Hyp

If you really want to improve its always best to fix problems one at a time instead of doing and perfecting a piece. Pick up to 4 pieces (depending on the time you want to practice) and practice them very slowly. Try to grasp all the details you want to hear. Use a metronome do improve your timing and gradually work your way to faster playing. Play different tunes by just playing them from notes without practising because we're all in it for the fun. Solving problems in particular pieces will make your overall playing better. That said I didn'T get to play concertina because I don't have the money for an instrument yet. But I play other instruments and I think practising works the same way with pretty much every instrument. Hyp (hope the english isn't too bad)

You are right in that there is no fast way of learning it. You will have to train you ear the same way you do with an instrument. Probably the progress will be much slower, at least that is the case for me. It is well worth it though. Especially with Irish Music where so much is based on oral tradition. Just keep on trying. Obviously you won't get absolute tonal hearing (what is the right expression for this?) but you will be able to play a tune when you know the first note. And that can always be guessed.

Don't rely to much on your girlfriend for teaching you music. It is a tedious business und you will at some point need someone to kick you in your but. She probably won't be able to. I study music (and would love to play concertina but don't have the money to buy one yet) and it maybe hard to keep yourself motivated through lows. Just keep that in mind, and be spare in asking advice if you think you can get it down by yourself. Other than that. Concertinas are musical instruments. Cheap ones don't last. They turn out to be much more expensive or will make you stop playing.

this has really gone out of hand, 10 pages...

I like that a lot. What is the tune and what Concertina are you playing? BTW: I've now decided, that I will get an Anglo, mostly because of the Workshop/Summerschool thing. I just don't think that I will learn to play good enough to satisfy my needs by just learning from a book. Now I'll just have to wait for the money, get a concertina and finally get started. As this is the third instrument I'll pick up (not counting drumlessons in groups and a single month of trumpet) I am curious how it will turn out. Thank you all for the 8 pages of thread (and what's probably to come, because I can't really see this coming to an end)

Just to those who pointed out, that I would be better served buying a better instrument. I just don't have the money to throw around. If I had 1000€ or more to spend wherever I wanted, I'd probably go the refund route Ransom adviced. The thing is, that I don't have the money for even one at the moment (I am saving and it will be soon enough). Also there are no concertinas in where I live that I could try. I know that would be the best thing. I could try everything in very slow motion and I'd probably know if I would be able to get this at normal speed. If anyone here is from germany and owns both tell me. I'd probably manage to come by if it isn't to far. Renting might be an option, but it's probably annoying with customs and everything you rent, costs you money that you can't spend to buy. Hyp

I really regret that I have mentioned a C# Major scale. It was just meant as an example of a not so commonly used scale. If you don't play Giant Steps all day long, you don't need all keys in jazz all the time. It's not that playing keys with more sharps and flats is easier on piano. You still have to get used to them quite a bit. I guess what really was behind this question is probably not tested by anyone here, because nobody felt the need to get the feeling of beeing at home in c#maj. This is at least what happened with my piano playing. I guess it is like that on any Instrument. If you played something really often you start feeling at home. And most players don't seem to try playing in something further from the home keys. Of course I may be wrong. This would be up to you. What I don't understand is that you say that english concertina is cheaper than anglo. From what I found they are about the same in the beginner ranges, and this is what matters to a beginning player. After all you can only buy decent instruments if you play them. At least if you do it by yourself. So buying cheaper ones in the beginning to not have as much as an investment is a good idea..

Wow, we're on page two now. Thank you for all the replies. I just wanted to say, that as someone already said, the ITM was the reason I got interested in concertina playing. I just want to be able to at least try to play jazz because I know, that if I get good enough, that I would probably try playing jazz standards and improvisation. I was only looking for the possibility in playing all the notes needed. I am aware, that the pushing and pulling of the bellow might result in bad emphasis (i.e. emphazising down beats). I don't know how great this effect is. Also I don'tknow how much harder it is to play i.e. a c# major scale on an anglo or english concertina. If both were similar in difficulty I probably would decide on an anglo, because of ITM. If it is nearly impossible to play a c#maj scale on an anglo it would probably be the other way round. Hyp

You are right in there, I agree with that. Noel told me that once. What I say about the English Concertina playing Irish Music has to be proved, it is the only way people is going to believe in what I'm trying to see. I'm going to try to do it myself. But if it's not me, I'm sure there will be someone someday. Thanks for the ergonomics tip. At the moment I have no problems with mine. But it is true that the volume of the Anglo is a way more powerful than with the English. I usually have problems to listen myself when I'm playing in Noel Hill class. All the other concertinas in the class are Anglos, and they are so loud! And I bought the loudest English Concertina that Chris Algar had! That's something to take note of as well, English concertinas are not very good for playing in sessions where there are a few other musicians Cheers, Fernando I didn't know that. That's really quite interesting, because if I would play jazz, I would do this at a session.

I just checked the Chromatic Range for both english and anglo concertinas and was suprised, that the anglo has from a to g3 with 30 keys. That is more than a normal Saxophone has. Are those Keys that hard to reach and the scales that harder to master than on the english. It seems to have nearly the same range. Even slightly less. (g to d3, at least that is what is said on buttonbox)

It seems that some of my assupmtions were right. I was aware of the possibility of playing chords, but single lines rule supreme in Jazz Improvisations and they seem to be not to important in ITM. They are not really important for me anyway. Are there any known English Concertina Summerschools in Europa, because I won't find a teacher here, and I know, that there are limits to Self-Teaching. I also know from other Workshops, that Summerschools give a huge motivation boost, which sometimes is needed if one is stuck at a certain point and still needs some time to make the next step. Two octaves of chromatic playing are quite a bit. The saxophone doesn't have that much more. Though I guess utilising those 2 octaves freely will be very difficult. I'm still wondering about the ranges from both english and anglo concertinas. I know there are different versions vor english, but I don't know which is commonly used. Greetings Hyp

First off. Hey to everyone out there. I found this Board really helpful in getting to know how much I don't know. I'm a student of music (jazzpiano) in Germany and had to do a Radio Show about any music ethnological Topic (I hope this is the right word...) and chose Ireland. When I started to search for Music to play I stumbled over a YouTube Video of Noel Hill playing two Reels. I was really amazed and wanted to do that. I was impressed that a single line melody could be so rhythmic and interesting. On further research I stumbled over some shops with cheap concertinas. So I decided that I would buy one. What confused me was the different Types. I know now, that an Anglo Concertina has different tones on pull and push and that an english concertina has the same and is fully chromatic. What nobody really states clear (perhaps it isn't even clear) is, if the Anglo Concertina is fully Chromatic. Everybody seems to be playing anglos for ITM and as a beginner it seems reasonable to do what everybody does. But coming from Jazz Music I am quite interestet if the Anglo is capable of playing Single Line jazzimprovisations (on standards or whatever), or to what extend the english concertina is good for ITM. This would also interest me, because I'd perhaps like to go to a summerschool when I have improved. Are the Summerschools anglo only or do they Teachers teach both if needed? If I decide on one, I will probably buy a Rochelle/Jack modell the moment I can afford that and start playing. So. The questions in short: Is the 30key Anglo fully Chromatic and is the english concertina suited for ITM? Greetings from Germany Hyp