A Pox on Youtube

[NoNaYet]

A pox on Youtube, now I think I need a Hayden Duet. Any experience with 1) adding a Duet to the stable when you play an Anglo, and 2) anyone played the new Elise? I started on a Rochelle, and except for the stiff bellows it wasn't half bad. Moved up from that to a nice Tedrow.

[david_boveri]

well, i dont play duet, but in my experience the more you learn new things the better you get at it. so go for it--if it's hard, it will get easier.

[Anglo-Irishman]

A pox on Youtube, now I think I need a Hayden Duet. Any experience with 1) adding a Duet to the stable when you play an Anglo, and 2) anyone played the new Elise? I started on a Rochelle, and except for the stiff bellows it wasn't half bad. Moved up from that to a nice Tedrow.

 

I'm an Anglo to Crane convert. Don't know how much of the experience you can transfer to the Hayden. The ergonomics of the Anglo and Crane buttons are similar (5-button rows), only the rows are closer together on the duet. With the Hayden, you've got more buttons per row and that controversial slant.

 

What all duets have in common with the Anglo is the "low notes left, high notes right" concept, facilitating RH melody with LH accompaniment. And being able to let the melody dip onto the LH side, Anglo style, is also a good thing on the duet, as I recently discovered.

 

The bellows control you learn with the Anglo stands you in good stead. There are times when even a duet forces you into a bellows change (like when you run out of "breath"), and the Anglo teaches you to change direction and still stay legato.

 

I second David's motion that learning new things is good for you.

 

(BTW, I asume you're writing in American when you say the Rochelle is "not half bad". Where I come from, "not half" means "absolutely" or "very".)

 

Cheers,

John

[NoNaYet]

(BTW, I asume you're writing in American when you say the Rochelle is "not half bad". Where I come from, "not half" means "absolutely" or "very".)

 

Cheers,

John

 

 

 

How interesting. In the American south "not half bad" means reasonably good; not great but better than you would expect.

 

NNY

[ragtimer]

A pox on Youtube, now I think I need a Hayden Duet. Any experience with 1) adding a Duet to the stable when you play an Anglo, and 2) anyone played the new Elise? I started on a Rochelle, and except for the stiff bellows it wasn't half bad. Moved up from that to a nice Tedrow.

You should be very happy with the Hayden Duet.

 

I have both a Stagi Hayden, and recently got an Elise just to see what it was like.

 

The Elise is missing some chromatic notes from the "standard" 46-key setup, but you know that when you buy it.

My major complaint with the Elise is the friction in the buttons -- they can be hard to push. ANd they're smaller dimater than on the Stagi.

 

On the plus side, the ELise has a solid tone and actually sounds more like a "real" concertina than the Stagi does.

 

I'd say, if you can spring for almsot $1000, get the Stagi Hayden. But may be better to get the $370 Elise, since in either case you'll ultimately want to trade up -- and the next one up, the Tedrow, costs $4750! You might have to live a LONG time wiht your "starter" isntrument. And yes, you will miss those notes missing off hte Elise, sooner than you think.

 

So maybe best to get a Stagi, with all the 46 notes and a smoother action (but the springs are stiffer).

 

But if you just want to try the Hayden system with little money at stake, the Elise is perfect.

Have I got you thoroughly confused? One thing is clear -- Hayden is a great system!

--Mike K