Bill N

I've taken to playing the theme to "Gilligan's Island" as a getting-them-on-and-off-the-stage tune for Morris dancers when one is required, and I've played the Mickey Mouse Club theme tune for Northwest dancers during parades, when I get bored with the more usual fare. Audiences enjoy it, when they get it, which usually they don't. I tried to fob off Gilligan's island when asked if I could play some appropriate music for a Battle of Trafalgar Day event. It took a minute, but they laughed and said no thanks.

The contact person for the Holiday cottage has the same surname as the seller. Have you tried calling the phone number posted on the website? Hope this works out for you.

I've been taking my concertina to a folk club (mostly guitars and singers, a couple of mandolins and a fiddler) at a local coffee house/pub owned by a veteran musician who, remarkably, had never seen a concertina, and was enthralled, despite my very rudimentary playing. Since I got my Morse, my Scholer has been sitting unplayed, so I dropped it off to him. According to his bartender, he keeps it behind the bar, and is driving them all crazy! Apparently, his considerable talent (on stringed instruments) has yet to find an outlet through the concertina !

This is an excellent method. Samantha My lovely wife has most patient, in fact almost appreciative, as I've learned to play the melodies over the past few months. Not even a hint of complaint. But in the last week or so, I've started working on the left hand accompaniment. Something about badly executed chords and oom-pahs seems to have raised the irritation factor significantly. After 40 halting minutes of Constant Billy, she sweetly suggested that I might be "over-training"!

Is that where an invention is interred? Or just an invention that makes burial easier? Here's the definition from Wikipedia: Intervention (counseling), an attempt to compel a subject to "get help" for an addiction or other problem.

I think it might be time for an intervention !

As a fellow new player, I can recommend "The Anglo Concertina Demystified", by Betram Levy. (I ordered mine on-line from the Button Box) It is well paced and organized, and comes with accompanying CDs. I started out with the tutor that came with my Rochelle, but I'm not a strong sight reader, and am impatient to be playing tunes, and found it to be a bit theoretical. With the Levy book, I can follow the music as I listen to the CDs, which works better for me. There is some good info on chording and accompaniment, and I like the way he walks you through building up the tune from the bare melody, and adding base line and chords. Also some very useful advice on finger positions and fingering. I got Levy's book and my new Morse a few weeks ago, and feel like I'm progressing by leaps and bounds. For the first time I am playing a left hand accompaniment with a right hand melody, which I grew frustrated with when trying to figure it out on my own.

I think it was called "The Legend of 1900".

Thanks Patrick, You're probably right. Even if I don't find a session, maybe I can find a quiet spot on the beach at Torrey Pines, out of earshot from the hotel! I haven't gone more than a couple of days without playing since I started learning, and I think I would miss it. I don't think I'll make it to Long Beach this time, but I'll keep it in mind next time I visit my sister-in-law in Pomona. B

I'll be in San Diego between Christmas and New Years, and am wondering if it's worth bringing my concertina. Anyone running a newbie friendly session in the area that week? (I play a GD anglo, and am concentrating on English dance tunes. I would describe myself as an advanced beginner. )

Blacksmith's bellows are usually pretty simple. Two paddle shaped boards are hinged at the narrow end where the nozzle is. A long strip of leather, tapered towards each end, is tacked around the open edges of each board. Natural "pleats" are created by the opening and closing, without any engineered peaks and valleys or gussets. Does the trick for the intended use, but it would be pretty hard to play a fast reel or hornpipe!

Ah, kindred spirits a world apart. We use salt on the roads here to melt ice in the winter, so not too many 60 year old daily drivers, but "Little Green", a 41 year old Volvo is still going strong. (good Swedish steel) My only weapon was a muzzle loader, but a smooth bore! (so that balances out the 20 year car thing) But I do agree about the technological perfection of Prof. Wheatstone's invention.

Charitable: (S)he doesn't have a digital camera, so Googled for an image of the same model. Jaded: A scammer with $ signs in his/her eyes. I have to say that recent threads on Buy-Sell make me glad I'm not reliant on E-bay for an instrument!

Hi Robin, Yes I did. I'm hoping to come to the Cambridge session on Nov. 9, so I can show it off to you then. I'm busy putting my lazy right hand to work, and attempting some left hand accompaniment. Much easier to do when I can hear the melody above the chords. Bill

I admit that the timing is suspicious. But she actually bought me my Rochelle, and has been very encouraging over the past few months. I hope that with the deeper, lovely tone of the Morse, and my improving playing that she will continue to be encouraging. I spoke to her by phone last night, and she said she misses hearing me play. (At least I think that's what she said. She's not allowed to speak English until her programme is finished, and my French comprehension is far from parfait!)

Fortunately, no cubicles here. I work in a museum housed in a former estate, so I retreat to the "Chauffer's Quarters" for my daily lunch time practice. That's important, as one of my employee's definition of "perfect pitch" for the concertina is when it doesn't hit the sides of the dumpster It really does feel like a bit of an obsession. I played 4 hours on Wed., and 3 hours yesterday! And my darling wife just left today on a French Immersion programme, so I have the house to myself for 3 weeks! I'll banish loneliness with the concertina!

