SteveS Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 (edited) I didn't send a PM as I suspect more people than I would be interested in the answer. The Ben Paley book is unavailable as far as I can tell. What other resources for concertina friendly Scandi music could you point me to? Randall So as to limit thread creep I've started another thread - Svenska Låtar Steve Edited October 20, 2009 by SteveS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikefule Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 What a huge privilege it is to be able to choose between two musical instruments. Most people never get to play one, and most who do never really make any significant progress. I came to the Anglo late, having "played at" music for 25 - 30 years instead of "playing" music. I so wish I'd found the Anglo years ago. For me, the melodeon is no comparison, but to some of my friends, the melodeon is a highly versatile and enjoyable instrument. Two things: If you love music, then enjoy playing it - and if you are one of those lucky people who can play more than one instrument, make the most of your choice. Ther eis no rule that says the Anglo is "better" than the melodeon. It is different, that's all. When you hit the wall, climb over it. I've been a dancer for 26 years, and there has hardly been a season when I haven't felt the urge to give up, at least once, but I've pushed on, and learned to value overy opportunity to dance. My legs won't last forever, and neither will your fingers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hup Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Don't worry about it! Go play melodion for a while, or take up a third instrument. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDT Posted October 21, 2009 Author Share Posted October 21, 2009 I've figured out..I think ..what the problem is. I have no goal. I think I need a workshop, or and event of some kind to give me that target to aim for, and motivation. Its my lazy metality again. I don't do anything unless there is a end result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 I've figured out..I think ..what the problem is. I have no goal. I think I need a workshop, or and event of some kind to give me that target to aim for, and motivation. Its my lazy metality again. I don't do anything unless there is a end result. Here you go then, a date for your diary. Saturday 27th March 2010 And a quiz: You just have to figure out where it is, which I suspect will take no more than a second or two . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDT Posted October 21, 2009 Author Share Posted October 21, 2009 I've figured out..I think ..what the problem is. I have no goal. I think I need a workshop, or and event of some kind to give me that target to aim for, and motivation. Its my lazy metality again. I don't do anything unless there is a end result. Here you go then, a date for your diary. Saturday 27th March 2010 And a quiz: You just have to figure out where it is, which I suspect will take no more than a second or two . Melodeons & More? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterT Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 I don't do anything unless there is a end result. Sounds like you need a Morris team to play for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Madge Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Looking at your photo of the Old Man, it seems that you don't have our jinx with it. We've been up nine times and only seen the view twice, and only got back down dry once! One occasion was the only time I have literally poured water out of my boots. Robin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon H Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 (edited) Ok - this one has got me to thinking, and I'm not at all sure I'm in agreement with the "put it on a shelf and you'll come back to it when you're ready for it". Many of the people who say this are I suspect from what I understand of their postings very accomplished players. I think it is quite different for someone such as yourself who is at the beyond-beginner, developing stage. I identify a lot with the frustrations and pains you have gone through and shared on this forum learning the Anglo, as I am at a similar level on EC. Like you, I have recently acquired a top notch instrument to further my playing. Unlike you though, I have kept myself solely concentrating on EC (other than a little low whistle and piano to keep my hand in). I genuinely fear stopping playing even though there are times I feel I would happily throw my Aeola against the wall in frustration! The last thing I want people to think of me is a dilletante, someone who got an expensive instrument, appeared at a few local sessions, played badly, started to improve, then disappeared off the scene. My concertina spent the last 30 years in a garage, For it to be rescued for a couple of years before suffering a similar fate would be scandalous. Once put on the shelf it might just become another of those things I did for a while. It is these thoughts that push me along. But then there is this. I hear a new tune at a session, it catches my ear. I go home and look it up, I get a recording of it, I play it incessantly in my car on the way to work, then I start to move it into my fingers. After a few days practice I can stumble my way through it. Then one morning I get up and as usual before work I have a short practice. I play the tune slowly but for the first time, fluidly - it is (let's say) Trip to Pakistan. My fingers for the first time "get" the second part without a stumble and I extend that long C an extra half second, the plaintive sound of the instrument in my hand speaks and the music suddenly makes sense, it becomes magic to me. At that moment there is no other instrument I would want to be playing than my sweet concertina. Don't get bored - don't give up. Melodeons are not the answer, they are another question. One you will sooner or later ask of yourself, and that question is not about the instrument, it is about you and about music. Edited October 21, 2009 by Simon H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 I've figured out..I think ..what the problem is. I have no goal. I think I need a workshop, or and event of some kind to give me that target to aim for, and motivation. Its my lazy metality again. I don't do anything unless there is a end result. Here you go then, a date for your diary. Saturday 27th March 2010 And a quiz: You just have to figure out where it is, which I suspect will take no more than a second or two . Melodeons & More? