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Posts posted by Dan Worrall
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You could go to the ICA site at
and hit the "What's On" button. Mostly ENglish but also North American events.
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A good reason to play concertina or accordion if one is hard of hearing is that these jewels can be loud, especially up close on your lap. The bright tone also cuts through a lot of crowd noise. In fact, I worry that the tinnitus I am slowly developing is more related to playing my loud and wonderful Dipper than to any other factor.
I would very much recommend an anglo concertina, 30 button best. Why? Easier to pick up for a beginner with no music training, and for one who has hearing problems, the rhythmic pumping action adds to the feel of the music, and that can't be bad for you. I'd get as bright a player as possible....metal ends, and as good an instrument as you can afford (check out the buying guide on this site). As far as the key choice goes, I'd ask someone on this Forum who sings if you are planning to accompany yourself (try emailing Brian Peters, for one).
Although playing an anglo might be a plus for your intonation when singing, never forget that your hearing friends might not be as kind to your singing with a concertina as they have been when you are solo. Any free reed instrument can overwhelm vocals if one is not careful. But it can be really nice!
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Can you post a picture of it? That might be easier than trying to describe it. Low resolution (no larger than 640 x 480 or so).
I'm not sure how to post pictures, but it is a Hohner D40 Concertina. It has 10 buttons, on each side. I've copied and pasted the link to the website. I hope this helps. I live in the Cincinnati area
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/search...38688?src=00630
You have what is termed a twenty button anglo concertina. Most likely, the top row is in the key of C, and the bottom is in the key of G, although there are other tunings around.
There are players in your area, and Noel Hill (a very well well known Irish player) comes to Cincinnati once a year for a workshop, I think. You might call Wally Carroll, who lives nearby and builds concertinas, to hook into that event (Google Carroll Concertinas; also Google Noel Hill).
If it is Celtic/Irish concertina you are after, you'd do well to start with Frank Edgley's concertina tutor; Google "Frank Edgley Concertina" and you'll find his site, where that book is sold. For some basic starter tutoring that is particular to your twenty button, go to www.concertina.com and download the anglo tutor by Carlo Minasi, for free. It is 150 years old, but still good for the basics of a 20 button anglo. Most of the tutors for anglo that you might find at your neighborhood general music store are fairly useless for anything but the very basics.
Good luck, and to your Marine son!
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Alan and Geoffrey,
Many thanks for the kind words. I'm especially happy to hear that someone is actually working through the tunes to play around with Kimber's phrasing...it is really a unique style, and surprising in many ways. Geoffrey, on the errors you found in Hunting the Squirrel, you are quite right....the fingering of the first G in measures 2,3,6,and 7 should read P1, not P4. I've been keeping a running tally of the inevitable errata on the note in this string dated Nov 28, and have edited it today for this newly found error number 5. Noting and proscribing fingering for anglo is very tedious and finicky work (I don't think I shall ever try this again!), and amongst those +/- 8000 fingerings are some hiding clinkers. If you or any other readers find any more, please email them to me and I'll keep the errata sheet updated.
By the way, Geoffrey is right to point out that, if a problem is found, the notes are a better reference than the fingerings. There was a way in my software to play back the notes on a speaker, so they were much easier to correct.
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There is a new anglo concertina recording ("Naked Concertina") by Jody Kruskal, who many of you may remember hearing on the Anglo International CD. Jody plays in a harmonic style, with a lot of verve and energy. These tunes are all ones he has written for contra dance playing. It is a very enjoyable recording; finally he has put some of his solo anglo playing out there.
I don't remember hearing about this CD when Jody taught at the Button Box's concertina workshop last April, so it must be fairly new. There are several extended length sound clips on the website. Enjoy!
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All my best wishes too!!
ps. played at the Blue Ball at Worrall (Of the Yorkshire Carols fame) as the only instrument! for 2 1/2 hrs of Yorkshire carol singing for the Worrall Male voice Choir and friends. Even got in some of the symphonies!!! My Christmas was already made!
Dave
Indeed, Merry Christmas, y'all! Lots of great stuff on this site this year, thanks to you all.
Now about this Worrall town, with the Blue Ball and Male voice choir....where is that? I must visit when next across the pond. Maybe there is an inheritance I've missed out on!
