Jeff C

You could hire a hypnotist to hypnotize the audience and convince them that you are playing in the correct key no matter what key you play in. Of course for this to work your fellow performers would have to be hypnotized. Or very well paid.

I know many people who would like to see concertinists moving away from them at the greatest speed possible.

Now we have people thinking outside the squeeze box!

Jody wins! (so does everyone else of course) I figure if you used one of those isolation chambers they use in laboratories to handle dangerous substances where you can put your arms in through rubber gaskets you could put the concertina inside and vary the concentration of helium to get different pitches. I think I will patent it and make a millions of dollars. I now have a retirement plan.

I've conceptualized a capo for the concertina. It is in no way practical but I think it would work. I invite everyone to try to guess what my solution is or to come up with your own. The only rule is that it must be theoretically possible. Bonus points for making me laugh. Bonus points for actually making one. The first person who guesses my solution wins. The first person who comes up with their own solution wins too. Anyone who comments at all wins as well. Anyone who reads the comments wins. Everyone wins except my cousin Mark. He owes me money. Jeff

We have two cats. When I pick play the concertina, Genghis runs away and Lena comes and sits in my lap. I don't know if she likes it or if she is sacrificing herself to make me stop.

Well, a lot more time went into this tune than the last one but finally the two hands started working together a bit. I think the next tune might be something more linear for a change of pace. Watch for the cat.

I expect over time my fingers will loosen up and stretch just as they did when I took up the guitar and banjo. For now, the pinkie works better for me.

The ring finger marking could be an error. I have run into a some errors in the button numbering marks so there may well be similar errors in the fingering marks.

Since last week, I have put in at least an hour each evening working mostly on Constant Billy (pg. 34) in Bertram Levy's book "The Anglo Concertina Demystified". Slow going but making progress. Last night I noticed that my left hand fingering was not as he had written. This example crudely created in paint is marked as in the book (p. 30, bottom.) Note the fingerings across the top. I have been leaving ring, middle and index on buttons 8 9 and 10 and playing all lower notes with the little finger. In order to do it his way and reach for 1 and 6 with my ring finger I have to pull my middle and index off of 9 and 10 and have to find them again. I don't have small hands but not giant ones either. Is there a reason not to do it my way? Will I run into trouble later if I don't do it his way? Will Lassie rescue Timmy in time? Jeff

I really like both Anglo and English but definitely lean toward Anglo. But when I see something like this: I have to wonder whether I made the right choice. Are there folks out there who play both well? Jeff

Are you still anywhere near Winchester? Joshua Mackay-Smith I live on the other side of DC now but I grew up between Stephens City and Middletown. James Wood HS Class of 76. Hmmm. When I say it now it makes me sound old.

And after another hour this evening I am worse than I was yesterday. That's learning I guess.

Day 1. Maybe three weeks ago. Received defective concertina and played with it for a few days. Frustration. Sent it back Day 2: Friday 10/22/2010 Got the new box. Works fine. I worked through the first half dozen examples in the book that came with the Rochelle and switched over to the Bertram Levy book. It is much better for me. It advances faster and starts working in accompaniment right away. Over the next few days I put in maybe two or three hours of practice and it all came together rather suddenly on Sunday evening when I could play through "Tommy Don't Go" at a moderate tempo reading the music. At that point I set the book aside and played through the tune over and over until it sounded pretty even. This is me: It was very difficult at first to coordinate both hands but it started to work when I relaxed. For me the key is working from the music to learn the tune and working without the music to get the feel of the tune.

Hello All, I've loved the concertina for many years but somehow I put off trying to play on until now. About a month ago, my wife (susanpc on this forum) decided she wanted to play the concertina. This is a little unusual not because she plays the trombone but because she plays only the trombone. In our family I am the one constantly dragging new (old) instruments in the house and learning to play them. Be that as it may, I was quickly on board and we both decided that the Anglo was what we wanted to try. Bob Tedrow sent us a Rochelle a few weeks ago. It had a button (G/A) that wouldn't consistently pop back up so we sent it back and he sent us out a new one that I got on Friday. Since my wife is away for 7 weeks, I get first crack at it. I thought it might be fun to document my progress for the first few months. Fun for me and hopefully useful for other beginners. About me (musically speaking). I have a music performance degree from Shenandoah Conservatory (1981) as a bass trombonist though its been years since I played a trombone. I play clawhammer banjo regularly, some old time guitar, very little fiddle and I used to be a fair recorder player but that time has passed.