been away for a while

[Marcus]

Hello all!  I've been away from the concertina for a while pursuing other interests and I'm coming back with a quick question for you...

I'm very rusty after a long hiatus so I'm thinking I'll run through my tutor books which are all for the C/G anglo but I'll use my G/D anglo.  What do other players do when they switch between anglos tuned in other keys? Do you continue to play them as though you're using a C/G?

I suppose it doesn't really matter as I play on my own but I'm interested to hear what others do.

 

[Wolf Molkentin]

no Anglo player here, but as long as you're playing on your own and like the "deeper" sound, it will be perfectly o.k. to just keep the C/G fingering IMO.

[Anglo-Irishman]

Welcome back, Marcus!

 

I've never played an Anglo other than in C/G. However, I do have a small Bandoneon whose main rows are A/E, the row adjacent to the  A row being in G. My Bandoneon, dating from around 1900, is in the old continental concert pitch of A=435 Hz, so I seldom get to play it with other instruments. Most of my solo Anglo arrangements work well - or even better - on the Bandoneon, so I just finger them the same way (as near as the layouts allow, which is sometimes very close) and enjoy the deeper, more mellow sounds that come out of the Bandoneon. So a piece that's arranged in C on the Anglo comes out in A on the Bandoneon; a piece in G on the Anglo comes out as E on the Bandoneon.

 

Of course, the Bandoneon has a G row, too, so if it must be in the key of G, I can do that - only the alternate fingerings and accidentals will be different from those on the Anglo's G row.

 

So, yes, if you're playing for yourself, and don't have to sing to it, my advice is just go ahead and use the C/G fingering on the G/D. But if you do get into an ensemble situation, remember that you'll have to transpose!

 

Cheers,

John

Edited September 7, 2018 by Anglo-Irishman

[John Wild]

18 minutes ago, Anglo-Irishman said:

So a piece that's arranged in C on the Anglo comes out in A on the Bandoneon; a piece in G on the Anglo comes out as E on the Bandoneon.

I play neither anglo nor bandonion, but out of curiousity:-  does that mean the relative minor keys (Gmajor -> Eminor; Cmajor -> Aminor), or is it all in the major keys?

[Wolf Molkentin]

51 minutes ago, John Wild said:

I play neither anglo nor bandonion, but out of curiousity:-  does that mean the relative minor keys (Gmajor -> Eminor; Cmajor -> Aminor), or is it all in the major keys?

 

the tune wouldn’t have it‘s mode changed, just the key transposed, so major would come out as major, as well as minor remain minor - just a coincidence that the shift would be by a minor/flat third

[John Wild]

Thank you.

[Jim Besser]

21 hours ago, Marcus said:

Hello all!  I've been away from the concertina for a while pursuing other interests and I'm coming back with a quick question for you...

I'm very rusty after a long hiatus so I'm thinking I'll run through my tutor books which are all for the C/G anglo but I'll use my G/D anglo.  What do other players do when they switch between anglos tuned in other keys? Do you continue to play them as though you're using a C/G?

I suppose it doesn't really matter as I play on my own but I'm interested to hear what others do.

 

 

I switch back and forth between a GD and CG all the time.

 

If I understand your question, you're asking: when switching to a GD, should you play familiar tunes in the same positions as you would on the CG - meaning that they will be in a different key?  Or should you play in the 'as written' key, meaning that you're learning entirely new fingering patterns?

 

If that's the question, it depends.  If you're playing by yourself, you can play any tune in whatever key you want.  

 

On the other hand, I believe it is extremely helpful to my playing to  being able to play a tune in multiple keys, and not becoming locked int to a single pattern.  So when I've encountered this issue, I play the tune in the as-notated key. 

 

Switching between a CG and GD is perfectly doable, but it has its challenges.

 

For example: some tunes in the key of G work better for me on the CG, some better on the GD.  Most tunes in D work better on the GD, but there are a few I play that I prefer to play on the CG. It's a matter of fingering patterns, chords and basses; experimenting is the only way to figure it out.  Em and Am - depends on the tune.

 

As an aside, another challenge is remembering which instrument you're playing when you switch regularly (playing for dances, I'm always switching, and sometimes in the middle of a 3-tune medley). Once, I was on stage with a big choral group; as they were about to start a song, they asked for an A.  I was holding the GD, but spaced out and somehow thought I was holding the CG, so I gave them a D. 

 

It wasn't pretty.

 

 

 

[Anglo-Irishman]

22 hours ago, Wolf Molkentin said:

 

the tune wouldn’t have it‘s mode changed, just the key transposed, so major would come out as major, as well as minor remain minor - just a coincidence that the shift would be by a minor/flat third

Quite correct, Wolf!

 

At the core of all the bisonoric concertinas, whether German or English, you'll find the two rows of a 20-button German or Anglo-German. Each row is based on the Richter scale, i.e." press, draw, press, draw, press, draw, draw, press" gives you the diatonic scale. The two rows are a fifth apart e.g. C/G, A/E, G/D, F/C, Ab/Eb ...

The Anglos, Chemnitzers, Carlsfelders and Bandoneons differ widely in the arrangement of the notes outside this basic core.

 

Cheers,

John

[adrian brown]

I think of all my Anglos as being in C/G and simply transpose the music if I need to play in a set key. I suppose that's a bit of a lazy way and if I have to sit down with my G/D and play with others, it's quite difficult for me to transpose the music and especially the chord indications at sight. If I forced myself to do it more often I guess (and hope) it would get better. At least they all have the same button layout and note distribution - I can't imagine doing it if say, the C/G had the Wheatstone layout and the G/D the Jeffries...

 

One further point - if you are playing in G, you might well find yourself playing an octave lower on a G/D than you would on a C/G and this may have implications of balance, depending on the make up of any ensemble. In a mass-band free for all situation, it can be nice to cut through in the piccolo range on a C/G, rather than get lost in the woods on a G/D.

 

Adrian