Dan Worrall

Just an additional thought for you, if you're in the market for an inexpensive recorder for workshops and the like. If you have an iPod (they seem to be getting common these days!), you can add a little recorder/mike attachment the size of your thumbnail from Belkin.com for all of $35. It turns the iPod into a very easy to use "voice recorder" the quality of which I find is easily equal to the old hand-sized cassette recorders we used years ago to record players in workshops (I skipped through the minidisc phase, I guess). Not only do I have most of my sizeable CD collection with me when I travel (I cannot remember how many thousands of tunes this little wonder holds), I also am ready at any time with memory to spare to record days and days worth of voice and music. Admittedly it is mono and not studio quality...but the pitch is right on the money. I suspect we'll see major improvements on this part of iPod technology in coming years.

RHomylly, This is good advice from Henk; I agree. Ornaments and speed are technical things that are way secondary. Learn the tune first and play it well enough to feel what it is saying; this is music first and foremost of the heart, not the brain, muscles and adrenalin glands. All the rest can come later as you progress. Most Noel Hill students will play a 30 button, three row instrument, although Noel points out on his site that a two row will do for starters. The story I heard on the particular and unusual 24 button extended two row instrument that you own (told to me by Harold Herrington) is that its fingering pattern was suggested by Jacqueline McCarthy, a young player of the old west Clare style, and then executed by Frank Edgley and his colleague Harold Herrington (they share a lot of design ideas, and both sell these), as you say specifically for Irish music. You probably know that Frank's own playing style is of the older anong-the-row type (patterned after the style of Chris Droney especially), and this particular instrument reflects that, in my opinion. Because of this, and a bit because of your newness and your current isolated location in New Mexico, I would point you toward Frank Edgley's Irish Anglo tutor...perhaps you already own it? There is a good section on ornamentation that is well suited to your instrument. I had sensed that you were not yet, as you just mentioned, well versed in various styles of Irish playing; hence the advice I gave you earlier to explore these a bit before locking into any one particular style of playing. Mary MacNamara you have now heard of. Try also Jacqueline McCarthy (especially since she seems to have had a part in designing that keyboard!), as well as a CD recently released of her late father Tommy McCarthy; both lovely players. Also recently re-released is an older recording from the concertina revival period of Bernard O'Sullivan and Tommy McMahon. Real farmer music and very captivating. And another old classic also recently released on the playing of Mrs Crotty. All these are in print still and can be Googled. Having heard some of the regional styles, and of course the viruoso playing of Noel Hill and the many younger players of that fashion, you will be in a good situation to shape your own approach.

Next year we'll try to organize this a bit sooner; sorry there's nothing more to be done on the width-of-Texas issue. Palestine is in northeast Texas, which helps keep distance down for those in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. Maybe you could offer to host the next one in New Mexico? A plate of green chile enchiladas with some blue corn tortillas would go very well with concertina music. We've had a relatively strong response however (around fifteen confirmed so far for our first concertina workshop in this region); there seems to be a pent-up demand for a get together that doesn't entail traveling all the way to the east or west coast. The convergence with a fine 'old time music' festival has undoubtedly helped as well. One addition to the agenda that was posted earlier: Bob Tedrow will be sending a demo instrument from his shop in Alabama. Harold Herrington will have some instruments there too, so there will be a very good opportunity to see how some of these mid-price range instruments look and play.

