Chords and Air Supply on Rochelle

[ConcertinaCoveter]

I bought a Rochelle last week and have been working my way through the supplied tutor.

 

There are some exercises with 3-note chords that I find "exhaust" the bellows pretty quickly so that I have to use the air button a LOT. Is this just a Rochelle issue or will there be as much air expended in the reeds on an intermediate instrument (like the Morse or Tedrow)?

 

Additionally, some notes in the chords stand out more loudly than others - usually the lower notes are louder, almost drowning out (or asphyxiating?) the high notes. Also a Rochelle issue?

 

Thanks!

 

Paul

[Bruce McCaskey]

I've tried a few Rochelle's, and while I think they offer excellent value for their price and make a good starting point into Anglo playing for those on a budget, they do have limitations and you've identified a couple of them. Sustained chords with three or four notes can quickly exhaust the bellows of even high-end concertinas if played at full volume, and I believe you'll find the Rochelle tends to run out of air far more quickly than the higher grade instruments.

 

Regarding the relative volume of notes in a chord, I've found Rochelles to sometimes be rather uneven from button to button on volume, especially of played softly. When you comment on some notes in a chord "standing out more loudly than others," I'm not sure of the range of notes you're playing. If you mean a combination such as a low-end G-B-D I'd expect that all of those notes should be of about equal volume. On the other hand, if you're playing a low end G-B with the D an octave above (top of the left-side G row), I'd expect the high D to be clearly discernable, but it might be somewhat covered by the lower notes, and more so if you were to play, for example, a higher right-side G with the low end G-B.

 

In general it's not uncommon to find lower end left-side notes have greater volume (for a particular bellows pressure) and can overpower the right-side high end notes on Anglos, even among the better names of instruments, though some are more balanced in this regard than others and valued for that trait. When I play my Dipper County Clare I tend to drop out the notes of chords as I go to high notes in a melody, reducing chords from three notes to two, or even just the single fundamental if it's to be played against the very high end notes.

 

On the other hand, I find that on most of the better concertinas the bulk of the mid-range notes tend to hold up well against chords, though I use single bass range notes and two-note chords far more frequently than three-note versions, the latter can be pretty strong against any single higher note.

 

Again, I want to point out that a Rochelle is a great value for the money and so I don't expect them to perform like the considerably more expensive instruments. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to new players that are looking to try out the Anglo without investing $1,000 or more for the opportunity.

Edited August 25, 2011 by Bruce McCaskey

[ConcertinaCoveter]

Thanks for the insights, Bruce.

 

It is a right side vs left side problem for the most part. It's almost as if there is so much air going out the lower reeds that there's not enough pressure (or oomph) to sound the higher reeds.

 

Paul

[Bruce McCaskey]

I think you've likely summed up the situation accurately.

 

I imagine the use of multiple low end reeds drops the bellows pressure to the point where the higher reeds are essentially starved for air. You can increase your force on the bellows to bring up and maintain the internal bellows pressure but doing so will also likely increase the air flow and audio level (volume) on those low reeds too, with the result that the audio volume of the high end reeds still gets lost still and you run out of air even more quickly.

 

I think your best option at this point is to learn to play chords with fewer notes (two or even a single note) against the higher notes and drop the chords entirely if needed to permit the high notes to be clearly heard.

 

I went back and touched up my previous post on this topic, realizing today that at one point I'd made reference to a high "G" that should have actually been a "D" in that text.

[david_boveri]

i think it is largely a rochelle issue. the biggest problem is not that the air is quickly exhausted, but the fact that the air button is so hard to use! in comparison, on a nice concertina it will seem like the air button can empty or fill the concertina instantly.

[malcolmbebb]

Interesting - I had similar problems which led to me giving up on accompaniment and chords. However, I think part of the problem was trying to hold the notes/chords too long anyway.

 

Time to revisit.

[david_boveri]

Interesting - I had similar problems which led to me giving up on accompaniment and chords. However, I think part of the problem was trying to hold the notes/chords too long anyway.

 

Time to revisit.

 

the anglo concertina is designed to do chords and accompaniment. you don't have to do it, but a lot of the weird quirks of the instrument are to facilitate chording. the C and G row are that way so you can always find a chord on the push (which means the scales make a little less sense). there are hidden chords all over the place in random places.... A minor on the pull in the G left hand row, with a D minor pull on theC row below that. A full Eb chord hidden on the accidental row, with a full G chord also on the pull in the C row (not an accident!). also, the accidental row has an A major chord on the bottom (E then A and C#). i could keep going, but you get the point. viewing the instrument melodically is fine, but when you think of it in chords (with limitations based on space), it all makes a bit more sense.

[Doug Anderson]

Again, I want to point out that a Rochelle is a great value for the money and so I don't expect them to perform like the considerably more expensive instruments. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to new players that are looking to try out the Anglo without investing $1,000 or more for the opportunity.

I agree. If not for the Rochelle I would not be playing the Anglo today. I began about 12 years ago with an English concertina. My frustration with not being able to play melody and accompaniment (my problem, not the instrument's) led me to switch to a Melodeon about six years ago. That was better, but I was still limited to just bass notes and chords for accompaniment. I was tempted to try an Anglo, but after two false starts I was hesitant to put even more money into the search for THE instrument. Finally, some positive comments here about the Rochelle convinced me to give it a try. I was accustomed to playing good instruments (Wheatstone, Castagnari, Saltarelle, Morse) and was pleasantly surprised by the playability and sound of the Rochelle. It's a tremendous value. I would probably have stayed with it longer if it was available as a G/D. I found that playing melody and a low harmony on the C row of the Rochelle was fine but the G row was impossibly squeaky to my ear. I ordered a G/D Morse Céili. It arrived a week ago and I've barely put it down since. Keep in mind that the following observations may be partly the result of the change from C/G to G/D, and not just the change from a Rochelle to a Céili.

 

The first revelation was the air button. A quick tap on the Céili air button at the end of a musical phrase is enough to correctly position the bellows to begin the next phrase. On the Rochelle it takes more like a complete measure to do the same thing. The result is that the Céili always has more air available.

 

The next difference I noticed was the balance between the low and high notes. On the Rochelle, when a chord on the left hand contains the same note as a melody note an octave higher on the right hand the melody note almost disappears. This effect is more noticeable on some notes than on others. It might be something that a good tuning could improve - at a price. In contrast, a right hand melody note on the Céili seems to have more of an "edge" than the same note an octave lower on the left hand. It stands out more clearly.

 

The last difference I've noticed so far is more subtle and may well have more to do with the pitch than with the instrument. On the Rochelle. the two-note chords that I prefer sound thin. That's fine for ethereal pieces in minor keys but it doesn't work well with the hymns and American folk tunes that I mostly play. Switching to three or four-note chords exacerbates the air and balance issues I mentioned above. On the Céili, two-note chords have a fuller sound which creates more opportunities for interesting harmonies and moving bass lines.

 

To sum up, buying the Rochelle worked out very well for me. But even if the result had been deciding that it was not for me, I'd have felt that I'd given the Anglo a fair chance. I would encourage anyone considering taking up the Anglo to buy a Rochelle and give it a squeeze.