Will Fox

Well thanks to Gary and his great book, I'm starting to really feel like I'm making a bit of progress. My work and personal life may have taken a hit, but I'm spending a lot of time really enjoying my concertina! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vALHTyh_dW8&feature=youtu.be

Wow, I don't know what any of that means... I wish I did though 'cos I'd be very happy to accompany my singing like Bellamy did. This isn't Bellamy, but it is his arrangement of Mandalay, lovely version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKOXJ9VwWtU

Hello all, I'm new to both this forum and to concertina playing. I recently bought my first Anglo, a 30 key C/G Lachenal and I'm loving it! My musical background is as a singer and I'm very involved with the folk scene down here in South Devon. I run an unaccompanied singing session in Totnes and I'm also the squire of one of the local Morris sides. I thought I would share this video of Peter Bellamy as I have been a fan of his for many years. He had, in my opinion, one of the finest and most unique voices in the English folk world and I originally fell in love with his unaccompanied singing in the Young Tradition. His later solo work, much of which is accompanied on Anglo Concertina, is as good if not better. One of Bellamy's great gifts to the world of music are his recordings of Rudyard Kipling poems, which Bellamy composed and arranged music for. The following is an old recording of Bellamy singing 'The Death of Bill Brown' and 'Goodbye Old Paint'. Unfortunately the quality of the recording is very poor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIDkhEIUveQ Followed by Bellamy's cover of Al Stewart's 'Nostradamus' (studio recording, so much better sound than the one above). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LfyGoWcZ_s Enjoy!

Thanks Gary! Your video is a massive help. It makes a real difference seeing someone actually doing what you're reading in the book. I've now more or less got the first lot of harmonies. Thanks again!

Thanks for the tips guys! The links to other recordings were particularly helpful. I wonder of it is such an oddity that I didn't know this tune already? Perhaps as an English folky, I've been less exposed to that kind of music? Oh well, I certainly know it now! So, having mastered Oh! Susanna, on left hand, then right hand and then playing in octaves, I moved onto lesson two which was Oh Susanna, using very simple harmonies on the left hand (just playing which ever key was left of the melody key). This is simple enough, but to me it just sounds like I've got fat fingers and I'm hitting too many keys, even if it is intentional. (Again a video of someone doing this well would be very helpful to folk like me who have bought the tutor as total beginners). I've started trying to play the second tune in the book too, Shepherd's Hey. A tune that I recognised, hooray! I'm rather confused by the instructions for the left hand chords though. The way I'm stabbing at it, it sounds bitty and like I'm doing something wrong. Also the second chord, an F, doesn't sound right to me at all... maybe I'll get this, as I persevere, but at the moment I'm pretty confused by what it's meant to sound like and Garry Coover hasn't put a video of this on his page either. I suppose Mr. Coover's assumption is that these first couple of tunes are simple and commonly known, therefore unnecessary to put up videos, but I would suggest that as the first two tunes in the book it seems essential to have good videos of them on youtube. These are the tunes that you're using to master all the most basic techniques to carry on your playing, so getting them right to begin with is, in my eyes, pretty important.

I recently bought my first anglo concertina, a lovely Lachenal C/G 30 key, with brass reeds and mahogany ends. I've also just become the happy owner of the harmonic style tutor book. Despite the fact that this is my first instrument and that I know very little about music, I can already see what an excellent tutor this is. I would find it really helpful though, to see a video of the different parts being played in the first tune it teaches, 'Oh! Susanna'. I'm not familiar with the tune so it's hard to know what I should be trying to do. I'm very dyslexic and so I'm probably struggling with the tablature system a little more than most people would, and it makes it difficult to understand what I'm meant to be doing with each hand. I can see how important the skills learnt on these first couple of tunes will be to mastering the later ones, as they become increasingly challenging. It would be incredibly helpful if someone would at least put a video up of this tune played on anglo, and even more helpful if someone was willing to record it in the stages shown in the book, i.e. left hand/right hand, octaves and then harmony. Many thanks!

Hey Bill, I'm very interested. Is this item still for sale?