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A Remarkable Young Anglo Player


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I've been completely overwhelmed by the response to this thread in the past week and the the number of places that this video has been shared to as a result, huge thanks to Adrian for sharing!

 

Wayman is absolutely right here, the Baroque material I played in my recital is not a usual feature of my live sets. Other than university related performances I think I've only played Baroque material twice in public, both as requests, one in the case of the Sheffield gig that Wayman mentioned. To be honest I thought that there wouldn't be many people interested in Baroque concertina- I expected it to be a case of folkies saying "this isn't folk music, I don't like this" or for people interested in Baroque music it would be "that isn't an authentic Baroque instrument, this is bad", but I've been surprised by the number of people that seem to have enjoyed my recital, which is making me think seriously about incorporating some Baroque material into my regular set.

 

I've had a number of emails from people asking about my concertina- a number of people seem to have thought it is a duet. It is in fact a Jeffries 45 key Anglo, I brought it in 2014 from Theo Gibb, but it had previously been advertised and discussed on concertina.net here: http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=15586

 

Thanks again to everyone for showing interest in my music!

 

Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne

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To be honest I thought that there wouldn't be many people interested in Baroque concertina- I expected it to be a case of folkies saying "this isn't folk music, I don't like this" or for people interested in Baroque music it would be "that isn't an authentic Baroque instrument, this is bad", but I've been surprised by the number of people that seem to have enjoyed my recital, which is making me think seriously about incorporating some Baroque material into my regular set.

Hi Cohen, welcome to the forum - and yes, please do so as it would be a pity otherwise!

 

As for me, I'm loving Baroque music and the sound of the concertina (and folk music as well), so it's kind of natural to appreciate what you've been doing at the recital. With your mastering the two voices of a fugue so beautifully you have the instrument of choice at hand(s)!

 

Best wishes (and see you here, hopefully!) - Wolf

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In addition to concertina, I play cello, recorders, and classical guitar, so I am more than a little bit interested in baroque music. But I never thought I would hear counterpoint of any kind played on an anglo concertina. When I first clicked Adrian's link that began this thread to watch your video, Cohen, as soon as I realized you were playing a fugue, I quickly called my wife over and insisted she listen, too.

If you don't mind my asking, there are many things I'm curious about. What was your course of study in the music department at the University of Leeds? I don't imagine they had (or you needed) a concertina teacher. What drew you to study a genre that you didn't expect to perform after your graduation recital? Did you have any exposure to classical music previously? Do you play other instruments (besides the melodion)?
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If you don't mind my asking, there are many things I'm curious about. What was your course of study in the music department at the University of Leeds? I don't imagine they had (or you needed) a concertina teacher. What drew you to study a genre that you didn't expect to perform after your graduation recital? Did you have any exposure to classical music previously? Do you play other instruments (besides the melodion)?

 

 

 

My course at the university of Leeds was BA Music. The recital you watched here was for my performance module which made up a third of my final year, the other two modules were dissertation and musical editing and source studies. For the performance module each student is allocated an external tutor that specialises on their instrument or voice, in the first year of my course the melodeon was my main instrument so I had lessons arranged with Pete Coe, by the end of the course, as you saw, the concertina was my main focus, but I didn't have any concertina lessons at all.

 

I chose this repertoire because by my second year on the course I had come to the conclusion that the material that I was playing at that point (mainly folk dance tunes) wasn't technically challenging enough for the level that I was expected to perform at on my degree. A large part of my decision to look into the Baroque repertoire was the influence of hearing John Kirkpatrick play the Mattheson Gigue (the second piece in my recital). When I was looking for technically challenging pieces to learn on the concertina, this was the first to come to mind. I tried to learn it at the beginning of my second year on the course, but failed, so I decided to look for some simpler pieces that were composed in a similar style, which led to me exploring the rich Baroque repertoire. A year later I returned to the Mattheson Gigue and having a few other baroque pieces under my belt, meant that after much practice I was able to play it. Once I had these pieces learnt, I came to the conclusion that the Baroque repertoire provided material that presented enough of a technical challenge, while still being within the scope of the Anglo concertina.

