Share Your Single-row Tunes!

[Geraghty]

I'm looking to expand my range of single-row tunes. I've only got two at the moment, Terry Teehan's Polka (C row) and what one of my books calls Ballydesmond's #3 (G row, slightly easier with one C row note on the right hand). I like these tunes because it's very easy to switch to the other key in an instant, and they're also very convenient for those small instruments with less than 20 buttons.

 

I saw a comment in a review of Noel Hill's music camp, referring to a single-row reel that was taught, and this got me thinking. Does anyone else out there have some single-row tunes to share? If you just have the name and which row to use, that could be enough to locate it, but even better would be sound clips or sheet music.

[Guest]

Great idea! I'll check my repetoire and get back to you

[Dan Worrall]

Does anyone else out there have some single-row tunes to share? If you just have the name and which row to use, that could be enough to locate it, but even better would be sound clips or sheet music.

There's an old Jackie Daly LP (TOpic 12TS358) that had several concertina tunes on it; to my best recollection they were all or mostly one row and very nice (I think the one I remember is Keefe's/THe Clog slides, but my turntable is on the fritz).

[m3838]

I think all the diatonic music can be played on one row. Second or third rows are employed for either the ease of the fingering, smooth bellows direction or, if you have 30 button chromatic and play with chords, that may dictate the row. If you have some old, air hungry instrument and tired of "riding" the air button all the time, that too, may dictate the choice of the row.

Other than that, most folk music can be played on one row. There is no such thing, really, as "one row tunes", perhabs "one row style of playing", that is: choppy, energetic, with careful choice of harmony, and generally, as I understand it, with reduced air "mileage" mentality. No?

Edited January 26, 2006 by m3838

[JimLucas]

... most folk music can be played on one row.

Depending on the key, of course. On a C/G instrument, most tunes in D require all three rows, F# in the G row, low E in the C row, and C# in the 3rd row. Transposing it to C or G might let you play it all on one row, but it also might not please others who are trying to play it with you. Maybe that's what Geraghty meant... in the usual key on the usual instrument?

 

But you're right, Michael, about reasons for crossing rows. Most tunes that I could play entirely on one row, I don't, because crossing rows helps with the fingering... or the rhythm... or the air.

[Henk van Aalten]

But you're right, Michael, about reasons for crossing rows. Most tunes that I could play entirely on one row, I don't, because crossing rows helps with the fingering... or the rhythm... or the air.

Michael and Jim, you are absolutely right, but there a (still) a lot of tunes that I prefer to play on one row. Some examples for Geraghty:

Planxty Irwin (on the G row of my C/G)

Sheebeg an Sheemor (on the C row of my C/G)

Lord Inchiquin (on the C row of my C/G)

Shandon Bells (on the G row of my G/D)

Slieve Russel (on the G row of my C/G)

The concertina hornpipe (on the G row of my C/G)

etc. etc.

[Guest Peter Laban]

Anything by Kitty Hayes on the latest CD? ;-)

[m3838]

Hey you lucky guys, you actually play with others and the key is an issue with you.

As I'm mostly left to my own, I generally disregard the key. The only issue is whether to play it low or high. And it only comes up when I play my accordion: most Scottish tunes don't sound good in low G, but are a bit tricky to play in high G due to irregularities of the upper end of the keyboard. (I'm learning a few tunes form Jimmy Shand CD)

When I tried to play those tunes on my newly arrived 20 button C/g - the question about the key and which octave to play is solved by itself. Up - too shrill, Down - not enough notes, So the answer is - wrapping the music and faking by adding octaves and rotating the melody between left and right like crazy.

Those Morris tunes are very suitable for 1 row playing with chords on the left, but they are a bit look-alike and one gets weary of the same C-G, C-G (or G-D) chords.

[Geraghty]

Thank you Henk, that's very helpful and I'll look them up.

 

... most folk music can be played on one row.

Transposing it to C or G might let you play it all on one row, but it also might not please others who are trying to play it with you. Maybe that's what Geraghty meant... in the usual key on the usual instrument?

