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What is an English Concertina?


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7 minutes ago, Mikefule said:

"... and the duet concertina, which plays duets..."   Brilliant summary of a complex instrument.  :)

 

Great video.  Your enthusiasm and humour are infectious.

Perhaps to become more complex.  I'm thinking of adding a bisonoric bass row to my Jeffries......?

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7 minutes ago, Wolf Molkentin said:

 

That‘s what @Little John already did with his Crane to some extent...

I Think it makes sense for my box which has three empty pairs of reed slots at the low end.  It seems relevant to this thread also that one could view the section of overlap on a duet as constituting a pair of mini ECs, one for each hand.  Playing arpeggios and triplets in a side to side manner when playing mid-range is easier and I think sounds better than switching sides abruptly when you run out of buttons.

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50 minutes ago, Wolf Molkentin said:

I see, you‘re able to really add reeds! seems to make sense - and as to the bisonoric oddity, I‘m curious how you will get along with combining the two worlds...

It's complicated because it involves this Wheatstone Jeff duet which is a bit of an oddball itself and I don't want to hijack the thread.  I'd need to get some pictures together and maybe start a new thread later but I'll send you a brief PM.

 

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Brilliant playing & a brilliant introduction to the English concertina, .... BUT

 

Did you notice the unusual way he holds it??

 

Most players of the EC that I know hold it with the rows of buttons horizontal, thumb in the strap & little finger on the rest.

 

With Simon, the strap quite loose on his thumb and has been adjusted & re-fixed with a slight twist, the concertina is rotated so that the buttons slant upwards at 45 degrees and I didn't see him use his little finger at all!

 

Jake

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On 12/9/2018 at 5:16 PM, Wolf Molkentin said:

 

That‘s what @Little John already did with his Crane to some extent...

 

That's right. I've used the C#3 and Eb3 buttons on the bass side to extend the range downwards to A2, so those two buttons are bisonoric.

 

To keep this vaguely relevant to the title let me add that I know of one English concertina on which the bottom row of each side is bisonoric. Same notes but an octave apart. A curious arrangement because although it extends the range downward by an octave it leaves a gap of a fourth.

 

Has anyone come across any other English concertina with bisonoric buttons?

 

LJ

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4 hours ago, Little John said:

Has anyone come across any other English concertina with bisonoric buttons?

 

I felt tempted to add a bisonoric F# when tuning the redundant low treble Ab down to F and then the TT D# down to not just B but B/Bb, but convinced myself not to in th end... ?

 

so no as to my own ECs (haven’t been that bold, so-to-speak), and I didn‘t encounter any bisonoric variant of fellow concertinists either...

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