Peter Brook
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Posts posted by Peter Brook
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This topic got me thinking. I always played left frame on left thigh without really thinking about it. Therefore I have been playing right frame on right thigh for a few days as an experiment. I have to say I think I have more control R/R
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Just a word of warning for those that use soft concertina bags.
I went to a workshop on saturday where a guy on his way to the event had dropped his english concertina. It was in a padded soft concertina bag that went over his shoulder. Unfortunately for him he slipped on the snow and the concertina hit the ground - end first.
You might have thought it would be protected but the wooden fretwork was completely smashed on one end, which meant the fingerplate just span round when he started to try and play. It was really sad.
I don't know anything about EC but this one looked really old and was obviously in excellent condition before the accident.
Hard cases might be slightly heavier and harder to carry but I know what I'll be keeping my concertina in.
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In my dream world it would be Planxty (1968-1973) or Brass Monkey - if you don't know about either of those groups you need to expand your record collection! - I love the energy of the bouzuki in Planxty (no concertina in the early line up though) it reminds me of a hammer dulcimer. The trumpet and trombone in Brass Monkey work really well with the anglo.
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I just did the sums and the travel costs - plane, train & ferry are not too bad for me. Taking into account accomodation costs, it is equivalent to a trip to concertinas at Witney. Witney is 100 miles away from me and Aran must be 5 or 600!?
Samantha - What's the recommended route?
Flight to Glasgow, Train to Ardrossan, CalMac to Arran?
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Fast is often quite unmusical.
Totaly agree with this statement. In some ways i think it is easier to play a tune fast because you can get caught up in the rhythm of it. However to other people it probably sounds like an expressionless stream of notes. The really good people in the session are those who can play fast and slow, and can add expression and feeling to the music.
You can also get this with singers who are obviously loving the sound as they hear it in their own head - while the rest of us shuffle off as subtly as possible to use the bathroom or get another drink to avoid the dreadful din.
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Whilst I agree with the sentiments that others have expressed regarding pel or "2-in-a-bar" I don't think that Folk music will suffer in the long term, although there may in the short term be a huge amount of anger and frustration.
Us Brits tried for several centruries to stamp out the gaelic language and traditional irish music during our rule of Ireland, and both were banned for long periods. Irish music has survived rather well I think.
It will be horrible if English Folk music has to go underground to survive - but I'm sure it will survive.
I'm not sure if I have said this here before, but I live quite close to Finchcocks which has one of the largest collections of keyboard instuments (piano's in the main) in the world. I went to an evening recital there and the owner/curator produced a barrel organ manufactured in about 1800 (I think he claimed 1805). As he turned the handle the fantastic tune "Speed the plough" could be heard almost to a note as it might be played in a session or at an english dance! That made the whole evening for me and gave me a lot of hope that if we have kept true to tunes for 200 years we can carry on doing it
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This technique works especially well with Champions League Football games where nothing very much seems to happen
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Couldn't you just keep those separate, on a lower shelf?
Or an unglazed cabinet perhaps
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This should proove to be an interesting poll. My experience is that people tend to root the frame which has the most decerning stuff going on - namely the melody side.... I wonder if this poll will confirm that or not.
not for me - left frame on left thigh!
In commenting here, please let us know what type of concertina you play.30 key C/G Anglo - which I mainly use for Morris and English tunes and the odd Irish one - G, D, A minor, E minor typically,
Peter
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Excellent - Father Ken in trademark cape - why do priests and vampires dress from the same wardrobe?
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but the tuba looks like taking the place of a table! It is notoriously difficult to stand cups of tea on it.
Derek
Derek,
I have a vague recollection of a 1980's sitcom - might have been "only fools and horses" - where a very drunken "Del" mistakes a tuba for a urinal
That would certainly make an interesting feature on your boat.
As a cornet player - Tubas are known for only playing two notes - one of which is usually wrong (bum note perhaps?).
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although there are still some remaining EC-players (as far as I know not in the C.Net community) that look down on the Anglo.
Henk, that has certainly been my experience attending events such as "Concertinas at Witney".
I am amazed at the assumptions some people make about Anglo players - such as "oh can you play in x key? I thought you just had C/G, G/D", and
"well if you take music seriously you should really be looking to play EC", "can you read music? - I thought Anglo players mainly played by ear"
I think we should try to stop putting people into boxes (no pun intended!). There is no substitute for going to a shop or a music festival and trying different types of concertina and seeing what suits you best. A concertina is a significant purchase and shouldn't be rushed.
