TennEC Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 Just wanted to get my first post out of the way by saying hello and introducing myself. My name is Stephen and I live in the Middle Tennessee area. My meaningful musical background is over 35 years of on again/off again playing of the bagpipes. Due to sinus issues, I haven't played the Great Highland pipes in many years. I generally keep up my fingering by practicing on an electronic bagpipe along with the occasional playing of my smallpipes. For years, I have been interested in the concertina but not enough to actually try to learn how to play. As I approach my 50th birthday this year, and with the empty-nest syndrome starting to creep in, I have finally decided that now is the time. I started researching and found this forum, as well as the other main sites of interest. I joined about 2 weeks ago and began looking through both current and older threads. I decided to go with an English Concertina and I ordered a Jackie model which arrived this morning. I spent some time on it this afternoon starting in with the included tutor book. I was able to get as far as a somewhat reasonable playing of "When the Saints Go Marching In" before I called it a day. My hands, as well as my brain, were getting tired and I learned years ago with the pipes that when you get tired, you put everything away, rest and try again the next day. While it's not going to be easy to learn right away, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be to get started. That fact alone is encouraging and I have great hope that this will all work out. I am also hoping that my piping will somehow carry over and help me in my learning. I have no doubt that if I can achieve a certain level of playing, all those years of learning and playing piping tunes could pay me back in spades by opening up that library of music that is already in my head or in my collection of books and sheet music. At any rate, I have had my first taste of the concertina and I like it. I now have a better appreciation of what y'all have been through already, as well. I also noticed that there are members here who started the concertina later in life than I have so maybe there is hope for me yet. Wish me luck and may the concertina force be with me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Jowaisas Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 Welcome Stephen, You will find this site and concertina.com invaluable companions on your concertina journey. Best of luck and many happy houirs of practicing and playing. Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcoover Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 Stephen, For learning the English Concertina you can't do any better than the tutor by Frank Butler, now available for free at www.concertina.com: http://www.concertina.com/butler/butler-the-concertina-tutor.pdf Enjoy! Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TennEC Posted June 2, 2012 Author Share Posted June 2, 2012 Greg - Thanks for the support. Gary - I downloaded Frank Butler's tutor the other day. I had started looking at it but didn't get very far since I didn't have an instrument yet. I also got a copy of the old Alistair Anderson tutor "Concertina Workshop" as another resource. I reckon between the three of them, I'll find enough helpful hints for learning as well as a larger selection of beginner tunes to work with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin toner Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 ... Gary - I downloaded Frank Butler's tutor the other day. I had started looking at it but didn't get very far since I didn't have an instrument yet. I also got a copy of the old Alistair Anderson tutor "Concertina Workshop" as another resource. I reckon between the three of them, I'll find enough helpful hints for learning as well as a larger selection of beginner tunes to work with. My Granddad passed on the Frank Butler one to me in the early 1990s. Shortly before the mid 1990s I acquired the Richard Carlin one. I still have both, although the Butler binding has loosened off through use. I concur on Butler, but I'd also recommend Carlin's guide as an intermediate companion. Even after advancing with Carlin's I revisited Butler's to my surprise. I haven't seen Anderson's so cannot comment Funnily my cousin recently acquired a concertina, which I've not seen/heard yet, but for his birthday recently I passed him a copy of the "Handbook For English Concertina" by Roger Watson. I'd acquired this from my family relatively recently and I hadn't bothered to scrutinise it (as a tutorial book) before passing it on. It looked good at a glance, but can anyone say how Watson's compares with Butler's or Carlin's? Welcome to the forum TennEC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael sam wild Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 welcome here, we are a friendly and very helpful bunch. The Alistair Anderson workshop is a great resource. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin toner Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 (edited) ... Gary - I downloaded Frank Butler's tutor the other day. I had started looking at it but didn't get very far since I didn't have an instrument yet. I also got a copy of the old Alistair Anderson tutor "Concertina Workshop" as another resource. I reckon between the three of them, I'll find enough helpful hints for learning as well as a larger selection of beginner tunes to work with. My Granddad passed on the Frank Butler one to me in the early 1990s. Shortly before the mid 1990s I acquired the Richard Carlin one. I still have both, although the Butler binding has loosened off through use. I concur on Butler, but I'd also recommend Carlin's guide as an intermediate companion. Even after advancing with Carlin's I revisited Butler's to my surprise. I haven't seen Anderson's so cannot comment Funnily my cousin recently acquired a concertina, which I've not seen/heard yet, but for his birthday recently I passed him a copy of the "Handbook For English Concertina" by Roger Watson. I'd acquired this from my family relatively recently and I hadn't bothered to scrutinise it (as a tutorial book) before passing it on. It looked good at a glance, but can anyone say how Watson's compares with Butler's or Carlin's? Welcome to the forum TennEC As bolded above, I forgot to say that Danny (my Granddad) mentioned that this (Frank Butler's tutor) was considered to be the best tutor book despite a great appreciation for Anderson from the specialist who recommended the book to him. That's why I concurred with Butler earlier. I see Alistair Anderson's first tutor book preceded this at 1974. I obtained the Corby Crag album I'm sure 2nd hand out of interest, but I have no records now - so I've not heard AA in a while. I must try and catch up. Please remember: it was the early 1990s when I was informed that Butler's was the best tutor book. Whether that's still the case I wouldn't know! Edited June 2, 2012 by kevin toner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TennEC Posted June 2, 2012 Author Share Posted June 2, 2012 Thanks for the replies. I had a chance to read more of the Frank Butler tutor today. I like the approach that it takes and am thinking that I may restart with it and move on from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anglo-Irishman Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 I am also hoping that my piping will somehow carry over and help me in my learning. I have no doubt that if I can achieve a certain level of playing, all those years of learning and playing piping tunes could pay me back in spades by opening up that library of music that is already in my head or in my collection of books and sheet music. Hi, TennEC, Welcome to the forum! Rest assured that your piping will help you. I'm sure we have some geneticists here on the forum who can correct me if I'm wrong, but I've read that humans and mice have about 90% common DNA. Musical instruments also have a lot of DNA in common, so when you know the anatomy of one, you can get to know another pretty quickly. "Empty nest" syndrome? Take my tip, and make hay while the sun shines! I'm glad I started to learn the Crane Duet in that phase, because now I'm in the Granddad phase, with a very charming but very time-consuming granddaughter. She's 3 1/2, and what do you think she likes me to play for her? Yes - ukulele! It sets her laughing and bouncing about on the sofa. Concertina, banjo, guitar, autoharp - forget them! Ladies under 5 prefer ukluleles! Welcome to the wonderful world of multi-instrumentalism! Cheers, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TennEC Posted June 3, 2012 Author Share Posted June 3, 2012 Thanks for the thoughts, John. I'm sure there are many others that will agree when I admit to some trepidation over starting a new instrument so late in life. However, I do remember gentlemen in their fifties who were learning the pipes when I was just a lad in my teens. So, I know it can be done. One of my motivations is that it would be fun to play the concertina for grandchildren in the future. I think it would be more pleasing to the young ones than the pipes. I can easily imagine the pipes being rather scary to a small child. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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