Dan Worrall
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The UCSB library has a collection of 5000 Edison Cylinders, and is digitising them.
Many thanks for the link!! Alexander Prince is ok, but for some amazing free reed action on these cylinders try out John Kimmel, and reflect on the fact that he played those Irish tunes on a one row melodeon.
Season's greetings!
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Looks like a real oldie, all right. If you buy it, here is an equally old tutor for it (in German) http://www.concertina.com/worrall/hoeselbarth-tutor/
and another in English, with a similar-looking instrument pictured on its cover
http://www.concertina.com/merris/minasi-german-tutor-1846/
both courtesy of Bob Gaskins' concertina library.
It doen't look like much of a player, although it is amazing to see the complexity of some of the music written for these early German/proto-anglo instruments. I guess we are spoiled these days!
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Did the Chemnitzer concertina originate in Chemnitz, Germany? Chemnitz is Akron OH's sister city and I had opportunity to meet musicians, woodworkers, and other craftspeople from Chemnitz, but none of them knew the answer to this obscure concertina question. Possibly the inventor was run out of town shortly thereafter because of the noise?
Jewels
Yes, it did; the anglo and the chemnitzer share the same German ancestry. For more information try
http://www.chemnitz-concertina.de/de/start.htm?menu=x01
(hit the 'English' button for some history in English),
or better yet, try the home page for Chemnitzer enthusiasts,
http://www.concertinamusic.com/sbox/timeline.html
where there is a good timeline showing the development of the Chemnitzer and the proto-anglo 'German concertina'.
Lots of folks out your way play these, of course.
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If anyone is interested in a little concertina history research, this week the Scotsman, one of the older newspapers in Scotland, is offering free access to their digital archives (1817-1950). The search routine is quite amazing. You can search on a word like concertina and, as usual, all uses are listed. But the hits are for digital scans of the images, not a re-type...so you can see the original advertisements, etc. If it is a rainy afternoon where you are, its worth a brief try. There are concertina references in this paper going back to the 1840s. The free period is from noon on 30th November and for one week only.
The Scotsman:
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For the adult who comes to concertina in mid-life without tons of other musical experience, I would say it is important to pick one method and stick to it for a while, like six months of steady playing. Few students, in my experience, can progress faster by mixing many methods than they will be starting one way.
Those are wise words, in my humble view.
Over the years, I've had time to mess around at length with several of the tutors you mention, and will give you a bit more specific advice on which to choose (neck fully extended). It is of course best to learn from a real person, so get to a workshop if you can. But in isolation, your choice of tutor should depend, in my opinion, on what type of music on the anglo inspires you, and where you want to go with it.
If you like Irish music, but tend toward the older players (ie, everyone who started recording before Noel Hill made his first album) or otherwise like an older style steeped in tradition, I would go for Frank Edgley's tutor. It features an along-the-row technique closely adapted from the playing of Chris Droney.
If you like newer Irish styles, such as Noel Hill or almost anyone young who started recording after he came along, or if the quest for speed and technique are at the top of your list, you might go with one of the other Irish tutors on your list (Bramitch, Vallely, Williams); also seek out a free download of Simon Wells' anglo tutor, which addresses cross row technique in nice detail (but after you work on the basics a bit). I agree with those who say cross row fingering is useful and inevitable; these skills are useful beyond Irish music.
If you are a generalist in your musical taste...you want to play a little Irish music, a little American, a little English....and wish a thorough introduction to the wide range of experience offered by the anglo, you could do no better than Bertram Levy's tutor.
If you want to play in the English harmonic style (chords on the left, melody on the right), and want to learn to play some of the stuff you've heard on the Anglo International CD, choices are a bit limited, and the value of a real live instructor comes to the fore. If you start from scratch in isolation, you could start with the three articles written in the '70's by John Kirkpatrick on how to play the anglo (download them for free from his website). The instructions on chording (in part three) are very good, but the basics are covered too briefly for a beginner. I would spend some time with Bertram Levy first, and then go on to JK part 3. Once you have covered those, you would do well to go to Roger Digby's superb "Faking It" article on how to build chords on the anglo, available for free on concertina.com.
