David Barnert

Was it before 9/11/2001? I'm not sure this would be taken as lightly now. Might wind up being more tedious.

Two things I was warned about when traveling with a concertina (both sound a bit iffy but may have happened once) relate to Jim's story. One is that if you place the instrument on the x-ray belt on its side (ends up and down) then the resulting x-ray image with its radial arrangement of levers and reeds does, indeed, look like a known type of bomb. The other is that if asked what it is, avoid using the word "concertina" because that word is on the list of forbidden items. It can mean "concertina wire," which is a weapon. To avoid confiscation, say "musical instrument," "squeezebox," or (aaaack!) "accordion."

You can if you hold it sideways like Simon does.

If the Button Box buys the collection they'll have all the NESI Limerick Contest prizes they'll need for the next century or two.

My registration will go out in tomorrow's mail.

What, you never heard about those weird guys in their 50s who hang around high school entrances? Now you know they're just morris dancers.

One of my guys just sent me this:

I have always believed that fiddle and concertina make a great combination. This video certainly makes the case. I don't know who these guys are or what the music is, but they've certainly "got it."

The fated meeting between me, Jim, and Mark was everything it was meant to be and more. Mark and I have been threatening to meet for years but were never able to pull it off until yesterday. The three of us (actually four, but Allison hadn't brought her concertina) met after the Animaterra concert and went outside (the weather was incredible--snow in Sunderland last week, T-shirt weather in Mansfield this week) to find a shady place to play. For most of the next hour (I finally had to run off for our 3:00 Morris performance) playing all the usual tunes, with many onlookers, interested questions and offers to play along. But we weren't just playing. We were communicating, listening, bouncing things off each other, passing ideas around. In other words, making music. A rare pleasure. Thanks, guys.

As I mention here, Ken Sweeney did this at the Northeast Concertina Workshop 48 hours ago, as he has done numerous times at the NE Squeeze-In. He does it both in unison and in harmony.

Because your head and mine are situated well above the horizon of average-height heads? Because at the beginning of these events I'm usually doing my "light-house imitation" looking for familiar faces? I, too had a great time. I am only now trudging my way home through the gloppy wet snowstorm (stopped for lunch now at the Panera in Hadley--free WiFi!). There were, what, seven Hayden players there, including Jim Bayliss from Texas and the monster Hayden (see my post and following in this thread). I forgot to ask him: How does he fly with that thing? I even got a chance to introduce Jim and Robin Harrison, whose Hayden Jim bought years ago at my suggestion. Animaterra missed the concert (Bellowbelle, were you there? Sorry, I didn't see you). There was a lot of great playing, and it seems, a bit more humor than in past years. Richard Carlin is a real character, performing a non-stop stand-up comedy routine while simultaneously sitting down playing fiendishly difficult reels on his concertina (and never failing to point out the upcoming and recently passed difficult parts). Brian Peters played quite a few affecting tunes and songs, several that he's written (or completed) himself. I was so taken with one (a polka whose name I will never remember or be able to pronounce) that I bought both the book it's in and the CD it's on. And although anyone who has ever been to the NESI has seen Ken Sweeney play English Concertina and Harmonica at the same time, there were many there who hadn't, until last night. Apres concert, we filled the back room at a pizza place around the corner (Bertucci's) and had a grand time, although before we got around to maaking any music it was time to leave. Ahh, well... Next year. Nice job, Rich and Doug and the rest of the BB staff.

Holy Haydens! I just had a good look at that picture, and I see two Hayden concertinas in the pile that bear comment. Actually, I was looking for the Wheatstone Hayden that Jim Bayliss (top left in the picture) bought from Robin Harrison some years ago (I brokered the sale, and the instrument is a twin of mine) but I don't see it there. But to my surprise, I see: The monster 82-key Hayden that I described last September here seems to have found its way to Texas. There it is, 2nd from left on the bottom (there can't be another one like it, can there?). Did Jim buy it? And what is that at the right end, on the floor? An octagonal Hayden. A Tedrow (how many has he made, anyway)? Was there another Hayden player there or is that also Jim's? Inquiring minds want to know!

