highplainsman

And if we remember our work from last year, careful kruskalizarion of the tune requires a minimalist approach to arranging. I read somewhere, maybe on these pages, that you have a herd of cattle, a flock of geese, and a din.....of concertinas. And we do indeed put together quite a din for the evening concert. I trust Gary Coover will bring that foghorn that substitutes as a bass concertina. RT

This will be a fine, fine workshop that I am so looking forward to. Last summer, I was on my way to County Clare when I was struck by an 'Irish Plague' virus that laid me up in Westport, County Mayo for three days. Westport's a pretty good place to be stuck for three days, but not when you're sick. Up to that point, had heard some amazing music working my way across the country. It will be a brilliant (the word I heard over and over in Ireland) time at Old Palestine to reconnect with Irish music. I intend to learn the workshop songs on Anglo. So what's so strange about that? Because I've learned my small repertoire of Irish music on Hayden duet. I'll be speaking both languages...should be fun and interesting. Hope to add these new songs to our annual St. Paddy's day guerrilla music pub crawl. And remember....Texas barbecue rules! Rick

celtictiger, A fun reel with fairly simple A-B parts is Rolling In The Ryegrass. Another simple reel is The Road To Prison. A minor key jig that I like and that isn't too complicated is Swallowtail Jig. These were the first Irish tunes I learned. I have PDFs of the music if you are interested, or you can find them at a number of traditional music websites. Have fun. Rick

Congratulations, Wim, on the new addition to the CC family. I was curious about the Wicki layout and now know why. If anyone has made the switch from Hayden to Wicki, it would be interesting to hear of the experience. Intriguing is the low pass filtering. Any chance that you could post a sound file to give us a listen to the Peacock? Rick Todd

This is good news, and will help fill that important niche of an intermediate Hayden/Wicki box. I am surprised, though, that the Wicki button arrangement was used for the Peacock. I expected that it would continue the Elise arrangement of buttons with the Hayden slant. My reading of an interview that Brian Hayden gave a while back is that he designed the slant to accommodate his hands better, especially the little finger. I like the slant, but then I haven't played anything else. Maybe Wim can share his thinking on this choice. I have two questions. First, does the Hayden slant improve upon the straight Wicki arrangement? Second, if a person is comfortable with the Hayden slant, do you want to change to straight?

It was a wonderful, transcendent weekend, with more great music in one place than I've heard in a long time. I truly appreciated meeting fellow concertinistas - y'all are great folks and, I'm honored to say, new friends. Special thanks go to Gary Coover for coordinating everything, to the workshop leaders, and of course, to Jody Kruskal, a great teacher, engaging, fun and respectful. It meant a lot to me as a beginner that the experienced hands were so willing to share. My only regret is that I played some really really fine concertinas, which ignited in me a strong (and expensive) desire to upgrade my humble boxes. The overarching spirit of the Old Pal festival is dedication to the songs. In the jams, all levels of musicianship were welcomed. The song and the communal joining together to play it was the focus. A few times I experienced a song transformed into a living, breathing thing, when all the instruments entrained together and the music levitated and shimmered. I'm proud to say that we concertinists upheld this spirit of community and sharing. I love Texas barbecue (with Shep's among the best), but ladies and gents, I must admit that I ate nothing but salads Sunday and Monday. Thanks again to all for making the Old Pal Concertina Festival a wonderful experience. Rick

Reed, I have the Manhassat Symphony stand, similar to the last one in your list, but with fixed legs. It's sturdy and holds notebooks and laptop securely, but it's not as portable because the legs don't fold - the Voyager fixes that. I also have a Proline Conductor's stand, and it is a good sturdy stand also, with folding legs. It's available at Guitar Center for $36 - a good deal. My bandmate has the Stagg and it's a good choice, and folds up a little tighter than the Proline. I imagine the holes in the platform reduce the weight a little bit. I use a light-weight stand with a folding platform for indoor gigs to hold a few charts, but it can be tippy, it's not easy to clip papers to it and it wouldn't do at all outside. I'll be taking the Proline Conductor's stand to Old Pal. Rick

Reed, I am, and excited about it. I'll be driving down on Wednesday the 28th, tent-camping just outside of town. And you? R

Eric, I've had my Elise for five months now. It's been a trooper through some pretty heavy playing without any negative impacts. On the positive side, I can report that the bellows have become much more responsive with use, which helps make playing more lively, I think. I play music from Irish trad to contemporary folk/country/alt. There are times when I wish for another 10 buttons under each hand; you are really limited for keys with more than three sharps (Eminor's OK) or more than two flats. You learn to work around that limitation by playing with less (sometimes with interesting results) or transposing. I consider the ease of transposing to a different key one of the strengths of the Hayden layout. I'm a true believer in the Elise as a great way to get into playing Hayden duet. It's a really good combination of affordability, playability and versatility. Rick in Texas

Greetings ya'll, My bandmates (percussionist and guitarist) and I have worked up a set of Irish tunes for St. Paddy's Day. I'll be squeezing the concertina and playing guitar. We're constrained in our choice of tunes by my ability to play them on concertina, which is adequate for the most part, though as a beginner, far from polished. It's been really fun working up the tunes, and good motivation. We'll be playing for friends and at a few friendly bars in Amarillo, in traveling minstrel mode. Here are the tunes so far: Rollin’ In The Ryegrass D Leaving Liverpool C Swallowtail Jig/Lanigan’s Ball Em Paddy’s Lamentation Am Red-Haired Boy A Whiskey In The Jar C Lark In The Morning C Wild Rover G What favorite songs would you choose for a set of rollicking Irish tunes for St. Paddy's Day? Share your set lists. highplainsman

