Steve Mansfield

Well when you do please thank him from me; two wonderful books, which have given me, and many people I know and play music with, a great deal of pleasure and many cracking tunes down the years. Indeed one of my influences in taking up English concertina was the fine playing of a chap called Dave Collinge who was, like me, a habitue of the Preston Eurojams in the late 90s and early 00s, and in the Eurojams we shared many a tune which had initially come to us through the two Massif Central books.

One of the peripheral joys of TOTM is finding out what all these tunes are actually called - I've known Emma's for years but never previously knew it is Finnish, nor indeed that it is called Emma's. All very pleasing!

Bought the download yesterday - Simon trailed it on his FootStompin' podcast a few weeks ago and I meant to buy it then, so thanks for the reminder. As Danny said it's really inspiring; two inventive musicians playing the heck out of some tunes, and reigning it in for some lovely passages on others. I can imagine they're quite a force of nature in concert as well!

All the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order

There's a contact form which I've filled in, waiting to hear back - with all this interest she's in for a pleasant surprise next time she checks the mail feed I think!

As a taster here's one of my favourite of Larry's tunes, La Polverita Fiera X:50 T:La Polverita Fiera T:(The Savage Little Powderpuff) R:waltz C:© 1983, 2010 L.E. McCullough M:3/4 L:1/8 K:D fg|:ad fa gf|eA cd gf|de dc AF|G4 FG| AF Ad fe|gG Bd gf|ea gf ed|e4 fg| ad fa gf|eA ce gf|de dc AF|g4 fe| dF Ad fe|gG Bd gf|ea ge ce|1 d4 ag:|2 d4cd|] |:eA gA fA|eA gA fA| ef (3gfe cd|e4 dc| Bd fd ef|gG Bd gf|ea ge ce|1 d4 cd:|2 d4 ag|]

I've just updated my website - I've given it a new look and feel, and more importantly, I've uploaded a new tune file. The great American folk musician L E McCullough has agreed for my site to host the abc file of 160 of the tunes he's composed down the years; great tunes, and some of them also glory in great titles! http://www.lesession.co.uk/music I'd also like to put the collected abc file of all the tunes that have been posted to this thread up there, which currently totals a splendid 145 tunes: is everyone (particularly Peter, as you've done most of the heavy lifting) OK with that? Let me know either on here or by PM.

When I was first starting out playing for dancing, someone pointed out that it's called playing #for# dancing. It's not something that happens to be going on in the same room that you're playing a concert, it's the whole reason you are there playing. Says it all really, and whenever I'm playing for dancing I hope I keep that thought in mind.

The Cercle Circassian is becoming an increasingly popular first dance at French bals, often done as a mixer at about the tempo of the Paris flash mob. I've also been at some bals where it's danced as the first dance and again as the first dance of the second half. All very confusing for those of us more used to the English ceilidh tradition where the Circassian Circle is the last dance of the evening (give or take an informal 'encore' polka) ...

Icelandic experimental rock band Sigur Ros are making an appearance in the forthcoming episode of Game Of Thrones. In the photo, one of them is playing anglo ... https://twitter.com/GameOfThrones/status/455525009910288385 [edit to get link right]

My second came about as the result of a holiday in Italy. I'd been learning for about six months on a Concertina Connection Jackie, and was perfectly happy with it, until we spent a week in Italy with friends. I'd not taken the Jackie with me, and borrowed a friend's Wheatstone for a few plays whilst we were there. Coming back home the Jackie just wasn't the same .. so I bought a Wheatstone very like Sue's later that same year After that I managed to stay singly attached on the Wheatstone, although I really started to fancy getting a baritone for those lower notes. When Morse brought out the Geordie baritone range, I promised myself that once I'd paid off the cost of moving house, one would be mine - and ooh look now I've got one!

Thanks Dana, I wondered why the Geordie was called that. I've got a baritone Geordie and it's a really lovely instrument, really delighted with it.

