Dazbo Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 Having now actually started to play the English concertina (rather than leave it in its case in the bedroom) I'm really enjoying it and I'm quite pleased with myself in that I can play Sir Sidney Smith's March (not too slowly) with only a few stumbles and bum notes . I've also dug out my Classical Themes for (easy) flute and had a go. That got me to thinking. It seems to me that the members here are mainly anglo players (with lesser numbers of English and fewer Duet players). It also seemed that the main type of music we all play is folk. So what kind of music (other than folk - please don't descend into "What folk is" ) do you regularly play? Are English and Duet players more likely to play classical pieces? Are there any players here who don't play folk at all? Anyone play pop/rock/hip-hop on a concertina? Looking forward to being amazed at what you play Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 ...what kind of music (other than folk - please don't descend into "What folk is" ) do you regularly play? Have you listened to everything on the Recorded Tune Links Page, yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Brook Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 Well I have played cornet for many years and to my ear the concertina tone sounds excellent on cornet/trumpet standards. What I mean by standards are old english trumpet tunes such as: prince of denmark's march, trumpet tune, trumpet voluntary, and similar pieces by Handel, Jeremiah Clarke, Henry Purcell, John Stanley etc. The trills are a mighty challenge particularly on an anglo, but they are great fun to play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 Having now actually started to play the English concertina (rather than leave it in its case in the bedroom) I'm really enjoying it and I'm quite pleased with myself in that I can play Sir Sidney Smith's March (not too slowly) with only a few stumbles and bum notes . I've also dug out my Classical Themes for (easy) flute and had a go. That got me to thinking. It seems to me that the members here are mainly anglo players (with lesser numbers of English and fewer Duet players). It also seemed that the main type of music we all play is folk. So what kind of music (other than folk - please don't descend into "What folk is" ) do you regularly play? Are English and Duet players more likely to play classical pieces? Are there any players here who don't play folk at all? Anyone play pop/rock/hip-hop on a concertina? Looking forward to being amazed at what you play I've been learning the duet for nearly a year now, taking it fairly seriously and I'm determined that my box is NOT a folk instrument, but general purpose. I play jigs and hornpipes, yes, when I can't be bothered to think too hard and I'm 'busking' it or faking as I now know to say and as basic warm up exercises (more fun than scales), but I've nearly cracked David Cornell's version of 'Summertime' and will be moving on to other bluesy tunes, I've got some Scarlatti keyboard music which is going to work and I can't find my 'J S Bach 2 and 3 part Inventions' book which is really frustrating as I'm sure they'll sound brilliant (and fit; Baroque keyboards seem to have been shorter) The other thing I have an ambition to play is some rock and roll; (hopefully Jerry Lee Lewis 'What I like') but I haven't worked that one out yet and I'm not sure if it'll be possible to sound convincing or if my fingers will cope; I thought the trick might be to use the bellows for the fast repeated notes, but I haven't tried. I'm going to buy the piano music if I can. In case anyone's interested it seemed to me that harpsichord music might be worth trying because they, like the concertina, cannot vary volume between bass and treble (yes we know about the fancy ones with double manuals and swells, thank you; I'm ignoring them). All you need then is a composer who used a short range keyboard and you don't need to tinker at all; my 61 b maccan seems to be just a couple of notes short of Scarlatti's harpsichord. Presto, the concertina becomes the ultimate version of a chamber organ! So, score me up for baroque fugues and blues classics, but with ambitions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazbo Posted March 2, 2006 Author Share Posted March 2, 2006 ...what kind of music (other than folk - please don't descend into "What folk is" ) do you regularly play? Have you listened to everything on the Recorded Tune Links Page, yet? No, hadn't found that yet. Some very interesting tunes to have a listen to (Super Mario Brothers ). Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Morse Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 I play Hayden duet and like to play some classical early music like Praetorius and Playford as well as the easier Bach pieces (from the First Lessons books and Inventions - even tried a fugue!). I'm quite enamored with rags (piano, fiddle and guitar rags) and a lot of the 1920's dance music (I've been working through the Star Dance Folio series which has 2&3 steps, barn dances, lanciers, marches, polkas, schottisches, waltzes and other "tunes of the day").... And of course I gear up for Christmas carols in the fall (favoring one's like White Christmas, It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas) as well as the Traditional English "Folk" carols (like John and Tony do) and some mass-media ones. Standard hymns are good too though I usually have to transpose them as they are mostly in heavily flatted keys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Day Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 I received an Email from Michael Berenstein regarding "Super Mario Brothers" tune,it turns out to be a standard Russian Tune called "Korobushka" translated "My tray is full of goods" or "Song of the peddlar". We know differently however, that it was pinched from Henks tune page by the Russians. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 I received an Email from Michael Berenstein regarding "Super Mario Brothers" tune,it turns out to be a standard Russian Tune called "Korobushka"....We know differently however, that it was pinched from Henks tune page by the Russians. Those Russians really are clever, to be able to pinch it before computer games existed! I learned the song from Russian friends in 1960 or earlier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidcorner Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 So what kind of music (other than folk) do you regularly play? A few years ago I got hold of Phil Hopkinsons's collection "Dancing with my Baby". There's a wide selection of non-folk stuff there, ranging from music hall songs to Elgar and Wagner. I particularly liked the brass band march arrangements, and I play these, as well as some others found in the ICA library, on an English tenor-treble. These arrangements tend to have a melody line with added chords to give the rhythm. I enjoy the sections with a bass solo, i.e. a melody on the lower notes with accompanying chords higher up. I would recommend a scan of the ICA library, although most of the stuff goes back a bit. You won't find any pop/rock/hip-hop