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CrP

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    Brain Modes

    in Teaching and Learning

    Posted

    Allow me to recommend a wonderful book by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly entitled Flow (The Psychology of Optimal Experience). My copy is a paperback from 1990, pub. by Harper & Row ISBN 0-06-92043-2 [should be easy to find in 2nd-hand book supply]. It's well worth spending some time with. I daresay it goes deeper in to the topic than many people want; at least read it and familiarise yourself with the concept(s). As a complement to "The Inner Game of Music" it has furnished me more insight into understanding how the mind/body combination can work when engaged in, amonst other things, Music than any other source. 

    Russian with English Concertina

    in General Concertina Discussion

    Posted

    There's a musico-comedic, kind of vaudevillian tradition called "chastushki" ( частушки -- in English might be rendered as "ditties" or humourous/satirical rhyming couplets, quadruplets, poems). I believe it's unique to Russian culture, both folk culture and variety-show, stage-act mass culture. It can involve a single performer with musical instrument -- accordion, balalaika, guitar or concertina -- or a duo. The 2nd URL video link with the guitarist & concertina plater is typical. If you want to watch videos with other performers, simply type >> частушки << into a serch engine. This ref. to a Russian Wikipedia article gives a brief overview, dating the tradition back to the 1970s at least: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Частушка

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    Klezmer

    in Tunes /Songs

    Posted

    There's a lively Klezmer music scene in the Washington, DC area. Recently (for about the past 3 years) there have been workshops and jam sessions with open invitation to come-all-ye musicians to learn from some of the best current Klezmer musicians in the US. The DC Klezmer group focuses almost exclusively on music for dancing [if you want to play a doina on concertina, you'd better really know the genre and the style inside & out]. Before the pandemic, a Sunday afternoon gathering could attract upwards of 20 musicians on winds, strings (bowed, beaten, and plucked), accordions, keyboards and me on concertina (not exclusively). I've been playing Yiddish songs (accompaniments for singing; dance tunes, amongst other things) for decades and find concertina works most admirably for much of this, both solo and in groups.

    Briefly put, I can say that one needs a strong concertina (with the power of a Jeffries, say) to make a sound that carried over saxophones, clarinets, accordions, trumpets, and so forth.

    My B♭/F Jeffries does OK, holding its own in small-to-medium-size band. Since so much Klezmer music revolves around keys of Dmin & Gmin, a B♭/F is probably the most useful to have. I do sometimes use a 34-button C/G that has additional reeds in place of the "novelty" sounds (baby cry, bird whistle), allowing easy switching between major, minor, modal key signatures.

    So, (again briefly), anglo works well for this, but the player must really know how to navigate reliably, solidly in rhythms such as 3/8, 8/8 [several variants] and some of the Romanian/Hungarian/Balkan subtleties that infuse Klezmer music that has come to us from musicians raised in those traditions.

     

    Squeakers and Whistles

    in Instrument Construction & Repair

    Posted

         Having no use for squeekers or whistles, I had someone re-purpose the 2 additional LH side buttons on a couple of 34-button C/G Jones instruments. The re-working isn't cheap, nor something I'd ever attempt to do myself, since takes some very fine woodworking, re-carving of the centre hole thro' which air flows. Result: the very useful additional 4 notes gained thereby makes a huge difference to playing and the tunes I tackle -- easy playing in keys of F, D minor, G minor.

         My approach was to put squeeze Bb/pull E on one, and squeeze F#/pull C# on t'other.

    What I gain thereby (on squeeze) is a really nice Gminor ; C7 and a C# + F# combination that allows for nice pairing of 3rds up & down a D scale. If you want, I can send you a note schematic/layout.

