Jump to content

Steve Mansfield

Members
  • Posts

    662
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Steve Mansfield

  1. I regularly play harmony/backing multi-note chords on my Morse baritone and, whilst it sometimes needs a bit of thinking about and planning, I can get a lot done before I start running out of air (and the occasional bellows reversal can be used to emphasise a beat or a word in the song. So yes more folds would always be useful, but the 6 folds of the Morse give a lot of air to play with.
  2. I saw Tarren at Shrewsbury Festival last year and was immediately smitten with Sid's EC playing and the band as a whole. I particularly enjoy the stylistic way he'll provide accompaniment to a tune through repeated motifs, almost live loops, rather than a 'traditional' counter melody or chord pattern. He's fitted plates to the ends so that the buttons push in flush to the plate like a button accordion, seems to prefer that. He's good isn't he!
  3. Have a listen to Simon Thoumire, Rob Harbron, Alistair Anderson, Lea Nicholson, or Danny Chapman. They all put a great deal of thought into the use of the bellows for expressiveness and punch, and the results are plain to hear. It's true that the EC design makes it easy to play legato, but that doesn't mean that's the only thing that the instrument is capable of.
  4. Wrong. The Jackie button spacing and size is exactly the same as a Wheatstone.
  5. I'm with the Scottish musician John McCusker, talking about folk music. "Every now and then they discover us and say we're cool, then they lose interest and move on to something else. Then a few years later they're back again ... and guess what! We're still here!" If we can pick up a few new practitioners and devotees through the latest media spin, or have a few more people appreciate the Morris, then great. The rest of you ... see you next time!
  6. Wow that's excellent advice @AndyNT, top work. Sorry I've not seen this sooner, life has been getting in the way of the important stuff ...
  7. Interested to know more about what chalameau you are playing, as there are several different instruments around with that name, from historically correct reconstructions to modern 'bung a single reed head on a cylindrical body' frankeninstruments ...
  8. Hi https://thesession.org/tunes/7282 (setting 1) The Savage Hornpipe is a cracking tune, but all those arpeggios in the B part are (for me at least) a real stumbling block on English concertina; particularly the succession of upwards 5ths (B to f, G to d). Has anyone got any good fingering tips for that section? TIA
  9. I'll put in a word for the English system here. The EC is ideally suited to the repertoire you're describing as you can play melody and chords, there's comparatively loads of choice of instrument, and there are certainly decent starter boxes within your budget.
  10. If there's any other M400s out there once AndyNT has stocked up I'd be very interested. Preferably UK for postage reasons but any offers considered! I'm going to have to move off of Microvox at some point now they've stopped trading, but can't get my head around that atm...
  11. Interesting stuff as I'm looking to move away from Microvox for EC (swapping between two boxes, Treble and baritone). What specific clip-on mics do people use / recommend?
  12. Just as an update i did it for a couple of weeks, then put the reeds back in & adopted the Alistair Anderson method instead. Don’t know why really, just didn’t feel right ...
  13. Thanks all. I shall go with the consensus and put the reeds somewhere safe 🙂
  14. The only thing about my otherwise splendid Wheatstone treble EC is that there's no air button - I don't need it while playing, but closing the bellows up after tunes would be a benefit. So I was going to take out the pair of reeds on the very highest note, because I never ever use it and it's only really audible to dogs and bats. Are there any problems with that? Am I going to put strain on the pads or otherwise compromise the instrument? Obviously I will keep the reeds safe and slot them back in if I ever part with her. Any thoughts? TIA
  15. The button spacing on a Jackie is very similar to that on a Wheatstone. Of the modern cheap(er) boxes the Jackie is head & shoulders above the various Chinese monstrosities you'll find on Ebay, so unless you're really lucky and find someone selling a decent Lachenal at well under market value you're probably best starting on a Jackie. That will get you started and help you decide whether EC is for you, and once you make the decision and start to hanker after something swisher, that's when you can start looking for a more expensive decent vintage or modern box. You can get a long way on the 30 keys of a Jackie before you start noticing the missing notes and start needing a 48 or 56 key. Just don't make the mistake I made - I played a Jackie for about 6 months and was very happy with it. Right up until someone, very well meaning, put a lovely 48 key Wheatstone in my hands and said 'try that' ... and sadly the Jackie just never felt the same after that
  16. Thanks everybody, there’s certainly been no lasting ill effects on the tina which was my main concern. I wondered if I’d have been better using my brass-reeded box (we were amplified so that wouldn’t have been a problem) but it sounds like that one might have had the same problem. Ah well - roll on outdoor gigs in balmy Summer days!
  17. My band Trebuchet were playing our Christmas set last weekend, outdoors (under a gazebo) in cold and quite humid weather. Several reeds on my Wheatstone 48 key steel reeded English stopped speaking altogether, which made some tunes interesting! The reeds which went silent were predominantly on the push, although I have no idea whether that's significant or just coincidence. 24 hours later after standing back in the house, all reeds are working fine and there doesn't seem to have been any lasting harm. Why would the reeds have stopped sounding? It was cold but above freezing, and quite humid (it started raining later). And is there anything I could have done, either in the moment or in the preparation, to guard against it happening?
  18. I’ve got a Geordie and would really miss the extra upper notes if I didn't have them - they give the option to switch from playing low accompaniment to taking a turn on the main melody, and also open up some splendid multi -octave chords that the Albion range don’t allow. If you’re aspiring to get into any form of band setting the extra notes will really give you a lot of extra scope.
  19. Got my copy through the post a few days ago - there’s months/years of study there, very well written and laid out (spiral bound so sits on a table or music stand) and as others have said, great cover image
  20. Gosh, there’s a question. in no particular order - bellows control. The great temptation on EC is to pull out until you run out of air then push in again. Use the bellows to shape phrases and individual notes, use the attack of a change of direction to give a note an accent. - work on 3rds, 5ths and octaves. - learn chords and putting an extra harmony note in. - learn to move away from the set idea of one finger one row of buttons, use cross-rowing to help get notes. - get used to playing in different keys. Scales, arpeggios, runs. - learn some ornamentation to help bring tunes to life. I over-use bagpipe-style grace notes, but rolls and cuts are good tools. - listen to all kinds of players and musics and try to work out how to play them on EC. - and just play the thing for pleasure! If I’d done half of that I’d be a much better EC player than I am 🙂
  21. ECs are always hot. We just don’t feel the need to constantly tell everyone
  22. Good luck finding a new owner and best wishes for your retirement. I love my Geordie baritone EC and it would be a real shame to see them going out of production
  23. I was part of the live audience for this and got a lot from it. I’m still doing my homework several weeks later!
×
×
  • Create New...