reflecting on concertina.net

[david_boveri]

i was just writing a thread reflecting on noel hill's irish concertina school, when i was thinking about how long i have been reading and posting here as well. it will be 5 years in just a few days! i just wanted to say thank you to everyone who contributes here to the lively discussions on concertinas. i feel like this site is the backbone of the international concertina community. i had a room mate once who is big into the internet, so he checked out this site after seeing me on it. he thought it was the strangest thing to see an entire internet forum devoid of trolls, windups, spam, and dirty pictures. i think we are so lucky to have such a positive environment to chat about and ask questions about concertinas . the worst arguments we have here are unbelievably mild compared to the normal discourse on other sites.

 

i've learned a lot from everyone here, and have even made friends in real life from c-net in addition to those members i already know. believe it or not, but i've actually had several conversations with people, and then when they hear my name, they say, "oh, yeah, i've read your posts online." it makes me a little nervous to hear that, but oh well

 

what i've really appreciated is learning so much about concertina history, and how different people all over the world use concertinas. i also love how threads seem to grow naturally, and people think things over. on many other forum sites, a thread won't stay on the front page for more than an hour. here they can stay for several days or weeks, which allows everyone to think and consider before they post.

 

i guess this is my second "looking back thread" in under an hour, but i'm glad i chose an instrument with a following as nice, helpful, fun, and interesting as the people are here. i hope i continue to have time to keep up with what goes on here. i haven't posted as much as i'd like to lately (lucky everyone else ), but i still enjoy reading when i can.

[David Levine]

"...this site is the backbone of the international concertina community."

 

I don't think so. The people about whom we talk on this site form the backbone of the international concertina community. If there even is such a thing.

The world is a lot bigger than the internet. And the internet is a lot bigger than C-net.

[Chris Timson]

Have to agree. It would be fair to describe this site as the heart of the Internet concertina community, but there are still many, many more players not on here than are on here. Still, for me the world wouldn't be the same without it ... Thanks once again, Paul and Ken.

 

Chris

[danersen]

Perhaps, a backbrace, then ...

[Simon H]

"i feel like this site is the backbone of the international concertina community."

 

Depends on the definition of community. Most definitions of community have the word "interacting" in them, and in such terms David is right. I have no doubt there are many, many concertina players who have no interest in the internet, forums, email or any other such new-fangled nonsense. Whether these players are part of the international concertina community is a moot point. They are certainly part of a notional list of international concertina players but are they members of the "community" - interacting? Since the demise of Dick Glasgow's Ning concertina webrings, I am not aware of any other major groupings or communities or forums aside from c.net here. There is The Session and I know a few members here post over there from time to time. But I wouldn't see that as a community of concertina players.

 

But can people who interact on the web be considered a community? I believe they can, and David's original post sets out eloquently why. Certainly it is not the only community and players who know each other in the real world form another, perhaps more real community. I don't know as I'm not lucky enough to know many players out in the wild.

 

Still I know for me this site makes me feel connected to other players, and I feel part of a community by participating. Long may it continue.

 

Simon

[michael sam wild]

As one who was feral , when I came in from the wild I 'met' a new buch of players quite a few of whom I would now consider friends or colleagues. i have had so much help from people in a lot of countries and links to some great sources.

 

So thanks Paul and Ken et al.

Edited August 13, 2010 by michael sam wild

[JimLucas]

i feel like this site is the backbone of the international concertina community.

I don't know that I would characterize these forums as a "backbone". More like a pub or community hall, or -- more truly, I think -- Paul's virtual living room... a place where friends and comrades hang out.

 

And I'll take issue with your use of the word "the" in "the international concertina community". Irish (and "Irish") concertina players have their own international community (or communities). So do Morris dance concertinists. So do folk-singer concertinists. And of course, there's the International Concertina Association. None of these inhabit the internet the way Concertina.net does, though they all intersect/overlap with our community here. I'm sure that some members of those other communities even use the internet for other purposes, yet haven't bothered joining Concertina.net.

 

What we have here is wonderful, and our influence certainly extends beyond these "pages", but we aren't the entire (concertina) universe. I do think that universe would be less if we were to disappear, but it wouldn't collapse into a gelatinous heap without our "backbone". And I'm glad of that.

[david_boveri]

glad that everyone seems to find fault in an innocuous comment.... there are many people who play concertina that do not post here or read here. i'm glad everyone realized this. i'm sorry to have offended all the modem-less, luddite concertina players in the world. oh, wait, i didn't, because they're not reading this site!

 

all these comments are making me feel much less nostalgic

 

thanks to those who understood the spirit of my comment.

