Making Progress....

[Ritchie_Kay]

Well the waiting is nearly over. My new concertina from Frank Edgley should arrive in the next few weeks. So it is now time to get down to some serious practice and really start making strides forward. I have, so far, a bad habit of hearing tunes, liking them, then playing them before getting bored of playing that one (or that set) all the time and then moving on to the next one to learn... In this way, I can "play" (in some sense) a lot of tunes but I have never settled down and learned to play any of them really well.

 

Ultimately, I didn't buy a concertina just to mess around with - I actually wanted to get good at it. So I am trying to think of things I can do to practice which will improve various aspects of my technique which will then be added to tunes later. This applies to Irish music on an Anglo...

At the moment I am trying to get used to playing in octaves, so I am trying to play the entire B part of some tunes in Octaves. Another thing is chording both for emphasising strong noted and for putting in off beats on reel and jigs to add interest, although I haven't got a good exercise for this yet.

 

All teaching aids focus on tunes rather than techniques to learn. Does anyone have any exercises that they do to pick these things up? When I try putting these things into tunes I just play the tune worse and this just accelerates my transition to the next tune that I have decided would be fun to play.....

 

Thanks for any tips!

[Jeff Stallard]

If you want to improve technique, practice classical music. The big things, like speed and ear training, are just going to have to come with time; you can't force that stuff. The important thing is to keep playing, whether you're focusing on one really difficult song, or bouncing from one tune to the next. Both approaches are beneficial, so don't discount bouncing around.

 

Or...figure out a specific problem you have, then look for music that uses that problem area. I've tried that, and it's tough, but it really does help.

Edited June 6, 2005 by Jeff Stallard

[Paulino Forte]

I warm up with an a "Thirds/Sixths" exercise that I picked up in the Best Concertina Guide of all places. You play it on the second or third rows (C/G or G/D, etc.), crossing from the left to right hand. I use a metronome to drill for speed and timing.

 

You play the eighth and the ninth buttons pushing, then the eighth and the ninth buttons pulling, then the ninth and the tenth buttons pushing, then the ninth and the tenth buttons pulling, etc. The series of notes runs as follows:

 

C,E,D,F,E,G,F,A,G,B,A,C,B,D,C,E [Ascending]

D,B,C,A,B,G,A,F,G,E,F,D,E,C,D,B,C [Descending]

 

Another useful exercise is playing scales in triplets i.e. three notes of a scale for each downbeat. I find that it forces me to focus on the sounds that I'm playing rather than the physical pattern of the scale, thus challenging the "muscle memory". You can also do it with sixteenth notes i.e. four notes for each downbeat. Granted, I slow down the metronome ALOT to play the triplets and sixteenth notes but it's more of a rhythmic exercise for me anyway.

 

Hope this helps...as a concertina beginner and a guitarist (accustomed to method books and tutors with exercises) I share your pain. Keep the faith!