Baritone-treble

[Wendy M. Grossman]

I made the same mistake about my former concertina (which got stolen) - I now realize that was a 64-key extended tenor-treble. I never could understanding the purposes of those dog-whistle-high notes...

 

On this baritone-treble, my inclination would be to swap the Eb and the Bb at the bottom on the left hand side there.

 

wg

[Little John]

20 hours ago, Wendy M. Grossman said:

On this baritone-treble, my inclination would be to swap the Eb and the Bb at the bottom on the left hand side there.

 

I'm not sure why you would do that. Both the Bb and the D# would be out of position. My earlier suggestion to replace the D# with Bb on a tenor-treble is because there isn't s Bb there at all on a TT, and a Bb would be much more useful to you (and in a convenient position). But on a baritone-treble you have it, and in its natural position.

[Wendy M. Grossman]

Actually, *this* tenor-treble has a Bb in exactly the position where I'd propose moving the Bb on the BT to.

 

wg

[Little John]

42 minutes ago, Wendy M. Grossman said:

Actually, *this* tenor-treble has a Bb in exactly the position where I'd propose moving the Bb on the BT to.

 

Ah, so for consistency then. That makes sense. And you'd probably never want a D# that low down anyway.

 

By the same logic you might want to swap the lowest F over with the Ab. That way you get the F next to the A and C; just like the Bb is next to the D and F.

[Wendy M. Grossman]

It's an F2, so in a lower octave than the A and C. I think it stays where it is, but thanks for the idea. It's a fifth below the Bb, so that's logical enough for me.

 

wg

[Little John]

13 hours ago, Wendy M. Grossman said:

It's an F2, so in a lower octave than the A and C. I think it stays where it is, but thanks for the idea. It's a fifth below the Bb, so that's logical enough for me.

 

Are you sure? I assume the lowest row in your note chart is

F2 G2 B2 Bb2, in which case the F is a fourth below the Bb.

 

On the other side I assume you have 

C#3 C3 A2 Ab2, so substituting the F for the Ab gives

C#3 C3 A2 F2 with the F a fifth below the C, on the same side as it would be if the instrument was extended further down.

 

 

[Wendy M. Grossman]

Sorry, yes, a fourth. I plead that I was tired. : )

 

Here's the right side chart:

F# F D Eb
Bb B G G#
Eb E C C#
G# A F F#
Eb D B Bb
G# G E Eb
C# C A Ab
 

I'm told this is a former Salvation Army instrument, and they required customization. Not sure how much. I know the F2 is an artifact of that. All instruments require compromise, of course. I suppose it depends how it's going to be used. You may be thinking in terms of playing melodies and runs of low notes. I often use low notes for drones, however, in which case it's helpful to have the note on the outside where the finger holding it down doesn't get in the way of other fingers doing other things.

 

This is very helpful. Thanks for taking the time.

 

wg

[Little John]

7 minutes ago, Wendy M. Grossman said:

... it's helpful to have the note on the outside where the finger holding it down doesn't get in the way of other fingers doing other things.

 

Indeed, and if you put it in place of the Ab on the RHS it's also under your little finger. But it's also on the same side as the C a fifth above so you can hold down a fifth to support a melody above (which is what I used to do before changing from English to Crane duet).

[Wendy M. Grossman]

Now you've got me wondering if that RH Ab could be an E2 instead. : )

 

(In fact, I now realize that moving the Eb means two identical notes right on top of one another. One should be something else.

 

wg

Edited October 30, 2021 by Wendy M. Grossman