Greetings Greg, Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I am indeed enraptured by traditional Irish music. It's almost all I've been listening to lately. I started working up tunes on the Hayden Elise and that process has worked well so far. It's got me more deeply into the music and given me several pieces to practice on that have been a joy. My compadres and I have worked up a set of reels and jigs and raucous drinking songs for St. Paddy's day. Pressure's on, since I'm carrying most of the songs on the concertina. I'll play those on the Hayden Elise, but I recognize that the Anglo will be the way to go with the Irish tunes. I don't seem to have a problem switching between the two button layouts, and can see that I will end up playing both, whatever suits the song. I've read much about Noel Hill's camp on this forum and his approach to the instrument, and yes, I would definitely love to attend. I'll have to see what life has lined up for me come summer. But it would be something to aim for. Greg, thanks, again. I appreciate the welcome. highplainsman

Inventor, Thanks for the words of welcome and advice. For you, I offer a bow of respect and admiration for the gift of the Hayden system. It is indeed a simple move to go from a major chord to the relative minor. One can play, say, the root and fifth of a chord using the third and second LH fingers, then play the relative minor, either two or three notes, using the index finger only, kinda like a barre on the guitar. That makes for a 'relatively' quick change. The possibilities are so interesting. I'm left-handed, so I find myself using the LH side of the Elise a lot. A lot of the fun of learning a new song is figuring out the best fingering. Another situation where the Hayden system shines is when accompanying other musicians, using anything from simple riffs to sustained chords. The Northeast is a ways to go from West Texas, but I am planning to attend the Old Time Festival in Palestine, TX next month. I'm really looking forward to interacting with living, breathing concertina players. I've made contact with one Hayden player already. Thanks, Inventor. Your thoughtful reply is much appreciated. highplainsman

KHaygood, I went through the same selection process you are going through. I just posted a little about my experiences with the Elise and Rochelle here: http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=13871 I'll be at Palestine next month. It's just down the road from you. I'm really excited about meeting living breathing concertina players. RT

Greetings ya'll from West Texas. My name's Rick Todd and I'm a beginning concertina player. First, a thanks to all on this forum whose experiences and willingness to share helped me decide my concertina direction. Four months ago I bought a Hayden duet Elise from Concertina Connection. It's been challenging and fun figuring out this new way of musical expression. I play guitar and have ventured into flute and whistle, so playing a concertina and working with the Hayden keyboard has joyfully fired a whole new network of musical neurons. I've been woodshedding at least an hour a day and think about playing even more often - in other words, I'm hooked. The concertina is fitting in wonderfully with the acoustic folk trio I play with and in jam sessions. I think my girlfriend will stick with me as long as I don't play works-in-progress around her. She's merciless when it comes to critiquing the errant sounds of a developing piece. Listening to as much concertina music as I could find reintroduced me to traditional Irish music. I wanted to explore the possibilities of playing Irish music on the Elise, so I listened to lots of reels and jigs, found sheet music for several and plotted out the fingering. I've really enjoyed that process, listening to some great music, learning to read music and coaxing some half to two-thirds tempo Irish tunes out of the Elise. I've also listened to a lot of fiddle music and fiddle accompaniment because it feels like the concertina can play that role in a lot of the music we do. All this fired up my curiosity about Anglo concertina, so last month I was able to pick up a pre-owned Rochelle from the good folks at Concertina Connection. We've been getting to know each other - a whole new world of neuronal challenges. Here are some first impressions of the Hayden Elise and the Anglo Rochelle. 1. The arrangement of buttons, unisonoric reeds, and the consistent patterns for scales are big pluses for learning the Hayden system. Once you understand the system, it's very adaptable. For example, I can learn a song in one key, then readily change it if needed - important when playing with others or transposing a song to suit a better singing key. 2. The Hayden learning curve is relatively gentle. I started out using fingering gleaned from discussions on the forums. As I gained more familiarity and confidence, I found I could easily adapt, modify and bend the fingering "rules" to suit the needs of a song. I am especially keen on developing a more balanced interplay between left and right hands beyond the chord-left, melody-right model; being left-handed helps that. 3. Every so often I run into the limitations of fewer buttons on the Elise for some flat and sharp keys. Another ten buttons under each hand would be nice to have, but at the entry cost of the Elise, it's a minor issue. You can do so much with what's there. As one of my bandmates wisely told me, music is as much about what you leave out as what you put in. Less is often more. 4. I'm a newbie and haven't played any other concertina, but it seems to me that the Elise is well-made. The tone tends toward a little hard for my ears in the mid and high ranges. Wim Wakker has suggested a dampening modification to cut some of the high overtones and I will try that. Overall, the Elise is great value for the money and highly recommended for entry level concertina players or as a camping instrument. 5. Anglo concertina is a whole 'nuther cat. Two things have jumped out at me: first, it will take more work (compared to Hayden) to develop fingering patterns for songs because there are often several possibilities for a given phrase. Which one is best? I'm sure experience will help answer that, but it's a challenge right now. Second, bellows technique is really critical. With the Hayden, bellows technique is mostly for expression. But with the Anglo, it's that AND integral with getting the right note and figuring out the best way to play a song. Another level of motor coordination-integration is required. 6. Karen and Wim at Concertina Connection are great folks, very helpful and responsive. They run a good shop and I offer a hearty recommendation. Reading over this, I realize much of what I've said could be applied to any concertina. Practice hard, learn the character and personality of your instrument, and have fun making music. Again, thanks to all here who share experiences and affection for the concertina. As one of our great Texas songwriters sings, "The road goes on forever....."