Wolf Molkentin

Anyone else (other than Valmai who will surely show up...) this year? We are already here, having made it that early for a wonderful pre-festival Carthy/Swarbrick evening which had to be canceled last year and now actually happened at the Royal Oak! Looking forward to - among others - hearing Iris Bishop again, and perhaps meet some fellow concertinists... Lewes Folk Festival 2012 was truly great, and will be just as well this year! Best wishes to everyone - Wolf

All about the incident: "Are English Concertina buttons supposed to be loose" (Make sure having chosen "Forums" when doing a search run) Best wishes - Wolf

Apart from the ending - which I find a bit distracting - it's a very fine version for me too, primarily for having that extra smoothness which I'm still aiming at!

That's true for me as well - another commonness that adds to the picture... : I often choose the open fifth to add some ambiguity (opening the - tonic - major "world" for some Mixolydian reminiscences, particularly once the melody doesn't prominently feature the leading tone). Besides, I seem to recall that in Jazz theory we would in fact have to think of a simple major triad as a major seventh chord missing its (major) 7th (which - though making up the leading tone in a given melody - in contrast doesn't tend or pull anywhere once counterbalancing a major triad ). But however, this can obviously not apply to the minor seventh chord as discussed here (which is strongly demanding for the - tonic - third). And I'd second Ransom's advice to possibly omitting the (major) third and leaning just on the most significant diminished fifth - the "diabolic" tritone... As to my treble EC I often use the E7 chord as secondary dominant when playing in Dmaj or even tertiary dominant for tunes in Gmaj...

37-41! That's truly great, Simon! Best wishes - Wolf

From my (limited) knowledge I'd find this instrument not very likely to be a Lachenal. At first sight it looks like a Lachenal Inimitable. But in the place of the MOP inlays an Inimitable would have German silver inlays, which would be significantly smaller. As a result the ends would be smaller as well as compared to the bellows. On your picture the diameter ot the bellows seem to differ much more from the diameter of the ends. This would not be the case with an Inimitable. But of course there may be other Lachenal models which I'm simply not aware of.

not quite... Anyway, it's great to learn that this orchestral, rhapsodic approach on traditional music (reminding me of the Chieftains) manifestly lives on... Thank you for having given the occasion!

and here's no concertina, but a very special kind of folk rock... Just making me smile, or grin...

Thank you, that's real fun to listen to...!

I hadn't been aware of this; might fit my wantings in another way! Since the "runners up" proposal hadn't really been working thus far, installing a "theme of the month" (to be suggested by somebody who is volunteering for that, might it be you or any other member) might well be worth a try...

I don't mean to take anything, somebody's amount of thankworthy work in particular, farther. It's just about the focus of that work. Perhaps there is a misunderstanding when you reckon my suggestion as counter productive, since I don't argue in favour of already popular and familiar genres, rather the other way round. If your protest would be against feeling forced to enter unknown areas, this would be completely fine with me. But my plea is for that certain challenge of doing the unfamiliar (like approaching "The Abbess" in August), or rather: for structures that could make this more likely for all of us in the future.

Wouldn't it be a good idea to channel the choices by suggesting three tunes of a kind (which had been requested in general by members of our community) per month? Some of us wanted to learn an Irish reel (or some traditional Irish tune in general), which is now suspended once again, even if in favour of Jody's nice tune. Thus my plea is for 1. collecting general suggestions for the type of tune (for instance: Irish dance tune, or: slow Air - we just had a great example of that - or whatsoerver). 2. providing three different tunes of one chosen kind to the voters then. IMO it's not that much about democracy here (we don't lack in that anyway) but about diversity and common effort. Best wishes - Wolf

Just stumbled upon this on youtube... (it's in his unique style of EC-accompanied "harp" playing)

That's what came to my mind too, and it might temporarily apply to an owner and player of just one concertina (like me) as well. After some days without having taken up the instrument the rather "strong" tone which it had acquired for me over the time of our acquaintance appeared to be lost. But OTOH this kind of confusion comes up scarcer by this time (but might return through switching back and forth among two or even more instruments). I wouldn't deny the physical aspects as mentioned above, of course. But besides, it's not all about hearing but (the micro aspects of) playing as well IMO.

You mean, lightning having melted away further buttons and reeds?

Dirge, I don't know when the "older" recording was done, and I hope not to offend you when saying that I seem to prefer the somewhat lighter touch of the first recording (inspite of the technical dirt). At least it was you anyway...

I'm sure it would be real fun to attend these concerts, and will be all the more for you who participate as performers! But it's a long, long way to Antwerp (which we had, and will again have to pass on our way to the Lewes Folk Festival). As to myself, I thus seem to have to wait for the next "meeting" in Germany for the next Dapper's Delight performance... Best wishes - Wolf

These is the downside of Auto Save (which is a good device otherwise) - unintenional double posting... But I might use this posting to add that for this kind of [among others: J.S.B. and related] playing the accordionish Stagi sound may in fact be just accurate - and I never expected myself saying nice things of Stagi concertinas in any regard...

He seems to like the Bastari/Stagi sounds (and not just winds) in general as well... And musically, I like his version of BWV 115 Anh. (and its well known BWV 114 Anh. sidekick as well, which I use to play myself, but in a more "folky" way [alongside with Bach's own Bauerntanz/"Dance of the Rustics", or perhaps better "Peasants"], whereas he has this wonderful light touch on these...). Thank you for the hint on this player, twisper!

I believe this can only be done by the administration.

That's what I assumed at least...

I knew I had read the text (and particularly the naming of a "stately sound") before...

Hey, some of my best friends are bats! Let me guess: You befriended them through playing an Extended Treble in its highest register...

Quite similar to what I experienced on the right, prior to being able to submit "my" Abbess... Hope you'll get well soon! There's definitely something missing whilst being unable to play...

What a fine recording, Dirge! - and with these big bass and tenor notes, reminds me a bit of the sound of a Cavaillé-Coll organ...