Here in Minnesota, where winters are serious, my EC travels in a good sealed case and with a fleece blanket wrapped around it. When it gets back into a warm room, I usually try to let the case stand for half an hour or so before opening it. In 25 years, I've had no problems. Well, I've made a concertina carrier for my bike. I found (not stole!) a heavy plastic milk crate and attached it pannier style to my bike rack. I've lined it with sheets of blue styrofoam insulation cut to fit the four sides and bottom, and made a lid that friction fits on top. The case for the Morse fits snugly in the lined crate. I still have to make an elasticized, vinyl cover (like a big shower cap) and attach an LED tail light and some reflective tape to the backside of the crate. Should keep everything warm and dry on those cold, snowy rides to band practice!

I think you are right there. I've been at this for about 5 months now. I'm not an ITM player (or any kind of player, really!), and initially I did play almost exclusively in the rows. Some of the tunes I was trying to learn had passages that were very difficult to play smoothly, but I assumed that the only remedy was more practice, and just kept plugging away. Then I sort of stumbled on a "cross row" alternative to a particularly jerky spot, but to undo the effect of dozens of hours of practice was much harder than learning the tune in the first place. So now, when I'm learning a new tune, I look at the whole keyboard and try out various fingerings before I start to practice in earnest.

Thanks Frank, Good to have more diagnostic tricks up my sleeve. I can rule a few of these out. It's a rectangular box (see my avatar) with parallel reed blocks. I store it on its side, with all the valves hanging down. They all seem to be laying flat. The accordion guy went to great lengths to show me how the leather had been cut, so I don't think that's the problem either. But any of the others is highly possible! B

After a delay in Customs, my Morse Ceili G/D arrived yesterday, delivered to my workplace. Sadly, I was out of the office. So, arriving at work today I was like a kid on Christmas morning. It's beautiful! And small, and light! And passages that are difficult and choppy on my Rochelle and Kommie Konzertina just roll off my fingers. And the treble notes don't get lost in the chords. And what a beautiful sound! I am a very happy camper Now, how am I going to get any work done today?

Fortunately, I took copious documentary photos before I handed it over (professional habit, I'm a museum curator), and have all the old valves in a baggie. And since they were all different colours and materials, it's pretty easy to reconstruct what went where. I suspect that my grandfathers patterned their replacements after the ones being replaced, as they varied in size quite a bit. And the ones that weren't dried out and curled up seemed to work fine. That'll give me a starting point.

Thanks Greg, That makes sense, since I didn't have the problem before the re-valving. I'm not sure what the originals would have looked like. 3 generations of ancestors had pretty much swapped out all the originals with various home-made replacements. Quite a few looked like they'd been cut from old, ladies' gloves! The accordion guy (who never wants to see the concertina again, I think!) used one size for all. Perhaps as the problem seems to be with the larger reeds, the replacements are a little undersized for the larger openings? I'll keep playing it for a while to see if they break in, and if not, may try fooling with them a bit. Pretty straightforward with the Harley, and won't hurt it any!

I was slowly sight reading some music from an old German concertina tutor that Dan Worrall sent me (thanks again Dan) when it occured to me that the tableture above the staff would work with the numbered buttons on my old Henry Harley, so I put aside the Rochelle, and hauled it out. As a result, the Harley had its first extensive playing since it came back from the accordion repair guy. I noticed that many of the lower push notes have a sort of gurgling sound that wasn't there before. The proper note sounds, but it sounds a bit like the concertina is clearing its throat. That's the best way I can describe it. It's a German concertina c. 1880 with wooden action, and steel reeds. The reeds for the C&G rows are set in long, brass plates (Look a bit like harmonica innards). Some of the accidental pairs are set in individual zinc plates. It's reasonably air-tight. Pads, etc. are all original as far as I can tell, but in good condition. My son's accordion guy replaced all the flaps with top quality leather valves (from a horde of valves hand cut by an octogenerian Italian craftsman!), made a replacement for one broken reed (not a gurgler) and did a "light" tuning. He admitted he was in over his head, so took a very cautious approach, and handed it back with a "that's the best I can do". It's certainly playable, and I don't want to mess with it too much, but if there is a simple fix to improve the sound I'd welcome suggestions. I have a Rochelle(and I'm hoping the postman shows up with my new Morse today), so this isn't my daily player, but it is a sentimental favourite, and aside from the gurgling, has a lovely mellow sound, and very smooth, easy bellows.

No danger of melting reed wax here either. We had our first little bit of snow 2 days back, but it didn't stick around. Still, very pleasant to ride to work. Soon it will be snow pants and face mask weather. BTW, just to keep on topic, My Morse Ceili cleared customs yesterday, and should be arrivng today! (I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve) It will be travelling home on my bike rack, and will travel around quite a bit that way this winter. Any recommended precautions when taking a cold concertina into a warm session or band practice?

Thank you very much for this Dan (and grovelling apologies for my poor netiquitte ). As it turned out, I was replaced in the programme by some "real" musicians! I think I was their Plan B all along. But I have really enjoyed all the suggestions. I will try your latest out on the C row of my Henry Harley, and the lyrics are great. Despite being dumped by the Trafalgar committee, I did have my first public performance last night, playing for the Oakville Ale & Sword dancing the Ampleforth sword dance at a Ceilidh sponsored by the Hamilton Chapter, Royal Scottish Country Dance Society. I was a little jittery before hand, but once we got going it was a blast! Tunes played were Rakes of Mallow, Brighton Camp, Soldier's Joy and Drunken Sailor.