Anglo-Irishman Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 But nevertheless, the EC is a fascinating instrument, very playable even in a melody-and-chords-manner, against some first impression... Of course not so much "ooom-pah", but one may find other ways... I grew tired of oom-pah accompaniments long before I knew what a concertina was. I've since concluded that, like accordions, they're excellent in some situations, though often -- far too often -- used inappropriately (according to my taste). But there are so many other possibilities, and many of them are actually easier on an English than even on a duet. (The simplest example, I would say, is parallel thirds.) Jim, My point about a Duet is not that it is easy to play oom-pah on. It's just that, since you could play oom-pah if you wanted, you have the fingering available for all the other kinds of accompaniment underneath a melody: arpeggios, bass runs, block chords with or without thirds and fifths, drones, what have you. I'm not keen on oom-pah throughout either, but for the occasional waltz it's pretty handy. And I'm not so keen on overuse of parallel thirds, which I imagine could be a pitfall on the English. Like oom-pah, OK now and then, but not all the time! In fact, I would say that the difficulty of doing nonstop oom-pah accompaniment with melody could even be considered an advantage for someone who is already used to playing in that style on another instrument, as it can provide motivation for exploring other, easier-on-the-English styles. A good point! The oom-pah seems to be ingrained in accordionists' heads. As soon as they start extemporising on a tune, it's "bass-chord-chord, bass-chord-chord" all the time. If they found out how easy this is on the Crane, they might not be able to stop, as you say! As I've said before, I believe that versatility is a virtue. True! Isn't that why concertinas have single notes throughout, from bass to treble, to make you think about what you're playing and voice the harmonies appropriately? Cheers, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Molkentin Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 (edited) One thing to bear in mind is that the English system is unique among button/keyboard instruments in that it doesn't have the low notes on the left and the high notes on the right. This is quite a big paradigm shift! it means that the concertina/accordion/piano habit of extemporising a melody with the right hand and an accompaniment with the left wouldn't work. I would like to add that IMO this "habit" doesn't work very well with either PA or piano themselves. I always give (already at the first try) parts of the chording to the right hand, allowing the left to do some more bass work (on the piano; or showing at least restraint with the use of PA left hand chords). I don't like thirds "in the basement", I like to spread the sound, I love playing close-to-the-melody-intervals, ... and in this regard I find the EC quite challenging... This is not to argue against any duet, of course... Edited July 28, 2012 by blue eyed sailor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceemonster Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 (edited) [One thing to bear in mind is that the English system is unique among button/keyboard instruments in that it doesn't have the low notes on the left and the high notes on the right. This is quite a big paradigm shift!] i tried EC for a few months last year, on a cheap asian 48-button, and really liked it. the bilateral thing was not tough for me, particularly given that the system is consistent....but i would like a concertina i can play french bal musette, django swing, tango, and eastern european dance music on, all of which genres involve continuous rhytmic bass accompaniment. the versions you see here and there on EC are actually faking that through sleight-of-arrangement, through artfully placed chords in spaces, which are in fact not continuous underlying rhythmic accompaniment. so i thought duet might be better. but i ALSO want the instrument to play single-line melody music very fast when desired, and i notice that the left-hand side on many duets does not go higher than A or B. a good 3/4 or more of many an irish reel, often the entire B part and half of the A part, consists of notes higher than A or B which is gonna really tax your right hand at speed on a duet. and it seems to me, that to use a duet effectively to play irish reels at speed for a few hours rather than just one set or so, you would need as many overlapping notes as high up as possible on the left side, say, up to d or e like on the anglo, so you can use the left hand side to give the right some relief, and also for blocked notes. most duetters are concerned with whether the right side goes LOW enough. but i am looking at that left, and want it a few notes higher. then, duet would really be a double-threat. you could do everything on it. there is also the issue of what genres of music you wish to play, and whether you even like how a given type sounds on concertina. this is entirely subjective, of course. after mulling it over for a few months now, i'm not really sure i even particularly like how tango, musette, klezmer, Rom, etc., sound on concertina. they sound great on CBA, which i am very absorbed with at present....so my decision as to which unisonoric system to get involved with is hanging fire at the