Hand placement

[yfried]

In this movie, it looks to me like there is too much play or looseness in the way that I am playing the concertina. The bellows seem to be at angles rather than straight on a lot of the time.

The Lady's Pantelettes

 

Typically, I place the concertina on my left thigh with the point of the hexagon on my thigh.

I am wondering if my hand placement is incorrect.

 

Here are the 3 ways that I could hold the concertina:

Pictures of Hand Positions

 

The most comfortable one for me is the one at about 140 degree angle. The one where the point of the hexagon is pointing towards the sky.

 

If you have any thoughts, I would appreciate it if you would share them with me.

 

Yvonne

 

Playing a Bflat/F Carroll Concertina #052.

[Michael Eskin]

Yvonne, call me, I can go over this with you in detail.

[Alan Day]

Interesting because I would normally suggest to anyone that they go with whatever is comfortable for them. Having a point of the concertina end digging in your leg all night would not be recommended. So a flat surface of the concertina would be better. You hold your concertina very high and near your body, I thought first of all you were sitting in a very low chair so your knees are up high,or that you are very tall. I play normally with the concertina nearer my knee, but when standing the concertina corner rests on the palm of your hand and your arms are usually parallel with the body.It is something you have to experiment with but as you have been playing with the concertina in this position for some time it will take a little while for you to adjust to a more comfortable and relaxed way of playing.

Al

[PeterT]

 

The most comfortable one for me is the one at about 140 degree angle. The one where the point of the hexagon is pointing towards the sky.

 

 

Hi Yvonne,

 

I think that 'comfort' is key, along with being relaxed. This is almost exactly the playing position which I adopt.

 

If it is of any help, I have attached a short video clip. The only thing to bear in mind is that I am describing the 'English' style; for 'Irish' style, read left end on left leg, rather than right end on right leg. A very slight downward pressure stops the instrument from moving whilst being played.

 

Regards,

Peter.

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/ConcertinaTuition#p/f/1/4esXds_v6xk

[yfried]

Interesting because I would normally suggest to anyone that they go with whatever is comfortable for them. Having a point of the concertina end digging in your leg all night would not be recommended. So a flat surface of the concertina would be better. You hold your concertina very high and near your body, I thought first of all you were sitting in a very low chair so your knees are up high,or that you are very tall.

 

Al

 

Yes, you are right.......I was sitting in an unusually low chair (not comfortably) but because the laptop taking the picture was on a low table........what brought this all up was that I was trying to test posting a concertina video and was relatively "horrified" by how sloppy the technique looked. I've always looked at experienced players and just presumed that my technique looked like theirs and was surprised at how all over everywhere the ends of the instrument and the bellows were during my playing. I should probably try this in a normal chair where my feet are flat on the floor (I am 5 foot 2 and normally consider myself on the "short" side).

 

 

Thank you for your comments.

 

Yvonne

[yfried]

I think that 'comfort' is key, along with being relaxed. This is almost exactly the playing position which I adopt.

 

Regards,

Peter.

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/ConcertinaTuition#p/f/1/4esXds_v6xk

 

Thank you for the video reference......that is very helpful. I'll also look at the rest of your videos as well.

 

Yvonne

[CaryK]

In this movie, it looks to me like there is too much play or looseness in the way that I am playing the concertina. The bellows seem to be at angles rather than straight on a lot of the time.

The Lady's Pantelettes

 

Typically, I place the concertina on my left thigh with the point of the hexagon on my thigh.

I am wondering if my hand placement is incorrect.

 

Here are the 3 ways that I could hold the concertina:

Pictures of Hand Positions

 

The most comfortable one for me is the one at about 140 degree angle. The one where the point of the hexagon is pointing towards the sky.

 

If you have any thoughts, I would appreciate it if you would share them with me.

 

Yvonne

 

Playing a Bflat/F Carroll Concertina #052.

 

 

Yvonne,

I checked your photos. Was instructed to use the middle picture you showed for instrument placement. That is, place the point of the hexagon on the thigh with the arms and wrists more or less in a straight line, though leaning it forward away from the body as in your left picture may be ok too, though looks uncomfortable on the wrists to me. Comfort is pretty important, but the reasoning for putting the point on the thigh was that by putting the flat of the concertina on your leg you are essentially dampening some of the sound against your body. I've never found placing the point of the concertina on my thigh to be uncomfortable and that has been my default position for several years now.

 

CaryK

[david_boveri]

Interesting because I would normally suggest to anyone that they go with whatever is comfortable for them. Having a point of the concertina end digging in your leg all night would not be recommended. So a flat surface of the concertina would be better. You hold your concertina very high and near your body, I thought first of all you were sitting in a very low chair so your knees are up high,or that you are very tall. I play normally with the concertina nearer my knee, but when standing the concertina corner rests on the palm of your hand and your arms are usually parallel with the body.It is something you have to experiment with but as you have been playing with the concertina in this position for some time it will take a little while for you to adjust to a more comfortable and relaxed way of playing.

Al

 

In my experience, putting the concertina on the flat side while sitting tends to cause undue wrist curvature, which can develop into problems if you are susceptible to repetitive motion injuries. I play with the corner into my leg, and I agree with Cary in that putting the corner off the leg opens the sound up considerably, and that it has never caused me problems,

[Azalin]

Yvonne, I have once been told in a class that my concertina was moving too much. I was told that the side of the concertina resting on your leg, in your case the left side, should be as stable as possible, with the other hand doing much of the work in term of pulling and pushing. Also, I think advanced players tend to keep the concertina as unextended as possible, keeping both sides close to each other... Maybe synchonizing all of this might help with bellow movements. I know I improved in the past two years but sometimes I feel my concertina is still moving way too much.

Edited November 25, 2010 by Azalin

[richard]

Hi Yvonne

 

I think.....

 

What it comfortable perhaps has a 50% chance of being a technique that will help you play well throughout your playing career, OR It could be something that just became a habit for arbitrary reasons or no reason at all and when, you as you play further and improve in other areas, what is comfortable now might hold you back and become an obstacle to playing and sounding as you would like.

 

In your video I see you pulling and pushing from your right side with your wrist. What I think is one should be playing with the upper arm,from your shoulder,(as "you know who" recommends) and not with your wrists as it seems you are doing. I think playing with your upper arms helps one play with more agility and control, especially when getting more up to speed and with rapid bellow changes. I think perhaps there is nothing efficient about using wrists as the point of pulling and pushing. You can see all the extra movement happening which I think is energy thrown away and not serving the music.

 

My free advice, worth every penny.

 

Yours,

 

Richard