Marcus Posted October 28, 2013 Share Posted October 28, 2013 I've got mine coming - really looking forward to delving into it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
just4fun Posted November 6, 2013 Share Posted November 6, 2013 First concertina arrived yesterday, book due today, will book The Ham Marquee tomorrow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donmcl Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 I'm a complete beginner to concertina (or any other instrument) although I sing. Getting my first concertina very soon. I've done some reading and would like to learn the 'harmonic' style. Would this book be good for a complete beginner or should I try something else first? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Molkentin Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 First concertina arrived yesterday, book due today, will book The Ham Marquee tomorrow! and afterwards offer shares, won't you? Good luck with your new instrument - guess you'll be enthusiastic playing it...! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcoover Posted November 10, 2013 Author Share Posted November 10, 2013 I'm a complete beginner to concertina (or any other instrument) although I sing. Getting my first concertina very soon. I've done some reading and would like to learn the 'harmonic' style. Would this book be good for a complete beginner or should I try something else first? Don, if you're wanting to play in the harmonic style on an Anglo, then I think this book would be perfect for you. The tunes start off easy and do get difficult fairly quickly, but it's a pretty big learning curve to get both hands and both directions and all those buttons working the way you want. Granted, there are other beginning books out there, but they often use different button numbering systems and some make it very hard to learn. This one has the easiest tablature system of all, and you don't even need to be able to read music. You can preview a lot of it on www.amazon.co.uk and www.amazon.com, so that's a good start to see if it's what you're looking for. And a lot of the tunes are on the Anglotutor playlist on the "angloconc" YouTube channel. Feel free to PM me with any questions. Between this book and the good folks on these cnet forums, we'll get you up and playing in no time! Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Posted November 10, 2013 Share Posted November 10, 2013 I want to recommend this book highly. It's a fantastic resource. Only just delving into it but Ned of the Hill sounds great and the tab is so easy to understand. Great stuff Gary! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donmcl Posted November 13, 2013 Share Posted November 13, 2013 Cheers Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hugh Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Hello all - this is great stuff. But has anyone else looked at the books by Ondrej Sarek? I've got his Czech Lute, and Bach ones - will probably get the rest sometime too. wonderful to have such a range of music at last. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WallyS Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Ordered book. I checked out anglotutor on YouTube as well. Had trouble with Kennington jig--wouldn't load, wouldn't play, eventually skipped to next video. Anyone else had this problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcoover Posted March 29, 2014 Author Share Posted March 29, 2014 Wally, I see the Kennington Jig video is working now, not sure if it was a YouTube or Brinwins issue, but all is good. Hope you enjoy the book! Please keep me posted on any questions, comments, suggestions, etc. Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Fox Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 I recently bought my first anglo concertina, a lovely Lachenal C/G 30 key, with brass reeds and mahogany ends. I've also just become the happy owner of the harmonic style tutor book. Despite the fact that this is my first instrument and that I know very little about music, I can already see what an excellent tutor this is. I would find it really helpful though, to see a video of the different parts being played in the first tune it teaches, 'Oh! Susanna'. I'm not familiar with the tune so it's hard to know what I should be trying to do. I'm very dyslexic and so I'm probably struggling with the tablature system a little more than most people would, and it makes it difficult to understand what I'm meant to be doing with each hand. I can see how important the skills learnt on these first couple of tunes will be to mastering the later ones, as they become increasingly challenging. It would be incredibly helpful if someone would at least put a video up of this tune played on anglo, and even more helpful if someone was willing to record it in the stages shown in the book, i.e. left hand/right hand, octaves and then harmony. Many thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 (edited) I would find it really helpful though, to see a video of the different parts being played in the first tune it teaches, 'Oh! Susanna'. I'm not familiar with the tune so it's hard to know what I should be trying to do. Wow! Not a criticism, at all, but it's truly a surprise to find someone who isn't familiar with "Oh, Susanna". The first successful song of the American composer Stephen