Azalin

I know, I was simply refering to this sentence from Kai: Simply reminding him that this theorical scenario would have been bad practice, but it didnt happen, so it's all good :-)

I agree with you Kai and you did act correctly. But one thing is certain, ending the auction *before* it's over, when there's a bid on it, is bad practice. So you *always* take a risk of getting less than what you expect, that's why there's reserves and minimum bids.

Yes, I've been there, and still there, but I have to undo 3-4 years of practice instead of a few months, count yourself lucky! I don't even feel I'm in a "cross-row" kind of technique when I play buttons from different rows, I'm simply opening to the possibilities of the layout and the result is that it simply makes the tunes easier to play, for me anyway. Where a single finger, or 2-3 fingers would need to do some wiazrdy work on the right side, now one or two fingers on both sides do the work, and it makes it so much easier. Less choppy, more fluid, stable, etc. But I don't know anything outside the ITM world so wouldnt know what is the right/best thing to do for other genre of musics. Since LDT wants to be able to play everything, though, I don't know. As for myself, if I wanted to play English music AND ITM, I'd learn english tunes on an english, and irish on an anglo, but that's just me and I don't want to get into the eternal debate of "yes it's possible to play english on an anglo and yes it's possible to play irish on an english".

Ah, you are refering to the fact that, based on my posts, my head seems to be bigger than my aquarium? Working hard at getting somewhere, versus thinking you are somewhere when you're not, are two different things...

Thanks Chris. It's actually a very nice concertina, and it's not easy to part with it... but eh, when you get your Dipper, and you had to borrow from your credit line to buy it, what else can you do :-) The start bid is what I paid before I purchased the new John Connor bellows and had them installed by Paul Read, on top of some very nice tweaks by Paul. So I'm mostly looking into selling for what I paid for it.

You were wondering if I was fat?

Hu... Yeah, pretty similar to what I said...

Very good point. I should have specified the suggestions are for more modern cross-row irish style. I really don't know anything about other styles.

I have now lost track of the thread. lol! *sigh* oh well. I'm sorry, I just wanted to make sure you wouldnt get an advice that would make you practice for hours and hours following the wrong track. I am not well placed to give advice either, having followed some 'wrong' fingering for years and being far from knowing enough about the concertina. First thing I'd like to say, is that I don't understand why you absolutely need the dots? I learn only by ear, and I'm not sure what your background is, but dots are not a requirement. But ok, dots or no dots, you wonder what buttons to use. We all agree that best thing to do is to get a real teacher, or attend camps like the Noel Hill camp or similar. You will get *a lot* from it and the teachers will put you on the right track. Meanwhile, all I can suggest is that you start with some basic rules, being that your index finger will play notes on the first column, second finger on the second column, etc. You will leave the column only when it's necessary, but try to avoid it so that your fingers travel the least. Second advince is to *never play two different buttons in a row* with the same finger. This is actually going to help you decide what buttons to use. Sometimes, to avoid playing a second button in a row with the same finger, you'll need to use an alternate button. Third advice would be to use push D/pull E on the bottom row left side G row first button as your first choice, and make use of both pull A (middle row first button or G row third button) to help you avoid playing two buttons in a row with the same finger. That's what I got from my lessons anyway, and I'm telling you in a very raw way, being that there's no absolute rule. If anyone wants to correct me on this please do so, there are lot of people out there who got lessons from Noel Hill and others who might have better, more accurate advice.

That's bad advice because what you describe as the main row, in fact, is not. Actually, when you listen to the teachers I had in East Durham in july, if there was a main row, you could argue it's the bottom one in many situations. I started playing using the middle row as the main row. It was a bit of a mistake. Please don't make others follow this same mistake. You need to use both, and especially the D/E on the bottom row, and especially the push B on the bottom row, so both rows are as important and they work as a group. This is very irritating. The advice we give here can have big impact on beginners. To throw advices without having a clue isnt considerate, in my opinion.

Yeah, this is pretty much my thoughts about it. I heard the same term ("loud enough for sessions") about whistles for years although I think a loud whistle is even worse. I find it a bit disapointing that the volume of an instrument can be such a popular attribute.

Well, I usually don't like to post video clips, especially for the concertina, but yeah I could do that and keep it up for a couple of days before putting it down. I did it for my vintage so shouldnt be too hard. I'll let you know during the week :-)

In the past few months I heard a lot about some concertinas being "loud enough for irish music". I'm having a hard time understanding this, but maybe there's something I'm not getting? If you're like me, and prefer to sit with a few friends at home and play a few tunes, why would being loud be an advantage? When people say "loud enough", does that mean in crowded sessions in pubs? Also, professional players will often be miked up and their instrument's volume won't matter. It seems to me there's a culture of 'war' in sessions where your instrument needs to 'holds it's own' against other instruments and so on. But I'm asking, what is the fun of it, if you need to a very loud instrument to be heard or hear yourself, can the music be possibly enjoyable at this point? I played my Dipper at a house session for the first time on friday night and I found out how much the Dipper is a 'war machine', with our guest wondering in a subtle manner if the instrument could be played quieter... It's great to have the possibility to play loud, but I'm currently trying to control it to reduce the volume, a bit like taming a wild lion :-) Anyway, I was wondering if all the fuss about volume was about sessions and keeping those nasty pipes and accordeons at bay??

