Chris Timson

First, I'd better make it clear this is really Anne speaking. I've borrowed Chris's login for the purposes of this post. I am a mature student studying music at Bath Spa University. We have a module that includes students pairing up and teaching each other a new instrument, so I am teaching another student to play the English concertina, and in a few weeks I will be assessed on giving a lesson. I've not had any formal concertina lessons myself and have probably got into all sorts of bad habits over the years. Just showing a young music student where the notes are and how to hold it is all that was needed for her young agile musical brain to seemingly have an immediate command of the instrument. I should be very grateful for any ideas about what I can teach her in front of the lecturer who is assessing me. Anne

Thanks, I'll try that. Meantime, nobody any ideas on the others? Cheers, Chris

I'd love to see this too, as you know. Nevertheless, great that you're not resting on your laurels (and, after all, you've got more laurels than most to rest on - or am I pushing that metaphor too far?) Chris

Updated. One down. Thanks for that. I've always loved the sheer oddity of that site. Delighted to be able to link to it again. Chris

Hi all, Now my family life is beginning to revert to something like normal I've had the time to do something I've been meaning to do for years, which is to check all the links in the FAQ, identify the broken ones and if possible fix them. I've done that now and have managed to fix most of them; however there are still some outstanding. I'm going to present the entries here is case anyone knows the current URLs. If not, then I guess they'll just have to go... FROM THE CLUBS AND SOCIETIES SECTION Jubilee Concertinas Describing themselves as "a friendly Eaves Green Community Centre bunch of enthusiastic musicians" they Lower Burgh Way meet twice a month. The first Saturday Eaves Green is a 'slow and steady' session for all Chorley instruments and the second Saturday is PR7 3QE a concertina workshop. Has WWW site at:- Phone 01257 263678 http://jubileeconcertinas.net FROM THE INTERNET SECTION Anglo Concertina Excellent page produced by Dave Glenn. Good info (and one or two inaccuracies) and diagrams and some very useful hints on how to finger various keys on the anglo. http://www.soltec.net/~daglenn/conc_90.html Boermusiek Konsertina Some very interesting pages about the concertina as played by the Boer community of South Africa, maintained by Sean Minnie. Well worth a read. http://mzone.mweb.co.za/residents/sminnie/ Concertina Descriptions of three anglo concertinas owned by Bob DeVellis - A Jeffries, a Lachenal and a Dipper. Beautifully photograped and written, I like to look in on this since this particular Lachenal was the first concertina I ever owned. http://members.directvinternet.com/devellis/ip1conc.htm Concertina! Maintained by Toby Koosman, contains links to many sites of direct and peripheral interest to concertina players. http://funnelweb.utcc.utk.edu/~tkoosman/boxlinks.html Virtual Wheatstone Concertina This Flash demo takes a few seconds to load on a modem, but once it arrives it shows a very elegant Victorian Wheatstone English concertina which you can play with your mouse. No, really! http://www.id-werbeagentur.com/concertina/ TIA, Chris

true enough, but then if concertinas did go to sea (a subject that has given rise to much discussion on this forum in the past) then it wouldn't have been someone's loved and valuable Jeffries or Wheatstone but one of the German concertinas so widely and cheaply available at that time. Chris

Always amused by the vast number of folds cartoonists give tina bellows. Reminds me of Geoff Crabb's story of the skipping rope concertina. Chris

B&B accommodation in the heart of Brightlingsea already booked. It's a nice little place and should make a good venue for the ECMW - we popped over there a couple of days ago as it's just down the road from Clacton where my parents lived. Only sad thing is it hasn't got an Eel & Pie shop. I had hoped ... Cheers, Chris

Well, in the event I got through both songs at the funeral. All In Harmony was alright but Peaceful Harbour gave me problems, oddly more with my fingers than my voice. But Anne held it all together. It was a privilege to sing and at times like these being a singer and musician is a real blessing. Thanks to everyone who sent commiserations. Chris

Interesting, and rather ties up with a long-held belief of mine that fiddlers were largely responsible for the distinctive, rhythmic and somewhat staccato styles of English music. Not so much with decoration, though, English music being much less decorated than Irish I guess we never felt the need to go looking for instruments to imitate ... Chris

Thanks Al. As someone with a personal interest in this it's good to have something to tell Heather Chris

Thank you, I very much appreciate that. I have had practice - we sang it at my mother's funeral just 4 months ago - but I agree, it is difficult. Chris

Peaceful Habour? It is indeed. We also sing a version in two part harmony with two concertinas, and in that form it means a lot to us - we've sung it at both my sister's wedding and my mother's funeral. I took the photo of Anne with the Thames barges in the background at Maldon on our way to my sister's wedding. Sadly, we shall be singing the song again next week at my father's funeral. Chris

Apparently Maki was on a train when the quake hit, which must have been truly scary. Afterwards she had to walk home (which took her 3 hours). Chris

Thanks. I've just played that clip 1000 times. Took a while ... Chris

Just noticed the counter was at 4999 topics. Shame I haven't got anything to say, really. Chris

Peaceful Habour? It is indeed. We also sing a version in two part harmony with two concertinas, and in that form it means a lot to us - we've sung it at both my sister's wedding and my mother's funeral. I took the photo of Anne with the Thames barges in the background at Maldon on our way to my sister's wedding. Thank you. Chris Edited to add PS: you can hear the duo version of the song here on Soundcloud.

Thanks for that - that's a pint I owe you next time I see you. Now for your next pint can I persuade you to say that on Anne's web site ... Chris

Almost unknown. Part of the reason for this is that in the UK folk clubs can be found on any night of the week, so there isn't so much need for house concerts to provide performers with midweek gigs (note to the English - there are few folk clubs as we know them in the US, instead there are coffee houses on the weekend and house concerts during the week. It seems to work. We loved doing house concerts). If you like the site perhaps you could leave a comment. Maybe ask her about the house concerts we did in the States. It might help to impress the examiner Cheers, Chris

Hi all, As many of you know, my partner Anne Gregson is reading music at Bath Spa University and part of her course (the Professional Development module) requires students to create a "web presence" for themselves - having a web site, using Facebook, Youtube, Soundcloud, that sort of thing. Anyway, she's created a web site which will be assessed next week. She used Wordpress so you can leave comments if you want (which would be nice if you like the site). There's a video of her playing and singing one of her songs plus a recording of another by courtesy of Soundcloud. Oh, and the house concert she mentions is genuine so if anyone fancies coming then let us know. annegregson.wordpress.com Cheers, Chris

Clearly a few players must now be saying to themselves, "I'm sorry, I hadn't a clue" when they look back and see Samantha's huge, um, hint. Well played, Woody. Time to put the game to bed for another year. Chris

Well spotted, Samantha. Surprising no-one else saw it. Chris

Yes, I saw that too, Peter. I was wondering if anyone else would fall for the supposed triple reverse and call White Hart Lane for an imagined Mornington Crescent in three. Just as well it didn't happen. Chris

Neat. Chris

Interesting sidelight. Not all regulations were defined in the 19th century. Work continues all the time in response to the inventiveness of modern players. For instance, the Composite Rules Application Procedure group have been meeting into the night to discuss responses to moves based on Tahrir Square. Prior discussion in the CRAP group has been around the "three strikes and you're out" rule and its applicability to the Game. Word to the wise ... Chris