David Barnert

Nice. I particularly appreciate the strong emphasis on the pulse.

Interesting. Sounds like a real concertina playing, but no attempt to get the bellows movement or finger action believable. Did you know you can make the video appear in this window simply by typing its URL? See...

Wow. Here’s a whole bunch of videos of this amazing family. But no "Les Feuilles Mortes,” which is what I was looking for.

Wonderful family. Do you guys get together and do this kind of stuff often? And (forgive me...): Is the extended concertina solo pre-arranged or improvised?

I really enjoyed this. Please introduce us to your family: who’s who? Too bad we can’t even see the tuba player behind the instrument (or was that intentional?).

My pleasure.

I also prefer to play seated, when possible. Holding the weight of the instrument becomes one less task my hands have to do (it rests on my right knee). But I find I can (and must) play morris tunes standing. I can’t play this standing.

Thank you, Brian. So do I, but not everybody does... Yes, I will. 45-minute sets including the horn dance and various border dances. Outdoors, moving with the horn dance, standing in place for the border. Two or three sets in Saratoga (in the evening), three in Troy, and five or six in Rhinebeck. I’ve been doing it for 30+ years and have not noticed the problems you mention. The only problem is the cold. Fortunately, I have found I can play perfectly adequately wearing glove liners from the local sporting goods store. I have also accompanied the horn dance many times at Pinewoods. No gloves needed there (then).

I always enjoy hearing you play and sing, Brian. One minor quibble: “Abbots Bromley” has only one t. Here’s mine. I’m going to be playing it a lot in the next few weeks as our morris team horn dances its way through three seasonal street fairs in Saratoga Springs, Rhinebeck, and Troy, NY.

I enjoyed the experience of the production, although I don’t expect I’ll ever do something like that again. As I put it to the director, “I have a very full life. The last thing I need is a new hobby." The video was not fun to do, but I felt I had to make it. As I mentioned, I had to force the smile, and you wouldn’t believe how many takes the whole thing took (I lost count).

Thank you, particularly for mentioning the arrangement, which took more doing than learning to play it. See the discussion in the third interchange here. I was pleased to be able to put into practice some of what I spent years learning in serious study of music theory. I’m only sorry I’m not up to doing this sort of thing with it. That link, by the way, cues up to the relevant part of the video, but the whole thing is worth listening to from the beginning.

The smile, while an accurate reflection of how I feel when I’m playing, is nonetheless forced. You can see the “Concertina face” showing through in the latter parts of the video as I lose concentration and focus more on my playing than my face. As Cecil Sharp said 100 years ago (talking about morris dancers, not concertina players), “serious of countenance, yet gay of heart.” But thank you both, and Didie and Michael for your kind words.

It is. I’m almost tempted to say that’s the only reason to play, but of course that’s not nearly as true as I would like to think it is.

https://jennmoakphotography.shootproof.com/gallery/Madwoman/photo/1051112034/2635c0/share You may have to enter my email address to get access to it: davbarnert [at] aol [dot] com

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