Who do you listen to?

[Jody Kruskal]

As I try to become a better concertina player there are performances I hear that inspire me and that I try to emulate. Sure, a few are played on the concertina but most are played on other instruments. I am listening to old recordings of American fiddlers mostly, but sometimes old recordings of banjo singers like Uncle Dave Macon or guitar singers like Mississippi John Hurt are more helpful than any concertina performance could ever be. I try to translate what I like in these old recordings to my concertina playing and so gain insight into new ways to get a sound from my chosen instrument, the Anglo concertina.

 

Example: I was just putting together a written arrangement of "Shepton Mallet" for some students of mine and went looking for the source for this tune on the web. According to Roger Digby this tune comes from the playing of harmonica player, Jim Small from Cheddar, England. While I could not find a free download of him playing Shepton Mallet, I did find a few other tunes available here: http://www.davidhambley.co.uk/ScottishHarmonica/audio.html

 

What a joyous sound from the harmonica! Full of dance rhythm and bounce. Could I sound like that on the concertina? I could sure try!

 

So, dear readers, might you provide links to a sound that you would like to emulate on the concertina, so that we could all hear what you like? I'm not asking for your preference for a particular tune but rather your preference for a particular sound, groove, rhythm, style or quality that you might aim to achieve on the solo concertina.

[Robin Madge]

Toccatina for the flutes by Pietro Yon.

 

I have a recording of Noel Rawsthorne playing it on the ogran of Liverpool Cathedral. It is a very light and delicate sounding piece, almost "tinkling" and can be adapted to play on the Anglo.

 

Robin Madge

[SteveS]

I've been listening a lot recently to the playing of the Swedish fiddler Kalle Almlöf - his music from Malung in the west of Sweden close to the Norwegian border is inspiring me to adapt fiddle music that I'd previously thought was beyond me on EC. The EC lends itself quite well to most of the ornamentation that fiddlers use. The trick is to maintain the feel of e.g. polska, springlek, pols, that is imparted to the dancers by the bowing of the fiddle.

 

The start of a pleasurable experience.

 

Steve

Edited January 25, 2011 by SteveS

[Frank Edgley]

There are a few concertina players, but there is one button accordion CD that is one of my favourites: Patty Furlong from the New York area. Not only are the tunes played beautifully, but the tune selection is excellent! I would find myself whistling a melody, and wonder, "Where did that come from?" Of course, the Patty Furlong CD! I frequently put it back on to get the details of the tune & how she played it.

[Guest Martin Gibson]

Alistair Anderson and Will Atkinson for Tunes, Steve Turner, Damien Barber, Dick Miles, Keith Kendrick for Songs.

[Jody Kruskal]

Toccatina for the flutes by Pietro Yon.

 

 

Robin Madge

 

Sounds like three English concertinas to me. Lovely.

[Dominic]

Jacqueline Mc Carthy made me want to play the Concertina :

I simply love her style

 

and then Chris Droney:

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Reel-Mullinavat-Whistling-Postman-Chattering/dp/B002EKWLHY/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1295987327&sr=1-16

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Old-Cuffe-Street-Eileen-Curran/dp/B003R9KM36/ref=dm_ap_trk4?ie=UTF8&qid=1295986751&sr=8-3

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Ebb-Tide/dp/B003R9KNH6/ref=dm_ap_trk8?ie=UTF8&qid=1295986751&sr=8-3

 

And among plenty of others

 

Paul Brock: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00377XIYS/ref=dm_dp_trk8?ie=UTF8&qid=1295986128&sr=1-1-fkmr0

 

Na Filí: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0038KR4PI/ref=dm_dp_trk1?ie=UTF8&qid=1295985965&sr=8-5

[david fabre]

Currently on my CD drive, when it's not "naked concertina" or the other with the snowman, is the eponymous CD of Josephine Marsh.

A very inspiring melodeon playing, without complicated ornamentation, but with lot of rhythm and swing !

[Tootler]

Kathryn Tickell

 

For concertina, Andy Turner

 

Not forgetting Anglo International which opened my ears to the variety of playing styles possible on the Anglo.

[Dieppe]

Stan Rogers, not because there is that much concertina (necessarily), but because he was a hero, and I love those folk sea-songs, as well as songs of his own.

 

Patrick

[Ransom]

I have an interest in harmonica music, although it hasn't particularly informed my concertina playing yet. You might give a listen to

and Kyle Wooten.

