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20 Keys Anglo Tunes


Sir_locust

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A few questions first then:

 

1) Is your instrument a C/g Anglo concertina? ( this is the most common, but you didn't say.) If you can confirm that, we can better direct you to tunes in the keys you can play.

 

2) How do you prefer to learn new music?

Do you already read music? or do you prefer to learn by ear? Or do you want tab?

If you already read music, then it is just a matter of finding tunes in the keys of C major, G major, or the related A minor, or E minor, and working on them. Just check to make sure the tunes don't have any sharps or flats besides F#. If you read music very well, you might be able to transpose tunes from other keys, but I'm guessing that would be too much just now.

If you prefer to learn by ear, then just dive in, and try a tune you have in your head, something simple that you know well. You will gradually figure out where it fits on your instrument, and you will be learning the instrument at the same time. If the tune has accidentals in it, as many jazz or blues tunes do, then there is a chance you won't have all the notes available that you need. That is frustrating of course, but don't worry for now, there are plenty of other tunes.

If you want TAB, there have been several attempts to come up with a good system for Anglo concertina. Recently, member GCOOVER has started publishing books with what looks like a very good system. It still uses musical notation to show the basic melody, including rhythm, but provides button numbers for each hand, and indicates bellows direction. Just today I saw an announcement of a new book using this system "75 Irish Session Tunes for Anglo Concertina" in the Teaching and Learning category here. (having trouble providing a link) it says that about half of the tunes are suitable for 20 button. There is a sample tune provided, and happily that is one of them!

 

3) What kind of music do you want to learn? Probably the most important question of all. There is a LOT of music out there you could play. While it is good to start with something that is easy, it is also valuable to have music that interests you enough that you want to learn it.

 

 

Edit: one of the many good on-line sources, mostly for Irish music, is www.thesession.org You can search for tunes in your preferred keys. They won't all work, but many will. People provide transcriptions in ABC format, but most can be shown as sheet music, if you read music, or played as a MIDI file, if you learn by ear. And there is plenty of discussion as well.

Edited by Tradewinds Ted
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OK, most likely the notes on the OUTER row are notes in the scale of C major, and the notes available on the inner row are in the scale of G major, and are higher than the outer row. If so, that is called a "C/g" instrument to describe what key it is in. If you still aren't sure, the 3rd note on the left hand plays the start of the scale for that row when the bellows are pressed. If you don't have any way of checking what note that is, then don't worry about it unless you plan to play with other people. (Then you can check what notes these are compared to their instruments, so no worries.)

 

If you prefer to play by ear, then really just start with trying to find the tune of a simple song you know very well, such as a children's song, a hymn or Christmas Carol. Don't worry that it is too simple for you, the point is to start getting used to finding the tune on your instrument, so the simpler the better. You will probably have a few false starts, starting on the wrong note so it doesn't seem to work. But keep trying other notes until you find your way. One trick to know is that for the tune to fit on a 20 button, most of the time the very last note of the tune will be on one the third button of the left hand in one of the rows. So maybe start at the end for a bit, to find the range where the tune will fit, then go back to the beginning again with that in mind. Some tunes won't fit, because you won't have all the notes required, but many will.

 

As for TAB, I don't really use it, but there are some books that do, as I mentioned previously. I mentioned a new book with Irish session tunes, but perhaps it would be better to start with "Easy Anglo 1-2-3: A Beginner's Guide to the Concertina" by Gary Coover. (same author as I mentioned above, he often posts comments here on C.net) It is available through Amazon.com here in the USA, I assume it is in Mexico too? I've never looked at this book, but the TAB/notation style he uses in the other books seems to work pretty well, so it is probably a good start. Some of it will include tunes that require a 30 button instrument, but you can just ignore those tunes. The listing on Amazon allows a look inside for a few pages if you are curious.

 

Another source of tunes is Paul Hardy's tunebooks, at www.pghardy.net

Not all of these will fit a 20 button, yet many will, as many of the tunes are in the key of G. You can order a printed copy if you like, but you can also just download the files and print them yourself. These are in musical notation, not TAB, but he also offers ABC files which can be used to play in a MIDI player, if you prefer to learn by ear. I don't do that, but he explains how to do it on his website if you are interested.

Edited by Tradewinds Ted
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I'm real new to this too, as I've only been going a couple of weeks. I read music but a bit slow to be honest as it's been a long long time, but I've found if I don't try to practice too fast, I can slowly up the pace, and it seems to work. I can usually figure out the melody with the right hand pretty quick, but I'm finding the left hand more difficult, I just hope it comes with more practice. I think I need to look for a teacher, just to save time if I'm doing it all wrong.

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Yes using the left hand does come with practice. Of course there are two things going on here. 1) getting comfortable finding the notes with the left hand 2) deciding what you want to do with the left hand.

 

1) To deal with getting comfortable with the left hand, if you are playing the melody with the right hand now, you might try playing the very same melody an octave lower for variety, usually the notes will be there. This will put the melody mostly in the left hand, but crossing into the right hand some of the time, so this is a good way to get some practice working with the left hand more. Be patient, as it will be unfamiliar at first.

The next trick will be to try playing both octaves at the same time. This takes a lot of patience, as the distance between upper and lower buttons will not be the same for the push and pull. Sometimes you may find you need to change which button you use on the upper octave to match the bellows direction required to play in the lower octave.

2) Playing in otaves is admittedly not a sophisticated form of harmony, but this is a traditional playing style, and again, it is good practice to be able to do it. (I struggle!) Then of course you can substitute a button above, or below on the left hand instead of playing the octave, and most often this will be a complementary note from an appropriate chord.

There are more elaborate ways to do use the left hand, of course, and it isn't necessary to have a chord note to harmonise with every melody note. You can just play the harmony notes when needed to emphasize the rhythm.

 

Honestly though, I'm still much of a beginner myself. I usually play the melody across both hands, mostly toward the left, so it is in the lower octave, because I prefer to hear it in the lower register. Because of that I rarely have much room for harmonies more than a 3rd or 5th below my melody, so I have to use harmony somewhat sparingly. For me, playing the melody in the upper octave becomes the variation!

Edited by Tradewinds Ted
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  • 1 month later...

OK, starting from the most basic:

 

When the Saints go Marching In

Oh Susanna ("I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee.")

British Grenadier.

Camptown Race Track.

The Dawning of the Day.

Shepherd's Hey.

The verse of Buddy Holly's "Every Day (it's a getting closer)"

 

These should all fit easily on 1 row and need very little movement of the hand up and down the keyboard.

 

Then, depending on your tastes, several English Morris tunes will fit on it. Here is a resource for Morris tunes:

 

http://www.themorrisring.org/music/samples

 

The 20 button Anglo is a fantastic characterful instrument capable of producing some lively and interesting music in at east 2 keys. However, you do need to work at it. I own two more elaborate and versatile boxes but love to have a thrash on my 20.

 

You could also try going onto Youtube and listening to Angloconc: https://www.youtube.com/user/angloconc?feature=watch This is not on a 20 button, but it shows you what the Anglo is capable of.

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