    French tunes and/or campfire songs

    in Tunes /Songs

    Posted

    In case you might be wanting to compile your own collection of French songs, allow me to point you towards these sources:

    1) "Les Fraises et les Framboises" which has a good, rousing chorus. Words my offend some folk, since they include euphemisms for sexual activity. Still, it's fun to play. Transpose to C for your 20-button instrument: http://abcnotation.com/tunePage?a=trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/Contra/NEFRT/0038

    2) "Ah! Si mon Moine Voulait Danser" notes in several keys (C, G, F): https://www.google.com/search?lr=&as_qdr=all&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=notes+ABC+OR+score+"Si+mon+moine+voulait+danser"&safe=images&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiRmbq2--rxAhWWbc0KHTyjDvEQjJkEegQIGhAC&biw=1286&bih=664#imgrc=WjTthkTy7_8dvM

    The following book has words & notes for "Ah! Si mon moine..." pp.82-83.

    3) If it's still in print or available as a used book (it's small, pocket-size, spiral binding) this is a really nice collection -- "Les 10 Plus Belles Chansons" pub., 1956 by Entreprises Culturelles, Inc., 399, rue des Conseilleurs, porte 17, La Prairies [Québec] J5R 4H6   ISBN-2-7614-0061-5 or perhaps ISBN-13: 9782761400619

    Available in Europe : https://www.abebooks.fr/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=22876375904&searchurl=sortby%3D20%26tn%3D100%2Bbelle%2Bchansons&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-image3

    and in N. America [specifically, Gene the book peddler in Winchester NH], sold thro' ALibris (different ISBN, i.e., ISBN-13: 9782761400619) for $30: https://www.alibris.com/musicsearch?mtype=M&keyword=ISBN-2-7614-0061-5&hs.x=41&hs.y=21

    What are your preferred buttons

    in General Concertina Discussion

    Posted

    Here's my take on the issues related to button shape, amonst other factors. Briefly put, I've had several Jones concertinas with flat-headed metal buttons  [more on that in a moment]; a bone-buttoned Lachenal that was lovely and easy to play; and still own a fabulous 44-button metal-buttoned Jeffries.

    Jones: I had Greg J replace all the 34 metal buttons with bone on each of my (at last count 5) Jones anglo instruments that I still own or have owned and sold. In addition I have 2 26-button Jones anglo concertinas with the larger-diameter (7 mm, bone) buttons.  I found that the buttons' hard metal edge was irritating my fingertips, making them slightly sore after only 10-15 minutes of playing. In comparing button feel on extremely similar instruments, then, I found the bone buttons were less annoying than the metal. The bone buttons are of 3 types :

    1) larger, slightly convex [dome-shaped] 7 millimetre diameter

    2) medium, slightly convex [dome-shaped] 6 millimetre diameter

    3) small, nearly flat 5 millimetre diameter, obviously recycled from an English-type instrument, since most have a letter incised on the top of the button.

         Now, here come some complicating considerations:

    Spring tension + button height (action, one might call it) seem to play an important role in the way that button-fingertip interface affects comfort. Namely, the flatter, smaller-diameter buttons combined with the higher spring tension (resistance) seem more annoying than do the larger-diameter more-convex buttons with lighter spring tension. That's a big generalisation, admittedly.

         Here's yet one additional observation, based on playing my metal-buttoned Jeffries anglo with tiny buttons (4 mm diameter, slightly convex metal) -- I can play it for long periods of time without complaint from fingers, mainly because IMHO it has such light spring tension (low resistance to push), it's super airtight, and responds really quickly. In other words, I find it rewards minimal physical effort more than it does maximal physical effort. Sure, yopu can push it hard and get great volume, but there seems no need to do that. Can you say the same of your instrument?

         Conclusions: Get your instrument(s) set up to find the best balance of button shape (probably favouring slightly convex); material type (I'd choose bone over metal); spring tension (maybe the most important criterion) -- as light as possible; and button height + diameter.

         Hard for me to comment on is (are) variables such as these:

    Playing style, e.g., do your fingertips descend vertically onto the buttons? Do you catch the tops foursquare or at an angle, from one side or another? Are you a "pedal-to-the-floor"/"push 'em till they bottom out" player or do you play with relaxed, just-barely-enough force (very "light" touch) to open a pad allowing air onto a reed? Are you playing lots of multi-note/multi-button chords or more single-note-at-a-time melodies? Figure in some contributing effect from height of handrests and looseness of hand straps, which can make for more or less tension in hands & fingers.

     

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