Playing in D minor rather than E minor on a CG anglo

[domron]

Hi

I recently transferred over to A CG anglo concertina from playing fiddle and mandolin.

I ordered the concertina by post (i live in Italy) and just started playing it as soon as I got it out of the box without worrying which key i was in. Thus i ended up learning/playing Drowsy Maggie and Up to Sligo and Hurry the Jug in D minor instead of the usual fiddle and session E minor.

The session boys in Rome have told me to switch to E minor if I want to play in company.

I find E minor awkward both for the fingering and the bellows (some of the E minor keys don't sound so good on the Rochelle the D minor ones are much warmer)

 

Do other players find the CG anglo concertina particularly D minor friendly ?

 

I have decided to stick to D minor for the moment because the result is so much better all round.

 

Playing in C or G major seems to be much less of a problem.... will keep company in those keys.

 

 

thanks

 

by the way any feedback on Stagis (I live about a 100 km from the factory where they make them)

Most feeds on the internet have told me to keep clear of them

I am hoping to upgrade at some point to something under € 2000 euro

I would appreciate any advice

 

 

thanks again

 

 

Domron

Umbria Italy

[Jim Besser]

 

Do other players find the CG anglo concertina particularly D minor friendly ?

 

 

by the way any feedback on Stagis (I live about a 100 km from the factory where they make them)

Most feeds on the internet have told me to keep clear of them

I am hoping to upgrade at some point to something under € 2000 euro

I would appreciate any advice

 

 

 

Welcome. I'll be in your part of the world in a few months.

 

On my C/G, I almost always prefer Dm to Em; it gives me a better range with better chords.

 

But if you play Irish (I don't) and hope to play with others, you probably need to stick to the keys most commonly used - in the case of Drowsy Maggie, Em.

 

 

[Dan A]

Welcome!

 

Long story short, yeah, D minor is way nicer than E minor. The instrument is designed to be played in C and G, so those keys, and their relative keys, will be much nicer to use than any others. In the past, concertina players would generally be playing in those keys all the time, as they would often be providing music for dances, solo. It's often nice to learn how to play tunes in these keys, as it will allow you to play along with a C session.

 

--Dan

[Azalin]

The session boys in Rome have told me to switch to E minor if I want to play in company.

 

Well, I agree with the session boys in Rome ;-) If your primary purpose is to play on your own, then stick to whatever is easier. But if you want to play with people, don't be lazy and learn to play across the rows. I find Em very easy to play on a C/G. You should learn the 'proper' way now that you're starting on C/G, and not only in a few years, it will be harder to unlearn what you've learned.

 

Ideally, you'll learn the same tune in two keys. The most common session key, and then the less common one.

 

As for Dm, there are tons of tunes that are commonly in Dm in sessions, why not learn them? You can start with "The Broken Pledge", "Sergeant Early's Dream", "Julia Delaney", and many others...

[domron]

The session boys in Rome have told me to switch to E minor if I want to play in company.

 

Well, I agree with the session boys in Rome ;-) If your primary purpose is to play on your own, then stick to whatever is easier. But if you want to play with people, don't be lazy and learn to play across the rows. I find Em very easy to play on a C/G. You should learn the 'proper' way now that you're starting on C/G, and not only in a few years, it will be harder to unlearn what you've learned.

 

Ideally, you'll learn the same tune in two keys. The most common session key, and then the less common one.

 

As for Dm, there are tons of tunes that are commonly in Dm in sessions, why not learn them? You can start with "The Broken Pledge", "Sergeant Early's Dream", "Julia Delaney", and many others...

 

 

Hi thanks for info and tune suggestion

 

My problem (with the Rochelle) is that, more than E minor being more difficult than D minor to play, the sound of some of the E minor keys are ugly.... i was asking myself whether this was just a quirk of the Rochelle... and if i upgraded to say a Morse the problem would be solved?

[Azalin]

Hi thanks for info and tune suggestion

 

My problem (with the Rochelle) is that, more than E minor being more difficult than D minor to play, the sound of some of the E minor keys are ugly.... i was asking myself whether this was just a quirk of the Rochelle... and if i upgraded to say a Morse the problem would be solved?

 

Well, I can't give you an objective suggestion because I started playing with a "hybrid", and never played a Rochelle... but I think with this kind of mechanical instrument, you really want to play on a good instrument to keep your motivation high. A Morse (or Edgley, Tedrow, etc) would be MUCH easier to play, and sound better (in my opinion). I was playing an Edgley for a few years before I got my Dipper, the Edgley was a great instrument!

[michael sam wild]

C/G is the best for Irish Music and I'd advise working hard on the common session keys but have as much fun as you can on other keys you will find others who like those 'unusual 'keys like B minor, G minor, Dminor, F etc all go well on a C/G

[felix castro]

C/G is the best for Irish Music and I'd advise working hard on the common session keys but have as much fun as you can on other keys you will find others who like those 'unusual 'keys like B minor, G minor, Dminor, F etc all go well on a C/G

Hello, I play a lot in D minor, but mainly galician, castilian, spanish music, as it is a common key for bagpipes tuned in C and for diatonic accordions tuned in C/F.

But I play it mainly with melody in the right side and chords in the left side.

This an example of playing in D minor, two tunes that I learned from the excelent group La Musgaña, that plays mainly music from Salamanca, Zamora, the Castilla-León region, that have a lot of aksak rythms too. The tunes are from the "Las 6 Tentaciones" album, and it is called "Toque de Teatro", a dulzaina tune from Burgos and a Toque de Teatro (theatre) from Salamanca.

<object width="400" height="224" ><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="movie" value="http://www.facebook.com/v/1773450053628"'>http://www.facebook.com/v/1773450053628" /><embed src="http://www.facebook.com/v/1773450053628" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="224"></embed></object>

 

 

Félix Castro

Edited April 13, 2012 by felix castro

[david fabre]

I think Dminor and Eminor are both great keys in the anglo, with different possibilities. Dminor is more straightforward, as it is played mainly along the C row. Eminor is less obvious at first sight, as it requires a cross- row approach, but has many interesting properties for playing in a chordal way, including a bass E which is missing in D. I've practised some tunes in both keys and find that each key yield a very different character to the same tune. This is something I enjoy on the anglo : the non- uniformiity of the layout gives to each key a different flavour, something that i think would be lost with a more "logical" note arrangement.

One important point which contributes to this difference of character is that Dminor is a "pulled" key while Eminor is a "pushed" one. Maybe this is the explanation for your feeling with the rochelle, as the pushed notes may not sound as good as the pulled ones ?

Edited April 21, 2012 by david fabre