Yeah, see you at the NESI next year Richard :-)

It's funny how I asked a couple of weeks ago what were the differences between a Suttner and a Dipper, and didnt get much answers to that and I was a bit mad... but now I realize it's nearly impossible to compare concertinas that are in the same "ball park". The best solution would be to try them all and decided which one you like, but it's not easy to end up doing that.

I'm pretty certain if you ask him directly he'll agree that using the same finger to play two different buttons in a row is poor technique in general, but there might be exceptions. I had a class with Edel Fox last july and about this subject, she said something like "if your finger is doing too much work, it's because you're doing something wrong". Well, this haunted my dreams, and hearing Tim Collins say something similar confirmed the whole thing for me and since then I am making sure that a finger won't play two different buttons in a row, with only a few exceptions, sometimes with the high G# or Bb in G minor tunes, I'll "cheat" but it's very rare. I suggest you do like I did and still do, which means going through all your tunes and remapping your notes/buttons so that a finger will play only one button "in a row". That means using both A/G on the left side C row and G row, using the B/C left G row and C/B right C row (same with D/E, E/D) and making use of both your high C# on the right side if you have both. As David mentionned there's also the push A on the left side accidental row that can help you from time to time. But of course you'd want to ask Noel Hill himself before taking drastic measures based on something you read on a website. Don't trust the internet I tell you! PS: I'm sure I will need to do some partial remapping again in a few years when I get to the next 'level' and start aiming for a very specific phrasing which will require more or less "push/pull" in certain phrases, but at least it should be easier than now, since I'll already be confortable using all alternate fingerings

Alas, I need to sell my great newly acquired vintage concertina to finance my new Dipper. All info is on the ebay listing. I recorded a few Youtube clips, which I'm going to delete after the auction. Hopefully it's going to be helpful, I always wondered why no one did that before, and always been surprised at how people are willing to buy concertinas they've never even seen in action. Ah, I forgot to mention, I am open to private offers, but will only cancel the auction if there's no bid. Since I'm starting with a relatively high bid, I don't expect a bid very quickly.

I never played a Morse concertina but I can tell you that Richard Morse is a great, great guy who's going to take the time to help you out if you've got a problem. He helped me a lot, with useful info, on this board in the past few months.

Although the Canadian Dollar is dropping faster Yeah, so americans can now buy canadian products for really cheap!

Some hot port would bring more than a fan While some Jameson's would make your piper miss many a cran

I own an Edgley, but I heard very good things about both. I don't think you can go wrong with either of them. What amazes me about my Edgley is that it can hold it's own in term of reed response and action against any very good concertina. It's much better in term of action and speed than many more expensive concertina-reeded concertina I've tried. I'm sure it's the same with Tedrow's.

Sorry, we werent really neighbors... I was on the list for about three years, having sent the deposit/check in 2005. But the wait is worth it!

Thanks all. 'tina and I are thinking of going on honeymoon, still not sure where though. 'She' likes humid places, 55% humidity if possible, she said.

Finally, the *big* day arrived. The nice Fedex people delivered my Dipper at work. I think I must have refreshed the Fedex Tracking system a thousand times over the past few days, from the moment the concertina left London, to the moment it landed in Memphis, Tennessee, flew again to Mirabel, Quebec, where a truck picked it up and brought it to me in Montreal after custom clearance. Well, I took the afternoon off to "test drive" the Dipper. It's a 34 buttons, and the wood is some african Thuya wood, lovely dark-orange color with dark spots. It's a real beauty. But beauty isnt the most important, is it? I played it today for about three hours, and the quality of the reeds and the action left me speechless. I was expecting a period of adaptation, new reeds, new bellows... but it did fit right away in my hands as if the whole blueprint had been made for me. Everything is effortless, everything fits perfectly, the handstraps, location of the buttons, etc. I've relearned all of my technique in july when I took lessons with Tim Collins, and went through most of my tunes relearning the 'right way'. I've been practicing for three hours a day at least since july, and I'm slowly getting there. I'm happy with the progress, and it's nice to be able to play the Dipper with a redefined technique. It's still a much better instrument than I am, but it would have been even more wasted with my old technique. Now I'll need to make this concertina proud and less ashamed of it's owner by working hard, very hard to improve. Here's a couple of pictures and a clip I recorded. There's not much more I can say right now because I am still having a hard time to realize I really have a Dipper, a brand new one, that works much better than I would have dreamt of. Here's the clip, a hornpipe