Foster, it became a worldwide favorite and has remained popular to this day. It was even used as a shanty by sailors, both with the original words and with unrelated verses... even in German and Swedish. Not that it will help you with the fingering and bellows work on the anglo, but here are links to few recordings, which might help you become familiar with the melody. from the (US) Library of Congress (Great White Way Orchestra, 1923) Though mainly instrumental, I think this is closest to the original style of the song. a somewhat bluegrassy treatment The Byrds A brief digression: I'm actually quite surprised at how few videos of this tune my quick search was able to find. (And of those, James Taylor seriously changes the lyrics from the original string of ridiculous impossibilities to a sort of love song, while Neil Young more or less keeps the lyrics but uses a completely different tune.) Edited May 25, 2014 by JimLucas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Worrall Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 The Royton Morris (NW Morris tradition) danced to Oh Susannah, so maybe that would be a good place to catch the tune in an English context. It can be found on the House Dance CDRom, in the section on Ellis Marshall (Musical Traditions website) http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/worrall.htm Ellis plays it in octaves, which seems to have been the most common style of Anglo playing around the world before the folk revival. Oh Susannah was spread around the world by the minstrel shows in the 1850s to 1890s. There is a section in House Dance that discusses the minstrels and their legacy, especially in regard to the Anglo concertina. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Taylor Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 Will You might find it worthwhile learning the ABC notation system so that you can enter tunes that you do not know into EasyABC or ABC Explorer. You will then be able to play the tune and to slow it down while you are learning it. There are lots of other benefits to knowing ABC including access to a huge number of tunes available online. Don. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Fox Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 Thanks for the tips guys! The links to other recordings were particularly helpful. I wonder of it is such an oddity that I didn't know this tune already? Perhaps as an English folky, I've been less exposed to that kind of music? Oh well, I certainly know it now! So, having mastered Oh! Susanna, on left hand, then right hand and then playing in octaves, I moved onto lesson two which was Oh Susanna, using very simple harmonies on the left hand (just playing which ever key was left of the melody key). This is simple enough, but to me it just sounds like I've got fat fingers and I'm hitting too many keys, even if it is intentional. (Again a video of someone doing this well would be very helpful to folk like me who have bought the tutor as total beginners). I've started trying to play the second tune in the book too, Shepherd's Hey. A tune that I recognised, hooray! I'm rather confused by the instructions for the left hand chords though. The way I'm stabbing at it, it sounds bitty and like I'm doing something wrong. Also the second chord, an F, doesn't sound right to me at all... maybe I'll get this, as I persevere, but at the moment I'm pretty confused by what it's meant to sound like and Garry Coover hasn't put a video of this on his page either. I suppose Mr. Coover's assumption is that these first couple of tunes are simple and commonly known, therefore unnecessary to put up videos, but I would suggest that as the first two tunes in the book it seems essential to have good videos of them on youtube. These are the tunes that you're using to master all the most basic techniques to carry on your playing, so getting them right to begin with is, in my eyes, pretty important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcoover Posted May 26, 2014 Author Share Posted May 26, 2014 Will, I know it's a struggle if you're just starting, but it sounds like you've got the will and determination to persevere! Glad you got through "Oh Susanna" - playing the adjacent harmonies (p.23) just takes some practice to be able to play them fairly cleanly. Just think of yourself as playing a bellows-powered harmonica and try to mimic that sound. As for "Shepherd's Hey" on p. 25, I've just posted a quick video of the two versions, each played twice through at normal speed. Hope this helps! http://youtu.be/gMfK-d-o2MU Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Fox Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Thanks Gary! Your video is a massive help. It makes a real difference seeing someone actually doing what you're reading in the book. I've now more or less got the first lot of harmonies. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcoover Posted May 28, 2014 Author Share Posted May 28, 2014 (edited) Will, et al, I just now posted "Oh! Susanna", finally, from the book, but with a few liberties here and there the last time through. It's a great old tune, so take it and work it and have some fun with it. http://youtu.be/tEG9kZjl9TY Gary Edited May 28, 2014 by gcoover Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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