From the same book ('Macedonian Folk Music' by Linsey Pollack and Philip Griffin) as Dvajspetorka, I've recorded Postupano which is in a mere 13/8. https://soundcloud.com/sfmans/postupano The Pollack book is unique in my sizeable collection in being organised in order of increasing time signature - the first tune, on page 8, is in 2/4, the centre staples are in the section of 5/4 and 7/8 tunes, and by the final page of music we have arrived at the aforementioned Dvajspetorka in 25/8. Recorded on my trusty Wheatstone 48 key treble EC at (would you believe) slightly *slower* than the tempo marking given by Pollack. By no means a flawless rendition but (IMHO) a decent 'feel' to it - no overdubs or post-processing apart from a bit of hiss reduction.

Also discussed a bit on here on the http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=7837&page=25&do=findComment&comment=155102 Something For The Weekend thread. I never did get around to recording it, maybe I'll revisit that for this Theme Of The Month once I've got Zelda sorted for the TOTM ...

Just as a point of information it's tablature for melodeon - button, direction, and duration. I've never found any form of tablature remotely useful compared to good old fashioned tadpoles-on-a-five-bar-gate but some people swear by it. Thinking about it, is there an anglo equivalent?

Believe me brothers and sisters! I have seen the future!

I take the attitude that if I learn one really valuable thing from a workshop that I can take away and use in my every-day playing, then the workshop has been worthwhile. I still play a particular ornament on the flute a certain way thanks to Brian Finnegan taking it to pieces twenty years ago and explaining in minute detail exactly what was happening and why at every nanosecond of the roll. On the concertina (English) I can still feel the gentle and kind disapproval of Rob Harbron every time I play a run of notes without using the bellows to shape and structure each note. Get one thing of value, and the rest of the time ( meeting fellow instrument geeks, learning new tunes, devoting some time purely to thinking about a particular aspect of your instrument, putting human beings to avatars on CNET, sessions and beers and chats and so forth) is all added value. What's not to like?

Ah thanks, *that's* where I'd heard it before, it was vaguely nagging away at me that I'd heard or played Zelda somewhere along the line. The Paris flash mob crew look really fun and really organised, managing to get full video documentation and what seems like 30 or 40 people out - their flash mob at the Pompidou Centre is well worth watching as well. Into a public space, do 5 minutes, and melt away, just perfect. They credit Philippe Plard as the composer of Zelda and the page Derek has linked to shows a PDF and abc for the tune. Yes I've not seen a single concertina in any of their flash mobs yet, but (sadly) it's not an instrument you see in French trad music - it's a total guess, but I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't more English people playing French music on concertinas than there are French people [edited for typing error/homophone, or 'home phone' as my auto-correct then tried to make it]

As Wolf says it's definitely a piece you have to get the underlying pulse of, which Wolf's does very nicely. Have a listen to some of the original versions that Jim linked to right at the head of the thread for that loping swing. Mind you I thought I'd done pretty well in my version of getting away from my strong rooting in English dance music, until someone told me it sounded like a tune for the Ouse Washes Molly Dancers. Don't get me wrong, the rest of the time I'd take sounding like the wonderful Ouse Washes as a compliment, but I did think I'd managed to get a bit more Mississippi delta and a bit less Norfolk Fens ...

Actually (as I said in the Facebook conversation with Peter) I, by contrast, find the way into these complex rhythms is #not# to count. Trust the note lengths and groupings you see in front of you, play what you see, and the rhythm (for me) becomes apparent - you can then apply that to the rest of the tune without counting, just going with what's already in your head. Maybe I've just been hanging around complex rhythms too long and some part of my brain is tuned in to them. Different approaches, same outcome. I've started having a go at this one myself and may stick a Soundcloud take up once I'm happy with it ...

I'm in too. Enjoy this sort of thing (even if I do sometimes wake up in the middle of the night with the answer)

Like a decent red wine you mean? I'll settle for that

Fascinated by all this. At the risk of dragging the discussion off of concertinas, is the same principle of <massive amounts of physics handflapping> wavelengths and drop-offs etc. why my fife carries so well over massed accordion and saxophone reeds? I'd like to play some concertina for the Morris, but the fife cuts through so well that I'm always back to the fife ...

That box is going to severely lose value on the second hand market with all those claw scratches on the endplates ...

I've gone all multi-tracked this month: baritone & treble concertinas, a software bass concertina (made by dropping the baritone an octave in software), and even a non-concertina interloper from my other life in the form of a G whistle. Timings are a bit jazz in places, but hey, that's jazz ... https://soundcloud.com/sfmans/st-james-infirmary-concertina