How Many Of Us Are There ? ( Concertina Players )

[John Moran]

Hi there

 

My son played Anglo between the ages of 9 until around 14. At the end he couldn't wait to abandon it. During this playing time it was his instrument and I refrained from playing it at all. I took it up six months after he laid it down and am having great fun with it altogether. Kids give up for all sorts of reasons and rarely return to it (I think that this is the same for all types of instruments; not just concertina).

 

In Dublin there are few enough players. You have the youngsters and then the fifty pluses. There are few playing concertina who would be around the thirty mark.

 

Cheers

 

John

[Dan Worrall]

Good points, Peter and John. I was figuring that many of the folks in the various schools (with programs bursting at the seams) were repeats each year, and lots of them from outside of Ireland, and that some of the kids would quit. Maybe more of those kids have quit than I was thinking. Looks like my 1200 best guesstimate might be a little rich...I'll shave a couple of hundred!

 

Any credible way you cook the numbers, you get three or four thousand Anglo players worldwide, give or take 50%. I don't think discussing guesstimates like this is too useless or hopeless, by the way. Anyone thinking about getting into instrument building for a living, for one example, can use some community thoughts on numbers of players before deciding whether he should keep his day job.

 

Merry Christmas, all....see you in the New Year!

[JustDJ]

New Maccann Duet player here (Is it Mccann or Maccann?)...

 

I received a 46 Key Lachenal made 1895 for xmas yesterday, it was a bit of a gamble going for it but was being sold online by someone selling numerous restored vintage concertinas so I guess it was a solid gamble.

 

Anyway it's payed off, it's quite a bit more compact than I expected and sounds absolutely lovely! So much sweeter and more mellow sounding than my Stagi. One or two keys are a bit lazy (take a little while to sound than I would like) but nothing I can't live with, each key is tuned correctly and it works very well, bellows etc are in very good order! Very chuffed!

 

Currently working my way through the chord charts etc and familiarising myself with the button layout.

 

I'm in my thirties btw, just to prove it's not just the very old or young playing!

Edited December 26, 2013 by JustDJ