symon

Will be sending the form this weekend. I sent you a message here the other day. I'm Peter

I've just ordered one, partly because it's Alistair Anderson, and partly because I hope to learn a huge amount from it. All I have to do now is be patient...

Ooh yes, must send in my booking form. I'll catch the trio in Bristol on the Friday night and probably get a 6am train on Saturday to get to the workshop. Not looking forward to that early start!

Thanks. I found this: http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=1553&view=findpost&p=14748 which gives a tantalising hint! I will search for the rest tomorrow as it is also now past my bedtime. Thanks

Thanks for that, Jim. I have been wondering whether the chordal oom-pah (or otherwise) that you can get from a melodeon could be replicated on an EC. I suppose it could be with a great deal of effort, but it's good to know others have considered it and thought it too much. So, do you think that the EC is best used with harmonised lines of some sort at select points rather than all the way through (as opposed to the constant chording you can do with a melodeon)? Thanks for your time in answering these questions. Your answers (and others') are very helpful to me, just starting to explore the greater potential of the English concertina. Bellowbelle I hope you'll forgive my questions. I don't think I've hijacked the thread, but I seem to be taking it a little further away from your OP.

ooh! I have to take the bait and say...'such as?' and it would be interesting to know why they are used more than others.

The difficulties for me are twofold (mechanically). First, playing an octave puts your fingers and hand in the wrong place for playing any main melody notes which fall under the same hand. So, you have to think much more about which finger to use and move them more quickly. There's not a lot of space on the keyboard so greater dexterity is required. And, secondly, it's off-putting. I think because of the first difficulty. I find it very difficult to imagine playing a whole tunes in parallel octaves on an English but I can see how it could be done on a melodeon/anglo. So, the layout of an EC makes it easy in one way (the octave button is on the other hand) but difficult in that you then need to be able to continue playing the melody on both hands. The amount of movement and swapping fingers around is mind-boggling. And that's before you even start thinking about how to use those harmonies properly. Well, that's how I see it, anyway. I've been trying to learn to play scales which are harmonised in sixths and octaves and it is very slow and difficult. It is comforting to know it's not just me!

Thanks Jim and Geoff. You confirmed some of what I already knew (practice, practice, practice!) and provided some useful pointers. You've also helped me realise that playing in this way is difficult and not just an easy thing that I can't do. I currently mostly play one note at a time, playing folk music, but I would like to be able to play in a more rich way and have the choice of playing more than one note at a time. So, back to practice it is!

So, how do you go about getting comfortable playing two octaves at the same time on an English? Does anyone have any handy hints and tips for developing fluency in playing this way?

I'll be there with Rag Morris. We always have a great time.

I play an ec but that explanation makes me think I could learn a lot from the tutor. Hmm. Might have to pick it up at some point.

I seem to remember someone telling me recently that it was from an Irish tune called langolee.

I was one of the other sides at the Brighton Day of Dance this year and had the pleasure of seeing Brighton Morris Men do a jig (My Lord of Sherbourne) with a solo musician - who I guess was John Watcham as the solo musician was an anglo player. It was brilliant.

Hmmm, I like that idea Al. Sounds like a good way of learning to play harmonies and chords on an ec too. My apologies for the digression from the main topic.

I quite like multitasking daddy as a title. So, you could change it to multitasking concertina for the album title.

I was down on Sunday for a bit of dancing. Shame I missed the sessions. However, I did discover how dangerous sidmouth is after visiting the music stalls in blackmore gardens. I now have a lovely edeophone and a slightly larger credit card bill!

I shall be there, with my box. I might even be brave enough to play it.

Ouch!

I hope so. I was inspired to really push myself into practising them after Rob Harbron explained a marvellous bit of playing as being just sixths and tenths.

The exercise pages have finally started to prove their worth. I'm trying to learn to play in a more harmonised style (which translates into playing more than one note at a time). The starting point is learning to play in sixths and tenths. The exercises here give harmonised scales like that (and eighths as well if I remember correctly). So, last night, was the first time I practised using the exercises from the book. My fingers ache, my head hurts and I feel like I have gone back to being a complete incompetent on the EC again. Luckily, I know that practice, practice and more practice will change this (well, that's what I'm telling myself). So, thank you for the scans. They are very useful.

He is a tall dude. I suspect he plays a normal size concertina. Although, I don't know what make.

Hmm. A beginners group in bristol would be interesting. I go to a friendly session (mostly populated by people from my morris side) but I'm not convinced it is a beginners group. How many other people would be interested in coming to a beginners session in bristol?

This is a lovely festival. Lots of English concertinas in the sessions. I'll be there with Rag Morris, dancing, doing a workshop, joining in the sessions and drinking. One of the pubs had a beer festival at the same time with a fantastic range of beers. Really looking forward to going again this year.

Yes, I would be interested. Thank you

Yes, more than enough! I currently play simple melody lines for folk tunes, so classical music and music of the complexity found in the book is very much ahead of me at the moment. But, having heard Gordon Cutty, I'm intrigued and eager to learn how to play in that style. I'm assuming this is similar to how Gordon played (in technique if not exact content).