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Pierceall Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Getting disenchanted about playing anglo concertina. Everytime I get a choice what to pick up and play I choose the melodeon. What's wrong with me? How can I enjoy playing again? I read where Pablo Casels was asked why he still practiced 6 hours a day at the age of 95, and he replyed that he felt he was improving. But I'm sure there were moments of enchantment along the way. It's all part of the journey, I suppose. Practice equals improvement equals enthusiasm. Perhaps you haven't found the instrument for your journey, or perhaps you have. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterT Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Looking at your photo of the Old Man, it seems that you don't have our jinx with it. We've been up nine times and only seen the view twice, and only got back down dry once! One occasion was the only time I have literally poured water out of my boots. Robin. Hi Robin, No, the Old Man has treated me well; three visits and three days with great views. Maybe not as clear as people might have hoped, but as least counting all the clouds in the sky might have been an option! The summit was busier than my July 1980 visit and, in August 1996, I had it to myself. Regards, Peter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anglo-Irishman Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Ok - this one has got me to thinking, and I'm not at all sure I'm in agreement with the "put it on a shelf and you'll come back to it when you're ready for it". Many of the people who say this are I suspect from what I understand of their postings very accomplished players. I think it is quite different for someone such as yourself who is at the beyond-beginner, developing stage. Simon, Not wishing to refute your posting completely, let me just say that although I'm one of the "Butterfly People" flitting from instrument to instrument and back, I am in no way an accomplished player. I play competently in ensemble situations, and I have a few instrumental solo party pieces. And I've been "flitting" since I started. I was blessed with a musical home that was full of playable instruments, and I got the hang of them one after the other, then improved them one after the other, then brought them to "informal public performance" level one after the other. Now I'm working on improving my "formal public performance" on a couple of them. I do have one advantage: my core musical competence is singing, so I really only need to get the instruments to accompaniment level - the instrumental party pieces are "nice to have". I identify a lot with the frustrations and pains you have gone through and shared on this forum learning the Anglo, as I am at a similar level on EC. Like you, I have recently acquired a top notch instrument to further my playing. Unlike you though, I have kept myself solely concentrating on EC (other than a little low whistle and piano to keep my hand in). I genuinely fear stopping playing even though there are times I feel I would happily throw my Aeola against the wall in frustration! AHA! So you do mess around with other instruments! I must say, I've never thought of throwing any instrument against the wall. The others are a safety-valve for my frustration. Sometimes I'll play the tune that was eluding me on the Crane, for instance, on the banjo. (I'm not into BG or ITM, so my material is usually suitable for both instruments.) Usually I get an insight into the tune that makes it easier on the Crane when I come back. (Banjo is great, because your hands are not strapped down. Concertina is great, because your hand doesn't have to fly up and down the neck. A change is as good as a rest, as they say! ) Cheers, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 ...I am in no way an accomplished player. I play competently in ensemble situations, and I have a few instrumental solo party pieces. Different people have different ideas of what it means to be an "accomplished player". To many, I suspect, your above description of yourself would put you in that category. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anglo-Irishman Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 ...I am in no way an accomplished player. I play competently in ensemble situations, and I have a few instrumental solo party pieces. Different people have different ideas of what it means to be an "accomplished player". To many, I suspect, your above description of yourself would put you in that category. You obviously haven't heard my instrumental solo party pieces! Cheers, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 ...I am in no way an accomplished player. I play competently in ensemble situations, and I have a few instrumental solo party pieces. Different people have different ideas of what it means to be an "accomplished player". To many, I suspect, your above description of yourself would put you in that category. You obviously haven't heard my instrumental solo party pieces! Oh, I though you meant the pieces were solos, not the parties once you started playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Levine Posted October 23, 2009 Share Posted October 23, 2009 Getting disenchanted about playing anglo concertina. Every time I get a choice what to pick up and play I choose the melodeon. What's wrong with me? How can I enjoy playing again? I read where Pablo Casals was asked why he still practiced 6 hours a day at the age of 95, and he replied that he felt he was improving. But I'm sure there were moments of enchantment along the way. It's all part of the journey, I suppose. Practice equals improvement equals enthusiasm. Perhaps you haven't found the instrument for your journey, or perhaps you have. Mike I knew Pablo Casals. In fact, I was his personal attendant one summer at The Marlboro Music Festival, in Vermont. I saw him every day. To my knowledge he never practiced the concertina -- or the melodeon -- even for one day in his long life. But he was also a wonderful piano player, and he practiced Bach's Two and Three Part Inventions every day, which has some relevance to this thread. When Casals (then age 93) was asked why he continued to practice the cello three hours a day, Casals replied "I'm beginning to notice some improvement." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anglo-Irishman Posted October 23, 2009 Share Posted October 23, 2009 ...I am in no way an accomplished player. I play competently in ensemble situations, and I have a few instrumental solo party pieces. Different people have different ideas of what it means to be an "accomplished player". To many, I suspect, your above description of yourself would put you in that category. You obviously haven't heard my instrumental solo party pieces! Oh, I though you meant the pieces were solos, not the parties once you started playing. Oh, so you have heard them, then? Cheers, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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