Miniature English Concertinas for Sale

[Dowright]

On Tuesday, 20 July 2021, I posted that two English and one Anglo miniature were for sale. The miniature Anglo has been sold. The 12 Key Wheatstone and Crabb English miniatures are still available. For more information, see my 20 July posting and, if interested, send me a personal message.

I feel that it is important for me to indicate that "English" 12-key miniature is sort of a misnomer. A full-size English concertina (48 keys) has inside rows of natural notes and outside rows of accidental notes. The 12 key English miniature is nothing like that layout. The only reasons that it is called "English" is because it has the same note on the push and the draw of an individual button and because a scale is played by going back and forth from side to side. Using the twelve buttons is nothing like learning the layout of a 48-key English concertina.

Note that air management is a major issue for miniature concertinas, and air management is much easier on an "English" miniature than on an Anglo miniature. You do not run out of air on an "English" miniature, since you can get the particular note in either direction of the bellows.

Yes, there are only 12 notes, but compare that to the only 9 notes of the highland pipes, which have an extensive repertory. Tommy Elliot, the "King" of the 12 key English miniature, had a sizeable inventory of musical selections.

Yes, playing requires going from side to side. But consider that, if you play in the cross-row style of Anglo--rather than along the row--you also are very frequently alternating from left side to right side to left side, etc..

On balance, playing a miniature 12-key "English" is immensely easier than playing a 12-key Anglo miniature.

 

[Little John]

2 hours ago, Dowright said:

The 12 key English miniature is nothing like that layout. The only reasons that it is called "English" is because it has the same note on the push and the draw of an individual button and because a scale is played by going back and forth from side to side. Using the twelve buttons is nothing like learning the layout of a 48-key English concertina.

 

That's strange. I once played an 8 key miniature, which was just like a 48 key but with 40 fewer keys. It would be interesting to see the note layout on these 12 key instruments.

[alex_holden]

18 hours ago, Little John said:

 

That's strange. I once played an 8 key miniature, which was just like a 48 key but with 40 fewer keys. It would be interesting to see the note layout on these 12 key instruments.

 

See Dowright's article about miniature concertinas in PICA volume 9:

http://www.concertina.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/PICA09-2012.pdf

[Little John]

27 minutes ago, alex_holden said:

See Dowright's article ...

 

Thanks. The diagrams on page 20 are exactly what I expected - the standard English layout with many fewer buttons.

[Dowright]

Little John,

I do not understand how the layout of a 48-key 4-column English concertina can have anything in common with a one octave 8-key or a 12-key (with triangular layout pattern on each side). You say "standard English layout with fewer buttons." Are you simply referring to the back and forth scale pattern across sides? I covered that subject in the original post of this thread.

[Little John]

1 hour ago, Dowright said:

... You say "standard English layout with fewer buttons." ...

 

Yes, that's exactly what it is. Here's a standard 48 button layout with the 8 button miniature as illustrated in the PICA article embedded within it. Forgive my freehand drawing skills!

 

 

[SteveS]

4 hours ago, alex_holden said:

 

See Dowright's article about miniature concertinas in PICA volume 9:

http://www.concertina.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/PICA09-2012.pdf

Great article - thanks for the posting the link

[Geoffrey Crabb]

Having had many requests for my opinion as a retired concertina maker regarding the use of English in the description of miniature concertinas, I have posted my personal observations and opinion in Instrument Construction & Repair .  

 

Geoff