maccannic
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Posts posted by maccannic
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And thanks, Bazza (one of our most regular supporters).
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Yup, after two years we're still having great sessions (15 musicians last night, but only 3 concertinas this time).
The records respectively are 18 musos last October, and 5 concertinas several times.
Fourth Monday of every month at 'Blue Anchor' public house, High Road, Byfleet, Surrey KT14 7RL.
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Regular at their March weekends, and recently also just went to the October weekend for the first time. But only one Ruishton meeting so far, as it's rather a long way just for an afternoon.
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My old mate Dave used to have a concertina which someone had knitted for him out of wool.
(Don't suppose this adds much to the discussion, but it was rather fun).
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'Highland Widow's Lament' works well on a duet. As for the haggis, 'Scotland the Brave' on the tin whistle ought to do fine, if a bit predictable.
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I've played PA for many years. Finding it a bit too large and domineering for pub sessions I got a concertina (Maccann duet) some years later. There is a lot of similarity, as in each case you can play the tune on one end and go oom-pah oom-pah on the other. However there is so much dissimilarity that switching from one to the other and back is hardly a problem.
There are some tunes which, due to a quirk of fingering or else because I have worked out some little distinctive figure in the accompaniment, I can only really play on one machine or the other. For example, on the duet I can go tenor G, tenor D, baritone G at the end of a line in the left hand which I can't do on the accordion. But on the accordion I can make up incredible right-hand chords which I could never hope to find or remember on the concertina. So I do have to concentrate, but really it's no problem.
I should imagine that the EC is even more different, so again, no problem.
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Yes, a brilliant weekend. Lots of fine musicians, inc. lots of concertinas. I seemed to be the only Maccann at the sessions I attended (Sylvia N. always seemed to be somewhere else, and Irene was boxless for the weekend), but never mind, we Maccann players are used to ploughing a lonely furrow.
Thanks to the organisers - I hope you managed to enjoy it too.
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to have a wife in every port.
Of course they do say that for every sailor with a wife in every port there was a wife with a husband on every ship.
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Well, I'm going to be there (my first time!). Anybody else?
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Yes indeed, Ron, it's still for sale. And yes indeed, Chris, it was on the table at WCCP last weekend and it was Colin Dipper who suggested the price (and speculated as to its possible history as mentioned above).
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The WCCP 'Kilve' weekend starts tomorrow, not at Kilve this year but at nearby St. Audries.
Really looking forward to it. It will be interesting to see how the change of venue works out. (But I expect the bar prices will not be as low as at Kilve.)
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The other day I was at home on my own, playing my concertina. Hearing my wife come back in through the front door, after a few moments I stopped playing and went to meet her. "Oh, it's OK", she said, "you didn't have to turn the record off".
Quite made my day. (I wonder which record she thought it was?).
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Well, it was 'happy birthday to us'! All 14 of us, plus one audience.
Irene, you're right, Byfleet is a bit of an arse to get to at night without a car. There's a station, but it's best part of a mile away, no good if your mobility is not 100%.
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Well, I've never really had a problem with the supposed illogicality of the Maccann layout. But then I am also a guitarist, so I am used to notes and chord shapes just being where they are rather than where I might want them to be. Also, as you can tell by the fact that I am typing this, I can cope with the hardly-logical QWERTY keyboard.
Two exceptions though . . .
The Eb/D# button - I have never understood why it comes below the adjacent D rather than above it. To this day I tend to avoid flat keys, and even a simple up-and-down scale of Bb-major or C-minor I find tricky. Perhaps someone can explain.
And the way the layout changes in different octaves - I'm still waiting for this to become 'elegant'. I presume this is done in order to fit the asymetrically arranged scales into a neat and tidy button pattern. I just wish they left the buttons where they should be at the top end of the scale, even if it meant gaps and irregularity in the button pattern. I changed from playing a 64-key to a 67-key box after about twelve years, and 18 months later I'm still getting the high notes wrong. As a result, I don't go up there as much as I should do.
Still, I guess it's all part of life's rich pattern.
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How not to choose a duet concertina system? Well, I found the perfect answer to that. I just bought a Maccann.
As someone who has always found commitment difficult, I am astonished that I was able to make that decision. But then I didn't really look into all the different duet systems, I just ruled out English and anglo and went and bought a duet.
For a while I wished I'd got a Crane, because I liked the sound of what people could do on them and beginners seemed to make more rapid progress than I was doing. But undaunted I performed in public after 5 months (accompanying myself singing Bob Dylan's 'Forever Young'), and after about 18 months it all started to fall into place.
Being lazy (and a bit on the elderly side), I've concentrated on knocking out session tunes rather than doing Dirge-style practice on more difficult stuff, but I'm happy so what the hell.
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Well who'd have thought it? The session we started speculatively because two of us felt like having one celebrates its first birthday on Monday 27th February 2012. Held every month on the fourth Monday of the month at the Blue Anchor temperance hotel public house, High Road, Byfleet, KT14 7RL (same venue as the weekly Thursday folk club, but usually downstairs in the bar). Nominally an English session, but tunes from pretty much anywhere really. The usual mix of instruments but so far never less than four concertinas.
The January session wasn't at all bad - 15 of us all told, despite five no-shows that we already knew about. Plus a quiet gentleman lurking on the other side of the room, apparently enjoying it. Ah, but what was that cube-shaped box on the floor beside him? He turned out to be none other than Zak van der Vyver, noted anglo player, who happened to be in the area and was eventually persuaded to give us a couple of tunes. The first was in E-flat, the second alternating between F and B-flat. All this on a C/G anglo - honestly, it ought to be illegal.
Anyway, just re-posting the details for anyone who's interested.
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Influence and inspiration can come from absolutely anywhere - chords and bass lines from Handel, key changes from Lennon&McCartney ...
I play Maccann, not Anglo, but the same applies. I really like that really dense Beach Boys sound, sometimes I try to get that.
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Give it up. You're making the rest of us jealous.
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Three of the tracks are also on 'Anglo International'.
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Ah, in that case I'll await her (hopefully speedy) recovery.
And no jokes about 'low joints'.
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Irene, is your spreadsheet published or linked to anywhere?
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Welcome to the wonderful world of the Maccann. I hope you do well with your (very wise) choice. Mind you, if you're playing jazz arrangements after two days, then it doesn't sound as if you're going to have much trouble.
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Just in case anybody was planning to come next Monday, which is Boxing Day, we had the session this week instead. Ten of us there, despite it being the 'wrong' week and only a few days before you-know-what.
Next session will be 4th Monday in January, as usual.
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It's good to see Zak posting on here. Only three posts in seven years - such admirable restraint.
Amazing guy, we could learn a lot from him.
Duet International Update
in General Concertina Discussion
Posted
Nearly two more years have gone by. I just hope I live to see it! In the meantime, we can still console ourselves with Anglo and English Internationals, but as a Maccann player, I'm still hoping Duet International will come out soon.