[david_boveri]

glad that everyone seems to find fault in an innocuous comment.... there are many people who play concertina that do not post here or read here. i'm glad everyone realized this. i'm sorry to have offended all the modem-less, luddite concertina players in the world. oh, wait, i didn't, because they're not reading this site!

 

all these comments are making me feel much less nostalgic

 

thanks to those who understood the spirit of my comment.

 

this is more proof of my point on the friendliness of the board... although annoying, the ribbing for my comment is rather harmless, and is more of a hyperbolic correction than any sort of argument.

[Chris Timson]

Well, as we say at our home session at times like these: "Oh, bugger it! Somebody start a tune!"

 

Chris

[Roger Gawley]

It is really interesting to see all these people differing so amicably.

 

And thanks for the plug for the ICA, Jim. Not sure that we regard ourselves as a backbone but we do try to bring people together so I guess that we are a kind of community.

Edited August 17, 2010 by Roger Gawley

[michael sam wild]

And ICA website is very informative . I'm glad I joined , just got the magazines.

 

From 'virtual', I have now met a lot of 'real' people who are a nice bunch

[Dave C]

I am a new member here and I don't even play the concertina! I got involved with trying to aquire, repair, and play an early French accordeon commonly referred to as a flutina. I've found a lot of really useful information here about construction and repairs, much more than on any other site I've visited. The knowledge I've found here has been invaluable, and I've come to understand the similarities betwween the two instruments. For years I've been playing an early style banjo in a band that plays the popular music of mid-19th century America, mostly at Civil War reenactments and other history themed venues. From some casual research I've come to realize that these accordeons and concertinas were as popular as the banjo in this time period, which is too say very popular and almost ubiquitous. My goal is to incorporate the flutina into my band, playing along with the banjo and percussion (tambourine, rhythm bones, etc.). My post today should serve as a new member introduction as well as a reflection on this forum. There is a treasure trove of information accumulated here, and from what I've seen so far, an even bigger treasure in the folks that post here as well, I'm sure, as the folks that just read the forums. Dave Culgan, banjoist with the Camptown Shakers band.

[Bob Tedrow]

Dave, may I recommend the Book(s) by Dan Worrall "The Anglo Concertina, A Social History" Sounds like it might be right up your alley.

 

Bob, banjoist/concertinist Tedrow

 

I am a new member here and I don't even play the concertina! I got involved with trying to aquire, repair, and play an early French accordeon commonly referred to as a flutina. I've found a lot of really useful information here about construction and repairs, much more than on any other site I've visited. The knowledge I've found here has been invaluable, and I've come to understand the similarities betwween the two instruments. For years I've been playing an early style banjo in a band that plays the popular music of mid-19th century America, mostly at Civil War reenactments and other history themed venues. From some casual research I've come to realize that these accordeons and concertinas were as popular as the banjo in this time period, which is too say very popular and almost ubiquitous. My goal is to incorporate the flutina into my band, playing along with the banjo and percussion (tambourine, rhythm bones, etc.). My post today should serve as a new member introduction as well as a reflection on this forum. There is a treasure trove of information accumulated here, and from what I've seen so far, an even bigger treasure in the folks that post here as well, I'm sure, as the folks that just read the forums. Dave Culgan, banjoist with the Camptown Shakers band.

[shelly0312]

As one who was feral , when I came in from the wild I 'met' a new buch of players quite a few of whom I would now consider friends or colleagues. i have had so much help from people in a lot of countries and links to some great sources.

 

So thanks Paul and Ken et al.

 

 

 

I'm still chewing on the descriptive "feral" concertinist--especially by someone running the monker of "Wild"...it is all so appealing that I keep coming back to it, days later. This is a great and interesting group "ena hey"?

Michelle (SE Wis)

[michael sam wild]

Hi Michelle. Yes I was prowling round out their in the 'dark' sqealing and screetching when I found this network.

 

I nervously crept up and the members put out a few titbits and I snatched them and went back to my old life.

 

Gradually I was drawn into the fold and learned to relax with these strange beings.

 

 

I am still comfortable enough,but once in a while I feel moved to head off back to the wooods and hills and do my own thing.

 

There are still a lot of my own kind out there and they don't mind exactly where I place my fingers or which knee I rest my bellows on as long as the music sounds good.

 

 

Yours The green man ( incidentally the names or adjectives wild or savage , both derive from the word for a wood, Germanic , wald or Latin -silva . Fera means a wild animal in Latin which was my early nickname at grammar school conferred by the teacher. Anglo-Saxon prevailed in the endas we resisted his posh efforts, a short 4 letter word.

Edited August 21, 2010 by michael sam wild