 

But you're right, Michael, about reasons for crossing rows. Most tunes that I could play entirely on one row, I don't, because crossing rows helps with the fingering... or the rhythm... or the air.

 

Yes Jim, I guess I could have been more specific. Let me try again:

 

I'm looking for tunes that can be played in the keys of D or G on a single C, D or G row on anglo concertina. Preferably, tunes that not only CAN be played on a single row but actually sound good too, accounting for rhythm and air and so forth. My version of Terry Teehan's polka (which I suppose I had better post, I'll try to get it up on Saturday) is a good example of this, it is played on the C row and can be played along by standard instruments i.e. a set of pipes in the key of D. It also has a good lift to it and is easy both to finger and to regulate air levels.

 

Thanks, everyone, for your input! And Peter, I don't know, is there anything like this on Kitty's new CD? You'd be in the best position to tell us!

[Peter Brook]

But you're right, Michael, about reasons for crossing rows. Most tunes that I could play entirely on one row, I don't, because crossing rows helps with the fingering... or the rhythm... or the air.

Michael and Jim, you are absolutely right, but there a (still) a lot of tunes that I prefer to play on one row. Some examples for Geraghty:

Planxty Irwin (on the G row of my C/G)

Sheebeg an Sheemor (on the C row of my C/G)

Lord Inchiquin (on the C row of my C/G)

Shandon Bells (on the G row of my G/D)

Slieve Russel (on the G row of my C/G)

The concertina hornpipe (on the G row of my C/G)

etc. etc.

 

Henk your post illustrates another issue - what is the right key!

 

I've always played Sheebeg Sheemor in D so I need the F# & C# which are not on my C row!

 

Sussex Bonny Breast knot is traditionaly written in C and I can play it on the C row - but most people play it in G!

 

Apologies for the thread creep - yet again

[Geraghty]

Sussex Bonny Breast knot is traditionaly written in C and I can play it on the C row - but most people play it in G!

 

The beauty of single-row tunes - it (hypothetically) shouldn't be hard to move it from the C row to the G row

[JimLucas]

Sussex Bonny Breast knot is traditionaly written in C and I can play it on the C row - but most people play it in G!

The beauty of single-row tunes - it (hypothetically) shouldn't be hard to move it from the C row to the G row

Well, "1-row" tunes are diatonic tunes. The two should be synonymous, except maybe at the ends of the range. (To play the lower E in G or the lower A in C goes out of the row.)

 

Many traditional songs and especially children's songs fit the pattern: "I'll Tell My Ma", "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain", "Oh, Susannah", etc. And we mustn't forget "Amazing Grace", which can be played in 3 different keys on a single row.

 

I.e., tunes that don't use all the notes of the diatonic scale can usually be played in more than one key even on a single row. Another is "The Rose Tree", which is normally played in D, and can be played in that key entirely on the G row. But it's much simpler to play it in G on the G row or in C on the C row.

 

As for the ease of transposing between C and G just by shifting rows, I just took "Saddle the Pony", a jig that fits nicely on the G row alone, and tried transposing it on my English into keys I'd never tried before. After a couple of false starts while getting my brain reoriented, I was soon playing it in Ab, A, C, E, and F, as well as G. Such transposing is supposed to be even easier on a Hayden duet, and I find it's fairly straightforward on a Crane duet. The latter isn't as easy for me as on the English, but I have much more experience with the English.

 

So "the beauty of single-row tunes" is that for switching between a particular pair of keys, they escape the otherwise general complexity of transposing between keys on the anglo.

 

By the way, "Saddle the Pony" in Ab fits fairly comfortably on a 30-button C/G anglo. It's just that the fingering pattern is quite different from playing it in G.

[Geraghty]

There's an old Jackie Daly LP (TOpic 12TS358) that had several concertina tunes on it; to my best recollection they were all or mostly one row and very nice (I think the one I remember is Keefe's/THe Clog slides, but my turntable is on the fritz).

 

Sorry to drag up an old thread but I thought people might be interested to know that the Jackie Daly LP mentioned above is about to be released on CD:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Music-Sliabh-Luachra...4728&sr=8-2