Ornaments

[Kim William Tyther]

Hey Concertinist and concertiners!

I take part in traditional Music class with a teacher who plays the violin. He is often trying to get me to play rolls. I discovered from some forum that violin rolls aren't really adapted to the concertina. I did find the video on the two finger roll with Simon Thoumire which i really liked but my teacher feels is closer to a shake.. maybe the way I'm doing it is wrong but anyway, tonight,we did the tune Monasteraden Fancy. In the first part there is a many opportunities for a high G roll. As my teacher started asking me about the rolls, I tried a pull G while dabing in the high A and high f sharp to copy the violin. He seemed to like this although to me it seems bizarre! 

My question is, should i keep practicing this or is there much better ornaments that i should practice and master? 

Thank you

[John, Wexford]

Welcome to the dark art of Anglo concertina ornamentation, Kim.

 

First off, I wouldn't seek instruction from a violin player for ornamentation - tunes yes, ornamentation no.

 

Simon Thoumire plays the English style concertina, and while some of his ornaments might suit the Anglo concertina, and you would learn a wealth of technique too, I'm sure that, equally, many of them, unfortunately might not.

 

You could start with some books, to give you a flavour of ornamentation, but ultimately, I think that you should seek some instruction from a player, whose style you might like.

 

Cary Coover has recently posted a list of Instruction books, here:

 

 

and I'm sure you'd find something of interest here.

 

There is also the option to go for online instruction, (particularly in this era of Coron-virus), and there are absolutely loads of concertina players, who offer online tuition, (so numerous in fact that I'm not going to list them here).

 

The tune you are hoping to play, Monasteraden Fancy, is a lovely tune and I play a version of it too.

 

Imho, the draw G always sounds just a little weak to me, and trying to do a roll on it has the disadvantage of taking your fingers out of (what I would call) the "home" position. I would suggest that it is not necessary to emulate the fully formed rolls, that are available to other instruments, like the violin, flute, and / or accordion, but to think more outside the box, in terms of alternating or duplicating the two different G notes available to you on the Anglo, and putting a grace-note somewhere in the middle of it all. Think of these more as rhythmical devices, or extended grace-note sequences, to help the rhythm along, rather than trying to slavishly copy or emulate other instruments.

 

In answer to your final question, there might not be “better” ornaments, depending on your musical preferences, but there certainly are tons of other “alternative” ornaments.

 

In any event good luck with your progress on the concertina.