moment...perhaps an accordion-reeded unisonoric would be a lot of fun for non-irish folk genres....i am bummed that the peacock doesn't have the "a" and "b" above middle C on the left side....but i am very intrigued by it and also wondering if stagi would give one a hand-reed hayden upgrade like they offer on their EC 48 anmd their EC 56.... Edited July 31, 2012 by ceemonster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCMetroGnome Posted July 31, 2012 Author Share Posted July 31, 2012 One thing that several people have mentioned, and which Dirge mentions frequently in his posts on other threads, is the relative ease of finding a vintage duet, especially a Maccann. I must not be looking in the right places, or I must live in the wrong place, as I can't find any vintage instruments for purchase. Where does one look to purchase a reliable vintage instrument? My searches keep bringing me back to concertina connection and button box, which are fine, but limited on the vintage instruments. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCMetroGnome Posted July 31, 2012 Author Share Posted July 31, 2012 One thing that several people have mentioned, and which Dirge mentions frequently in his posts on other threads, is the relative ease of finding a vintage duet, especially a Maccann. I must not be looking in the right places, or I must live in the wrong place, as I can't find any vintage instruments for purchase. Where does one look to purchase a reliable vintage instrument? My searches keep bringing me back to concertina connection and button box, which are fine, but limited on the vintage instruments. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Hersh Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 (edited) One thing that several people have mentioned, and which Dirge mentions frequently in his posts on other threads, is the relative ease of finding a vintage duet, especially a Maccann. I must not be looking in the right places, or I must live in the wrong place, as I can't find any vintage instruments for purchase. Where does one look to purchase a reliable vintage instrument? My searches keep bringing me back to concertina connection and button box, which are fine, but limited on the vintage instruments. Thoughts? Barleycorn Concertinas in England (Chris Algar - cocoa111 on eBay) is the biggest dealer in reliable vintage concertinas. He can find pretty much any kind of concertina you might want. Greg Jowaisas in the US is also a good bet (based on my personal experience and others' recommendations) and so are David Robertson and Theo Gibb in England (based on others' recommendations). Greg, David and Theo all participate in concertina.net. Edited July 31, 2012 by Daniel Hersh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 ...so i thought duet might be better. but i ALSO want the instrument to play single-line melody music very fast when desired... Well, if you get yourself both an English and a duet, you won't be the first person on the planet to do so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anglo-Irishman Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 I am bummed that the peacock doesn't have the "a" and "b" above middle C on the left side....but i am very intrigued by it and also wondering if stagi would give one a hand-reed hayden upgrade like they offer on their EC 48 anmd their EC 56.... Seems like a 55-button Crane would be the thing for you. It has the entire octave from middle C to the C above it, inclusive, on the left side as well as on the right. Cheers, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceemonster Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 [Well, if you get yourself both an English and a duet, you won't be the first person on the planet to do so.] i'm striving for restraint, but it may come to that.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge Posted August 4, 2012 Share Posted August 4, 2012 One thing that several people have mentioned, and which Dirge mentions frequently in his posts on other threads, is the relative ease of finding a vintage duet, especially a Maccann. I must not be looking in the right places, or I must live in the wrong place, as I can't find any vintage instruments for purchase. Where does one look to purchase a reliable vintage instrument? My searches keep bringing me back to concertina connection and button box, which are fine, but limited on the vintage instruments. Thoughts? Sorry, been away. I think you've slightly misunderstood. It's not the relative ease of finding a vintage duet, it's the relative ease of finding a decent Maccan compared to other duet systems. There are not nearly so many duets around as Englishes so they are rarer. Despite that, duets are significantly cheaper note for note. A situation that can't last. They are there but you need to look in the right places. Start at the concertina FAQ site for contacts for dealers and ring a few. You'll immediately find you have a choice, I promise. If you don't like the sound of any of them give it a week or two and ring again. A fair few quite nice Maccans have been surfacing on Ebay too; the moment you asked they all vanished of course. That 71 on the Buy and Sell forum should be a good one too; known history genuine seller etc. If it wasn't in America i might have been trying to work out how to switch a smaller one for that myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now