MarkvN

Hi all, The Dahlhoff collection is available online, but it is a bit difficult to find. For your convenience, I’ll insert a link to a copy on my google drive account. It consists of 10 Bücher (e.g. volumes) in one pdf file, some 1370 pages and 241 Mb: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6J1H4gAmvwLR2dfTVVkV3FWQTg/view?usp=sharing. I was also given a transcription of the first Buch, made by Jan Kristof Schliep, for further dispersal (6 Mb): https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6J1H4gAmvwLR2dfTVVkV3FWQTg/view?usp=sharing. I was given these copies for publication on our website, the Lusthof der Muziek (Garden of Musical Delights, http://lusthof-der-muziek.blogspot.nl/), but I never got around to that. On the Lusthof, there are several transcriptions (pdf, abc, musicxml, mp3) of manuscripts with very similar repertoire, such as Starkenborgh and Kloeckhoff. Hope this helps, Mark (Edited typo.)

Crush Call Troubadour

Great thread, thanks! If a piano is tuned with a streched tuning and a concertina is tuned 'mathematically correct', what happens when they play together? Do they still appear to be in tune with each other, even to the sensitive ear? And does it work the same way for the lower and upper range? Mark

Speaking of other instruments that can be a source of inspiration, how about these two fabulous players on the reed organ: Juuri & Juuri (Finland) - Polkat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWbRs6betCE and the same guy, Eero Grundström, playing solo on his travel harmonium (you have to see this!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go13zRC2qPA Lisa Rydberg & Gunnar Idenstam from Sweden https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAjpAY7As4Q By the way, I'm no real expert on the matter, but as far as I understand, 'gammeldans', although it means 'old dance', actually refers to the music from the 1900's - walzes, polkas, schottisch - and not to the older, modal polskas. Two-row melodeon player Erik Pekkari is one of the important figures in the 're-invention' of the genre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hcymj6_6VxA Mark

New in the Garden of Musical Delights: a transcription in modern music notation of a sizeable Dutch Lute manuscript from around 1600, with a very international collection of songs and dances. Available in pdf, abc, musicXML, myr and computer generated mp3: http://lusthof-der-muziek.blogspot.nl/2011/05/luithandschrift-van-thysius-1595-1630.html

Here's a funny American song from the 1920's, music and lyrics by Con Conrad and J. Russell Robinson: 'They say Leena is the queen of Palesteena, Just because she plays the the concertina' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcLJ_mjGAyQ& Enjoy!

Some of you may remember earlier postings of mine, refering you to the ‘Lusthof der Muziek’ or ‘Garden of Musical Delights’ (http://lusthof-der-muziek.blogspot.com/) [lusthof-der-muziek.blogspot.com/], our website for the dissemination of rare musical sources from the Netherlands and Flanders from the 16th to the 20th century. Over de last couple of months, a lot of new material has been added. Both famous and obscure sources from our folk (and ‘burgher’) history are now available online, often in various digital formats (abc, pdf, mp3, xml) and all free of charge. To give you a taster, some names and titles that will do ring a bell with people who are familiar with the tradition are Balmer, Hanekuijk, Kiers, Speets, de Gruijtters, De Hollantsche Schouburgh and De Nieuwe Hollandsche Schouwburg. Also included are some treasures which until recently had escaped everyones attention, such as three manuscripts bij the family Van Bolhuis, a charming manuscript for keyboard by a guy named Mentjot (a suitable source for arrangements on the concertina, I suspect), the manuscript ‘Musicq Boek 1740’, and several presumably lost volumes and fragments from famous music series that were published in Amsterdam. I hope to reach any Dutch musicians on this forum, but maybe also people who trace their ancestry to the Low Lands, and of course anyone else who might be interested. Please have a look and take advantage of the efforts of our industrious volunteers who produced these transcriptions. The writing is in Dutch, but we installed the Google translator, which should at least give you an inkling of what each source is about (and the dots can do without, obviously). Thanks, Mark

This is very sad news. I never met Kautilya in person, but when I suspected the existence of a rare Dutch music publication from around 1800 in the British Library, he most generously went there to check things out for me. We even talked about this find over the phone (the front page was lacking and the order of the pages was all mixed up, making it hard to decide what exactly we had found.) I’ll admit that I dreaded getting him on the phone, given his linguistic acrobatics on C-net, as mentioned above. But all went well and as it turned out, through his mediation we had uncovered a bit of Dutch musical history that was supposedly lost forever.