BTW - Just for the record I've got grade 8 music theory not that it really affects the price of fish one way or the other. My choice of instrument was based on early experiences of morris and seeing people like John Kirkpatrick play incredible music - including a piece of Bach in four parts (yes with only two hands and one Anglo!). I also just could not get on with the same note in/out of EC or piano accordion for that matter - and I also have music qualifications for playing the piano
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and may God (or your higher power) bless you for doing so
.I found the FAQ to be an invaluable resource when I was investigating the whole area of concertinas.
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Isn't it pretty?
Chris
Very nice. Be very interested to know what this plays and sounds like when it is done. I play D/G melodeon a little as well as C/G Anglo. £1600 quid (at current exchange rates) seems amazing value.
In my experience melodeon is much easier to play, but I don't like the syrupy sound of 2 or 3 reeds sounding per note, much prefer the single voice of the concertina.
I hope you get your hands on it soon!
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hair sheep seems to be the superior TYPE of leather
Anyone tried Kangaroo? It is being used more and more as the leather of choice in motorcycle gloves and race suit leathers. I know the job of a concertina valve and protective clothing for motorcyclists are vastly different, but I understand it is chosen because:
It is soft and retains this softness
It is very strong and doesn't tear very easily
There is no barbed wire in Austrailia to create scars in the leather
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I hope to be able to swing the concertina around my head one day like Tim Laycock or John Kirkpatrick do - imagine the mess if a neck strap were used!
Do you do sea shanteys?
You could work up "Hanging Johnny" as a Grand Finale!
I have been known to sing the odd shanty - I thought Rolling the whole world round might be more appropriate
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That is an interesting tip. However, it raises some more questions for me.
1) Can you play staccato when you play three notes which require a push-pull-push (or vice-versa) on the same key? Do you press the key three times despite the change of bellows direction?
2) In terms of trying to get a jig rhythm (slightly lengthened first note, slightly shortened second note) I find that it is just about possible when the group of three notes are played on different keys. But if I play something like the Kesh jig as written in Mick Bramich's book then it involves a lot of push pull on the same key. If I try and play with a jig rhythm then it sounds very forced and when I speed up I go back to all notes the same length anyway - so it never sounds very good. It is that type of jig and ones where the second two notes of the first group and the first of the next are the same that sound particularly bad when I play and I am at a loss to how to improve.
Ritchie
1) Yes for this excercise. In fact I move the bellows a fraction of a second* before I hit the key, which gives a very statisfying "punch" to the notes. I may not do this in normal playing everytime unless I am looking for that accent or "punch".
*I know this is the cardinal sin of the concertina world - pulling the bellows without a key depressed - but it is such a short fraction I can't imagine it doing that much lasting damage to air tightness.
2) Yes - I know what you mean I just tried it. I found it easier on the Kesh jig to play the A on the push with the middle finger of my left hand (Acc Row) on occasion. I also think that Mick Bramich plays it too fast on the CD to get much expression into it. (IMHO)
When I upgraded from a dubious East German concertina to a Norman my playing improved 50% overnight. It wasn't just the rate of response, it was the air efficiency, and the fact that much less effort was now required to make the notes sound.
all the best,
Peter
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Peter,
I think Geoff may be referring to something rather more substantial
Page 3 of Pauline's "Complete Anglo Concertina Course" (2003) has a photograph of someone using a strap on an anglo. (sorry I don't have a scanner available) The strap is a thick padded one similar to a Nikon camera strap. I would have thought anything more substantial than that would be a horse harness!
However the one that I remember Pauline using (whilst playing English at Whitney) was considerable thiner.
Not sure what I think about these straps anyway. I hope to be able to swing the concertina around my head one day like Tim Laycock or John Kirkpatrick do - imagine the mess if a neck strap were used!
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Anyone else seen one / tried this idea?
I am pretty sure Pauline de Snoo uses one of these (and advocates their use). It is similar to a saxophone strap or camara strap and is adapted to fit both ends of the concertina.
The one she had at Whitney seemed to be thinner almost like the straps people use for holding glasses round their necks when not in use.
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one of the things that isn't generally known about peter bellamy is that he was absolutely fanatical about the rolling stones.
I was not aware of this discussion having joined the site more recently, but it has sparked off some lovely memories of Mr Bellamy and Father Ken.