If you are captured by the simplicity of the twenty button, and still wish to play chords, there are other avenues. The 1850's tutor by Minasi is really excellent, and shows how surprisingly rich chords can be on the twenty button. It and an even earlier tutor by Hoeselbarth are available for free on concertina.net. I understand that Alan Day has written and posted a twenty button tutor, but have never been able to download it. If you are snagged as I was by the superb twenty-button skills of William Kimber, you could check out my book on his playing, available at EFDSS, the Button Box, and the Morris Ring shop. The chording in his playing is different from modern usage in the same way that there are older vs newer styles in Irish playing.
Now if Scan Tester is someone you wish to emulate, playing a straightforward, un-fancy but captivating belt-it-out style with English and music hall tunes, you need to learn straightforward octave playing. No tutor here, but (again, if you are a beginner) you could start with Edgley's tutor for the basics, which has a section on octave playing. Then it's all up to you...but get a copy of Reg Hall's book and CD "I never played to many posh dances".
Finally, if your goal is to play for a Salvation Army brass band (probably not in this century!), there are some quite interesting anglo tutors for this, which instruct on playing two fisted chords, and yet with no melody (the better to hold your own against trumpets and trombones!). Check out concertina.com in coming months; some of us are working on that.
When I started playing in the early seventies, none of the above options were available (even the ancient books were buried in libraries, 'undiscovered'). Count yourself lucky...there is a wealth of material out there to get you started!
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We write and post the stuff and get surprisingly little feedback.
I think everyone had little or nothing to add except "wow!" and "thanks", because none of us knew diddly squat about who Jeffries was until this article came along. And I doubt that many of us know how much work that was to track down the Jeffries heirs to find that information.
THANK YOU ....and keep up the good work. I'm looking forward very much to part two!
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Dan,
The photo was taken in 1906. The first edition of the Morris Book was published 1907 (a slim single volume) and dates this photo in the caption. The second edition of the Morris Book, in five volumes (which most of us are familiar with from reprints) was published in 1912, but doesn't date the photo.
I have both editions if anybody wants a further scan.
Wes, Many thanks for the information; I've often wondered when that photo was taken. And thanks, Strolls, for the thoughts on twenty button playing for Morris...interesting to see others who play without the third row. I had always thought that most Morris players would naturally go for more buttons, not less, which is why it surprised me to learn that Kimber played only the lower twenty.
I'm beginning to get a few errors pointed out to me by readers, which is no suprise at all! I'll list them below, in the interest of full disclosure...and will periodically update them by editing.
ERRATA
1. Page 1 and others: caption should read British Library, not British Archive.
2. Page 10: Abingdon is in Berkshire, not Gloucestershire, and is actually quite near Headington (about 10 miles or so). Regardless, melodeon playing amongst Morris sides in William Kimber Junior's youth seems to have been quite rare.
3. Page 74: Over the Hills to Glory is a schottische, and as such should have been written in 4/4 time, not 6/8 (see for example the Moonlight Schottische on page 66, which was properly written in 4/4). In practice, the difference in timing is very slight...play it as on Kimber's recording and you won't go wrong.
4. Page 66 and elsewhere in transcriptions: a close inspection will show that the triplets are shown as triple quarter notes rather than the more correct triple eighth notes. The software I use was very cumbersome on making triplets, and I shamelessly left this error in, only to be found by two eagle eyed readers so far.
5. Hunting the Squirrel, p. 56. The first note on the right hand in measures 2,3,6,7 should read P1, not P4.
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Hello
I just moved to Windows xp. I have had great success using THE AMAZING SLOW DOWNER on my old computer with ME , but I am having some problems with it on my new computer.
I made the same transition (ME to XP and a new PC), but needed to have a code from Roni to get it to work....Roni Music was very helpful, and I had no problems with it. Just send them an email.
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As a professional scientist I have been asked more times than I can count right now to give an assessment of a suspected meteorite. In this case, not only is the fusion crust missing, but the texture inside looks like those glacial pebbles found all over Worcester County (or are you in Middlesex county Wendy?), Massachusetts. Looks like a crystalline rock (that means either igneous or metamorphic; perhaps granite?) to me, with some alteration minerals in the center of the broken surface - micas often weather to funny looking stuff like that. And I am confident in saying it is very unlikely to stick to a magnet - I can see enough details to show that it is not iron-nickel.
