David Barnert

One of my favorite tunes to play (Xmas or no) on my duet concertina (but it should be just as applicable to an Anglo played "English style") is "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." I do it in G. And don't forget the C minor (or A diminished) chord on the word "why."

You know where my preference lies.

Not at the moment. I believe Richard Morse is working on one, but it's in the early stages.

This was a Mac Plus I was working with. Motorola 68000 (or was it 68010?) processor, a megabyte of RAM and a 20 MB external hard drive. But I think it was a software problem rather than a hardware problem. Microsoft QuickBasic hasn't been supported in many years and doesn't run under OSX. It might be possible using other software.

Hi, Dana. I didn't realize you were part of the excursion that brought my Hayden to the USA. No, it hasn't been 20 years. The instrument was in Brian Hayden's posession for it's first decade or so. The customs incident would have been in the spring of 1994. Thanks to both Dana and Rich for the advice. I'll give it a try.

Welcome to the group, Mattamar. I hope what I'm about to write doesn't scare you away, because we like to think of ourselves as inclusive and supportive of many different kinds of concertina and many different kinds of music, and you're certainly welcome to hang around here. But... I think you'll find that there are very few here that play (or know anything about) the kind of concertina you've got. Although throughout the midwest of the USA it's called a concertina, most of us here would call it a Chemnitzer concertina, and there just aren't many Chemnitzer players in this group. Ted Kloba is here, but I can't think of any others. Have a look at some Chemnitzer-specfic sites, like Ted's at http://www.geocities.com/heytud/ or http://www.concertinamusic.com. I expect you'll feel more at home there. Good luck.

Do I need to replace my valves? About 1/3 of the pads on the inside face of my left reed pan and three or four of the ones on the right (it's a duet, so the ones on the left are longer) are curling away. Here's a picture of some of the ones on the left. It's a Wheatstone that Steve Dickinson built about 20 years ago. Do the valves need replacing? All of them or just the offenders? Is there a way to treat them so they'll lie flat without replacing them? Thanks.

If you think the choice of tune had anything to do with it... I don't play Anglo, I play Hayden Duet. Back then, I tried to write a program for the Mac in Microsoft QuickBasic but ran into the problem that there was no way to capture two keys at once. If I remember correctly, there was also a problem working with note lengths, as well (making sure the computer knows how long you're holding the key down).

Rich Morse and I talked about this in 1987. I even devised a system to notate Morris tunes on my Sharp Wizard (remember those?) by typing on the keys as if they were buttons on my Hayden duet. Edited to change the above date (it was 1987, not 1986) and to add: I just noticed this: Bernie, I think you'll find that playing a real concertina rather than a virtual one is more likely to induce real live ladies to take their clothes off for you (worked for me).

The Russian project never got off the ground. It has been forgotten for several years. The Stagi is the only real choice at the moment, as they can be bought off the shelf. They are not great instruments but people seem happy with them. See my write-up 1/3 of the way down this page. I have heard that Tedrow has made two or three Haydens. I know nothing about them. You might want to get in touch with him directly through his website. You might also want to see Bob Gaskins' article which makes a reasonable case for choosing a vintage Maccann over a Stagi Hayden. I play a Wheatstone Hayden and love it, but you won't find many like it anymore.

But nobody told Click and Clack. The subject of contradancing came up on "Car Talk" yesterday. A caller from Rhode Island started describing her problem by saying something like "me and some friends were driving to a contradance..." By the end of the segment they had asked her what one was, etc., etc.

Indirectly - my source was Margaret Bray, dancer and fiddle player with Kettle Bridge Clogs, but I am happy to acknowledge the original source. I believe Margaret and Colin have played in the same ceilidh band - March Hare, and Margaret may have played for Greenwich Morris as well, but I am not sure on this.Let me clarify: I had nothing to do with the production of the BBC animation, and knew nothing about it until they started discussing it on the MDDL (Morris Dance Discussion List). But after downloading the video, I created the abc that John posted, and his mention of sounds suspiciously like something I might have written.

