Anglo Enthusiast

I hereby submit to the forum a performance of the classic banjo tune "Too, Utterly Too" done by myself on my 30 button wheatstone layout Morse Ceili anglo concertina. https://soundcloud.com/stream

Great work! A very thoughtful arrangement. Loved it.

The new album is indeed masterful and evocative. I have been enjoying it since my copy arrived in the mail a few days ago. The new rendering of "Shamrock in the Galax" in particular (featuring Bertram on concertina) is a knockout.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I take my hat off to Mr. Wayman.

"Taste like chicken must be frog." -this will be the title of my autobiography which I will someday never write.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhJQp-q1Y1s

Pretty good dancing by the cast of Monty Python's Flying Circus. Though I prefer their fish slapping dance- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhJQp-q1Y1s

"airfficient"-YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to everyone for their replies, both public and private. Concertina players are thin on the ground so one problem many of us probably have is lack of direct feedback. I will reply to the comments individually and then post again if there's anything I want to add. My concertina is a Crane Duet. I started with an Anglo but I felt that having to find alternate fingerings to match chord direction was just too steep a learning curve. I have at times wondered if an English would have been better, but it's too late to change now. Perhaps another variety of duet system might suit you better? The Haydn duet system seems pretty popular. Edited to add that I suppose if you feel it's too late to change, then switching to another type of duet system probably won't present itself as any more of a solution than switching to an English or Anglo system. Personally, I feel it's never too late to change but that's just me. Anyway, best of luck to you.

What sort of concertina do you play? Looks like a duet system of some sort from your profile picture. Could be that you'd have more success with an English or Anglo concertina. There are a fair amount of easily affordable entry level models of each of these systems. Might be worth exploring. Good luck.

badda bing... ...badda boom! My dear Fearfeasog, it gratifies me greatly to see that my comments proved especially resonant.

My point was that we all have concertina face and shouldn't let that stop us from showing our faces on-screen. Hell, folks see our faces when we play for morris dancing, they might as well see them on youtube. Here's a video I put up on youtube this afternoon. If there's a way to "work on getting rid of concertina face" I'm not aware of it. Thanks for sharing that video, David. I thoroughly enjoyed both the one from this afternoon of you performing the waltz and the other video of you playing the bastari.

Terrific playing!

Chris Gent, it sounds like you're getting rather "pushy" with the A.

Please, call me Anglo.

KAPEEEEEEEEESH????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (phew; it felt good to get that kapeesh out of my system)

"Though it sounds pretty nice up there, you might call it squeaky though I would prefer words like thin and sharp, or perhaps shrill and piercing." D'AAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Personally, and may it please the court, yer honor, I would prefer words like "if the bellows are employed with proper expression and intent while playing the notes in these higher octaves, the concertina renders them in a haunting, ethereal tone, somewhat resembling that of a fife."

Whatever merits that any of the arguments for/against the G/D or C/G configuration may or may not possess, I could not disagree more with the notion that the higher notes on the C/G box sound "squeaky." I've heard it 1,000 times on this forum if I've heard it once. I play a C/G box myself and find that, if the bellows are employed with proper expression and intent while playing the notes in these higher octaves, the concertina renders them in a haunting, ethereal tone, somewhat resembling that of a fife.

"He's making a list, and checking it twice..."

No takers?

BRAVO!!!

Alas, I was not able to access the video. And I've been looking forward to seeing it. I made a fairly decent recording of myself playing Bertram's arrangement which I just attempted to share here but it seems to be beyond my skill to transfer the audio file. I found it to be a wonderful, evocative arrangement and the low harmonies in the third part are applicable to other tunes in the key of A major as well (like the fiddle tune "Granny").

Very nicely played.

Dingle, you say? What about the Dingle Norwood bill? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAUcyfKESts

I agree with cbody. The concertinist did a nice job but the dancers were spellbinding. That was extremely entertaining to watch.