani feast of nan, chicken spinach and spicy dal and gulab jamun. BTW, we ate with our fingers, soaking up the juices with nan and we left our shoes at the door. My neighbor Abdul and his music loving friends meet most Friday evenings for dinner and Ghazals, a Pakistani potluck and sing song. Mostly I just listen, but tonight I brought along my Ab/Eb in order to play with them in Rag Khamaj in the key of black 2 (Mixolydian in Eb). Salamat Ali Kahan himself insisted that I play along and we had a great time. He gave me a short lesson in vocal technique and it could have gone on longer for all of me, but after all... it was a party and we had to cut the lesson short. I have much to learn about this rich musical tradition. Such fun, trying to follow the tempo and time changes of the tabla player! My Pakistani friends were super encouraging and welcoming. Concertina is not a traditional instrument for this genre, but everyone agreed that it sounds so good. Brooklyn is a fine multi-cultural place to live and I am a a new convert to the popular songs of Lahore.