CrP

Charming music; I'd dance to that! nice job you all.

The chording beginning at around 22.04 sounds to my ear more like harmonica (sometimes known as mouth organ) than 'tina. It's both the style of the playing [chord twice, pause, then same again] and the timbre that seems characteristic of harmonica. Then I do hear concertina [English? I think] beginning shortly thereafter altho' it might could be harmonica.

I think I spy a 4th concertina -- also a miniature -- on the table (shelf?), in front of large accordion at knee level of Ms Rita Delroy, right next to the octagonal metal-ended English concertina

Liked your new tune -- it's very danceable, which to me makes it all the more attractive. Intriguing harmonies, too -- all from a mere 20-button instrument. thank you.

Utterly charming and captivating. Nice job, Jim & Randy!

Allow me to concur with Jim's comment -- that's a sweet tune. Definitely heading to the top of my "must learn" list. Thanks, Jody.

What a charming tune and played with musicality and expression. Applause is due. I like the recorded sound you got.

Label replacement -- I've done it on several of mine. There's a local engraving shop that does trophies, sports medals and the like. I give them dimensions, I give them a pdf of the piece, having decided on typeface and correct serial number, send it to them and for about $25, they make me a brass-coloured plate [plaque, if you will] that is easy to glue onto the fretwork. Looks nice. I can send small schematic with dimensions to anyone who wants [haven't yet succeeded in attaching a photo to a message for Cnet] Send me a pm.

Allow me to repeat and reinforce Dana Johnson's suggestion "Doing a few opposite twist stretches after playing should help keep your muscles balanced. Stay aware of your body. " As I deal with arthritis and other such aging problems, I've found that *body awareness *constructively dealing with muscle tensions [call it conscious relaxation] have proven very helpful to making music. This applies to many instruments where repetitive small motions can lead to tension in places to which one doesn't/isn't (but should be) paying attention. So, go into playing and practising already having focussed on finding the least-stressful position, least stressful for everything (back, arms, wrists, etc.) Stop every few minutes to shake things out and re-assess: Where is the strain? where am I putting tension? What tends to be sore after palying [whether a few mins. or hours afterwards]? BTW, do take a look thro' the Forum called << Ergonomics >> Many other players give lots of thought to this topic.

Nice accompaniment to the tune and interesting chords. Thanks, Jim.

Brings to mind a song from a couple of generations ago, by Peggy Seeger: I wanna be an engineer.

Nice tune and nice arrangement. Thanks, Jim.

Thank you for your work and dedication in pulling together this home-made ode to music-making -- I really appreciated seeing the great variety of skill levels and musical approaches evident in all these players. It does my heart good to know that amateur music-making is alive, thriving, and full of originality. Long may it continue!

I came across an unidentified 6-fold bellows, metal-ended anglo for sale by Bolton Auction Rooms, Greater Manchester, UK -- Lot #116,.There's no info about the instrument, no maker's name [wooden case included]. From what little I can see, the staining of the wood around the handles, the wear on the bellows, the look of well-worn leather, this instrument has been played a great deal. I'm curious to know what becomes of it. Auction date is August 10. Worth a look: https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-us/auction-catalogues/bolton-auction-rooms/catalogue-id-srbolt10428/lot-8977bc7e-aa50-4d46-b410-abfb00e66597

By way of a notice, not a recommendation (since I lack any first-hand knowledge of the instrument) -- the Skinner Auction house in Boston, Mass has a bone-button anglo for sale, labelled " Lachenal & Co., London, c. 1910, serial no. 130621" The only photo I could see showed 16 buttons + air button on the RH side. Might be worth looking into: https://skinnerlive.auctionserver.net/view-auctions/catalog/id/580/lot/238280/?url=%2Fview-auctions%2Fcatalog%2Fid%2F580%3Fpage%3D1%26key%3DAndy%2BGoessling%26cat%3D%26xclosed%3Dno

Thank you for finding this and bringing it to our attention. Having watched the video & explanation all the way thro', I think know the difference between a "bayan" and "garmoshka" and a "Cherepashka."

Jim: Thanks. I fear this could prove to be a downer [shall we say?] of a thread; nevertheless, allow me to suggest we look for tunes and songs that speak to present uncertainties and confusion, e.g., “The World Turned Upside Down,” for which See the Wikipedia entry at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_Turned_Upside_Down

Gregor: Zdravo. The address given -- Report post https://flat.io/score/5b0090a5928b411361f80a72-uzicko-kolo-harmonika provides a good version that looks right to me. I've played Užičko kolo many times in my tambura band but never tried it on concertina. It's possible to do on concertina -- certainly on accordion, as you can see. Do note, as you can see from the videos, the band usually plays this at considerable speed. It will take you a while to develop that speed and phrasing to make it sound like a Serbian kolo from Šumadija rather than, let's say, a polka or a fast dance in 4/4 rhythm. Lots of luck. Keep working.

You guys are great! What a tight little band with such energy & focus that I could not tear my eyes or ears away. I especiaslly liked the balance between flute & concertina during the harmony playing.

Seems as if it wasn't so long ago that live music in a restaurant made people happy without the need of a small screen, etc. I had a great restaurant gig about 15 years ago -- only 15 years ago! --that lasted a year, before cellphones, etc. were a part of the picture. Yes, playing to people and for people is a hoot -- I love it. Don't want to play to a little screen or a pocket-size device.

