Playing with Anna Magdalena

[soloduet]

Some duet concertina players asked me about the sheet music for the tunes that I'm playing on Youtube. It's difficult to find music written especially for the hayden system and I didn't have enough time yet to write the scores of the arrangements,  but recently I enjoy playing different pieces from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach. For those who are looking for scores, who like also baroque music and don't mind to play it on a concertina, I think that it is a good source to find some tunes not too difficult to adapt and play on the different types of concertinas:

 

[Devils' Dream]

Fantastic.

[mdarnton]

https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Bach%2C_Anna_Magdalena

I always enjoy your playing!

 

 

Edited March 16, 2019 by mdarnton

[Don Taylor]

Very, very lovely.  Inspiring.  

[Rich C R]

? Very pleasant to listen to.

[arti]

If it is any help, I've found this a good source of EC tunes - and no doubt even better for a Crane:

 

J.S. Bach: First Lessons In Bach - 28 Pieces (Schirmer Performance Edition) (Hal Leonard Piano Library)

see here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/J-S-Bach-Lessons-Schirmer-Performance/dp/1495007316/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=bach+piano+schirmer+first+lessons&qid=1553101115&s=gateway&sr=8-2

 

[soloduet]

Thank you Arti for the information about this book. I hope that other concertinists will share their experience of playing this music on the different systems.

Here is an attempt to play the minuet in F major:

https://youtu.be/6No8EadgNzc

[soloduet]

 

[Aldon Sanders]

That's really nice. It seems as if the tune were custom-made for the duet!

 

How much adapting did you have to do to make the arrangement work on the Elise duet? Is this straight off of the dots?

 

I love listening to the videos you post.

 

Thank you!

[soloduet]

Thank you for your interest Aldon. The instrument that I'm playing isn't an Elise but a 52 buttons Beaumont. For this kind of tune I just need to make some octave transpositions at some places when I don't have enough range but not so much. Maybe on an Elise you would have to adapt the score a little more.

Didie

[McDouglas]

Que charmant!

[ritonmousquetaire]

Have you ever tried to arrange Bach's "Schaffs mit mir" on the concertina? I'm pretty sure it could sound great!

[soloduet]

Thank you Riton to open my eyes ans my ears on this beautiful piece. I will put it on my to play list, but before I've already 2 other minuets on my gas cooker and I'm now struggling with the Invention Nr 8, as well as some tangos. Did you try to play "Schaffs mit mir" on your anglo?

[ritonmousquetaire]

On 4/29/2019 at 8:43 AM, soloduet said:

Thank you Riton to open my eyes ans my ears on this beautiful piece. I will put it on my to play list, but before I've already 2 other minuets on my gas cooker and I'm now struggling with the Invention Nr 8, as well as some tangos. Did you try to play "Schaffs mit mir" on your anglo?

 

I love the invention Nr 8, it used to be one of the few pieces I could play more or less correctly on the piano... Can't wait to hear your concertina transcription! I did play Schaffs mit mir on the anglo, but I don't think I'd be able to play it anymore, it's been quite a long time since I last attempted it... I think there was one high note I had to replace.

[soloduet]

It will take some more time before I can play Invention Nr 8 but here is another minuet from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena:

 

[David Barnert]

Lovely, as always. I don’t know why I have never been able to satisfactorily play classical music on the Hayden.

[ritonmousquetaire]

The minuet in G minor is a great one. Bach was really a genius, making simple pieces sound absolutely fantastic - and you're interpretation here is really paying it justice. Well done! Hope to hear more soon!

[soloduet]

On 6/12/2019 at 4:36 AM, David Barnert said:

Lovely, as always. I don’t know why I have never been able to satisfactorily play classical music on the Hayden.

It's perhaps a strange idea to play classical music on concertina but it's usually said that Bach's music is universal, so why not try it also on this instrument? Maybe for that it's better to listen to this music played on organ rather than on harpsichord or piano. But IMO there are 2 main problems to play this music on a concertina: the first one is to find an instrument with a good quality of sound and a good balance between left hand and right hand. The second one is that with a concertina you need to change the bellow direction and sometimes it can disturb the musical construction of tunes written for keyboards. Apart from that it's like all music, you just need to have enough time and to like it enough to repeat and repeat until the shape begins to appear.

Here is the last minuet that I will upload from this notebook: