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Posted

Here is the link to a short video demonstrating my Caledonian Concertina, a modification of the English system for the performance of Scottish and related traditional musics. A detailed technical description will follow in due course.

 

http://vimeo.com/1044939513

 

 

  • Like 6
Posted (edited)

looks like one has to sign up to vimeo for watching the vid. Bummer...

Edited by RAc
Posted
21 minutes ago, RAc said:

looks like one has to sign up to vimeo for watching the vid. Bummer...

I did not have to sign up to watch the video.

Posted (edited)
6 hours ago, RAc said:

looks like one has to sign up to vimeo for watching the vid. Bummer...

Confirmed - for me at least...

 

screenshot.2.jpg.5a3ff993e5ee412a1b537a3252c63db5.jpg

 

Pity - I bought my Burns Night haggis only yesterday and was anticipating eating it to a background of Scottish concertina.

 

Burns has recently been downgraded by the Scottish Qualifications Authority - in the interests of 'diversity' It's a 'sair fecht'...

Edited by Roger Hare
Posted

Folks

 

Sorry about the joint up thing. The video will be embedded in my website before too long.

 

It is in HD but I could make a very low res version and post it here. There is also youTube but I don't use that platform.

 

Stuart

Posted
5 minutes ago, aeolina said:

Folks

 

Sorry about the joint up thing. The video will be embedded in my website before too long.

 

It is in HD but I could make a very low res version and post it here. There is also youTube but I don't use that platform.

 

Stuart

Meanwhile can you give us a brief summary, or point us to info that I seem to recall seeing a while ago?

Posted

When I first clicked on the link, it wanted me to sign in. I thought I'd had a Vimeo account many years ago but couldn't find the login in my password manager. I said "I'll come back to that later" and went off to do other things. A few hours later I returned to the still-open browser tab to find that the login box had disappeared and it let me watch the video without an account.

 

Very nice playing, BTW!

Posted

Richard

 

See separate post under "new end plates" from yesterday. Concertina in video has no plates applied.

Posted
28 minutes ago, aeolina said:

Try now - seems was rated by Vimeo by default as "mature content'!

Possibly some AI had misinterpreted the blurred candle light images in the beginning of the video as wobbling breasts or something. Anyways, I agree with Alex about the nice playing, thanks! Looking forward to the details of the layout!

 

Posted

It's easy to use the "YouTube" thingy overall.. maybe you can put video on there. And you can use HD video quality on tube channel in setting up your videos without any problems.

Posted
49 minutes ago, SIMON GABRIELOW said:

It's easy to use the "YouTube" thingy overall.. maybe you can put video on there. And you can use HD video quality on tube channel in setting up your videos without any problems.

Simon

 

Should be open to you now.

 

Stuart

Posted

That video performance was excellent. I could have sworn that the sound was of a well played Anglo, so percussive. It didn’t sound like a hybrid either. I look forward to the tech part.

Posted

I like your playing style. I work the bellows just like that to accent the phrasing of the tune. I have a 5 fold bellows and I think it may be better for that style playing. When speeding up my playing the bellows hardly open up.

I am very interested in seeing the tech stuff. Is the button layout different from std. EC?

Posted

Forgive my ignorance, is this instrument an English system with Anglo Holding arrangements, or some form of Duet. It seems versatile. Are you using accordion reeds?

 

thanks for the video.

 

Dave

Posted

Simon: Many thanks. I may add the video to  youTube later, when I have my informative article on the box completed and posted on my website.

 

Tiposx: Thanks. It is fair to say that my playing has been influenced by lots of listening to Irish Anglo players and the fact that I grew up in music playing Irish fiddle. My intention has always been is to find a style appropriate to Scottish fiddle and bagpipe music on the English concertina and have come to the conclusion that some modification of the instrument would be highly beneficial in this regard. 

I thought hard about whether a hybrid instrument would be the correct route, particularly as I have played a 1920s Aeola since the 1970s. After some research I approached Andrew Norman whose instruments are highly regarded. Cost was also a consideration so I commissioned a miniature prototype first - a video of this will be posted soon.

Having played this sweet sounding Wheatstone along with flute, fiddle and bagpipes in The Whistlebinkies since the 1970s I was keen find something with a bit more character and "bark". The accordion has always been popular in Scotland so there is a precedent there.

The prototype arrived in autumn 2019 and I was delighted with it's responsiveness, sound and volume so began designing and raising funds for the larger model in the video, which arrived in autumn 2024. I also thought that the small prototype might be a model for a starter model for young people.

 

Fred v and and d.elliot: The concertina has the hand straps and supports developed by Henrik Müller in Sweden for the English system concertina me made specially for playing Irish music. This brings many benefits but it is better if the button array is moved down the box at tad, away from the wrists. Alex Holden has made several superb instruments with this arrangement including for another Scottish player.

In my box, the two inner rows of each manual are precisely as in the English system but on the outer two rows certain notes, those least frequently used in most Scottish music, are substituted with key notes duplicating those on the opposite manual. Again this brings many advantages that, in terms of my ambitions for the instrument, outweigh the disadvantages. These include the ability to use alternative fingerings by choosing a note from either side and in playing ornamentation. There are others as I am continually discovering. I will post a video demonstrating some of the ornamentation possible shortly.

 

Finally, although I am working to achieve a modification of the English system to suit Scottish music, I have been testing it as a medium for Irish traditional and I am already convinced that it has huge potential for the player concerned with the repertory and styles of that genre.

 

Videos to follow with layout drawings etc. later.

 

Stuart

 

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