I have located the key post on the MDDL. It is from Tue, 3 May 2005, posted by Colin:

Hican't help with the Q's but the link takes you to the adverts http://www.phones4u.co.uk/info/info_tvadverts.asp from burt Concertinas in two of these ads. "Pulling Power" is the one referred to above, and "Paddling" also has a little girl playing one. Actually, although she's squeezing and pulling the bellows in and out (and making sounds), she doesn't appear to be pressing any keys. I'm possibly wrong but it sounds like the signature to BBC 2 telly itself. Perhaps it's been derived from that in order to keep in with 2 theme. I like it though, nice little bit of old english on the telly. I wonder who recorded it for them.It was Colin Endean of Greenwich Morris Men on melodeon. I was given this link: http://www.bbcbroadcast.com/design/bbc2_morris.shtml And I was given this ABC notation: X:1 T:BBC 2's M:6/8 K:G E2G d2 B|A>GA B2D|E2G d2B|c>Bc A2D| E2G d2 B|cBA G2g|g>fe d2B|A>GA B2g| g>fe d2 B|c>Bc A2g|g>fe d2d|e>dc d2d| e>fg d>BG|A>BA G3 |E2G d2B|A>GA B2D| E2G d2 B|c>Bc A2D|E2G d2B|cBA G3 || Going with the comments which came with the ABC it is not quite a complete tune - it is 20 bars. - John Wild I was, directly or indirectly, John's source. This was discussed at length on the Morris Dance Discussion List about a year ago. The archives can be found here. I notated the abc. Colin told the story of how he played it on the melodeon. Tony Sadler wrote the tune to include the BBC2 theme (the first 4 notes of the tune).

I'm #41. This reminds me of this long-dead topic: What Do We All Look Like? It hasn't been touched since 2003, but maybe it's worth revisiting.

Yeah, I was hoping not to get into that...

They can be (note: "can be," not "are always") very similar, except the shape is a dead giveaway. A square dance is generally for four couples arranged in a square. A contradance is generally for an unspecified number of couples arranged in two parallel lines facing each other. Usually (but not always) facing your partner in the other line. Square dances are usually of predetermined length while contradances repeat the figures every 32 bars with a different couple and continue until the band or the caller decides it's gone on long enough. Much more info out there on the web if you google for it. This feels as dicey as defining the differnece between concertinas and accordions.

Three and a half hours later: OK, I've had a go at it. First, I transcribed it onto my computer and noticed three things: I assume there should be a "fine" at the end of measure 12. The high E in measure 10 is beyond the range of the standard 46-key Hayden. If I am going to learn this tune, I will take it down a whole step to C major. The ends of measures 6 and 8 contain parallel 5ths and octaves (D to E in the melody against G/D to A/E in the left hand) that I find grating. I have gotten used to 5ths like that in the left hand when I'm playing the Hayden and it doesn't bother me so much anymore (measure 13 and following, for instance, but notice that the melody goes up when the 5ths go down and vice versa). But when the 5ths are in the melody, I try to look for alternatives. Stuart, is this voice leading in the original? Then I picked up my instrument (46-key Hayden duet) and had a go. I found "the two-part right-hand bits" in measures 9 - 11 awkward but doable, requiring double duty from some fingers. However, the right hand of measure 12 is, as far as I can tell, unplayable as written on the Hayden (in D or C). There just doesn't seem to be a finger available to play the A after the triplet in the middle line. Maybe someone else will find a soulution that eludes me. It's a nice tune and a nice arrangement. I wish you and others well with it. If I end up adapting it for Hayden, however, I suspect it will wind up being rather different.

Thanks, Stuart. I've downloaded your score and I'll see what I can do with it on the Hayden.

Fair Jenny’s Jig was one of the tunes in the medley I used to play for one of the dances our team did. Once, while we were performing at the Dance Flurry in Saratoga Springs, I made eye contact with Peter Barnes, who wrote the tune. Afterward, Peter came up to me and told me I owed him 14 cents.

Good choice. William Styron (author of "Sophie's Choice") died this week. [Edited to add the closing parenthesis

I nearly made the same suggestion several posts back, but I don't know you well enough.

How about the Button Box in Western Massachusetts? http://www.buttonbox.com I don't see a "parts" page on their web site, but I've gotten buttons and springs from them in the past. The owner (Rich Morse) is a member of this forum. [edited for typo]

My usual advice on the "which type of concertina..." question is to find out what the person whose playing first made you think you might want one was playing and go for it. From reading your opening post, it sounds to me like you'd proabaly do nicely with an english. I agree with the others, however, that you'll likely be disappointed (if not frustrated) with anything you can get in your price range.

Might be a good time to repeat this link which hasn't been mentioned in a while: John Chambers' abc Tune Finder Anything out there posted in abc format it will find and present to you in various formats (graphic, audio, text...). Go nuts.