Well, I'm a retired geologist, so I guess I could weigh in on this (although caveat emptor....I spent most of my career looking for oil, not meteorites!). I agree with Ken's assessment:
1) It looks like either a river-polished cobble or a glacially-polished cobble....very smoothly rounded exterior; unlike most meteorites but very common in your region.
2) It is, from a glance at your photo, an intermediate or perhaps felsic crystalline rock...perhaps an igneous diorite or granite, or maybe a metamorphic gneiss. You have all these in abundance in New England, and very few to no meteorites are like that. I'd need a closer inspection to go beyond that.
3) It isn't a magnetic specimen, I should say...and 90% of meteorites are.
3) It didn't much whack the ground either. The leaves are hardly smashed, just scorched. I suppose it might have bounced first and then landed more gently, but that doesn't feel right as an explanation.
If it doesn't look like a duck, or walk like a duck, or quack like a duck, it is unlikely to be Donald! I'd sneak over to the neighbors and see if they have a cobble lined fire ring somewhere. Maybe they stubbed a toe whilst roasting marshmallows, and then tossed the offending rock over the fence??
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I'm pleased to say we've started an English musiic session here in Toronto. Prior to this it was Irish or lump it.
Paul,
We've been doing pretty much the same thing down here in Texas, starting last winter. We've got about fifty tunes known communaly now, and add one or two each week. We started with tunes lifted from old Flowers and Frolics albums and from the Lewes Arms tune book, but by now we've worked in a few old time Texas waltzes and string band tunes, as well as a few French (and even a few Irish) tunes; they mix well. I still love to play and listen to Irish music, but won't drive to a session for it; it is too painful. Irish music is made for playing (thoughtfully) around the kitchen table, in my humble opinion...noisy crowded pubs with careless showboats and of course the inevitable bodhrans spoil it more often than not, at least around these parts. Our more anglo-american mix seems to work well, and the tunes are pretty easy for the most part. We don't try to exclude occasional Irish tunes...there are too many lovely ones to want to do that...but bodhrans need not apply.
We started the English thing as a weekly practice/session, but are beginning to play outside of that for an occasional pub visit or dance. But ours is a minority opinion...the Irish sessions are larger and will likely stay that way. To each his own!
If anyone is headed out this way, come on a Tuesday and send me an email for location.
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Klaus, Lennart,
I heard back from the EFDSS shop this morning. They are working on the problem, checking into adding a price structure for Europe shipping. I don't know how long it will take them. You might prefer to buy it from The Music Room in Cleckheaton UK or The Button Box in the US, both of whom should soon have some copies, and both of whom have functioning international online shops.
http://www.themusicroom-online.co.uk
Good luck,
Dan
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Dan,
I tried to order one copy but they don´t deliver to Germany. I wrote a mail but they did not answer. Mmh....
It was the same for me, a mail and no reply.
/Lennart
Lennart,
Sorry for the hassle! It is the weekend, so I haven't yet heard back from EFDSS, but I have sent both complaints to the CEO and expect to hear back early next week. Will post results.
Meanwhile, there is another emerging source in Europe. I've heard from Gill Noppen-Spacie of the Music Room in Cleckheaton (UK) that they are planning to carry the book, and that their e-sales desk is fully international in capability. Absent any success with EFDSS, you might try them...although their shipment has not yet arrived. Try checking with them (attn Gill) at http://www.themusicroom-online.co.uk/
Cheers,
Dan
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Dan,
I tried to order one copy but they don´t deliver to Germany. I wrote a mail but they did not answer. Mmh....
Klaus,
I sent an email of my own to EFDSS to find out what the problem is. Their sales site is new and I think they are still ironing out the wrinkles. One of these problems is that they give a price for UK shipping, but then ask the non-UK purchaser to send an email inquiry for shipping to "Europe and the rest of the world"! Very traditional outlook (or inlook). This is of course incongruous with the concepts that the net is an international marketplace, and that there are several times more Morris folk now living outside the UK than inside it. But they are a fine old Society, so lets cut them some slack and see if they can work it out. I'll email you if I hear from them first.
