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46-button Hayden Duet Concertina
Morris, English Country, Contra Dance Music
Classical and Early Music
Retired Anesthesiologist
YouTube channel ("Dr. Sleep"):
https://www.youtube.com/@David_Barnert
SoundCloud channel ("Dr. Sleep"):
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Albany, NY, USA
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David Barnert started following Can anyone help? , Concertina sighting: Hobbiton Set, New Zealand , Concertina Zoom and 7 others
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I’ve told this story before here, but it was many years ago and I can’t find it. 25 years ago, on the occasion of Kurt Weill’s 100th birthday, a local conductor was putting together a program that included music from the Threepenny Opera. She couldn’t find someone to play the “small accordion” called for in the Tango movement, so she asked me if I could do it on the concertina. I said I’d give it a try and she sent me the music. I worked through it and let the conductor know that I could do it. I have two concertinas, both 46-key Hayden Duets. One is a Bastari (from before Bastari was swallowed up by Stagi) with accordion reeds and Italian construction techniques and one is a Wheatstone from the mid 1980s, British workmanship, concertina reeds. I naturally learned it on the Wheatstone. Since acquiring the Wheatstone in 1994, I hardly ever played the Bastari (acquired in 1987) anymore. One late evening, a day or two before the performance, I decided to practice the piece but my wife was asleep and I didn’t want to make too much noise. So I practiced in the most distant room in the house from the bedroom, and I used the old clunker Bastari, since it was quieter. As soon as I started playing, I realized this was the instrument I should play for the performance. Tango. Small accordion. Accordion reeds. How could I have thought it was appropriate to play this music on concertina reeds? So when it came time to rehearse with the full orchestra, I brought both concertinas explained the situation to the conductor, asking her if she had any thoughts on which instrument I should use. She said let’s let the orchestra decide. So I told the story again and played the first few measures of the tango, first on the Wheatstone, then on the Bastari. As soon as I started playing the Bastari I heard someone in the orchestra comment: “Argentinian!” The vote was unanimous. The Bastari it was.
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No, Gary and I were 5000 miles distant from each other. But a week earlier we were playing concertinas together in his living room in Honolulu.
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Sorry I couldn’t make it (I did last year’s). I had a rehearsal I had to go to.
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Great video on construction
David Barnert replied to fred v's topic in General Concertina Discussion
Here it is. https://youtu.be/B9h9p-vZv3k&t=596 -
Great video on construction
David Barnert replied to fred v's topic in General Concertina Discussion
That bit at the 2-minute mark, where she assembles the action box, putting the end down over the buttons... She makes it look easy, but somewhere out there is another video I’ve seen of the many out-takes of her failed attempts to get the buttons lined up just right to get the end to slip on easily. -
I will add Brian Hayden. I have been playing musical instruments of one sort or another since 1965 when I started with the cello. Then in the 1970s and 80s I found myself learning (and in some cases, building) as many folkie instruments as I could: recorder, banjo, guitar, hammered dulcimer, mountain dulcimer, pennywhistle, ocarina, ... I still play the cello and the recorder. All the other instruments are relegated to the back burner since I found what I was looking for: the Hayden Duet concertina. To say that it changed my life would be an understatement. It has, in the last 40 years, defined my life, become my life. Thank you, Brian. I know he’s uncomfortable with associating his real name with his forum name, but I feel I must tag him to draw his attention to this thread. @inventor
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Learning to Play Chords on the English Concertina
David Barnert replied to David Hanssen's topic in Teaching and Learning
If you want to hear some chord playing on an English Concertina, have a look at @Steve Wilson's contribution to the International Concertina Association’s 2025 annual concert released today, https://youtu.be/SoebeqTTZ9E&t=807 (or, of course, anything from @Randy Stein). -
Did you know that Dana had passed this week when you posted this? In that vein, I would also like to thank (posthumously) @Richard Morse, who first put a concertina in my hands nearly 40 years ago, as he did likewise for so many others. He was to concertinas what Johnny Appleseed was to apple seeds.
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Wow, that’s the same guy I posted about here on Monday. I recognized the instrument, the technique, the background and the filming technique, then I checked on youtube and it’s the same account.
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John Roberts, 1944 - 2025
David Barnert replied to David Barnert's topic in General Concertina Discussion
Yes, that was his 80th birthday (and final) concert on May 5. Shortly afterward he announced his retirement from performing in light of serious health issues. That’s my head (bald, white hair, N-95 mask strap) on the right, visible through the whole video. It was a fine concert. -
John Roberts, concertina player extraordinaire, has passed at the age of 80. His partner Lisa posted on Facebook early this morning. This is such a loss.
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Here’s another fine example, featured in the current edition of Concertina World (publication of the International Concertina Association). Claudio Constantini plays Bach Toccata and Fugue BWV 565 in D minor:
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Wes didn’t mean THIS thread. He meant the thread that is linked by the underlined words “this thread” in his post. Click them, find your way to the bottom of the last page and post your information there.