[david_boveri]

My favorites lately are Brendan McGlinchey, James Kelly, Martin Hayes, Maurice Lennon, and Cathal Hayden. Anyone see a trend?

 

There are a few concertina players, but there is one button accordion CD that is one of my favourites: Patty Furlong from the New York area. Not only are the tunes played beautifully, but the tune selection is excellent! I would find myself whistling a melody, and wonder, "Where did that come from?" Of course, the Patty Furlong CD! I frequently put it back on to get the details of the tune & how she played it.

 

Patty is a great player and a delightful person. She has also been working on concertina for the last couple years, so she's secretly one of us.

[Boney]

While I could not find a free download of him playing Shepton Mallet

Mmm, great stuff! You can find the Shepton Mallet here: http://www.concertina.net/ecs/07.mp3

 

Linked from Roger Digby's article English Country Music – A Personal View.

[michael sam wild]

no disrespect to other players but a regular favourite is Tommy McCarthy and Jaqueline McCrthy. Josephine Marsh and Jackie Daly.

[Randy Stein]

For free reeds, Richard Galliano. Miles Davis for everything else.

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[ceemonster]

i listen often to instruments which do NOT have "push-pull" components, to see where those instruments lift off the note, both at phrase ends and within phrase runs, to achieve phrasing that has the swing, lift, and nyah of traditional irish dance music rather than an overly connected, overly smooth classical sound. i also listen to "long-bow" style fiddlers, many of whom are from clare and east galway traditions, for this as well.

 

that is because i love the kind of phrasing fiddlers sometimes call "long-bow," or "round edged" as opposed to"short-bow," or "square-edged." i find the so-called noel hill system of cross-row fingering, while more "round-edged" than pure "on the rows" fingering, to be more square-edged than if you put all notes on the concertina in play and trained yourself to be fluent enough to choose for how you wanted to phrase, like fiddlers do, as opposed to using only those at the inner front. you give up some bass chord opps this way, but i don't give a #@!$% about bass chord opps.

 

i also listen to non-back-and-forth instruments and "long-bow" fiddling for phrasing training because i am switching from push-pull accordion to unisonoric (cba), which has gotten a bad rap as not having irish nyah because many PA players phrase too smooth, like they've never studied the staccato note spacing and phrase breaks of irish dance music. unisonoric accordions won't give you "square edge" or "back-and-forth" nyah, but they will phrase every bit as traditionally as the non-back-and-forth instruments such as pipes, flute, whistle, and the more fluid long-bow fiddle styles....of course, you can also listen to the bidirectional instrument players for note-break phrasing tips as well....

 

so these days i'm listening to a lot of mike rafferty, jack coen, and paddy carty, willy clancy, both rowsomes, mick o'brien, the clare piper whose last name is talty, can't remember his first name, lots of travelling piper music because i love the fluid traveller phrasing; and lots of paddy canny, conor tully, bobby casey, junior crehan, lucy farr, eileen o'brien, and more, so much more....

Edited January 27, 2011 by ceemonster

[Jody Kruskal]

For free reeds, Richard Galliano. Miles Davis for everything else.

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Miles could be very instructive for thinking about bellows control, hmmmm interesting idea.

[Jody Kruskal]

i also listen to non-back-and-forth instruments and "long-bow" fiddling for phrasing training because i am switching from push-pull accordion to unisonoric (cba), which has gotten a bad rap as not having irish nyah because many PA players phrase too smooth, like they've never studied the staccato note spacing and phrase breaks of irish dance music. unisonoric accordions won't give you "square edge" or "back-and-forth" nyah, but they will phrase every bit as traditionally as the non-back-and-forth instruments such as pipes, flute, whistle, and the more fluid long-bow fiddle styles....of course, you can also listen to the bidirectional instrument players for note-break phrasing tips as well....

 

nyah? Which of these meanings (if any) do you mean? http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=nyah

 

Yes, cee. This is the sort of thinking I was inquiring about... what can fiddlers tell us about phrasing on the concertina? Links to allow us to quickly listen in to what you are listening to would be very appreciated.

 

As for me I have been listening for what the finger picking guitar blues guys can suggest about arrangements and accompaniment on the Anglo. For instance:

 

Mississippi Fred McDowell - Shake 'Em On Down

I've been trying (with some success) to achieve a sound somewhat like this kind of driving rhythm with off beat accents and a simple bass movement of only a few notes. Sounds a really cool groove on Anglo.