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What Dan didn’t add is that the concertina is now back in Headington with Julie Kimber-Nickelson (William’s grand-daughter). Dan and I, together with Dan’s wife Mary, visited Headington Quarry on Whit-Monday this year and we were invited to join the dancers for their social evening after the dancing. Julie brought the concertina over to us. I had played it before when it was in the possession of Ken Loveless, but I had not remembered how very robust it was nor that it had 7-fold bellows and masses and masses of air.
What Roger was much too modest to add is that he brought the Headington house down that evening with a smashing rendition of "Double Set Back" played on Kimber's concertina. Attached below is a picture of him with that instrument, just before he stood up to play it to the throng. I've also attached a picture of the Headington Quarry side performing in front of The Chequers pub. The fellow just to the left of center is Kimber's grandson. And just for fun, two shots of the Bampton side that same day; the fiddle player is Reg Hall, who wrote Scan Tester's biography.
Back to the G/D topic, I gather that many Morris angloers play G/D instruments now. No problem. 80% of Kimbers tunes are in C and the rest in G. Played on a G/D with Kimber's fingering, the C tunes naturally transpose to G. Moreover, you can use the pitch alteration device on the Roni 'Amazing Slow Downer' to change Kimber's recordings into G and D. Everything, it seems, is possible these days.
Finally, thanks Lennart for mentioning the Folktrax recordings. One of them is all talking, and the other has almost all of his recorded tunes, including homemade field recordings of many country dance tunes not included on the EFDSS CD. I've transcribed most of them, and there are some not-often heard gems among them. Still, the EFDSS CD ("Absolutely Classic") is a better buy if you only will own one, because it has DVD old videos of Kimber and the Quarry dancers, and a wonderful biography by Derek Schofield.[attac
ment=1303:attachment]
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Kimber's Jeffries was a G/D (7 fold bellows). I don't think there is any evidence for the two-row he owned before it broke so famously!
Best wishes
Roger
DO tell ... I've not heard the story!
Samantha
I think Roger meant to say it was a C/G Jeffries. All his recordings are in C and G, as was the instrument. It is true that we don't know what brand the two row was, but we do know that it existed and even have a photo of it, published in Sharp's Morris book (see below). The photo seems to have been taken sometime around or before 1909, although the Morris Book came out a few years later. The story is indeed interesting and worth retelling.
Firstly, it now seems clear that Kimber learned on a two row german or anglo german concertina, as did his father. Of all the tunes I transcribed, he seems to use the top row only for one single note of one ballroom waltz, where he needed a Bb....the rest is all played on the C or G rows. This puzzled me ten years ago, because at that time I knew only of the three row CG Jeffries Kimber owned, via Rev Ken Loveless' writings. Why would such a master musician not use some of the other notes available? I did not know then that the early nineteenth century imported concertinas were mostly two rows, and that these were the instruments most widely played until the English makers got busy perfecting better English-made versions. But I concluded he must have learned on a two row from the music itself, and the attached photo, which I noticed only a year or so ago in Sharp's Morris Book, shows clearly that this was indeed the case. The photo I had, from a fifth generation reprint, was too murky to tell much about the instrument, but this photo from a first edition (at the EFDSS' library) shows it clearly.
Kimber was busy playing the concertina (probably the one in the attached photo) for one of Sharp's lectures in Steinway Hall in 1909 when it broke. The audience, realizing his predicament, took up a subscription and bought him the CG Jeffries three row that you usually see him pictured with (see the photo on the first posting on this thread). You can read a fuller version of this story in Ken Schofield's biography of Kimber, in the EFDSS CD mentioned above in this thread. All the recordings made of Kimber are of him playing this three row Jeffries, but of course by then he had long since put together his Morris repertoire on a two row, and he never seems to have much used the additional row.
This summer, during Chris Timson's thread "English Style of Anglo Playing" (http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=2625), several early anglo tutors came to light via Randy Merris and Stephen Chambers that show that Kimber's style of playing the two row concertina with left hand chords and right hand melody was well established from the very beginning of the instrument in 1840's Germany and London. Thus it seems that it should perhaps even be expected that Kimber learned in a two row style, and that he and/or his father heard others play in a similar "English" style.