We will hold a concertina workshop in the small east Texas town of Palestine, on April 1-2. There is a wonderful music festival scheduled there (March 31-April 3) called the Palestine Old Time Music and Dulcimer Festival; you can read about it at http://www.geocities.com/palestinefestival/index.htm. We will hold our concertina workshops within that festival, so there will be lots of great southern fiddle music around as well. The workshop focuses on concertina players in the western part of the US south. This workshop will be oriented much more on networking and playing than on teaching, although all three will occur. We are drawing on people within the concertina community in our region to host workshops and sessions. The festival has a very modest fee charged to all participants, but there are no extra charges for the concertina events. Suggestions on accomodations can be found on the festival website. Workshop planning and scheduling is still in motion, but so far we have the following confirmed: 1. Song accompaniment techniques. Mark Gilston plays an eclectic mixture of styles on the English concertina , and is a featured performer at the festival. This workshop, hosted by Mark, will focus on song accompaniment techniques, and is open to players of any systems. 2. Beginning concertina. Gary Coover plays English, anglo, and Jeffries duet, and will host a session for beginners on all concertina systems. Help in getting started with the buttons; on finding resources for learning; where to get instruments; what are the various systems all about, and help meeting some local players for mentoring. And play a few easy tunes! 3. Morris anglo: Dan Worrall plays in the William Kimber style (English tunes with lots of left hand chords), and has just finished writing a book of detailed transcriptions for anglo of Kimber’s playing. He’ll bring a few of those transcriptions along, and we’ll try them on for size. Limber up those pinkies! 4. Duets Anonymous. We know you are out there. Playing all sorts of non-traditional tunes, in the shadows…. You are not alone, even here in the Southwest. There will be players of several duet systems (including Hayden, Jeffries, and Crane) at Palestine. Gary Coover will host, with his rare Jeffries duet, along with Kurt Braun, who plays the Crane. Any McCann folks out there? 5. Irish concertina. Dan and Gary will host this one, but we’re looking at this more as good networking rather than teaching. Bring your favorite tunes and tips. We’ll trade information on various styles of anglo playing; discuss ornamentation. Mainly for anglo players, but English system players also most welcome! 6. Concertina repair workshop. Harold Harrington, of Herrington Brothers Concertinas in nearby Mesquite, both builds and repairs concertinas. Bring your questions on buzzy reeds and sticking buttons, and Harold will review the basics of repair. 7. Concertina tuning demonstration. Ever wonder how they tune those things? Harold is bringing along his tuning bench and strobe system, and will show you how it is done. 8. Concertina slow jam session. Ever wonder what a room full of Southern concertina players sounds like? Bring your favorite tunes and let’s just see. We’ll keep the tempo slow so all can play along. Schedules for the workshops will be placed here in coming weeks; the workshops will occur in time slots starting Friday and Saturday at 9:30 am and all will end by 4 pm each day. We will try to put together some sort of lunch or dinner event so that all of us can get a good chance to get to know each other, but will save the evenings for the old time music concerts. There is a full array of Old Time and mountain dulcimer sessions and concerts throughout the large old building, so there will be no lack of things to do (you are most welcome to join in these sessions, as there are jam sessions for all levels...but please be sensitive to the few more expert sessions, where concertinas are not yet considered apropos by some old time string band players). For less musical spouses and friends, the dogwoods are in bloom in the piney woods, there are tours of old southern houses, and there is a great nineteenth century steam locomotive that takes passengers from Palestine to Rusk and back. If you wish to participate and have not already done so, please answer the questions below and email it to Dan Worrall at concertinatexas@msn.com. All arrangements other than the concertina workshops are up to you. We look forward to meeting you there and playing some tunes! -The Organizing Committee (Dan Worrall, Gary Coover, Mark Gilston, and Harold Herrington) Applicant questions: 1) I am___ I am not___interested in being informed about potential future concertina workshop weekends (annual or semi-annual) for this region. 2) I tentatively plan to___ I do not plan to___ attend the weekend in Palestine. 3) I play: English system________ Anglo_________ Duet__________ (if duet, please specify system) 4) My level of playing is: Beginner_________Intermediate___________Advanced___________ 5) If intermediate or advanced, would you be willing to help host a workshop if asked? Yes_____ No________ 6) My preferred styles of music is (choose top one or two): Irish_______ English & Morris_______ Old time fiddle tunes___________ Contra and English Country Dance music________ Song accompaniment_________ Other________( if other, please specify). 7) If I attend, I would most like to accomplish the following during the weekend:____________ 8) My name: _______________________________ 9) I live in: Town or city____________________________ State________________________. ps. make your room reservations early...it is a small town!