Here are some ideas about other musics that sound good, in my opinion, on anglo and for which a typical 30-button anglo in C/G is well suited. That's not necessarily to say that musicians within these traditions have made or are still making extensive use of anglo concertinas, just that there is some (or even a great deal of) evidence that concertinas have served those musics well in the past and may still serve: Swedish [lots of polska & other dance tunes] French dance music [concertinas seem to have been generally but not completely eclipsed by melodons & accordions] Russian [Russian music has a strong tradition of using English and anglo in the genre called "chastushki"] Czech & Slovak Klezmer dance tunes and lots of Yiddish songs (concertina as accompaniment or as melody lead) Sea shanties from many countries and, of course, South Africa's "boermusik" I suggest that you consult Dan Worrall's 2-volume masterpiece called "The Anglo-German Concertina: A Social History," Concertina Press, Fulshear, Texas 2009 ISBN 978-0-9825996-0-0 if you want to delve deeper into this.

I'll weigh in cautiously about choosing trad. concertina-reeded instruments vs. accordion-type reed instruments in my capacity as the owner of several anglo Jnes instruments (both C/G and G/D). I agree with the often-expressed opinion that hybrid instruments that play well are going to be somewhat more afforable than the vintage concertina-reeded instruments -- as a general rule. However, the distinction for you that might make the most sense is the responsiveneass -- the quickness to speak on the part of reeds -- that is rather important to ITM. That speed of response allows for some very quick, brief grace note/ornamentation that is difficult to execute cleanly and precisely on an instrument with even slightly slower reed response. Here I can cite my own experience with my several JOnes instruments. Loving their tone, I use them back up for singing and as accompaniment to other instruments that can play lead. Fast response is not what I expect from my Jones reeds -- certainly nothing like the speed typical of a Lachenal or a Jeffries in the hands of a competent player of ITM. [BTW, I own both a gorgeous 44-button Jeffries and a 36-button Lachenal.] So, my point is this: play the instruments you might be tempted to buy before settling on a general type, e.g., accordion-reeded vs. concertina-reeded to see what suits your playing style and the genre you want to play. That's really the best and only way to decide. Button Box, IMHO, has the choice of enough instruments at any given time to allow you to compare several at one time side by side. I've been delighted with the work of Greg Jowaisas and with his willingness to let me try instruments he may have on hand whenever I've visited him, so there's another possibility.

In case you're searching for other music by Tom Anderson, there's the Hardie Press which has published a great deal of his work. See: https://www.hardiepress.co.uk/ and https://www.worldcat.org/title/tom-anderson-collection/oclc/266803147

Yes, I play a great deal of klezmer (and Yiddish & E. European) music on anglo. Without getting into a definition of klezmer [the best succint version of which I found in Mark Slobin's introduction to the book, American Klezmer, 2002, U of California Press. ISBN 0-520-22717-4], I can tell you that an anglo concertina can sound really good for this, IMHO. It works very well as accompaniment for singing. If you play with other musicians, then you can find a role for concertina that may vary from melody to chords to harmony, depending on the sound that the band is aiming at and you skill with the instrument. Here's the caveat: A great deal of the music that many klezmer musicians play winds up being in Dminor and Gminor, so a concertina player will need to be able to play in those keys and to find work-arounds for the chords that don't fall easily, e.g., Cminor, C7. I just came back from a practise and recall the frequency of this modulation: D major C minor, D major and then you'll need Eflat (major) sometimes for the G minor stuff -- that's hard to get in the right register on a C/G instrument. So, I am fortunate to have 2 concertinas that serve well -- one is a 44-key in Bflat/F, so its related minor keys are easy & handy -- Dm & Gm. I also have a modified 34-key Jones on which I had Greg Jowaisas substitue push Bflat/ pull E and C#/F# reeds for the "novelty noise" buttons [baby cry, etc.] so I can esily play G minor, C7 and some other combinations that you can't do or can't do easily on a standard C/G 3-key anglo.

Allow me to add a summary of what I see happening in the Washington DC area, where FSGW [Folklore Society of Greaterr Wahsington] continues to find a huge range of folk musics & musicians to perform at the annual 2-day Washington Folk Festival [not to be confused with Smithsonian Folklife Fest], 1st weekend of June each year -- something that has been a big folk event for waaay over 30 years. For instance, there are ethnic groups as diverse as Scandinavian; Greek [Karpouzi trio], tamburica music from former Yugoslavia [Šarenica]; Hungarian táncház music [Tisza]; Macedonian [Luk na glavta]; Bulgarian [Lyuti Chushki]; French [a lot of really fine musicians playing Bal Folk], Moldavian Szikra; more klezmer bands than one can count and these are only the ones I personally know about. Since my introduction to the folk music revivial at Obelrin College in the early 60s, I've seen many changes to the music, to the level of musicanship [generally rising], and especially to integration of that music into people's lives outside of commercial venues. Money in folk music there isn't a lot of, nor venues where performers regularly appear -- but energy and lots of scholarship, reclaiming of ethnic heritage(s) -- those there certainly are. For those of us of the older folk revival generation, we're seeing a lot, I think, of interest in passing along the traditions to subsequent generations. Books to consult: Mirjana Laušević, "Balkan Fascination" Oxford U.P., 2007; Neil Rosenberg, "Transforming Tradition: Folk Music Revivals Examined" U of IL Press, 1993; Carol Silverman, "Romani Routes: Cultural Politics and Balkan Music in Diaspora" Oxford U.P., 2007 -- lots of the Romani music discussed is happening right there in NYC [Oxford has published several really interesting books in its "American Musicsphere" series about folk music. Enough from me.