Hiatus From Playing Concertina

[Jim Stetson]

I first picked up a concertina when I was 22. That was 35 years ago. But I'm a beginner and I mean that in the most literal way. Here's what happened in a nutshell: I listened to an Alf Edwards LP when I was in college, got a 20 button Stagi, taught myself two tunes from the tutorial book, got busy with grad school and put the thing away 'forever'.

 

Then, a couple of years ago, my wife got me a new Stagi as a birthday present. I was excited, it looked and played exactly like my old Stagi (which I had sold in a garage sale years ago). I remembered how to hold it but not much else. I squeezed away on the thing, trying to remember how to play a scale. Then something strange happened--I must have played a sequence of random notes that unlocked something deep in my subconscious. All of a sudden I remembered, and was able to play, one of the tunes I had not even heard for thirty years. It just came out like a flood. And after another fifteen minutes of fooling around the other tune came out. I was so excited! It was like seeing old friends.

 

This is what inspired me to try learning the concertina again. I'm fascinated by the experience of remembering something that was stored away for so long. If I had been asked to just sit and think about it until I remembered those tunes it never would have happened. There is something about the feel and sound of that Stagi in my hands that allowed old synapses to spark again and mental pathways to reconnect. Has anyone else had such an experience? What a rush!

--Jim

[JimLucas]

Has anyone else had such an experience?

Not with the concertina, since I don't think I would ever voluntarily not play it for more than a few days. But reconnecting with lapsed learning is more common than many people realize. Speaking a long-unused language is one area where that commonly happens. And there was the time I was asked to sing a song I hadn't even thought of in more than 10 years. Making excuses in advance, I nevertheless offered to try. As I started, I was desperately trying to remember the words, when I discovered I was listening to myself sing them!

 

I've even had the experience more than once of discovering that my playing -- of one instrument or another -- had improved after a long lapse, as if I had actually been practicing during the pause. The brain continuing the process of making neural connections even in the absence of outward effort? I wonder.

[spindizzy]

Has anyone else had such an experience?

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About five years ago, my husband decided to learn fiddle and gave me his concertina (and said i'd better learn to play it!) - so now you know why I play concertina

 

However, this year I bought a concertina of MY VERY OWN and DH got his old one back. Now he occasionally picks it up and plays the tunes he learnt maybe 10 years ago - after not playing for many years. He has also discovered that he can often make a good stab at playing tunes he's since learnt only on the fiddle!

 

This is annoying - I've been practicing for several years now - and he can still play the **** thing better than me!

 

Chris Jordan

[stuart estell]

I've even had the experience more than once of discovering that my playing -- of one instrument or another -- had improved after a long lapse, as if I had actually been practicing during the pause.  The brain continuing the process of making neural connections even in the absence of outward effort?  I wonder.

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I've found that my playing has improved after enforced absences from the instrument, and for me the improvement comes from my fingers being more prepared to try unfamiliar patterns when all the usual patterns I use haven't been reinforced day in, day out.

[Mark Evans]

I sold my Wheatstone in 1988 for graduate school. I was devoting myself to Bel Canto singing and had not played reqularly for a few years before that (stupid to give up one musical love to work on another).

 

Was given a Morse Albion for my birthday and man those fingers just went right back to it! Long forgotten tunes just keep springing into my hands. I'm a much older feller but now play the beast better than I did as a young blade.

 

I also agree that just putting an instrument down for a bit can have positive effect on ability. Hadn't played my banjo for a full month when I pulled it out last night with some friends...great! However, not putting the Tina down ever again (goes to work with me every day). Welcome back!

[bigsqueezergeezer]

In December I played a "reunion gig" with thre guys I had played with about three years previously.

 

I was amazed that after "how does this one go?" before just about every number, the songs, tunes and arrangements came out of us like we had never stopped practising! It's as if your fingers have their own memory.

[bigsqueezergeezer]

In December I played a "reunion gig" with thre guys I had played with about three years previously.

 

I was amazed that after "how does this one go?" before just about every number, the songs, tunes and arrangements came out of us like we had never stopped practising! It's as if your fingers have their own memory.