Well, Samantha, that is probably more than you wanted to hear about this....
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I noticed the dulcimer festival posted their 2006 dates last week.
So what's the scoop for the concertina contingent for next year?
(been waiting since March, and I'm already excited!)
Rhomylly,
We'll definitely be going back. The Palestine Old Time Music and Dulcimer Festival occurs March 30- April 1 next year, in East Texas. They'll again be focusing on old time music, in a very session-oriented festival. We concertina folk will again form a festival within a festival, taking advantage of the facilities as well as the opportunity to hear some great music, meet some really nice folks, and soak in the small town atmosphere. This year we intend to send out some music ahead of time for a performance late in the festival as a concertina band; that part was a lot of fun last year. I'm looking for some appropriate old timey southern tunes for this purpose....but would consider one of your New Mexico canciones too if you've got a good one! We'll also try to organize workshops in advance on various topics desired by attendees (we had experienced folks on almost all systems last year, and they were great about sharing what they knew). I'll post more information on the Forum around the first of the year. See you there!
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Just a note to let Forum readers know that my collection of transcriptions of William Kimber's tunes is now available from the EFDSS website: http://folkshop.efdss.org/publications/mor...ance/index.htm#. The book contains notation for 28 tunes showing both melody and chords as played by Kimber, including suggested fingering for left and right hands. There is some discussion of the elements of Kimber's style as well as some historical notes on the anglo concertina.
The book includes a Foreword from Roger Digby, who suggested the publication and was extremely helpful at all stages of the project. Additional thanks go to Randy Merris, Robin Harrison, and Bob Gaskins, who all helped in various ways. All proceeds benefit the EFDSS. I understand that the Button Box will soon have copies on hand in the US.
I've attached an example of a first page from one of the tunes; the numbers refer to suggested buttons and fingering on each hand.
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Just dredging up this thread from last summer to mention that some of the primary references used in that discussion are now available in their entirety on Bob Gaskins' superb website. The topic was started with a question on the origins of the "English" style of playing the anglo (chords left, melody right). Here are some links to the full copies of the works mentioned in that thread.
The Carlo Minasi tutor, published in London ca. 1846, shows that the "Englsih" or "harmonic" style of playing the anglo (or better said, its ancestor the two row German concertina) was in use already by that time.
http://www.concertina.com/merris/minasi-german-tutor-1846/
The Hoeselbarth tutor, printed in Germany ca. early 1840's, seems to be the earliest tutor, and shows many examples of the "English" style of playing (perhaps better termed the "German" style!). One of these tunes was later 'lifted' by Minasi, as Stephen Chambers pointed out.
http://www.concertina.com/worrall/hoeselbarth-tutor/
George Jones published a tutor for the anglo in 1876, and it was continuously reprinted until this last version in 1946. It has a few examples of "English" style playing ("March of the Men of Harlech" and 'Just Before the Battle Mother"), although it is more oriented to simple melodies.
http://www.concertina.com/jones/Jones-Anglo-tutor-1946.pdf
Roger Digby's excellent and new "Faking It" set of instructions for chorded accompaniment, earlier published by the ICA, is also here:
http://www.concertina.com/digby/faking/
This concertina archive of Bob's is a huge step forward for all of us interested in the concertina, and especially in concertina history.
Finally, and back to the topic of the original thread, there can be no better way to see how anglos (or German concertinas) were being played in the mid nineteenth century than to interview a person who played it then. For anyone who has not yet read it, the 2004 PICA journal carried a fascinating interview from 1856 of a young boy who played music on the steamboats in London, on imported German concertinas. His discussion leaves no doubt that he played in a chorded "English"style, like that shown in the tutors of his day: "I like the concertina, because it’s like a full band. It’s like having the fiddle and the harp together."
http://www.concertina.org/pica/HTML-files/mayhew_atlas.htm
I hope this is a useful postscript to that fun discussion. It came to mind as I was listening to the superb new "Anglo International" and "Anglophilia" CDs mentioned elsewhere in this Forum.
Newbie Question Re ~ Harmony ~
in General Concertina Discussion
Posted
Go to www.concertina.com and download the article called 'Faking it' by Roger Digby....it is superb, and will show you how to build harmonies on your anglo.