Touching The Sound Of The Concertina

[Randy Stein]

Toward the end of my gig last evening a gentleman and his granddaughter came in for a late night bite to eat. They sat next to where I play and so we started up a conversation. I should mention he was about 80 years old and blind. He asked if I was playing a concertina and shared a story of when he lived in the UK in the 50s and "heard many a squeezebox in the pubs he frequented."

I played a couple of tunes for him and then he asked if he could touch the instrument while I played. It was interesting to have someone else experience my music through sound and touch differently than I do.

 

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Edited May 23, 2014 by Randy Stein

[Aquarussell]

Wow.

 

It's so nice to find that kind of response to your playing, isn't it? I wonder if he could smell the leather of the bellows.

 

I have been taught that in teaching or training, appealing to as many senses as possible improves the learning. Hearing and touching for your new friend, at least.

 

Touching, tactile and emotional. Thank you for sharing your story.

 

Aquarussell

Russell Hedges

[David Barnert]

I met a totally blind woman who played the English concertina once. I was playing my Hayden duet and she expressed interest, so I explained how it worked to her. Then she said something that threw me off base: "Can I see?" Of course I put it in her hands and let her try it, but the literal answer to her question was "no."

[Mike Franch]

Beautiful story, Randy, and I'll bet you handled it humanely and well.

 

David, my blind friends use the language exactly as I do, using the figurative rather than literal meaning of a phrase, as I suppose we all do when we say "See you later."

 

Rather than by just watching, I wonder if one could learn more about using the bellows by shutting one's eyes and lightly putting a hand on top of or to the side of a bellows someone else is playing. It would be different way of learning, anyway.

[Tony Elphick]

Did he say where the pubs were that he used to hear them at?

[Anglo-Irishman]

David, my blind friends use the language exactly as I do, using the figurative rather than literal meaning of a phrase, as I suppose we all do when we say "See you later."

 

Mike,

 

Good point! I suppose this is because, with us humans, sight is the most differentiated sense, and the one we use primarily for investigating our surroundings. This is why we regard loss of sight as such a serious handicap. If dogs could talk, they'd probably say, "Smell you later," or "Give me a sniff at your new concertina!"

 

Cheers,

John

[John Wild]

 

If dogs could talk, they'd probably say, "Smell you later," or "Give me a sniff at your new concertina!"

 

Cheers,

John

 

i think if dogs could talk, most would say "stop that awful racket!!"

[JimLucas]

If dogs could talk, they'd probably say, "Smell you later," or "Give me a sniff at your new concertina!"

i think if dogs could talk, most would say "stop that awful racket!!"

Or... "Howl it be if I sing along?"

Edited May 27, 2014 by JimLucas

[David Barnert]

Or... "Howl it be if I sing along?"

 

 

Owwwwwww-wwwwww-wwwww!