What if your tastes don't run to traditional genres of concertina music?

[Al.]

You can use your concertina for anything.   I started learning English concertina only eight months ago but am already playing everything from Hymns to "Pop" music on it.   I am even planning on seeing what I can do with the riff to "Pretty Vacant" for a music for fun group I go to, there are no limits.  Some modern bands influenced by Americana such as The Decemberists have an Accordion player, their part could well work on Anglo.

[SIMON GABRIELOW]

I often  refer to music based upon recorder or flute range, and books published for similar.  The range seems to suite concertina quite well.  My favourite tunes that I play often, based upon ancient recorder music by Jacob Van Eyck [17th century Dutch blind composer musician]  called Der Fluyten Lust-hof - is a huge volume of wonderful melodies, on the single melodic line, and you can simpy improvise your own chords as you wish.

 

 

Edited February 15 by SIMON GABRIELOW

[Jody Kruskal]

13 hours ago, Jane_in_UK said:

other genres I could explore that might be more to my taste and perhaps have more in common with old time/americana? Recommendations of genres, musicians and tunes would be greatly appreciated! 

Try this,

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Roger Hare]

10 hours ago, Roger Hare said:

There's not really any limit to the genres you could explore...

Oh, aye, I forgot to mention:

 

Scottish - sheet music downloads from The Highland Music Trust, but there's lots of Scottish music out there. I recommend the Robert Petrie and John French collections

Welsh - a little more difficult to find, but it's out there.

Klezmer - try here for a start.

Music from that area of the U.S.A. where 'The Chemnitzer is King' - some of it seems to adapt quite nicely to the Anglo? Czech, German and Polish style music - lotsa polkas.

 

Again, the rider applies that some of these genres may not transfer particularly well to banjo...

 

Edited February 16 by Roger Hare

[Jane_in_UK]

Sincere thanks to everyone for all your encouragement and helpful recommendations - you've provided me with a wealth of sources and resources to research and explore, and given me the confidence to break through the wall that I'd started to build around my playing. The responses you've given have been immensely helpful to me, and hopefully also to other people who come across this thread at the beginning of their concertina journey. 

[Daniel Hersh]

 I forgot about this brief video of me playing an old time tune with a banjo and fiddle player on a windy day in San Francisco 

 

 

[John Wild]

If Welsh music appeals to you, this is an excellent book:

 

https://redcowmusic.co.uk/product/blodaur-grug-100-popular-welsh-folk-dance-tunes/

 

Also available on amazon and other shops

[adamhuestis]

I usually send people to:

 

 https://abcnotation.com/  

 

Abc notation is great. They have links to almost every type of historical music. It is one of my favorite sites.

[Lappy]

You might like these:

https://youtu.be/uR4t6qBCqOA?si=Oe0Xe7KXR7s675Nq

https://youtu.be/cIgB6r3SSEM?si=YoZJVcNda-V3kiLp

 

[Cathasach]

I play Americana, old time, and pseudo-klezmer on my concertina with friends on banjo(not claw) and fiddle and it's tons of fun.

[Jim Besser]

 Play what you want.  I seem to remember a guy in Japan who had a fine old time playing Broadway show tunes.  As Jodie has so ably pointed out, oldtime tunes can be great fun on Anglo.  I play in a duo with Randy Stein on English concertina, and we play a little of everything - some trad, some jazz and tin pan alley,  some tangos, some stuff I'm not sure how to classify.

 

Play what you want and what makes you feel good.

 

Edited February 16 by Jim Besser

[Theo]

If you fancy something classical on anglo Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne shows the way

 

 

Or perhaps ragtime

 

 

[hjcjones]

Or for slightly earlier stuff, Adrian Brown specialises in Renaissance music and has published a book in Coover tab, with Youtube videos of the tunes.

 

https://www.concertina.adrianbrown.org/

 

[Anglo-Irishman]

On 2/15/2026 at 2:37 PM, Jane_in_UK said:

My husband plays clawhammer banjo and I think I fondly imagined us being able to play some tunes together...but there appears to be no common ground/shared tunes that are available for both clawhammer banjo players and concertina players.

Let's look at ths philosophically ...

It takes two to make music: a musician and a musical instrument. To make good music, these two must have common ground. The instrument must be suitable for the kinds of music that the musician feels the need to play, and the musician must be able to play the kinds of music that the instrument is suitable for. For instance, if the musician enjoys rich harmonies, a brass or woodwind instrument will not be satisfactory; he or she would need a stringed, free-reed or keyboard instrument such as the guitar, concertina or piano. 

 

Note, however, that the instrument tends to be more adaptible than the player! There are many good classical pianists, jazz pianists, ragtime pianists, song accompanists, etc., all playing identical instruments - but very few who can "partner" the piano in all these genres! So (in the case of polyphonic instruments) the capabilities of the player/instrument pair are usually more limited by the player's technique than by the instrument's architecture.

This brings us to your problem with the banjo!

 

I play both Anglo concertina and 5-string banjo, and believe it or not, I have several pieces that I can play in a fully harmonised arrangement on both instruments. Mostly tunes of Victorian drawing-room ballads, English hymn-tunes, Scottish Psalm-tunes and German folk-songs. This works because I play the Anglo in harmonic style and the banjo in classic finger-style. I don't need so-called ITM concertina or claw-hammer banjo techniques because I don't really care for dance music (I'm a singer, first and foremost). If I'd wanted to play jigs and reels, I'd have stayed with the fiddle, which I learnt as a child, and which is IMO the most suited instrument for that kind of music.

 

My conclusion from all this would be the recommendation that you with your Anglo and your husband with his banjo look around for genres that appeal to all four of you! IMHO, three-finger banjo and harmonic Anglo will take you farther than claw-hammer banjo and ITM Anglo.

Cheers,

John

[Jane_in_UK]

Lots for me to ponder on there @Anglo-Irishman! I certainly think we'll have much greater area of common ground if I switch to harmonic anglo...he plays a lot of clawhammer, but can turn his hand to regular 3 finger banjo playing too with a little persuasion. 

[Johanna]

For what it's worth, I played my concertina at an old-time session last night.  Nobody said or did anything to remotely suggest that I wasn't welcome, and some people commented that they liked the difference in sound that it added.  I fully maintain that there's a place for a concertina wherever you choose to show up with one.

[Jody Kruskal]

Over the years I have had many Anglo concertina students. Some of them want to learn English, Scottish, Irish, Swedish and American traditional dance tunes, which I love. Others students wanted pop songs from their youth and I found that I was able to compose student arrangements for just about anything.

 

Here are some examples:

 

House of the Rising Sun - The Animals
Sweet Dreams - The Eurythmics 
Seven Nation Army - White Stripes
Mad World - Tears For Fears
Čerešničky, Cerešne - Moravian children’s song
Beer Barrel Polka
Flash Jack From Gundagai - Australia
Message To You Rudy - the Specials
Move Along - All American Rejects
Alright For Now - Tom Petty
The Swimming Song - Kate & Anna McGarrigle

[El Squeezer]

I play oldtime music on the concertina but seldom decide to take it out to an oldtime jam. I'll fiddle or play harmonica at a jam but I don't like to rock the boat to much with the squeezebox. Around here (western North Carolina) oldtime music is very serious with a lot of great players that are after that specific Tommy Jarrell Round Peak sound. I work at a clawhammer banjo factory and I keep a concertina up there for lunch time tunes. The fiddle tunes down to C (FCGD) and I'll play harmonic style. Cumberland gap, bravest cowboy, Indian ate the woodchuck, etc... works great, just not "traditional"!

Edited February 21 by El Squeezer