[Dirt Cheap Minidisc Recorder]

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.

[Cross-row Fingering]

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.

[Cross-row Fingering]

...I am not going to get any better or ever learn decent ornamentation if I don't start learning cross-row fingering.

Of course, after 18 months of playing ITM on the G row, this is not easy. In fact, what I really think about switching I probably shouldn't say on a public forum

To all brand-new players: start cross-row fingering NOW!

 

I’ve watched this discussion with some interest, and growing concern with the somewhat narrow direction it is taking. Cross-row fingering is not the only way to become a skillful player in the Irish style, far from it! Before throwing out along the row playing as “mostly invalid” and “limiting”, let’s think this through a bit. Before I dig in, let me say one thing to start however…I believe there is no right or wrong way for any of this. The choice of style is a very personal thing, and should reflect both who a player is and how s/he wishes to sound. It should not, in my humble opinion, be a choice made simply to follow the crowd, which these days is heavily cross-row oriented in workshops.

 

First, consider the basic design of the instrument. When Carl Uhlig built the first anglo in 1834, it was a simple one row instrument of ten keys. The general idea was to saw the keyboard of a melodeon in half, and give one half to each of the two sides of the “Konzertina”; its basic design was meant for playing along the row. A second row was added soon thereafter. Until fairly recent times (say, the 1960’s or so), the bulk of Irish players had two row instruments, and they pretty much all played along the row. The picture was similar in England, and it was driven by economics; the two row instruments were more affordable. William Kimber played a two row until later in his life, and so far as I can see he only used the third row in ONE of his many recorded tunes, even when using a three row instrument; all those chords are played just on two rows. He played only in C and G, along the row. So if we are strictly speaking of old timey traditional playing anywhere in England and Ireland (and for that matter the US, where the old nineteenth century tutors all were for along the row style), we are pretty much talking about along the row playing.

 

But back to Ireland. There were/are four dialects of Clare playing, according to Fintan Vallely’s 1999 treatise on ITM:

1) Southwest Clare: “highly rhythmical, melodically simple, with single-row fingering techniques on (two row) Anglo German instruments”. Some of the best known recorded players are Solis Lillis, Elizabeth Crotty, John Kelly, Sonny Murray, Bernard O’Sullivan, Tommy McMahon, and the late Tommy McCarthy. Some pretty fantastic stuff….have you listened to their recordings?

2) North Clare: “most…favoured melodically simple music and single-row fingering, accentuating the inside or G-row….The overriding feature of this dialect was its emphasis on rhythm for the set dancers.” Great recorded examples are Chris and Anne Droney. If you have not heard Chris’ first album (The Flowing Tide, on the old Free Reed label, sadly now not in print), then you have missed some really hard-driving reels in what we in Texas call ‘high lonesome’ sound. Chris never seems to have had any trouble playing along the G-row! Frank Edgley’s tutor, by the way, is for this style of along the row playing.

3) East Clare: “(Two row) German concertinas were played here…played mainly by women who seldom played beyond the confines of their own kitchens”. This dialect has an “archaic repertoire and ethereal settings”. The best known recorded musician of this style today is of course Mary MacNamara, who like the others plays in an along the row style, mostly in C and G (or, on a G/D instrument, in G and D). This style of concertina playing has so permeated the local repertoire that even many fiddle tunes are played there (by fiddlers) in C and G settings! If you’ll read through Mary’s website, or listen to her playing, you’ll see that she favors soul over speed and technical fireworks.

4) Which brings us to mid-west Clare, where the “…style uses cross-row fingering, intense melodic ornamentation, and has a large repertoire of dance tunes”. The cross-row fingering here is a fairly recent development (post WWII), attributed to Paddy Murphy. Noel Hill took this style and further advanced it, becoming a famous, professional virtuoso in the process. In his popular classes, he has spread this style to a whole generation of concertina players.

 

Any of these styles can be labeled “Irish traditional”, although the nod would have to go to along the row playing if one wished to be starchily old-time traditional. But the rub is what has happened with the music in the last 20 years, and although mostly associated within concertinadom with the cross-row players, it was certainly not of their sole doing. As big mega-popular groups like the Bothy Band got fired up in the 70’s, the tempo of recorded Irish music got ever quicker, as the music played to concert venues. The older West Clare players mostly played at a more relaxed tempo or (when more quickly) for dancing the sets. Many of the newer generation play for concerts and listening, and speed and technical aspects have started to come to the fore; this probably reflects or at least is congruent with our increasingly frenetic pace of modern urban life. Back to Fintan Vallely:

 

“Clare concertina music has experienced a surge of interest since the 1980’s….But in attracting large numbers of learners, they have failed to stem the decline of regional concertina dialects. Competitive performance and commercial recording have spurred the growth of a “modernist” generic style and a meticulous imitation of professional performers. Emphasis on such technical accomplishment has generated prodigiously-ornamented tune settings and the introduction of non-local repertoires; it has also led to the separation of ‘performance’ music from ‘dance’ music’.”

 

Clue to the symbolism here: read “cross-fingering” for “modernist” and you can follow much of what is going on. Most of the older generation in West Clare simply played slower and with fewer ornaments. A listen to the Russell Family of Doolin (another old Free Reed LP), or to recordings of Junior Crehan and Bobby Casey on the fiddle, will show you what it was like.

 

Which gets us back to the crux of the matter here. Any of these styles sounds nice, and I would humbly say all are “valid”. But I would first ask, are you an extremist? If so, are you a modernist or a traditionalist? Do you want to play lickety-split reels loaded with ornaments and pyrotechnics, and amaze your friends? Cross fingering is for you; go have fun. Or do you want to follow the old, more rural ways, and/or explore the eerie and/or soulful edges of this music? Here the deck is stacked towards along-the-row older styles. And if you want simply to be somewhere in the middle, that’s great too, but be careful of throwing out along-the-row styles or of not learning them “in the beginning”…because you’ll need them. Listen to Chrois Droney and Elizabeth Crotty (or in England, Scan Tester) do octave playing….along the row. Or to Jackie Daly play some old Kerry polkas…along the row. And, since you are a woman, realize that most of the women who have recorded on this instrument that is so famously associated with women (Anne Droney, Jaqueline McCarthy, Elizabeth Crotty, Mary MacNamara, and Kitty Hayes, for starters) play in along-the-row styles. I’ll let you draw any conclusions; I’m just stating the simple facts.

 

Have fun. But don’t feel somehow inadequate in playing this instrument as it was originally designed, and playing it as generations before you have played it. Not everone has to sound like the latest red hot CD.

[Southwest Concertina Workshop]

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.

[Southwest Concertina Workshop]

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!