[Animaterra]

I haven't played concertina long enough to find out, but I played recorder quite a bit when I was young (25+ years ago) and recently pulled them out. Played several gigs last summer with recorders and it was a breeze!

 

Lately I've become fascinated with music and the brain. When I have time I plan to do a little reading on the subject. They do say that Alzheimer patients retain musical memory when almost everything else is gone.

[Chris Timson]

Lately I've become fascinated with music and the brain. When I have time    I plan to do a little reading on the subject. They do say that Alzheimer patients retain musical memory when almost everything else is gone.

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Anne's mother in in her 80s and now well in to Alzheimer's (a sad business, as you can imagine) however we've taken her to the folk club close to the home she lives in, and she's sung there a couple of times. Believe me you don't have to make many allowances for her age or illness, she does a very competent job of "The Last Rose of Summer".

 

Also on the subject of music and the brain, the only long break I have had was following my stroke back in March 2003. Then I stopped for several months because I couldn't play. My left hand was poor on co-ordination (the stroke affected my left side, so that was expected) but what I wasn't prepared for was the imprecision of my right hand. Anyway, round about July 2003 I started practising hard, but it wasn't really until about July 2004 I really felt in any way at one with the concertina again. However, I am convinced the practice has been amazingly beneficial for all sorts of things in the physical dexterity line, and is probably responsible for me taking as little long term harm from the stroke as I have.

 

Chris

[stuart estell]

My left hand was poor on co-ordination (the stroke affected my left side, so that was expected) but what I wasn't prepared for was the imprecision of my right hand. Anyway, round about July 2003 I started practising hard, but it wasn't really until about July 2004 I really felt in any way at one with the concertina again.

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Chris, my only knowledge of strokes is via a friend of a friend who is, sadly, completely immobile since his stroke last year. But I'm guessing (wildly) that you would have had to start almost from scratch, consciously forcing your left hand to do things that you might have done intuitively before - is that the case? And if so, did you find yourself readdressing things in the process?

[Mark Evans]

Chris, bravo on your recovery! You must be very determined and strong (of course, you are a concertinist ).

 

I sing in elder care facilities and many of those afflicted with Alzheimer's who are non communitive otherwise sing loudly all the verses of the songs they knew in their youth. It is a humbling experience and I leave feeling I've received more than I gave.

 

On the recovery issue: A good friend had a stroke 1994 (ended a very nice career as an orperatic mezzo-soprano). She could not talk and was severely affected on the left side. She could however sing and communicated with folks a la recitative! Just last year she gave a splended recital to a sold out Jordon Hall here in Boston. I wept throughout the whole event.

 

The human mind...astonishing!

[geoffwright]

I put my Jeffries back in the box for some 10/15 years and hardly touched it (but had the sense not to sell it) - probably because it was a bit squeaky and was in flat pitch and my colleague with a flat-pitch had his re-tuned.

I saw John Kirkpatrick and Alistair Anderson a few months apart and both prompted me to get it tuned up and reconditined and start going to concertina events.

It must have done me some good as 10 years later, I am playing every day and I am even playing English.

[Jim Stetson]

I've even had the experience more than once of discovering that my playing -- of one instrument or another -- had improved after a long lapse, as if I had actually been practicing during the pause.  The brain continuing the process of making neural connections even in the absence of outward effort?  I wonder.

I've found that my playing has improved after enforced absences from the instrument, and for me the improvement comes from my fingers being more prepared to try unfamiliar patterns when all the usual patterns I use haven't been reinforced day in, day out.

That's so true. It applies to things other than music, too. I like to do crossword puzzles. I'm not fast but tenacious. I've found I can crack most anything if I spend enough time on it. If I look at a puzzle too long in one sitting I start cycling through the same wrong options. But if I put it down and do something else for a while, I start seeing things in a different way when I go back to it--answers that were elusive are suddenly obvious.

