Tom Lawrence

I would have loved to see that. Was passing through for the Ennis Trad Fest but flew out yesterday.

There is usually some fluidity in these things -- if you contact them directly and they feel like you will go through with taking delivery and making payment, they may do the work required to be able to provide something they haven't done before.

Sorry it didn't work out, Tom, but I was slated to be your roommate and had the room to myself. In all sincerity, it is good to know my misfortune had a silver lining!

Play one for me, please... the airlines did not cooperate this year.

There is no one single correct way to hold a concertina: Various recepticles, particularly trash bins and dumpsters Under the tire of a large truck will hold it quite effectively In the fireplace, preferably held between two burning logs Encased in concrete below the foundation of your house ... Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

I love the idea of a baritone anglo. I've seen one or two and they are a lot of fun. I would imagine good for accompaniment (I have no experience with that though). I occasionally pester Frank Edgley about it :-)

I have just received my copy from Custy's music... I can tell already from the first listen that this is going to become one of my favorite recordings. It has no accompaniment, played at a relaxed pace... This is the "old music", played by one of the last remaining examples of the old style players (Kitty Hayes), and how did Peter Laban manage to pick up so well on the old style -- he looks so young in the pictures! From a concertina technique style, this CD is very interesting. If you have "A Touch of Clare", the previous recording featuring Kitty Hayes, you'll know that she plays a standard C/G concertina, yet many of her tunes are in the keys of C and F (and related modes). This is, apparently, a very old style of playing, based on old melodian fingering along the C row. (You'll find Mary MacNamara doing it too, but hardly anyone else.) On this recording "They'll be good yet" Peter Laban plays Uilleann Pipes in C accompanying Kitty's natural C/F playing style. This is really good stuff. Of course, the music is unaccompanied by guitar/bouzouki, etc, (my own personal pet peeves), so I am extra-pleased to listen to this. Thanks Peter for making this possible!

I am very sad to hear this. Two Gentlemen of Clare Music is one of my favorite dics, perhaps one of my two most treasured. Gerdie was probably my favorite concertina player. He had an honest passion for the music, pure feeling would flow from his fingers. You can hear on that recording how, through the pain of the arthritis, he pushes through more feeling than any of the big names do. He had wonderful settings of tunes (listen to, for example, his versions of the Traveller, the Lads of Laois, Piper on the Hob, the Irish Washerwoman), far lovelier than the commonplace session versions. Gerdie you'll be missed! ...By all those who have met you and all of us who haven't.

At the risk of starting an argument, I'd recommend against Duet for Irish. Although perhaps Hayden would work well (I know nothing about it), but someone with some unknown to me Duet system Out West here found most of the Irish tunes to be on the pinky and ring finger, which was sub-optimal. Plus, if you're going Edgley, he doesn't make Duets. Those who know better please correct me on this...

I live in Seattle and have a couple spare rooms and could host a few people who want to avoid camping or hotel costs. Something to keep in mind as the date draws nearer.

"Disorder"? Hot button time! I am increasingly disturbed by the use of words like "disorder" and "defect" to describe "differences"... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I won't get into the "disorder" argument, but I wanted to chime in as another person who has an auditory processing "anomaly". I too find it quite difficult to understand conversation at loud parties or in pubs -- I can hear all the stuff but I can't separate and track the conversations easily. My hearing test was absolutely normal. The audiologist didn't say "disorder" but instead simply mentioned it was known that some people had a much harder time tracking parts of a chaotic sound spectrum than others. I happen to think I just hear everything, and can't ignore the useless stuff, which is trouble for conversation, but works great for music because I am constantly finding that I hear subtlties and nuances that escape most people. I'm happy to be this way.

Use of cyclically increasing/decreasing pressure on the bellows will modulate the loudness of the note, causing a tremolo effect. This is probably what most people think of as "vibrato". On many concertinas the pitch changes slightly due to pressure change, so when the sound gets louder it will become subtlely flat as well, so you'll often percieve pitch change in this "vibrato" as well. For an extreme example of pitch change under changing pressure, listen to the Ab/Eb concertina playing by Tim Collins on his recording "Dancing on Silver". On an English concertina or PA you can shake the bellows in-and-out to create a rapid series of staccato notes. For example, could be used effectively in Irish music to do staccato triplets. On an Anglo when shaking the bellows in-and-out, the note will alternate between the push and pull pitch. Noel Hill uses this on the high F#/G button to emulate a quick F#/G/F# trill that certain pipers, such as Seamus Ennis, would frequently do.

I just got back from Friday Harbor Irish Camp http://fridayharborirish.com where Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin taught the concertina workshop. It worked out to 4 hours a day over 4 days of intensive concertina technique, Irish music (especially from West Clare), impromptu history lessons. I think it fair to say everyone involved had an excellent time and came away greatly enriched. Gearóid is a teacher by profession and it showed. He really packed a lot of knowledge into the limited time available and was very sensitive and insightful to the students. I would highly recommend any of his workshops.

There's a few, me, Bruce McCaskey, a few more who prefer to lurk...

I think how much touble you have switching between Jeffries and Wheatstone depends on your playing style. For example, I play mostly along the rows, with some simple borrowing of the reversed A/G buttons for certain purposes. This means it's largely a matter of remembering to hit the C# on a different button and occasionally a high reversed A or G has to come from a different button. Another local concertina player has an unusual fingering that makes heavy use of C#, D#, etc as parts of rolls and cuts, which means almost every bar of a tune he tries to do something that isn't there. It's much harder for him. One thing not mentioned: the biggest problem I've had switching is not actually the note assignment but the fact that on some instruments the rows are shifted more than on others, and I find my self hitting "air" in between the buttons at first every time I switch.

Another thought: how about practicing along with a CD that has the tune you're playing. Might be less distracting than the metronome since it relates directly to what you're doing. If it's too fast, try slowdowning it a bit with some software -- they should preserve the rhythm.

I should mention that perhaps the hardest part is deciding which chords to play. Playing them is a matter of mechanics which repeated practice solves. Deciding what sounds musical is more difficult. Some people (like me) approach from an intuitive point of view, aesthetically it just "sounds right". Others start with music theory to suggest possible chords, try them, and pick what sounds good. I'm afraid at this point in time I don't have a good way to put into words how I make this latter decision.

Depends on the player and the genre of music. My expertise is in Irish music... One approach I use for chording is based on regulators use from Irish pipers. Usually (but not always) I do this when the right hand has the melody. Very common idioms for Irish piping are the following chords: - A single D, F#, G, A, B or high C-natural accompanying a melody note. I'll also use E because I have one, even though pipers can't - A pair, D/F#, F#/A, G/B. A/C, or non-piping combinations E/G, or low notes such as A/D, B/D, G/B. Also fifths, such as D/A, E/B. - Often the note an octave below the melody note. As for rhythm, a very prevelant pattern from Irish pipers is to either do a quick pulse on the back-beat or a long chord starting on a down-beat and held for one or two beats (typically a whole bar). When doing pulsed chords, I'll often make the chord really short, shorter than the melody's 16th note even, so that it doesn't overpower the melody line. Pulse pattern reel: 1 e & a 2 e & a 1 e & a 2 e & a 1 e & a 2 e & a x x x x x x jig (two different patterns from pipers): 1 & a 2 & a 1 & a 2 & a 1 & a 2 & a x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x Another trick I like on concertina is, at points where it works, to play a melody note and keep holding it down when I play the next melody. Usually the first is on the left hand and the second on the right hand.