new English concertina player in San Diego

[Mary B]

I got a Jackie about three weeks ago because I wanted to play the English concertina. The only time I had seen a concertina was at a concert by Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen, who plays an EC. My goal is to accompany myself while singing folk songs. I have played the guitar for about two years, but I wanted to learn another instrument to give my fingers a rest from the guitar strings. I had a lot of pain this fall from learning barre chords.

So far I have worked my way through the tutorial that came with the Jackie, as well as most of the Butler tutorial. I find the tunes that require two fingers at the same time very difficult, especially the sixths.

I was very happy that I have been able to learn the melodies of many Christmas carols on the concertina, however I discovered that it is difficult to sing along at the same time. Another problem is playing the tune smoothly; often I play one note much louder than the others. I don't know how to fix that.

I would appreciate any advice.

[Alan Day]

Sounds as though you are doing really well Mary.All the things you are trying to do will come in time with practice.Also bellows control that effects louder sounding notes.The English is better than the Anglo for singing to initially as a common problem is that many (I did as well) breath in and out with the bellows movement.Lots of pull or push notes in one direction leaves you gasping for breath.

We shall all look forward to hearing you sing with the concertina in the future.

Al

[Greg Jowaisas]

Hi Mary,

Welcome to the wonderful world of concertinas.

 

I've found that practicing in a deadly, deliberate staccato style helps my english concertina rhythm. Think of the buttons as being red hot! and as soon as your finger touches one it needs to jump back off. It also gives all the notes about the same volume value. After a half dozen times through the tune or song in this fashion return to your normal playing style and see if this helps rhythm and volume control.

 

On english there is a tendency to play a bit louder on the push. If your bellows are on the stiff side this tendency is even more pronounced. So you may want to monitor what your bellows are doing when your loud notes intrude.

 

I don't think there is a magic solution to singing and playing at the same time other than the dreaded "P" word of practice. When I'm accompanying a new song I often break my practice up into small parts of the song and go over that same small part again and again. It's work! And by the time I'm ready to perform the song in public I'm downright sick of it! However, a few weeks after all that hard work it becomes much more pleasurable and I find myself wondering what was so difficult.

 

Keep at it and when you are ready to upgrade that Jackie drop me a line. I usually have a few vintage concertinas for sale.

 

Greg

[Mary B]

Thanks, Alan and Greg, for your advice.

 

Greg, the biggest problem with louder notes intruding happens when I play an eighth note following a dotted quarter note. The eighth note seems to blare out. If I follow your advice about the staccato playing style, should I play the dotted quarter note staccato, too, but wait the correct time before playing the eighth note? I will give it a try. Thanks, again.

 

Mary

[Ransom]

It's hard to say for sure what's going on without seeing & hearing it, but it sounds like you're letting the motion of your fingers pressing the buttons have some effect on your bellows motion. Maybe when you hit that eighth note, you're giving the bellows an extra little squeeze, or a little pull on the thumb straps.

 

In any case, you'll want to practice your dynamics. Take a really easy tune, or a scale, or a simple fingering exercise-- something where you can easily play the right notes without having to think or worry about it. A scale in half notes would be just the thing to start with. Then set yourself some volume exercises to practice until they come out sounding just how you want. Here are some sample exercises you might start with:

1. Play each note loudly
   
2. Play each note softly
   
3. Play two notes loudly, and two softly, then two loud again, two soft, etc.
   
4. Play each note starting very softly, getting gradually louder, and finishing loudly, then starting the next note very quietly again
   

 

Once you've got an exercise sounding just like you want it to, you can add that troublesome dotted-quarter+eighth rhythm in place of some of the half notes.

[Greg Jowaisas]

Thanks, Alan and Greg, for your advice.

 

Greg, the biggest problem with louder notes intruding happens when I play an eighth note following a dotted quarter note. The eighth note seems to blare out. If I follow your advice about the staccato playing style, should I play the dotted quarter note staccato, too, but wait the correct time before playing the eighth note? I will give it a try. Thanks, again.

 

Mary

 

In practicing staccato I would make all the notes clipped and short sounding. The space in between would determine the time value of the previous note. (Exaggerated) Playing like that makes your regular playing crisper.

 

The concertina, especially the english has a wonderful ability to sustain a note. This strength becomes a weakness when legato completely takes over. I think texture can be an important part of good music. So as you gain facility it can be interesting to make things more staccato or then legato, to add octaves or harmonies an arpeggio instead of a chord. It all takes practice, practice, practice. Or should I say, "Spending enjoyable time experimenting with your instrument."?

 

Ransom is probably correct in that your efforts to get to that eighth note are affecting your bellows and volume control. I have a friend who teaches folk guitar and banjo. He has the "5 minute cure". He has his students isolate the passage (measure or two) that trips themselves up by their either speeding up or slowing down or tripping over notes. He then sets a timer and has them deliberately play the offending part often at half speed for 5 minutes promising all will be well when they complete this task. 5 minutes later there is usually no problem.

 

Greg

Edited December 18, 2010 by Greg Jowaisas