It's not perfect quality, but I hope this will suit your needs. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4496965/IMG_2137b.JPG (Can't figure out how to uploed it here to the forum) Mark

Oh, and if La Bastringue is chosen TOTM, I hope someone will be able to explain how to do this foot stamping rhytm that is in some of the youtube vids (even if the neigbours won't be pleased me practicing all night... )

Jim, Thank you for the nice pre-selection. From what I understand, the explanation behind the many titles for the 'Boda Valsen' - 'Vals efter Soling Anders' - 'Anna's Vals' is as simple as can be: It was written by Soling Anders from Boda. Search for 'Anna's Vals' on Youtube and you'll find many more versions. But be warned, saccharine accordeons abound...

I've heard that it comes with a 3 minutes and 41 seconds BIG GRIN guaranteed!

One more remark for ttonon, Seeing the formulas I had expected that it would be possible to predict whether a change in the depth of the sound hole from say 2 to 4 mm could have a noticeable effect on the higher partials, even if the exact changes would be difficult to assess. But maybe I'm being naive here.

Hi Ttonon, Thank you for the detailled comments. The depth of the aperture in the action board (your aperture length, sorry, can't get used to view it as length) would actually be quite easy to vary in a physical model: one would only have to add a sort of temporal ringlets underneath the pads, e.g. around the sound holes on top of the action board, to make the holes 'deeper'. I've never understood why the reeds in the middle of the reed pan of a 38-k Jeffries should sound any different from the ones that are lined up along the edges (and the difference is often really obvious). From your theoretical perspective - reed chambers as resonators - there seems to be only one detail that differs consistently for at least some of the inner reeds: the depth of the sound hole, and maybe the positioning of the pad above it. If a substantial part of the sound is transmitted through the wood itself, that would add another variable, but as far as I understand it that's not what you would expect to be the case. Maybe someone will pick up the glove... ? Thanks, Mark

Here I go, my take on the Fiery Clock Face, my first ever recording in cyberspace... It's not yet perfect, but it'll have to do. Played in G on a Wheatstone 30k C/G, recorded with a zoom H-2. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4496965/Fiery-Clockface-in-G-MarkvN-Wheatstone30k-CG.mp3

A street musicians invention, an attempt to reinvent the one man band? I wonder what's inside: the sides look much deeper than what would be needed - and much deeper than what would be practical. And why doesn't the guitar neck point in the other direction? Now it'll hit your arm when you try to play the 'concertina'-part. And then the placement of the buttons...Very creative indeed! Other free reed inventions that pop to mind, about as strange as this one - but altogether different, and slightly more usefull as musical instruments - are the Melophone (Mélophon) and Cecilium (google will trow up some results).

Ah, that reminds me... someone had a question about playing in octaves or something, a little while ago...? Interesting topic, that is!

So, not a Scholer then! I didn't want to raise the same old issue again (it has been covered here so many times), but since it nicely adds to some of the remarks made above (on the quality of bandonions and German concertina's), here I go. Researchers from the IfM - Institut für Musikinstrumentenbau - investigated the origin of the characteristic sound of Alfred Arnold bandonions. While not necesarily excluding all other factors, they say that the width and form of the slit between reed and reed shoe (the slit is 'conical' at the tip) is of crucial importance. Here is one of their technical papers, with a close-up picture of a reed tip: http://www.ifm-zwota.de/bandonio.pdf (it's in German I'm afraid.) So, probably it doesn't really matter whether the reeds are mounted in pairs or all in one block, nor the material that the reed block is made of: these are largely accidental variations in the construction. All can produce good results - as long as you have an expert reedmaker who works from a certain tradition. Different materials and techniques (and makers!) may accidentally have led to tiny differences in the reed construction, resulting in an important difference in sound. I own a Hohner which in nearly every detail is a faithfull copy of a 20 button Lachenal. Only they didn't know how to make the individual reed shoes and reeds; as an instrument it is fairly useless. Maybe all later (and not so good) German anglo's have a different type of reed block that may work as a 'diagnostic feature', but, conspicuous as this difference is, that doesn't mean that it's the real cause of any differences in sound quality, if you ask me. As Daniel Hersch says, the only way to know for sure is to play it! Mark

