Chris Timson

This is the Dunster Carol from Somerset. I love the words of this:- Let us by the fire Ever higher, ever higher Sing until the night expire Sing until the night expire soundcloud.com/timsonandgregson/i-hear-along-our-street I recorded this during one of this year's carol sings in Bradford on Avon, on 18th December at the George in Woolley St. Anne led the band - all sorts of instruments but concertinas featured prominently. (For the incurably techy I used an Octavamod-ded LSD2 stereo condenser mic plus two Rode NT5 mics with omni capsules as outriders, recording into a Korg D888 multi-tracker which I later transferred to Logic on an iMac for mixing). Happy Christmas everyone. May it be at least as good as you hope and deserve!

Indeed so. My condolences too. Chris

I'll be watching out with bated breath. Very good to see you again, mate, and an excellent set at Lewes! Chris

Gardner Houlgate publish their catalogues here. They have concertinas regularly in their musical instrument auctions and they certainly have telephone bidding - I've seen Chris Algar telephone bidding there more than once. Chris

I assume you're interested in the C/G because the G/D is a little cheaper. £7000 sounds to me like the price in Ireland for a 30 button Jeffries. The 38 button is usually cheaper, and both are cheaper outside of Ireland. Chris

Great set at Lewes, BTW, Jody! Chris

You could auction them off in aid of c.net! Chris

Very, very pretty. Chris

Yep! Chris

I've said this before, but it's not so bad. Put your order in now, Colin & Rosalie will ask for a deposit, something like £250 or of that order. Then you go back to dreaming. Suddenly, our of the blue a few years later you'll get a phone call or letter from Colin and hey presto! you're one of the great winners in the lottery of life. You'll have saved the money by then (or if not, I'm sure there's a relative you wouldn't mind selling into slavery) and you'll own your dream concertina. But you have to start by putting that order in ... I have two concertinas that between them qualify in the shape of my Jeffries G/D and my Dipper C/G baritone (I put an order in and one day I won the lottery of life). But I do sometimes hanker after a bass anglo, i.e. an octave below the normal G/D. Chris

Definitely this. A couple of times over the years I have given on this forum my opinion that we do not "own" these instruments, we are their guardians and custodians as well as their players, and we have a duty to look after them for those who play them after us. I definitely feel part of a chain. My Dipper baritone has my initials worked into the scrollwork on one end. I like the idea of my mark on the instrument going forward into the future. I also write inside (in pencil, and lightly!) my name and the date I acquired the concertina, so that those who play it further along the line have at least that insight into its past. Chris

Ditto. Chris

See you at Lewes.

Search for CDs by Emmanuel Pariselle. He has and plays a couple - in fact he co-invented it with Colin. Chris

I think if you want to play concertina for whatever reason, you should start (as I've said many times before) with finding out which sort of concertina you feel comfortable with and want to play. You will work out for yourself and with assistance from others here how to play what you want to play on your chosen concertina, but if you don't get on with the instrument then you'll never get anywhere. I write at length about this in the Buying Advice section of the Concertina FAQ. Dan Worrall's is the most authoritative guide to what was actually played, but in the modern world, when you hear shanties accompanied by all sorts of instruments (including, God help us, guitars!) I think the choice of concertina system is yours. Best of luck, and keep us informed of how you get on. Chris Edited for typos.

Colin Dipper has told me that raised ends in his opinion add nothing to the instrument apart from the look of the thing. FWIW my Jeffries G/D has flat ends and is wonderfully playable, as has and is my Dipper baritone C/G. If I were in the market for a concertina then whether the ends were raised or not would have little or no importance to me. The sound and playability is all. Chris

Indeed, it was Pam that got Heather into MacCann duet in the first place. They used to play in the same band. Chris

G/D anglos have always been available but until recent times they were rare. Pretty sure Scan's concertinas are all C/Gs and that he mainly played in the key of C. This is certainly possible. There are quite a few players around who play this way still (e.g. Harry Scurfield and Robin Madge of this forum) and I love the sound of it. Chris

Heather Minnion, a good friend and regular at our sessions. She's been recorded for Duet International, should it ever appear. Chris

Hope (and greed) springs eternal in the human breast. No more than that, I should think. Chris

Also worth adding that the G/D lends itself beautifully to playing in parallel octaves, which also works well for English music. It allows you to play the music of Scan Tester in Scan's style but in the key of G rather than C. You might like to consider G/D as a first concertina Chris

An auspicious start. Welcome! Chris

I'll go with the others and suggest you get a field recorder (not familiar with the Zoom but I'm sure it's good. I have an Olympus LS-10 and that's a cracking little gadget). Be warned, though. If the recording bug really bites then you can have a second interest that rivals concertinas for cost. You can easily spend hundreds on a single mic, and then you add in recording software, audio interface, preamps, control surface, oh yes a patch bay would be useful and you could really do with some room treatment and bass traps and ... well, you get the picture. Chris

Have to say I agree. Harmonicas may be a useful guide for melodeons but they're misleading for anglos. The split between the two ends has a profound effect on playing as compared with both melodeons and mouth organs. Chris

You could always adopt the Apple approach - call it "Tempting Prudence" and then sue Melissa Schroeder for trying to pass her book off as your CD. Chris