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StuartEstell

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Posts posted by StuartEstell

  1. Les, I think I read on another thread that you were looking to play Irish music -- is that right? If so you might find 5-fold bellows just about OK-ish but as the others say I'd personally look for 6 as a minimum. If you then diversified and wanted to play a more "English" style as well, with fistfuls of chords, a 5-fold bellows would have the potential to be an ongoing source of frustration.

     

    My G/D has 7 which I think offers a good balance between lung capacity and ease of handling -- really big bellows (8+) can feel a bit unwieldy on anglos in my experience. The C/G I sold recently had 6 and I used to have to plan bellows reversals quite carefully during songs/tunes in F, for example.

  2. And if you're happy with your Morse English, you might want to look at a second-hand example of one of Andrew Norman's anglos. They're immensely playable -- I recently sold my C/G in order to assist with funding a Bb/F but still have a G/D Norman which is my Morris-tunes box.

     

    As has already been said, it's very subjective, and all of the makers of melodeon-reeded concertinas, in my experience, make good instruments.

  3. Also, consider using a different note -- you could use a drone note higher up the instrument, i.e. above the melody, rather than below it, so that the drone note is not as strong and obliterative...

     

    Another trick is to play the tune the first time without the drone, and then introduce it the second time. The ear will fill in the blanks!

  4. Don -- thanks for listening.

     

    I played a lot of this in the overlap between the two sides, which isn't huge on my Jeff duet; the overlap is just a minor 7th from middle C to the Bb above. I was holding down an open fifth D and A (above middle C) in the left hand as well as whatever bass notes presented themselves with the remaining fingers. Then it was simple 1-4-5 harmony in the right hand, with bits of the melody as well.

     

    I confess it wasn't an arrangement I thought a great deal about -- it's one of those songs I tend to treat fairly improvisationally.

  5. I last played this song in public at Concertinas at Witney in about 2006 -- but I've been thinking about Syd Barrett, the original leader of Pink Floyd, quite a bit lately. It's 40 years since he turned up unannounced at the Floyd's recording sessions for Wish You Were Here, one of a series of LPs of which he was a large part of the subject matter.

     

    Anyway, I dug it out of the recesses of my memory as it seemed a good time to revisit it -- it's such a desperate, yet desperately beautiful song. Those of you who prefer a less droney approach may not find much to enjoy here :)

     

    https://soundcloud.com/lachenaliamusic/dark-globe

     

     

  6. I played with Kora player Dan Wilkins in a Finals recital performance of a mutual friends' composition some years back. Dan's a fabulous musician:

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8Nr7WaJWgc

     

    At one rehearsal I asked if I could have a go on his kora, and yes, there are similarities to the middle two columns of buttons on the English concertina in the alternation of the hands up the major scale. I was no more successful at playing kora than I ever have been at playing EC :lol:

  7. I'm very keen on

     

    Funkbox -- a set of vintage drum machines, including LinnDrum, Roland CR78/707/808/909

    Rebirth -- better on iPad than iPhone. 2 Roland 303s, an 808 and a 909

    Animoog -- a full blown software Moog synthesiser

    iTablaPro -- brilliant tanpura drones, and very nicely sampled tabla patterns

    Korg iElectribe -- sequencer/ software synth/drum machine thingy. Classic squelchy synth noises, emulated valve overdrive

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