That concertina looks like a Scholer to me. They turn up quite frequently on the internet, with the same woody decoration. Most of the time, they do not look like they're in very good shape. Mark

Thanks to all for the contributions so far! I find this initiative really stimulating, although I'm not yet ready to submit an entry of my own. However, here is some interesting background information on the 'Fiery Clock Fyece': Robert (Bobby) Nunn 1808 - 1853 Bobby was a slater by trade but lost his sight following a fall from a roof. Thereafter he used his abilities as a musician to earn a living. He played the fiddle, sang and wrote songs. He was a regular at pubs, clubs around Tyneside. Apparently many songs were rather coarse, full of innuendo - much to the delight of audiences (men and women) with the benefit of a few drinks inside them. His songs include The Pitman and the Blackin, The Newcastle Lad, Drucken Bella Roy ’O and a classic - the surreal Fiery Clock Fyece, a tale of an illusion caused by drink whilst passing St Nicholas Cathedral. (from http://www.rolyveitch.20m.com/dialect_songwriters.html) I'm not sure whether this means that Nunn wrote the lyrics only or both lyrics and melody, but his was the title by which the melody became known. And a version of this song by Dennis Weatherly: https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/5yJXGU8b7EE?rel=0 The accompanying pianist and Jim Besser here on this forum seem to have had a similar idea about the intro. Cheers, Mark

Thought I might chime in... Correct me if I'm wrong, but what struck me as the most interesting bit of Adrians remarks, is the insight that some of the inboard mounted reeds might sound dull because the hole in the action board is double as deep (especially the thump button): there are two layers of wood on top of each other, pad board and action board. I recall from the research by Ttonon (http://www.concertina.org/ica/index.php/pica/subject-index/38-articles/87-reed-cavity-design-and-resonance) that the depth of the pad hole, e.g. where most of the sound comes out of the chamber (Tonon calls it t, the aperture length or action board thickness), acts as an obstruction to the higher frequencies: so, the deeper it is, the more reduced the overtones. This might also explain why a C/G is more troubled by this than a G/D, because of its higher overall tuning? Reducing the deepness of that sound hole - chipping away part of the wood of the inside 'roof' the chamber, or enlarging the hole surrounding the pad - might be the true solution (e.g. resolving it in physical-theoretical terms), although obviously that's not something you might want to do with an old instrument. The interesting thing in this case might be, that it is actually possible to calculate what this should do to the sound spectrum, which seems to be a rare situation in the concertina building business... By the way, I noticed that in many 40+ button Jeffries, the sound holes for the extra reeds are usually located not underneath the action plate, but next to it. Mark

Hi Adrian, (Just to add my dime’s worth of praise…) I love that tune in the video clip, and your version of it. Puts a smile on my face every time I listen to it. Tasteful video too, it suits the intimate nature of the music and gives a nice sort of ‘glimpse behind the scenes'. Until I heard Adrian play, I didn’t know that a concertina could sound like this, not just joyous, but so nicely restrained, sweet and almost romantic at the same time. I think it’s a great idea to let it play a supportive role to such a relatively soft voiced instrument as a recorder – that must have taken some time to learn though, playing a Jeffries that potentially plays so loud and honky. I’m not entirely unbiased, but I do think the result is marvelous; and stylistically, it's a true source of inspiration!

An addendum to my earlier post. Up till now I used an older version of VLC media player. Triggered by this here thread I decided to download the latest version and, lo and behold, ran into a lot of trouble when trying to convert a .mov file. My ad hoc decision was to try another program, which seems to do what it should do - for now at least: 'Any Video Converter', http://download.cnet.com/Any-Video-Converter/3000-2194_4-10661456.html

Hi Kautilya, I use the VLC media player: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ It plays .MOV files and allows you to convert into several other formats, including .mpeg4 and .wma. Cheers, Mark

Hello Ben, I've never seen this reed & shoe construction before. Are the reeds indeed clamped down by two ridges in the brass frame? And the reeds look narrower than usual? Thanks, Mark