"Concertina is the bacon of music"

[Johanna]

That's a quote from a neighborhood jam session I went to last night.  The idea is that no matter what we're playing (the theme of the night was "indie music of the 2000s"), adding a concertina makes it better.  I'm not sure my musical skills fully support that characterization (and as a vegetarian, I'm not sure I fully endorse the analogy), but I'll take the compliment in the spirit in which it was offered, and I'm delighted that people think that whatever it is that I'm doing is working.

 

(This is from a different event last month, but it's a fair representation of my current level of sophistication.  I don't join in until a minute or so into the video, when invited to "play your squeezebox thing": https://www.instagram.com/p/DJ7Guc5RisC/)

 

I'm curious about others' experience with this sort of thing: How have you found that a concertina can enhance songs/genres where one wouldn't normally expect to find one?  I'm not talking (for the moment) about intricate solo arrangements or elaborate instrumental breaks, but rather playing with a group where you're adding that little bit of "something else," or showing up to a sing-along where you're the only one with an instrument other than a guitar (or ukulele).  What's your approach?  How do you decide what to play (or when not to play)?  Let's give each other some inspiration for what our instruments can do.

[Ken_Coles]

Thirty years ago, when i was learning to play a twenty button C/G anglo from Italy, I was a regular at the local "Folk Music Society." Many beginners and a few mentors would play all sorts of tunes and a few songs from various traditions. Some months it was all guitars and me; then I would try to bang out the melody. Other meetings were mostly fiddles and banjos playing melody, at which point I would hammer out chords or oom-pahs. I could tell it helped keep the group together on the beat. All that gave me a sense I could contribute using this particular instrument, even though most of the musicians were better than I was. A bit of a milestone for me.

 

Ken

[Little John]

12 hours ago, Johanna said:

How have you found that a concertina can enhance songs/genres where one wouldn't normally expect to find one?

 

I go weekly to a small pub session which is mainly rock/country. I take a concertina and often a bouzouki too. I use the concertina for all kinds of music - Rolling Stones, The Band, John Denver etc. I'll play melody, counter-melody, bass line or chords as the fancy takes me, and even the occasional solo. Last night I played backing to Galway to Graceland (chords and counter-melody) as support to a folk concert (Magpie Lane), including an impromptu solo when the singer forgot his words.

[Alan Day]

Interesting thought and taking it further The Concertina and mainly Anglo's have in a very short while become a traditional instrument  of Irish Traditional music. With it's own style now of playing it enhances the fiddle and flute (The older Traditional instruments ) . 

Definitely the Irish Bacon.

[RAc]

I do not believe that a concertina (or, for that purpose, any instrument) "automatically makes any music sound better." As of yet, it is probably exotic enough to make a known tune - in particular outside of folk contexts - sound different and therefore potentially more interesting.

 

I am sure that any professional music producer would be able to identify the places in a given tune/arrangement where the sound of a concertina fits in and where it doesn't, just like piano sounds, violin, saxophone etc.

[Turtle]

Hi Johanna, fellow English player here. I'm very bad at improvising with other musicians... very bad, so I generally use pre-written music for duets (I only compose solo music, so all my duets are arrangements). This gives me time to work out harmonies before I play the music, which I find to be a great advantage of the English concertina. I take violin, vocal, or even fully orchestrated melodies and add a great deal of harmonies.

 

While the violin and voice can have lots of "performative expression" (vibrato/glissandi/etc.), they are limited in their "harmonic expression". This harmonic expression is where the concertina really shines, and it transforms melodies to something truly unique and special.

 

Check out this arrangement I wrote, if you want. I start with a single line melody and add harmonies as the music continues:

 

 

One trick I use is to add sixths underneath the last three notes of the single-line melody. This creates a sort of "double resolution" to conclude the phrase.

 

As far as how I select notes, I don't want to overwhelm the melody while it is calm, so I generally stick to two notes at a time. I generally select the notes that most fully represent the underlying harmonies of the accompaniment (thirds and sevenths!), as well as the notes that may be least prominent in the melody. I'll give a couple of example from this piece (note it is in 3/4 time):

• If the melody is three quarter notes of D E G# (E⁷), I may select B as my harmonic note since it completes the harmony and isn't present in the melody.

• If the melody is three quarter notes of E A C (A minor), I may select A as my harmonic note because A is the middle note of the melody. This gives richer harmonic textures on beats 1 and 3, balancing the harmonies.

 

When the music gets exciting, I introduce three note chords. I use inversions to fill the harmonies under the melody, and sometimes play octaves under the melodic line to really fill the sound. I also love the sound of "wide" chords. For G major this is B G D (see measure 41). In music theory terms, this is 3 on the bottom, 1 and 5 on top.

 

And, of course, trust your ear.

 

I still love the sound of single-line concertina melodies!

manchuria-concertina.pdf