I remember seeing Peter Bellamy at several occasions at Whitby Folk Week in North Yorkshire. He certainly was not your average folk performer. We are talking about twenty years ago (or more) but I seem to remember he approached everything at full speed all guns blazing holding nothing back. He was a performer rather than a musician in my opinion To this day I have never seen another folk performer look more like a rock star. Leopard skin print spandex trousers, open shirt and a hair style I can only describe as "Rod Stewart". I'd love to be back there now in the Metropole Bar or Friendship Club listening to him perform. [Where's the smilie for I've got a tear in my eye?]
As for Father Ken, I've got several memories but the strongest one, was at Kiveton Park folk club my first close hand view of an anglo concertina. I was sitting at the front and absolutely enthralled by this weird little box which produced such a huge sound. Father Ken was playing Williiam Kimber's concertina that night and in the interval let me have a little hold and play. I attribute this act directly to me always wanting a concertina and learning how to play.
Happy memories
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Hi Richie,
I'm a relative newbie to concertina (coming up to 2 years) but one thing that has helped me is taking a tune and "deconstructing" it. It may be of use to you.
What I mean by that is:
1) I learn a tune and become familiar with it
2) Then i'll try to play every note staccato (ie. the shorter the better) but otherwise play at the same speed (i'll do this for perhaps an hour and repeat it for shorter periods in following practices)
3) Then i'll do the opposite and try to slur every note, and not clip anything. Just play as smoothly as humanly possible but stick to the same speed. (I always press twice for repeated notes using the same key/button) - again you need to put time in to this perhaps 30 minutes initially followed by regular practices.
4) Once i can do all that I accent different notes in phrases (this is hard to explain!). If you take "Cock of the North" in the Mick Bramich book, I'll try to imagine someone stepping to the tune so if you take the bar labelled 1 i'll firstly accent notes 1 & 4. Once I'm happy with that i'll change and accent notes 2 & 5 etc. A simpler tune to start this varible accenting with might be "Off to California" over the page (it has a natural lilt which you will initially have to fight to follow my advice).
Doing all this may seem a bit wierd at first but I have found that it uncovers so much more in the tune. I actually start to realise which notes should be clipped and which should be held on a bit longer, which ornamentations I have time for and sound musically "correct". This clipping and lengthening means that the natural rythm of the tune comes through.
A side benefit of doing all this is that I now know the notes so well in a particular tune that I can concentrate on producing music, and putting more expression into my playing.
It works for me.
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Well Tom, judging by the fashion of the clothes, the pictures are either taken in Neal's Yard near Covent Garden two weeks ago or they were taken in the late 70's early 80's!
There is also a very healthly looking Dave Swarbrick without oxygen tank. I may be very much mistaken but the latest information I heard was that Dave Swarbrick was quite ill.
I would hazard a guess that the dates referred to in the captions are upload dates.
They are fantastic photos - there is also some really good quality border morris photo's in the dance/theatre slideshow as well.
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On which basis it has been suggested that Dublin could "rival Paris as one of the top cities for love"
, though I'm far from convinced otherwise ...Dublin (to the visitor but perhaps not the resident) is a beatiful city, and the Liffey is a majestic site running through the centre. It's just a same that it iss also full of articulated lorries making for the port! It's worse than London for traffic!
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I also think it should be removed. I have been amazed at the "wallet waving" going on and think that some of the statements have been quite crass.
Jim makes very valid points about google - big brother is watching, and that is perhaps why the first post was anonymous.
What about defamation of character? Potential loss of customer trust? etc.
Best think would be to close it down and remove it and then 24 hours no one outside this community would be any the wiser.
Ncr - B/c/c# Button Accordion
in General Concertina Discussion
Posted
Sorry if this is an irrelevance to most but there is a huge body of knowledge on this site and the melodeon.net forum seems to have broken down
I have played C/G anglo now for approaching 2 years and having reached a reasonable degree of competence, I decided to branch out and look at other related instruments I could play.
Luckily for me my dad had a D/G melodeon (or Vienna Accordion if you prefer
) which was unused and unwanted. I have been playing it about a week and I feel confident enough to take it along to Morris dance practice tomorrow night. Compared to Anglo it seems "an absolute dodle" to play. Which got me thinking a 3 row B/C/C# button accordion with a stradella bass (Jimmy Shand type instrument) might be a good next challenge.
Does anyone know if any of these are still being made today or where a secondhand one might be sourced?
And no Helen, I really could not face playing anything with piano keys - In my opinion piano keys belong on a piano
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thanks in anticipation.