New online lesson launched by McNeela (taught by Jack Talty)

[gtotani]

Hi all. 

 

It looks like McNeela is launching an online concertina lesson by Jack Talty. 

https://concertinalessons.mcneelamusic.com/order-form1637165625465

 

FYI

 

Totani

[Paul Draper]

I've signed up for this course even though I've been playing for 3 years. It seems well designed. The videos are uncomplicated with the fingers being clearly shown and Jack's voice is distinct and measured . He is spending the first few lessons emphasising good habits while introducing the notes and scales. Diagrams and notation are shown in the video at appropriate times and are always available on the page to be downloaded in pdf form. Each lesson so far is quite short and has points where a pause for practice is suggested.

[pentaprism]

Does the course use Wheatstone or Jeffries key layout? Does it matter much if it uses Wheatstone and my concertina is Jeffries?

[Paul Draper]

I think it's Wheatstone but I haven't got very far along in the course.

[JackJ]

Early on he says he plays a Wheatstone layout, but like Paul above I haven't gotten very far.  I play Jeffries (more specifically the Carroll variation that has three C#s on the RH outside row), but I can't imagine it will make a lot of difference, and he may well go over both fingering options on specific tunes.

 

I'm only on lesson 6 or 7, and I'm enjoying it so far, even though it's basic stuff, and I'm an intermediate player.  Like Caitlin's irishconcertinalessons.com, you get closeups of both hands to help see the fingering.  Caitlin walks you through the notes with a lot more repetition, which is helpful.  But Jack, so far, talks more (so far) about technique, best practices, and things to avoid.

 

I was surprised to see that on only the second or third tune presented, Jack gets into harmony/chord options.  That's good from my perspective, as my own playing is limited in that area.

[Sionainn]

I got a concertina 8 days ago and started Jack Talty's lessons that day and have been doing one lesson per day. I think the course is absolutely excellent from a beginner's persepctive, considering how much I can do in such a short time, and not having played music much at all in about 25 years. I feel like he's setting me up with good habits and a good foundation, and the course is laid out very logically. He does mention where the fingerings would be different for a Jeffries layout.

[Paul Draper]

I've just discovered that Jack seems to be using an instrument with a slightly different layout to mine, In Lesson 7 he calls for a low A on the push and locates it on the G row left hand  but I have a D there. I've checked my layout agrees with that published in David Elliotts maintenance manual.

[peterhannaway@gmail.com]

Paul, I had the same issue on G row LH; my Lachenal lowest button played DB, my Wheatstone plays AB-like Jack Talty's.

I prefer the AB and after the Lachenal I checked the key layout before buying.

Many buttons can be changed if the reed size isn't much different.

[anadances]

How are people liking this course as few months on?

 

I was curious to see how this course is different from Caitlin's and watched the intro video. I was surprised at how little (none, really) concertina playing there is on the video or promo page, it's almost entirely Padraig Mcneela doing a hard sales pitch for the Christmas specials. For people who signed up in summer, are you allowed to access these special modules with all the bells and whistles and secret tricks for getting invited to a session?

 

It would be nice to at least be able to see a sample lesson before giving him your credit card, though I respect expect this is part of the sales strategy.

 

I do like the idea of learning from another perspective but will probably finish Catilin's intermediate course first. 

[papawemba]

I subscribed to all: OAIM, Caitlin, and Jack Talty.

They are all excellent with pros/cons of course 😉

 

There aren’t that much online lessons….I think they kind of complement each other.

Jack Talty cover a wide variety of knowledge (Harmony, Ornamentation but not as much as Caitlin, why some tunes goes well together, key of E flat, why one button or the other, bellow...), I like the one exercise on ornamentation (but why just one exercise ?). Cons…Advance section is not really about concertina techniques (which was a disappointment for me), globally not a lot a tunes, lots of information’s but could extend a little...

But overall I think it does gives a solid concertina foundation ! I can’t answer if this is necessary after Caitlin lessons…But I am sure you will find interesting information’s. If worth the price is up to you 😉

 

None of the three (oaim,…) really focus on how to make a tune sound “good or special”, how to make the tune flowing or small thing here and there to make it different (not sure if this is clear), but this is probably about personal style and after years of practice, something will come up…But why not teaching a bit of style ? 😊 Maybe in the future.

 

Best

Nicolas

[MeezStephanie]

@papawemba , thanks for the detailed review and comparison!

I also signed up for Jack Talty's course. I'm a beginner on concertina but a long time musician on other instruments. I think it's pretty useful for me and I really like that he uses the teaching of a tune as a vehicle for a technique lesson. I like his playing a lot too. I do agree that there aren't really lot of tunes considering it's 3 parts, and some of the tunes I'm not interested in learning tbh ( Wellerman? no thanks, hee hee).

I will say that, oops, the McNeela website makes it easy to sign up for the subscription, but  difficult to cancel ! However, I assume it's just a case of them not having their online platform all in order. I ordered a case from them and it came quickly, well-packed, at a decently price, so I'd order from them again.

 

I'll probably try all three courses, as well-- maybe on to Caitlin next!

 

 

[Sionainn]

I started the Jack Talty course a year ago when I got my first concertina. As a total beginner who hadn't played music since I was a teenager, it was really excellent. Jack has a very methodical approach to teaching, and it has given me a solid foundation. I flew through the beginner course, learning quickly. I'm most of the way through the Intermediate course now, and it's been great too, but a steeper learning curve, so I've gone through it much more slowly. I also branched out quite a bit after getting a foundation in the beginner's course, so I haven't been as devoted to the lessons as I was early on--but that's a good thing, because he gave me the foundation to be able to branch out and learn music on my own! I think it's been a good value for the amount of material there, but I will probably cancel fairly soon, as I'm no longer using the course as much. Hopefully I can figure out how to cancel!

I've done Caitlin's sample video lessons and enjoyed them. but Jack's approach is a better fit for me. I also did some lessons through OAIM, mainly because I forgot to cancel after the free trial ended. Learned some good tunes there, but the instruction isn't nearly as thorough as Jack or Caitlin's course.

 

I live in a tiny remote community in Alaska, so in-person tutoring isn't possible, and I've been really impressed with how much I learned from Jack's course.