--Jim

[Jim Stetson]

These are fascinating stories. The mind is truly an amazing instrument. But no one asked what were the two tunes. Well, I only know the name of one. As I said, they were tunes from a tutorial I got with the concertina but I don't remember the name of the book. I've listened to a lot of Irish trad since then and never heard these tunes, though I thought they might be Irish. In 2003 I went to the Celtic Colors Festival in Cape Breton and I bought a CD of Scottish piping music and one of the tunes was on that CD. It was Mony Musk. Since then I have scoured the internet and now I'm proud to say I have what is arguably the finest collection of different versions of Mony Musk west of the San Joaquin. I've got it on piano, banjo, fiddle, bagpipes, and all kinds of accordions. I've got old versions by Alfred Monmarquette and Tommy Duchesne, and new versions by Mac Morin with Beolach and Jimmy Keane with Bohola.

 

I've tried using the abc tune finders on the web to find the other tune but maybe I'm dealing with a variation that just isn't close enough to anything in the archives. Maybe I should just write it down and post it in the Tunes section of this forum. If I could find that old tune book I might recognize the name. Does anyone have a concertina tutorial that was published prior to 1971 and contained Mony Musk?

--Jim

[Chris Timson]

Chris, my only knowledge of strokes is via a friend of a friend who is, sadly, completely immobile since his stroke last year. But I'm guessing (wildly) that you would have had to start almost from scratch, consciously forcing your left hand to do things that you might have done intuitively before - is that the case? And if so, did you find yourself readdressing things in the process?

 

Firstly, I have been lucky in a number of ways. It was, as strokes go, a mild stroke (even so, I was off work for several months, and didn't return to full-time work for nearly a year. So, people, get your blood pressure checked!). Also, I play the G/D anglo in the English style, meaning that I play the melody largely on the right hand and harmony on the left. But as I say, at first even my right hand had lost much of its skill - I think that I had lost the automatic skills that you learn through practice. So a lot of practice brought that back. My left hand is trickier in that what I have lost there is precision, that is it is quite difficult for me to control exactly which button it will land on. Now because I can still play the melody largely on the right, that's not the problem it might have been; however I still need that left hand D/E button a lot and I don't want to give up chords forever.

 

The best exercise I have found, and it really is good, is playing in parallel octaves. It really makes my left hand work for its living. I've still got a fair way to go, but I'm getting there. One thing I have found is that the larger buttons of the melodeon are easier to handle, which led to me designing an "Anglodeon", which Pete Hyde is building for me. That should arrive in March / April. I shall report back again then.

 

Sorry, I seem to be rambling on a bit here. I'll stop now.

 

Chris

[Animaterra]

Not rambling, Chris- from the responses to this thread, I would say it's fascinating to most of us!

 

Carol Rohl is the wife of Gordan Bok, a beloved folksinger and songwriter from Maine. She is a harpist. She recently had a severe stroke, and has been sending updates on her progress, which is inspiring.

[Robin Madge]

Interesting how different parts of the brain react.

 

I remember Pat Smith telling me about Mick Tems when he had his Stroke. When she was able to get some sense out of him on the following day he could not speak but could sing in Welsh!

Now I know that Welsh is not his first language so it isn't a reversion to childhood!

 

Also it was interesting to hear Anne Gregson's mother singing and compare their voices. Totaly different but both very musical.

 

Robin Madge

[Alan Day]

About ten years ago for various reasons I decided to retire from the Folk Scene.

I was heavily involved with the group Rosbif at that time and we were getting increasing number of overseas bookings etc and I just lost the inclination to carry on with it.So I retired.I stopped the constant practicing and just picked up the concertina when I heard a tune I liked,but this meant my playing was only about once or twice a month compared with every night.I then went to the monthly session at the George which I enjoyed and The George band was formed from that session, but even with that, we do not get that many engagements and the yearly booking in Central France I do not attend. I love playing in the Big Band (12-15 musicians) and I would pay to be at some of the Gigs we have done (and probably did).All of this means I have a much more relaxed attitude to my playing,I do not worry anymore.I now practice when I need to.

As a result I feel that I play better now than I did before,when I play the introductions I have lost that fear of making a mistake and playing solo in sessions or even recording tunes for you all to listen to, does not worry me,as it would have done before.

On reflection giving myself a break has improved my attitude to playing and I am enjoying it all more than I did before ,without the time commitment.

Al