Howard Mitchell
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Posts posted by Howard Mitchell
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I'm working my way through "Dancing with Ma Baby" (which I hear is no longer available?).
It's a shame this is no longer available. I looked in on Derek Appeling's book sales at the Chippenham Festival this weekend but he's also out of stock.
Not only a shame for losing the source of the music but it's the only time my picture's been in a music book (hint - it's somewhere in the "where are they now" photograph.)
Howard Mitchell
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Lot's of interesting comments here about Contra and English Country Dance and similar dance forms.
We've got to be a bit careful, the terms are often used differently on each side of the Atlantic.
ECD in America is most often used in the way way we in England might say Playford or Playford-style. English Country Dance in England encompasses a wider spectrum of traditional and period dances and often strayes into Scottish, Irish, Welsh and American dances.
For "those in the know" we are seeing a segregation into Ceilidh and Social Dance and then the Social Dance is further divided into Playford (style), American (Contra and Square), Scottish and now also Contra Ceilidh and Zesty Contra. However for the ordinary punter the majority of PTA and wedding dances often under the title Barn Dance that I do are a complete mixture.
Take a look at the web sites of two of the major festivals in England, Sidmouth and Chippenham. They both have the classification as above. I'm playing with a band at both these festivals and we're placed firmly in the Social Dance area but this year we're also playing for an Anchor Garden Ceilidh at Sidmouth. That'll fool 'em.
Howard Mitchell
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(And not really a real normal concertina player.)
Yet.
Helen
Yeah, but you just wait until after I do the Noell Hill boot camp.
I'm sure that will make you normalised (ized).
I've passed your kind remarks to the dancers. They'll be round.
Howard Mitchell
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... 4 anglo players. Wheatstone, Norman, Lachenal and Norman.
sounds like a law firm...
Not quite a law firm. In reality a retired banker, a business consultant, a commercial manager and a retired managing director.
Howard Mitchell
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I fancy the English players to be the Bacup Brittania Coconut Band, but I may be wrong.
Spot on. These are their normal three players and they have another 2 who are also dancers.
Howard Mitchell
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I had to take the end off my Andrew Norman Anglo to re-fit a bush. As it was the first time I'd taken it apart I took some photographs and put them on http://www.hgmitchell.plus.com/hgm/norman.htm
Howard Mitchell
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Just a couple of pictures of concertina players seen at events in the UK.
First 3 English players. Two trebles and one baritone playing brass band arrangements.
Second 4 anglo players. Wheatstone, Norman, Lachenal and Norman.
Kudos to anyone who can identify the players and locations.
Howard Mitchell
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There's a very good article about violin mics at
If you skip the bit about piezos and contact mics, there's a list of electret mics manufacturers some of whom do models suitable for concertinas.
As always it's a balancing act. Get too close, especially with a hypercardioid and you'll pick up some notes louder than others and key noise. Too far away and feedback is a problem. I use AKG micromics on most instruments but find fitting is difficult on a concertina.
So on a concertina I use a pair of omni electret mics. You can get fairly close but still retain a good overall coverage of the instrument. Feedback is not too much of a problem even when using a monitor. I modified the clips which came with the mics to fit the concertina and they're unobtrusive when the mics are not in use (but they do provoke a comment or two).
The mics came with in-line battery packs or phantom power adaptors but I've modified them for a belt pack (AKG B29L) or a radio transmitter as well as the phantom option.
The mics are from Maplin (UK) but contain Sony capsules. They're about 20 UK pounds each.
Here are some pictures showing the mic and clip.
Howard Mitchell
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There is useful pair of programs, MID2txt and Txt2MID which do what it says on the can.
They're used in the Mudcat Cafe
You can learn all about them at -
regards
Howard Mitchell
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Stafford Folk Players hold two whole-day musicians workshops each year in May and October.
The next Stafford Music day will be on Sunday 9th May 2004 at Barnfields Primary School, Wildwood, Stafford.
All musicians are welcome, strings, woodwind, brass, percussion, keyboards and free reeds (accordions, melodeons, concertinas) in workshops at all ability levels.
The workshops are lead by experienced folk musicians and include instrument technique, performance technique, repertoire and arrangement.
