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A Concertina Without Bellows!


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In the thread "looking for a tutor" in the Teaching & Learning forum, Howard Mitchell wrote:

 

A great suggestion. More details of the "Derby Heritage Traditional Music Club" can be found at http://www.dhtmc.co.uk/

 

Curious as ever I clicked the link and surfed around to find this picture:

 

bwdf4300.jpeg

 

I had a close look and could not believe my eyes when I saw the concertina on the lower-left side :blink:

Does "this thing" make sound?

According to the caption these musicians are Bill Whaley and Dave Fletcher.

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There seems to be a cable hanging down on the right hand side - MIDI?

 

Yes it's a midi concertina ..... and it really is purple!

It look a lot like the photo might have been taken at the Four Fools Festival 2004 (Lancashire) where I first saw this beast (the stuff on the wall looks familiar) .... Edited to say "No - we didn't have a candelabra there, must be some place else"

 

I reckon if you're going to go midi you might as well go purple as well :D

 

Chris Jordan

Edited by spindizzy
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Yup, seems to be. If you go to:

 

http://users.tinyonline.co.uk/fizgig-tom/bill-dave.htm

 

you can read all about these guys, including:

 

Dave Fletcher & Bill Whaley are Lincolnshire singers of songs rather than singers of Lincolnshire songs. They have developed a rich, full sound, laced with fine harmonies.

 

"They draw their songs from all over and then make them their own. Their singing has a very traditional feel, though actually many of the songs are written by contemporary songwriters, including Lincolnshire's own John Conolly, Martyn Wyndham-Read who is a keen advocate of Bill & Dave's work, Bob Dylan and Iris DeMent. This traditional sound is enhanced by Bill's concertina and harmonium playing. He also plays a modern midi concertina, though he seems to have misplaced some purple bellows for this unusual instrument!"

 

Who do you think makes that wild looking thing?

 

Jody

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks Howard,

 

It's taken me a few days to spot this. I don't know why.

 

As Howard mentioned the general concept was introduced to this forum a few months ago. Now I'm actually making a few instruments I've included a couple of pictures. As you will see I am making them in red or black and they have a 64 button English layout.

 

E64Black.jpg

 

The full website will soon be published on www.s-wave.co.uk so you'll be able to see them there along with a few more details of what the instrument does, how it works etc...

 

In the meantime if anyone out there in forum-space is interested in finding out more please mail me at enquiries@s-wave.co.uk.

 

Dean Onyon

Edited by S-Wave
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Is an anglo version available yet?

To save Dean retyping, here's what Dean said in an email to me:-

On the subject of an Anglo version, it is entirely possible because the

pressure sensor can differentiate between pull and push. However, it does

have an inherent disadvantage when compared to the English version in that

the English version can be set up to have different settings for push and

pull. An instrument without bellows can be played 'forever' in either

direction so, for instance, when accompanying a song, the push setting (say)

can produce verse accompaniment sounds and the pull setting can produce

different chorus, last verse or middle eight accompaniment sounds giving a

wider range of expression options to the player. The Anglo version still has

to be pushed and pulled (fairly randomly in terms of the song) and so loses

the possibility of this facility without resorting to extra switches or foot

pedals.

 

Sounds like there's degree of thinking "out of the box" going on here.

 

Chris

Edited by Chris Timson
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Presumably anglo is not feasible, as the ends don't push in and pull out ???

Although Chris quoted Dean as saying an anglo is possible -- though at the cost of losing another feature (that is not found on traditional concertinas), -- your comment led me to imagine that a "compromise" for those who like the anglo system might be a Jeffries duet keyboard.

 

Imagine the old Jeffries duets becoming a "hot" item through an upsurge in popularity brought on by a new MIDI instrument. :ph34r: :)

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