Duet concertina lessons

[PortableOrgan]

Can anyone recommend a good teacher for duet concertina?  

 

I would prefer someone who plays the Hayden keyboard layout, but Crane and McCann could also work.  I suspect that I could learn a lot even from a teacher of English concertina, as long as they played in a fairly polyphonic style.

 

I just picked up a duet concertina (“DC”) last year, and have been having a lot of fun teaching myself the rudiments.  But I’m getting to the point where I want to make sure that I don’t ingrain any bad habits.  I have prior experience messing around with a few other instruments (banjo, recorder, tin whistle), but the DC is my first experience with playing a polyphonic instrument (like a piano).  It’s also my first experience with a free-reed instrument.  So far, I’m mostly working on basic hand independence, playing simple chordal accompaniments on the LH while I play the melody on the RH, but my ultimate goal is to be able to play truly polyphonic pieces in two (or even four?) voices.  I’d also like to get to the point where I can sight-read simple piano pieces off the grand staff.

 

While those are stretch goals, in the near term I could really benefit from an an objective third party helping me to avoid bad habits in the following areas:

 

     * Hand independence (especially tempo issues when playing a treble line that is syncopated wrt the bass)

 

     * Bellows control

 

     * Posture and general ergonomics (I have a history of RSI issues with other instruments)

 

Does anybody know of a gifted DC teacher who might be willing to work with a motivated but not particularly talented beginner?  I’m in the Boston area, but my schedule is pretty flexible, and I could probably work with anyone from GMT+2 (eg, Poland) to GMT-5 (eg, California).  I spend my whole work-day on Zoom, so I’m pretty comfortable with video-conferencing.

 

Thanks in advance for any leads!

[David Barnert]

I am not a teacher and have no desire to worry about curricula or lesson plans, but I’ve been playing the Hayden DC for 35 years or so and am in your time zone (Albany NY). I could do a zoom session with you, answer some questions, listen/watch you play and make constructive criticism. I’m self-taught on the Hayden, so I may not have the standard answers to some of the concerns you mention, but I’m classically trained on the cello, recorder, and classical guitar, and am well-versed in music theory.

 

If you think this might be of some help, message me. Meanwhile, have a look at some of my videos.