See http://www.staffordfolkplayers.co.uk for more details.
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There's a new site at http://www.asaplive.com/FARNE/Home.cfm which contains manuscripts and recording of Northumbrian music. Mostly on small pipes , fiddle and mouth organ but there's a couple of concertina pieces hidden in track 7 on "Radio Farne".
Howard Mitchell
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Paul,
yes the pallets are hinged at the outer edge so they don't lift in the way that modern pads do.
Howard
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Paul,
The levers are connected to the pallets by flexible pieces of leather, not jointed as such.
I don't believe Neil had seen this type of action before.
Howard
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I posted these pictures, amongst others, in the "Oldest Wheatstone in Private Hands" thread.
It was suggested that they might also be relevant here, especially as the aforementioned thread was getting a bit long to follow and the pictures may have got lost in the noise.
It's Wheatstone serial number 38. I hardly think that any of the modern makers will take up this mechanism.
Howard Mitchell
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I called in to see Neil Wayne for a chat and a pint (or two) and took the opportunity (while he was out of the room*) to take some photographs of the pile of concertinas gathering in a corner.
Anything that takes your fancy here as an early Wheatstone or something with unusual features?
Let's take a closer look.
Now I'm always a sucker for the larger instruments, tenors and baritones, so I though I'd take a look at the one on the right.
Well interesting, yes, but not what we're looking for.
How about this one -
Very small number of buttons and although you can't see it in the picture it has the number XXXVIII (38). Many of the very early instrument of the open pallet type etc. didn't have numbers so I think this qualifies as a very early numbered instrument.
Lastly here's a look inside the instrument (it's a photo of a photo) -
As you can see, the action is most unusual. The levers are wooden and they're connected to the pads by flexible pieces of leather and the pads are hinged on their outer edges and sprung with a torsion spring. I've not seen anything like this before!
Enjoy.
Howard Mitchell
*but with his permission
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Henk,
I played the Winster Morris Reel in C on a Wheatstone 40 button metal ended C/G anglo. It's a late model in the 50000 series. I've put a graphic of the notation in C and in G on Winster MR in C and Winster MR in G
Sorry about the reference to the Mesa. It's an extract from a CD I recorded with a band called High Jinks so it can be found at The Mesa. This was played in G on a Crabb metal ended C/G which I no longer have.
Howard Mitchell
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I've re-organised my web site to separate the band Stradivarious from Other Stuff.
This includes a couple of concertina recordings under "Sounds". These are The Mesa written by a friend Steve Hodgskiss and the Winster Morris Reel recorded recently for a friend to practice. Winster is about 30 miles from here.
The re-org also puts the Galpin Wheatstone history article, a trascription of John Kirkpatrick's Anglo Chords article and some concertina waveform diagrams on the "Concertina" link from My Webpage
Howard Mitchell
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These were the early concertinas formerly in Neil Wayne's collection, so they may be in the Horniman Museum now.
Neil has recently acquired a number of instruments with serial numbers under 1000. They vary from "are you sure this is a concertina" to "I don't think this has been out of its case".
Neil lives a few miles away from me and we sometimes meet for a pint. Next time I'm there I can ask for more details or maybe borrow some instruments to take photographs. Or send him a mail on neil_wayne@free-reed.co.uk
Regards
Howard Mitchell
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Craig,
John Kirkpatrick's articles can be found at http://www.johnkirkpatrick.co.uk/writings.htm
With John's permission and Neil Wayne's I transcribed the 3rd article some years ago, before John had his web site, and put it on my web page.
Because it was difficult to transcribe the handwritten drawings which appeared in Free Reed I redrew them and then added colouring for the buttons for the buttons. It must have a been a slow period at work because I then made them clickable.
My page is undergoing some redesign but you can get to the chord diagrams from http://www.hgmitchell.plus.com/hgm/anglojk...es/CGchords.htm
Regards
Howard Mitchell
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Jim,
Yes, I play a 40-key anglo and a 36 key one which has many of the useful features that a 40-key has.
In order of usefulness for me:
G and A below C on the right hand side extending the right hand range.
