Peter Laban

Just a bump to the top for this thread to say a second series started last night Sli na mBeaglaoich, series 2, episode1

Not one to solve in a few forum posts. The way I see it, there are an awful lot of concertina players in Clare who, if you look at each in detail, have quite a variety of approaches to playing the instrument (especially if you look across the generations) and yet manage to fall within the parameters of 'playing Clare (style) music'. In that sense, I feel, 'Clare style' would be how music rather than how the instrument is approached.

Here she is talking about the project on RTE's 'The Rolling Wave', with a few tunes thrown in.

I know it's the name of the website but I initially flinched at the incongruence of Mary Mac and 'tunes from Doolin' I'll put in another word for Mary MacNamara's new book 'Sunday's at Lena's' that was launched during the Feakle festival in August. The book is filled with transcriptions of music by local musicians Mary encountered while growing up and learning music, whistle and flute player Joe Bane, fiddlers Bill Malley and Martin Rochford and concertina players Mickey O Donohue, John Naughton and Paddy Grogan. Most tunes included are wellknown enough, although they appear in local settings or settings personal to the musician they were written down from. The concertina players were all on the row players so many tunes appear in C and related keys and so do some of Rochford's tunes, Martin had strong opinions on the influence of key on the mood of tunes and he played a lot of his tunes in 'the flat keys' on the fiddle. The book is a well produced 127p hardback in A4 format. It weighs 819 g so postage for most of the world borders on prohibitive, unless you really, really want it. A CD with recordings used for the transcriptions is included. It can be ordered from Mary directly. I got mine in Custy's I couldn't help noticing the version of the Swallow's Tail Mary plays in the podcast. She lists it as Martin Rochford's version. I got a completely different version of the tune from Martin, one he played on the pipes and which he said he got off Johnny Doran, who wrote it down for him, if I recall correctly. Mary's setting is more like that of Mickey Donoghue's, which is in the book. Martin may well have had that too, he played a lot with Mickey at one point, although I never heard him play it. Johnny Malley (Bill Malley's son) in conversation with Martin Rochford

Not completely straight forward, selecting from the 'filter by' drop down didn't achieve anything but the gear menu did work. Good to know, even if I don't really feel the need to activate the ignore feature at present.

The obvious road to take would be to look at players whose music you enjoy, styles you like, and look at which system they play. When a pattern emerges, it may point to an answer to your question.

I do wonder what 'ignoring' actually does. I checked the feature yesterday and, to my surprise, found I have one user on my ignore list. I can still see this user's posts so I wonder does it block private messages but not posts or does it effectively do nothing at all?

Why would anyone want to do that? Wouldn't you leave with a feeling of non accomplishment, pure fakery? It somehow reminds me of a man who used to come to sessions in East Clare (and beyond) who brought a fiddle and appeared to play along all night. People copped on pretty quickly his bow never touched the strings, that he was faking it. He kept it up for years, becoming wellknown all over the place as the man who couldn't play a note but was always there, faking it.

I realise that Geoff. It was just the blanket statement great accordionists have no interest in vintage that made me shrug and think 'I know quite a few accordionists, great and otherwise, who play vintage' instruments.

Above JimBesser said: and that’s been bugging me for a while. I realise this is most likely about piano accordions but I immediately think of people like Charlie Harris, Conor Conolly, Anders Trabjerg and dozens of accordionists playing old Paolo Sopranis. Maybe I am familiar with a different strand of good accordionists?

Doesn't it make more sense to just use it as a transposing instrument without ever thinking about sharps or flats?

It is very unlikely you will run into conditions too dry. That said, while October is more likely to give you a larger chance of periods of heavy rain, summer is likely to have higher humidity. Right now I am sitting here with a window open, airing the place at 18 Celsius and hygrometer indicating 83%. A few days ago it was up to the mid 90s with mist sitting low on the hills. Rust and mould on the leather parts are the more long term worries for various instruments here. Even with a dehumidifier doing a turn every day and a woodstove going in midwinter I have yet to see humidity go below 55 inside the house (but then, it's an old house in the West).

You're welcome. Do note the Tulla ceiliband used to play a version, and Bríd O'Donohue recorded that as well, they referred to as 'Micho Russell's Mason's Apron' which is a bit of a different take on the same material. Different enough to be read as yet a separate version. These things get around and change along the way. I'll try jot it down and post it here when I have a bit of time. Added: The Tulla play something like this. As far as I remember anyway: dB ~B2 ABGE|DEGA B2 AG|EA ~A2 BA ~A2|Bdef ~g3 e| dB ~B2 ABGE|DEGA B2AG|cBcd efge|dBAB ~G3:|| BGdG eGdG|BGdG edcB|cAeA gAeA| cAeA gedc| BGdG eGdG|BGdG edcB|cBcd efge|dBAB ~G3:||

It's (Micho Russell's version of) the Mason's Apron. And the Edenderry after.

You can insert images in a post by either linking them from another (hosting) site, using img tags or by adding attachments to your posts and inserting those. JPEGs are probably the more common format to use. You seem to be overthinking a very simple issue.

Michelle O Sullivan used to make a nice job of it as well. Not sure she recorded it but I heard her play it a few times in the past.

The late Seán Garvey sang and played the flute. The concertina maker is a different person altogether:

It's always a source of confusion. A system for joptting down tunes using the names of the notes has been in use in Ireland (and probably elsewhere) for a long time. The computer based ABC notation is different, relatively recent and somewhat similar as it also uses the names of the notes but adds elements that allow the notation to be converted into staff notation.

Forgot to mention he talks briefly about an upcoming recording, all done on two Bass concertinas

Last night RTE aired the first in their art series The Works. In each programme presenter John Kelly talks to a prominent Irish artist. Usually good stuff. Cormac Begley was the subject lat night. Worth a look, if you are into that sort of thing. The Works presents : Cormac Begley Not sure if there are geo limits on viewing. Worth getting your VPN up for though.

In my own experience tunes learned by ear 'stick' better than the ones I picked up from notation. But I do realise the ones learned by ear have often been embedded, assimilated or whatever you want to call it for some time before actually taking them up myself. Similarly Isometimes lift a tune I from a written collection and find immediarely have it, only to find I have been listening to it for some time on recordings without realising it. My experience with (Irish) traditional musicians who only learn by ear suggest the way they retain tunes is different from those who learn from notation: ear learners tend to appraoch a tune as a structure, singling out the important notes and 'hanging' the phrases off them, filling the gaps as it were while sight learners often tend to see a string of notes they have to memorise.

The listings are not reliably maintained and more often than not out of date. I wouldn't bet a night out on them. Best to get local knowledge.

Several astronauts have played flutes in space : Ellen Ochoa, Cady Coleman and Ye Guangfu all had a go on various flutes. So that works.

That looks slightly more basic than the one I have or the ones I have seen. Quite possible John and Pat made them but Joe Ryan was the main producer of that sort of case. I have seen him deliver abatches of them on occasion. My son took away his concertina in it so I can't immediately supply an image. As it , obviously, does in a horizontal hex case.

[quote] I am guessing it would still be the same? In that the concertina ends rest against the case ends? [/quote] Not necessarily, the concertina doesn't stand on its ends and there's a bit of a buffer there that keeps the buttons free from the sides.