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Mary B

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Posts posted by Mary B

  1. Gary Coover published "Amazing Grace" in his Civil War songbook.

    He made Youtube videos of those tunes.

    He plays the tune fairly slowly with a clear view of the right hand.

    The tune is in the key of C.

     

    I looked at a Gospel Song book by Ondrej Sarek on Amazon.

    On the US Amazon website, the 20 button version lets you "look inside."

    Amazing Grace is shown in the key of C.

    There is a youtube video of this tune by a Japanese woman named Akane Sato.

     

     

    Edited to add the information about the Ondrej Sarek book and Akane Sato video.

  2. Steve, thanks for posting these lessons. They have inspired me to try chords on my English.

    I have only used it for melody lines so far in the past five years.

     

    After playing the English for a year, I bought a Crane duet to use for song accompaniment.

    Your techniques will be useful on both instruments.

     

    I recently bought a G/D anglo that I like for the ease of playing chords in those two keys, which suit my voice.

    Unfortunately, I am proof that spreading oneself too thin does not make for an expert in anything.

  3. When I was starting out on the English concertina, I liked the Frank Butler tutor, which can be downloaded from the "concertina.com" website. i think you can also get a free copy of the Salvation Army tutor for the English from an old post on this website.

    Unfortunately, I do not know how to link to it.

     

    Best of luck with your concertina adventure!

  4. Bill N,

    I was not planning to host the concertina group during the holidays.

     

    Michael Eskin runs an Irish session on Tuesday evenings at the Ould Sod on Adams Avenue.

    I do not know if they will meet during the holidays. You can contact him as "Eskin" through this forum.

     

    I do not know anything about events in San Marcos.

     

    If you contact me by personal message, I will give you my phone number.

    I can see if any of the rest of the group are available during your stay.

    Maybe we can find a time that works for some of us.

    Mary B

  5. Congratulations!

    I bought my Lachenal English concertina from Greg three years ago after playing a Jackie for a year and a half.

    You will have much more pleasure learning on the Lachenal than on the Jackie.

     

    I started on the Jackie because I could rent it to see if I liked playing an EC before I bought one.

    I liked the tone of the Jackie quite well until I tried playing a friend's Lachenal anglo concertina at one of our San Diego groups.

     

    Best of luck with your concertina adventure.

    Mary B

  6. I bought my Lachenal English concertina from Greg Jowaisas three years ago.

    It was restored to an excellent condition.

     

    In November 2014, he sent me a list of available vintage English concertinas.

    At that time, he had about 15 of them in stock, with a wide range of prices.

     

    He is located in Kentucky, I believe.

    He is a member of this forum so you can send him a personal message.

     

    He may have his email listed in one of his posts in the Buy and Sell section.

     

    Good luck in your search for a player near you.

    I was fortunate to find some other concertina players (anglo and EC) in San Diego.

    We started a group four years ago, and we still meet several times a year.

    Mary B

  7. The San Diego concertina group will meet on Sunday, April 19, from 1 to 4 pm.

    Players of all styles of music are invited to attend.

     

    The location is the home of Mary B near the Del Mar Heights exit off the I-5 freeway.

    Please contact her by personal message or email for the address.

  8. Thanks, Gary!

    You uploaded the two fast ones I am trying to learn, so now I can get the tunes in my brain. I will have to restrain my impulse to play at your tempo until my fingers know where to go by memory.

  9. My copy arrived Friday. During the weekend I tried to learn a few tunes that were new to me. I am struggling with the fast sections.

    I have had my anglo for two months. I have been playing folk song melodies by ear. It is much easier to play something I know, than a tune I have never heard. I need to follow Gary's advice to listen to the tunes many times before I try to play them.

  10. Azaelius,

    I do not know how many concertina players there are in San Diego.

    Our usual group consists of two English players and four or five anglo players.

    I know two more good English players who have played with us once or twice, but not regularly.

    I have heard of three other anglo players; one plays Irish trad, one plays for Morris dancers, and one plays for contradances.

    There may be others whom none of us has met, but I think you are correct that there are not very many in San Diego.

     

    As Jim Lucas said, you are welcome to join us to watch and listen, if that interests you.

     

    Best wishes in learning the English. The booklet that comes with the Jackie is quite good. I also liked the Frank Butler tutor which you can download from concertina.com

  11. Hi Linrose,

    I am very sorry that the Jackie is giving you problems. I never noticed "rattling" reeds when I played it.

    It is somewhat over four years old. I bought it used in November 2010 from the Button Box; they said it had been a rental for a few months before they sold it to me.

     

    I have had the "rattling" happen occasionally with my vintage Lachenals. I think it is related to low humidity. If the heater has been running in your house, it can make the air too dry for a concertina.

     

    You could send a message to Concertina Connections who made it. They might know what to suggest.

    Best wishes in resolving the problem.

    Mary

  12. I bought this G/D Jones anglo. It arrived today. I like its mellow tone. I played it for about an hour, and had fun playing a few folk song melodies by ear, with lots of trial and error. I found it much easier to play by ear on the anglo than on the EC, although I can see it is going to take me a while to get used to different notes on the push and pull.

    I was inspired to try the anglo after listening to Gary Coover's Christmas carol videos. It will be a challenge to learn to play like that.

  13. Citycat,

    There is a set of duet arrangements by David Cornell on the website concertina.com.

    They were written for the Macaan duet, but you might be able to play them on the Elise.

    I am sorry that I cannot put in a link, but I do not know how to do that.

     

    I have a book called "The Great Family Songbook," which has fairly simple piano arrangements.

    I have tried some of them on my Crane duet. If you can borrow a copy from the library, you could see if they would work on the Elise.

     

    I have an old (copyright 1954) method book for the recorder called "Enjoy your Recorder" by the Trapp Family Singers.

    It has many of the tunes written as duets. I do not know if it is still available, but maybe there is something newer that is similar.

     

    Good luck on your search.

  14. The San Diego concertina group will meet on Sunday, January 18, 2015, from 1 to 4 pm.

    Players of all styles of music are invited to attend.

     

    The location is the home of Mary B near the Del Mar Heights exit off the I-5 freeway.

    Please contact Mary B by personal message or email for the address.

  15. Hi Karl,

    I am not an expert Crane duet player even though I have played one for about three years.

    When I play the melody on both the left and right hands, I always play the left an octave lower.

    However, I am not very good at doing that unless the tune is fairly simple.

    I could not play most melodies on the left in the same octave since I own a 48 button Crane, which does not have enough overlapping range.

    Although I can play in the keys of C, G, and D, those are not the ones I use the most.

    I play many tunes in the key of F because that suits my voice better than the key of G.

    I wish you much success with your Crane. I love playing mine. I feel there is a lot more I can learn to do with it.

    Mary

  16. The San Diego concertina club will meet on Sunday, July 20, 2014, from 1 to 4 pm.

     

    Players of all styles of music are welcome to attend.

     

    The location is the home of Mary B near the Del Mar Heights exit off the I-5 freeway.

    Please contact Mary B by personal message or email for the address.

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