 

In answer to your other question, I had dabbled in a number of other instruments prior to the concertina and melodeon, but not much seriously. My first instrument was the violin (I did actually take that pretty seriously at the time) which gave me some grounding in the classical music world. I did get to grade 5 on the violin, but lost interest after that and the concertinas and melodeons took over. As well as my prior experience on the violin, I had studied classical and baroque music extensively throughout my degree from a historical and theoretical standpoint. This certainly helped when it came to my performance, but of course, the fact that there has been little prior example of baroque music on the anglo concertina means that I was able to make a lot of it up for myself.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Dear Cohen,

 

We met briefly at my Coe studio concert November 2016 and I remember being impressed with your playing and singing then... but viewing your recital has blown me away. Your mastery of the Anglo is more than amazing and your musical performance kept me listening from start to glorious finish. Bravo!

 

Interesting to hear that you taught yourself to play that way. The variety of articulation you employ and your button and bellows control that create your sweet tone are advanced techniques that I have been working on for decades and still attempting to master. Yet at your age you have managed to put it all together in a delicious package that is so compelling to listen to. I'm looking forward to hearing where you go from here.

 

I grew up listening to my brother Tom playing morris tunes on Anglo but taught myself. He listened to Kimber recordings, but taught himself. So as another self taught Anglo player, who have you been listening to?

 

My own listening these days has been an attempt to closely match the fiddle players I admire.

Edited by Jody Kruskal
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I grew up listening to my brother Tom playing morris tunes on Anglo but taught myself. He listened to Kimber recordings, but taught himself. So as another self taught Anglo player, who have you been listening to?

 

My own listening these days has been an attempt to closely match the fiddle players I admire.

 

Glad you enjoyed my playing Jody. Of course I remember you and thoroughly enjoyed your gig at Pete and Sue's.

 

I have been influenced by a great number of concertina players, far too many to mention all individually. The great advantage of learning to play, as I did, in the digital age, is that recordings of countless concertina players are available instantly for me to listen to and study. But I'd say that the player that had the greatest influence on me has to be John Kirkpatrick, not only as an Anglo player generally, but I think he was the first player that inspired me to investigate the Baroque repertoire on the Anglo. It was hearing him play the Mattheson Gigue (second piece in my recital) that awakened me to the capabilities of the Anglo. And there have been a handful of other concertina players that have played material from the Baroque era that I have been able to take ideas from, especially Adrian Brown (thanks again to him for starting this thread), Brian Peters and Rob Harbron (though he plays an English).

 

And as you say it is always useful to take ideas from players of other instruments, there may not be loads of Baroque concertina players but there are plenty of keyboard players and lute players along with flautist and violinists etc. playing Baroque material that I have borrowed ideas from and adapted for the concertina.

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Hi Cohen,

 

John K. yes I see that. Aside from the Baroque thing, John embodies a certain kind of "stand and deliver" performance style that the two of you share. When I started into doing my solo shows I would always sit. It is certainly easier to play that way. These days I almost always stand because it is so much more active and dynamic. Standing engages my whole body. For that and a number of other reasons, standing is much better for connecting with my audience. Ultimately, that's what performing is all about. Right?

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Unless I'm mistaken I had the pleasure of playing alongside Cohen some years ago when he was just a boy but already a remarkably good violinist. This was a weekend workshop with Alistair Anderson, learning to play the Steel Skies suite at The Elephant in Lewes. His talent was formidible then and it would seem it has continued to grow, wonderful to see!

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  • 5 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

An astounding performance. I'm curious to know if the two melodion pieces are his own and if not, their names and who composed them. Working on the first one, it fits well on anglo. Could be a pipe tune.

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An astounding performance. I'm curious about the two tunes on melodion. Anyone familiar with them, or are they his compositions? The first one sits well on the anglo. A pipe tune perhaps.

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An astounding performance. I'm curious about the two tunes on melodion. Anyone familiar with them, or are they his compositions? The first one sits well on the anglo. A pipe tune perhaps.

 

The first pair of tunes on the melodeon are my own, I can send you the music if you want.

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