symon

Sid is most definitely an awesome musician, and a member of this forum - so hopefully he'll see this and say hello.

Amazing. It would be wonderful to include this in the next issue of Concertina World. Can I use this or would you like to write something specifically for it? Did you take any photographs?

Bravo!

I would love to hear you play this, Randy!

Hi Rebi. Would you you be willing to post this to the UK, or are you only shipping to locations in the US?

That was amazing! It's so good to hear new music composed for the concertina

Thanks Alan! I'm glad you enjoyed it. And you're right, everyone should join to be part of this lovely group of concertina players! (I should make it clear that I'm the Editor )

The best advice really is to keep going. Keep practising. Keep going to sessions. There's a big difference between playing to yourself and playing in a session where other people can hear you. I think the only way to get through that is to thing about the tunes you thought you could play well at home but crashed in a session - practice those some more, remembering where it fell apart in public. But, the main thing is to keep going - it will come. I do firmly believe that all playing is helpful (some moreso than others), but it all adds up to being comfortable with your instrument and developing as a musician. Playing in sessions can be hard, so don't be too downcast that it's taking time to adjust at them and enjoy them. Keep going!

Wow! Excellent tune and a great dance. I enjoyed that.

The second set is familiar, almost on the tip of my tongue. I'll have a think and see if I can dig out the names. It won't be until later tomorrow, though.

This was amazing and lovely to hear.

This is run by my good friend Mel. She's a fantastic box player (melodeon), a great musician, and a lovely person all round. I'm sure these sessions are excellent. (can't think why I didn't think of making a post like this myself. Thanks Malcolm)

Well, I managed to get a spring out of the tutor and into the Edeophone. It will do for now until I get a new brass spring (and some spares!) Phew, that was a tense hour or so.

Thanks Theo. I suspect I might end up doing that. I did get a spring out of the tutor model, but Sod's Law says it is a spring that turns to the right at the lever, not left. Extracted spring now broken in an attempt to reverse the hook. Well, the note is a G that I use often. It may be time to learn lots of tunes with G# in them!

Well, here I sit with my Edeophone open, staring at a spring that has lost its spring. It's not broken but it is bent and has no tension. This is the first time this has happened to me and I'm slightly in shock! However, I have my old knackered tutor also open and I'm wondering if I can just take a spring from that. It won't be nice and shiny like the rest, but it won't be broken either (hopefully). Also open is my copy of Dave Elliott's repair book. Time to make a cup of tea and then see if I can get a spring out of the tutor without breaking it. Wish me luck, I'm a bit scared. Any helpful advice along the way would be much appreciated.

Great idea. At Lewes Rob was encouraging people to use recording equipment if they could.

This seems to have been put together at the last minute. The details can be found here: http://www.soundpost.org.uk/ This looks similar to the workshop he did in Lewes earlier this year. I went to that and can confidently say it was brilliant. So, get along if you can. Peter

And I'm in Bristol. Currently pondering on this and may well be in touch shortly.

Well, I'll add my vote to malcolm's, so that's two of us already.

ah, it looks lovely. Wish I had the money spare. I would consider changing my extended treble edeophone for a tenor treble.

It would be really helpful to have the dots. The ICA website would be a good central place to put them.

Thanks very much for the comments so far. I should have mentioned that I'm in England and playing for Cotswold.

Well, I've done a quick search and drawn a blank on this, so here goes: How do people here play for morris using an EC? What I'm after is tips and ways of playing so that the beat is emphasised where it needs to be. How do you get the dancers feet off the ground? I'm really looking for specifics - how to play individual notes (short, long, etc) and any useful youtube clips would be greatly appreciated. So, how do you get your morris team to dance? Thanks Peter

I'm really looking forward to this weekend. Fay Hield Trio in Bristol on Friday; workshop on Saturday; then the strange music thing and bellowhead on Sunday. Phew. A weekend stalking Rob Harbron. Huzzah.

A very quick review: basic packaging. The DVD itself is very good - lots of information on style and focusing on shaping notes, phrases and tunes. I think it will be very helpful for me, because you do get quite deep into how Alistair plays and why he plays like he does. And, it's quite funny at times. I have only watched it through once, without a concertina in hand. But, I don't regret buying it and I'm certain I will learn an enormous amount from it. My only gripe is that there doesn't seem to be any music with the DVD. It would have been useful to at least have the dots for the tunes that are used.