Concertina Bow Arm

[Michael Eskin]

I would expect the anchoring requirement for English would be complete different and unrelated to Anglo. My comments/suggetstions only apply to Anglo played in the Irish style.

Edited September 15, 2018 by eskin

[Steve_freereeder]

Like Howard Jones and a couple of others on this thread,  (a) I play the anglo mainly in the 'English' harmonic style and (b) I am quite strongly left-handed. I do sometimes stand up to play but mostly I sit.

 

When sitting down, I play the anglo with the RH end resting on my left thigh and use my left hand and arm to move the LH end of the instrument. This may be because I am a melodeon player too, and there it is always the LH end which moves.

 

On the anglo, I have no problem in moving my left hand fingers around to make and change the chord patterns as needed; there is no compromise of the stability of the instrument nor any difficulty in reaching all the buttons.

 

I have occasionally experimented with switching the static end and the moving end: keeping the LH end on my right thigh and moving the RH end. Yes - I can do it and my playing doesn't seem any different in terms of being harder or easier, but it just does not feel right, which I attribute mainly to my left-handedness. So eventually I revert back to my normal comfortable style.

 

Ultimately, I think it doesn't really matter which method you adopt, so long as it works for you. As I tell my students, there are no rules. But I would also advocate being open-minded and being prepared to try other things from time to time. You might discover something new, or perhaps simply confirm that your previous approach was the best for you.

[MartinW]

Steve, I’m not sure left handedness is the reason for it not feeling right when you have the left hand end static. I could say almost exactly all the things you said and I am strongly right handed.

Martin

[David Barnert]

Just back from the North East Squeeze In and I’ve been thinking and observing things about this topic. Here’s what I’ve got:

• Like others, I am right-handed and play (when seated) with the right end of the instrument on my right knee.
• The left hand is not working any harder than the right or exerting any more control on the bellows. Following Newton’s laws of physics, both hands are pushing or pulling with the same force at all times. Otherwise, the instrument would fly off my knee in the direction of the vector sum of the hand forces.
• It is easier to play seated, particularly on complicated tunes, because the knee keeps the instrument from drooping forward from the hand straps, whereas when standing, the hands are not only pumping the bellows and pressing the keys, but also stabilizing the weight, which decreases the efficiency with which I can perform the other two functions.
• Newer, stiffer, tighter hand straps may make this less of an issue. At some point soon, I will replace them. They are getting old and worn and stretched, and in places look like they may tear through someday.

[adrian brown]

On 9/24/2018 at 4:09 AM, David Barnert said:

Just back from the North East Squeeze In and I’ve been thinking and observing things about this topic. Here’s what I’ve got:

• Like others, I am right-handed and play (when seated) with the right end of the instrument on my right knee.
• The left hand is not working any harder than the right or exerting any more control on the bellows. Following Newton’s laws of physics, both hands are pushing or pulling with the same force at all times. Otherwise, the instrument would fly off my knee in the direction of the vector sum of the hand forces.
• It is easier to play seated, particularly on complicated tunes, because the knee keeps the instrument from drooping forward from the hand straps, whereas when standing, the hands are not only pumping the bellows and pressing the keys, but also stabilizing the weight, which decreases the efficiency with which I can perform the other two functions.
• Newer, stiffer, tighter hand straps may make this less of an issue. At some point soon, I will replace them. They are getting old and worn and stretched, and in places look like they may tear through someday.

 

These are pretty much my observations too David, although I don't think I'd have thought of bringing Newton into the mix :-) A friend of mine came by the other day with an enormous Maccan and I think the only way I'd be able to play such a beast would be to have an end on each knee for support, which if you think about it too much, would make for a slightly ungainly poise. I seem to recall it had 80 something buttons and each of the ends end felt like the weight of one of my Anglos by itself.

I used to play a lot more playing standing than I do these days, I started to get cramps in my wrists and I felt I was taking unnecessary risks with my musical and muscular health! I still like to do the odd self-accompanied song standing, but does require a lot of practice to balance the thing properly, and issues like strap tension and stiffness certainly come to the play. Strangely thicker straps were not the answer in my case and thinner, more supple varieties were easier to move around in, while at the same time preserving the necessary tension.

Do replace your straps though, before they fail on you mid-performance! I once had the little screw at the non-adjustable end fall out in the middle of a concert and was left holding the Anglo in one hand and air in the other...

 

Adrian