David Barnert

OK, so how do you pronounce “Aiobheann” (or even “Queally,” for that matter)?

Most of their playing seems to be in flat keys, which might be easier on a Bb/F, but I suppose you could do it on an A/E. I’ve always thought fiddle and concertina made a great combination, and this is further evidence.

Any idea who Adrian is (or was), Adrian?

Nice job. Of course it adds to the previous versions. There is much to admire here that I don’t hear in the previous renditions. BTW, on the instagram page, you ask: I’m not on instagram and know nothing about how it works, but my first thought was simply to turn the camera (smartphone or other) sideways while recording. But I’m sure you must have thought of that.

Aha! Now I know why they were laughing in this one: https://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?/topic/20196-french-bagpipe-concertina That question is also answered in the above linked thread.

Thanks. And beyond the text visible above is a link to donate via PayPal.

Since you’re new here, perhaps you may not be aware that it is customary (expected) to contribute 10% of the completed sale price to concertina.net. I’m not actually sure how to make such a donation (I’ve never sold an instrument here), but perhaps someone will chime in. Good luck selling the instrument.

I think so, too. It sounds familiar, from a long time ago. You don’t really dance Newcastle at 150, do you?

FWIW, I just downloaded the whole thing easily and seamlessly on my Mac. It unzipped automatically and all the files are right there in a folder in my “downloads” folder.

Sorry, I don’t have an answer for for you. You’ve been using it longer than I have. RTFM?

Having reread the opening post to make sure I read it right (you ARE trying to get away from paper, right?—sorry, Kelteglow), I notice a couple of details that are also plusses for forScore that I didn’t mention. Yes: type the first letters of a title and a short list will appear that you can choose from. One drawback of the app is that if you are using a bluetooth foot pedal to turn pages, the onscreen keyboard is disabled (the iPad thinks the pedal is a bluetooth keyboard). You can always turn off the pedal (or disable bluetooth on the iPad) momentarily to bring up the onscreen keyboard. Absolutely. You can group tunes into play lists and change the order any time you want. forScore works with pdfs, and can’t handle abc. But any decent abc software can output a pdf or at least a graphic that you can convert to a pdf using other software.

I can agree with the forScore recommendation. I use it (on an ancient iPad 2 that I use for no other purpose) for both my contradance band and the orchestra that I play cello in. Stored on the iPad are scans of the Barnes I & II ECD books, the Waltz books (I, II, and III), New England Fiddler's Repertoire (I & II), and whatever we’re playing currently in the above ensembles. Some years ago, I attended a lecture on the topic at the Boston Early Music Festival given by Peter Sykes, the multi-keyboardist. Here are the notes I took:

One of my favorite things to do with my left hand on the Hayden is to play parallel 10ths (that is, a 3rd plus an octave) below the melody. You can hear it in many of my youtube and soundcloud examples. So, for example, if the melody is playing with the 5th and 6th notes of a scale (D and E in G major, for instance) then my left hand plays the same rhythm on 3 and 4 (B and C). Using the same example as above, while playing [DE] with my right hand and [BC] with the left, I might hold a drone G between them with the middle finger of my left hand for a fuller sound.

That’s the key point that I think a lot of others have missed. Like it or not, most of the music played on concertinas is dance music, and a strong back-beat really gets the dancers’ feet off the ground (and/or makes those sitting in the audience wish they were dancing). I like to think of the puff of air from a good squeeze of the bellows actually lifting the feet into the air.

Coming late to this discussion, I find many things have been said that I agree with, like the value of playing with others (and having an instrument that doesn’t hinder that endeavor) and the serendipity thing (I was handed a Hayden Duet 30+ years ago, when I wasn’t even thinking I wanted a concertina, and never looked back). My usual advice for those that do want a concertina is to find out what the person was playing who inspired you to want one and get one of those. Otherwise you may always be disappointed. If you do wind up driving to the Button Box and your route takes you through Albany NY and you want to hear what 30+ years of playing a Hayden Duet sounds like, let me know (or just click here). FWIW, I am also classically trained, originally on the cello, also recorder and classic guitar.