Jody, congratulations to your fiddle playing buddy (of whom you've spoken often in this forum), Sam Zygmuntowicz, who got a very nice mention in an article that took up most of the Op-Ed page of Saturday's New York Times. I know I'm being a bit off-topic here, but as Sam has played a supporting role in Jody's stories about his playing and tune writing, members of the c.net forum might be forgiven for thinking of him as "family." At the same time, I didn't want to start a new thread on a topic that has nothing to do with concertinas, so here we are in the thread about NEFFA, simply because it is where Jody posted, which reminded me of this. The article is on line at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/07/opinion/07marchese.html although it might only be accessible to subscribers of the premium "Times Select" service. It's about violin makers, and the perceived differences between modern ones and the old masters. The title is "Second Fiddle to an Old Master" and it contains the following snippet: Sam also gets the last word in the article:

Sorry I won't be there Sunday, but I'll be taking at least one of your classes the previous week in Sunderland.

Looking through the grid for Saturday, I see that Jim is performing at 11:00, Allison is performing at 1, and I am at 3. Should we try to meet at 2 at High School Room 125, where Allison's performance will have just ended? Also, can anybody shed light on what to expect at Doug Creighton's "Concertinas in Action" (listed as a presentation)? It's at 11 at the High School Crafts Hall. Edited to add: I'll ask Doug next week at the workshop if no answer appears here.

I'll try to get there Saturday as soon after 10:00 as I can. You can see a picture of me (10 years ago) by clicking my name (just bleach the hair). I'm sending my cell phone number privately to Mark and Jim for contact by voice or text. I'll have to leave right around 4:00, at the end of my Morris gig.

I'll be there, but probably not for more than a few hours Saturday. I'm playing for Pokingbrook Morris at 3:00 and, like Jim, will probably do more jamming than workshopping the rest of the day. I'll need to leave shortly after the gig, but would be happy to meet up with other cyber-buddies earlier.

This does not seem to make any sense. The 4th note of a standard major scale is only a half step higher than (that is, it is adjacent to) the 3rd note. There is no "black note" between them. If you've found a note that seems to be intermediate in pitch between what sound like the 3rd and 4th notes of a scale, (and you're hearing it on more than one instrument) then you must be hearing something incorrectly. Make sure you are really starting on C. Sing along with your playing. Then play and sing D, then E. Listen to the E. Then play F, and go back & forth between E and F a few times. It should only be a half step, two notes as near in pitch as they can be without being the same note, like the alternating notes at the beginning of Beethoven's "Für Elise." Try the C and the F one after the other. It should be a perfect 4th, like the notes at the beginning of Taps or Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik." Does this help?

Couldn't help noticing... That wouldn't be OUR Mark Evans, would it? (I know it's unlikely, with one in the UK and one in Massachusetts).

I would strongly reccommend Alan Day's "tutor" which isn't a book but a series of sound files. He originally issued it as a CD for just the cost of postage, but the individual tracks are now available free on the web in mp3 format here: http://www.etanbenami.com/Anglo%20Concertina%20Tutor/ The course is designed to get you playing in the "English" style (melody in the right hand, chords in the left) without referrence to written music. Soon after it became available, many folks requested music notation for the tunes he uses for examples, and I volunteered (with Alan's approval) to produce a pdf of the printed music which you can download here: http://www.filmsonglass.co.uk/images2/AlanDay.pdf Hope this helps.

You are correct. I was off by a year. Ken sang it at the talent show on Saturday evening in 2004 and I went and learned it and sang it back to him at his workshop a year later.

It's because (as already hinted at in subsequent posts) it was popularized in the USA by The Irish Rovers, singing on the Ed Sullivan Show with, as Mark mentions, thick brogues and fisherman sweaters. I knew once that Shel Silverstein had written it, but had forgotten. For anyone who was at NESI in 2005 and heard Ken Sweeney sing the hilarious "Mermaid" song, SS wrote that one, too. Also "A Boy Named Sue." Come back to New York. Edited to change last line to: Come back to New York, Mr Dumty.

I just tried it and had no trouble. I just copied the URL from Christian's post and pasted it into my AOL browser. Then I tried to duplicate Robin's trick to see if I came up with a different URL. I went to google and typed ["concertina academy" "pauline de snoo"] (with the quotes but not the brackets) into the search box and the first link that came up was the same page, with the same URL. Here it is as a link: http://www.concertina-academy.com/

I had never heard of UHU either, until it was mentioned in this thread, but I gather (from a quick google and Wikipedia) that it is akin to what we know in the USA as "Glue Stick," that is, a weak adhesive (like that on a post-it note) that is applied like crayon or lipstick (although it also seems to come in tubes like toothpaste).

As a Hayden Duet player, I would have to say that quickly-moving melodies can be played more fluently with two hands (on an English) than with one (on a Hayden).