D above top C on the right hand on the pull in keeping with lower Ds and D chord.
Bb and F un the push on the left hand to facilitate C7 and G7 chords.
The 36 key instrument is in G/D so these facilities move to their relative notes.
regards
Howard Mitchell
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Geoff,
I've just realised that you were at the East Midland Concertina meeting last Saturday - I was the one with the symphonium and the odd duet.
Howard Mitchell
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Jim,
I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "that special chordal quality".
In playing for morris and other traditional english music, I add bass notes and chords as appropriate. I don't think the chords are different than you would add on a piano - e.g. when playing in G: G, D(7), C, Am, Em. Perhaps the difference is in the inversions and pitch used and in the rhythm.
I would for example used C and E bass notes with a C chord to give a first inversion and also G and B bass notes under a G chord.
Similarly the chords themselves often come out in different inversions and in different octaves than you might use on a piano. e.g. a C chord played on the push would be C2, E2, G2 but on the pull would be G2, C3, E3, a second inversion and higher pitch. In the same way a G chord on the push would be G2, B2, D3 and on the pull would be B1, D2, G2, a first inversion and lower pitch (I might also add an F to make it a 7th). All of the above on a 30 button C/G.
On the rhythmic side, I tend not to just stick to bass and chord but to put in block chords where they fit or to play parallel parts on right and left hand.
In Monks March (I play it in G on a G/D concertina) it would come out something like -
D2|G2GB|A2Ac|Bdge|d3c|BdBG|AcAF|G2G2|G3:|:
D |G B |D A |G B |D |G |D |G C |G :|:
D | G G | D D | G G|D |G |D |G C |G :|:
Bc|d>edc|B2B2|c>dcB|A2A2|d>edc|B2B2|cdec|A3D|
|G |B |C |D |G |E |A |D |
|G |G |C |D |G |Em |Am |D7 |
G2GB|A2Ac|Bdge|d3c|BdBG|AcAF|G2G2|G2:||
G B |D A |G B |D |G |D |G C |G :||
G G | D D| G G|D |G |D |G C |G :||
The first line is the melody, the second the bass note and the third the chord. As you can see, the second line is all block chords. (This isn't perfect in proportional spaced fonts but I hope you get the picture).
Hope this goes some way to answering your question.
Howard Mitchell
Derby, UK
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My collection of music is in paper and electronic forms.
I have a number of books e.g. the English Country Dance Manuals, The Joshua Gibbons Manuscripts etc. and a large collection of handwritten tunes collected over the years and arranged generally in types - reels, jigs and named (usually English) dance tunes.
Increasingly I transcribe or create tunes into electronic forms so that I can store and index them, print them in different combinations, prepare them for use at dances or workshops or publication and tranfer them to other musicians.
The useful sources of tunes (for me) on the web are in ABC, graphic formats (gif, jpg, pdf) and occasionally in proprietary formats (Noteworthy etc).
I increasingly use MusicXML to enable transfer of notation from one standard to another and have adopted Sibelius as my notation program of choice. I use runabc to provide a suite of abc utilities and have added the abc2xml program to allow abc to be transferred to other formats.
As far as I know ABC is the only file format which combines notation information with a (simple) database structure with more than one tune per file.
This has its advantages for storing and indexing tunes but at the moment I'm not convinced that any of the abc applications provide sufficient functionality to compare with the likes of Sibelius, Finale etc. (A personal view).
There is a notation interface format caled NIFF which was popular some time ago but it seems to have gone into a black hole. I'm hoping that MusicXMl will fill the gap.
There is a new usenet group uk.music.notation where such discussions are welcome.
regards
Howard Mitchell
Chords For 30 Button Anglo
in Teaching and Learning
Posted
Some years ago I transcribed an article on cords by John Kirkpatrick (with his permission) and put it on http://www.hgmitchell.plus.com/hgm/anglojk.htm
The article contains a link to http://www.hgmitchell.plus.com/hgm/anglojk...es/CGchords.htm which is a set of clickable diagrams for chords which I used to replace the original hand-drawn diagrams in the article.
I've not really maintained this recently and someone did point out an error in one of the chords but I can't remember which.
Howard Mitchell