there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt Braun Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 I play Hayden duet . . . Standard hymns are good too though I usually have to transpose them as they are mostly in heavily flatted keys. Richard, I'm confused. I thought the great advantage of the Hayden system was that it was just as easy to play in one key as another. Kurt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Morse Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 It is - within the range of the instrument. I have a 46-key Hayden which is the smallest version of it made. It plays in 6 keys with identical fingering: C, D, E, F, G and A. Another way to look at it is that it plays identically from the keys of 1 flat to 4 sharps. Even though the box is chromatic (has all the notes but is missing the low C# and D#) it has no duplicated notes. You'd think that being chromatic one could play in all keys... and you CAN. The problem is, that with the way the Hayden's key pattern is arranged, it's difficult to play in a key which has a note (or more) out of it's pattern. Those 6 keys have a single incredibly simple and intuitive fingering pattern. When you go to the next adacent key ineither direction - Bb or B, the out-of-pattern note is about as far away on the keyboard as you can get (7 buttons away!). While this sounds horrendous, I don't find playing in Bb or B horrendous, just a real reach every now and then. OTOH, playing in keys with 2 out-of-pattern notes is significantly more difficult. I've managed only a couple of tunes such. I've never considered playing in further flung keys. Ways around this is to be happy with the 6 keys and put up with maybe one more tough one on either side.... or get a box that is "key centered" around what you like playing (I'm particularly fond of rags and would prefer having those 6 identical keys being Bb to A. I would like to include Eb but I play a lot of trad dance music of which there's a lot of A tunes). OR you get a "bigger box". One that has more keys - more duplicated keys on either end of the rows which allows you to play in more keys identically. The 55 to 59 key Haydens adds another key and is fully chromatic (has the lowest two notes the 46-key box is missing). Around 65 to 70 keys allows you to play in additional key identically. Just one of the quirks about the system. I think of it in comparison to the piano or English concertina. Playing the pattern of all the "white keys" is very simple. Playing in an adjcacent key (F or G) means going out of that easy pattern for just a single key - and that key is conveniently close by. Not a big deal. Then play in another key further (Bb or D). Now you've got do deal with 2 out-of-pattern (or differently patterned) keys. Still not so bad.... Each further flung key is incrementally more difficult. The smallest Hayden is such that 6 keys are absolutely identical (akin to starting to learn piano or English concertina and easily learning a tune in C - but then without thinking be able to play in E major!) but the next adjacent keys are quite a bear and ones beyond that be come absurdly difficult! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Rose Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 .......So what kind of music (other than folk - please don't descend into "What folk is" ) do you regularly play? Are English and Duet players more likely to play classical pieces? Are there any players here who don't play folk at all? Anyone play pop/rock/hip-hop on a concertina? I recently, actually yesterday, got a hold of "Anglo Internatinoal." A 3 CD set with a wide variety of music played on the concertina. The musicians are all great, and it gives you quite a good idea of what can be done with an anglo. I ordered the CD on Monday (online) from the www.buttonbox.com, and the CD was here (from the East Coast to California) on Thursday. Wow You should check out this CD...well worth the investment I would say. A few of the musicians on the CD poke there head in this forum, and you will find some of the same names on the on the recorded tunes page at http://www.anglo-concertina.net/links.htm. Cheers, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m3838 Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 >We know differently however, that it was pinched from Henks tune page by the Russians. The secret is reveiled and I trusted you... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Rose Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 (edited) >We know differently however, that it was pinched from Henks tune page by the Russians. The secret is reveiled and I trusted you... huh?? Edited March 4, 2006 by Chris Rose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brightfield Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 I can play Sir Sidney Smith's March (not too slowly) with only a few stumbles and bum notes . I've also dug out my Classical Themes for (easy) flute and had a go. And what a great piece that is. Alastair Anderson recorded it back in the 1970s and I learnt it on the mandolin. Now I'm playing the English 'tina, I feel the tune has found its proper home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterT Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 What I mean by standards are old english trumpet tunes such as: prince of denmark's march I started playing this in G on the C/G back in 1986. Great, loud, but a bit shrill up the top end. The late Paul Davies told me that after hearing me play it, he got together with Roger Digby, and they agreed that F was the best key. So guess what? All these years later I've dropped it into F (or E' on the B'/F box) and it sounds great! Regards, Peter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Stout Posted March 5, 2006 Share Posted March 5, 2006 I can play Sir Sidney Smith's March (not too slowly) with only a few stumbles and bum notes . I've also dug out my Classical Themes for (easy) flute and had a go. And what a great piece that is. Alastair Anderson recorded it back in the 1970s and I learnt it on the mandolin. Now I'm playing the English 'tina, I feel the tune has found its proper home. Do any of you know a source for an abc file of the notes for Sir Sidney Smith? The one I've found is a duet in B flat, which I've combined into one score for EC (it should be playable, most of the harmony was parallel thirds). I'm not thrilled with the key, however. Is there another source in a better key, or should I just have abc2mtex transpose it for me? Larry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lester Bailey Posted March 5, 2006 Share Posted March 5, 2006 Do any of you know a source for an abc file of the notes for Sir Sidney Smith? The one I've found is a duet in B flat, which I've combined into one score for EC (it should be playable, most of the harmony was parallel thirds). I'm not thrilled with the key, however. Is there another source in a better key, or should I just have abc2mtex transpose it for me? Larry X:387 T:Sir Sidney Smith M:4/4 L:1/8 Q:1/8=170 K:G Bc|d2dd d2dd|e2d2 c2B2|dcBc A2dc|BcAB G2dc| BdBd AdAd|GdGd GFdc|Bcde d2^c2|d6|| AG|FDFA dABc|B6 dc|BGBd gdef|e6 gf| egeg dgdg|cgcg BgBg|egeg dgdg|cgcg BgBg| e2d2 c2 B2|e2d2 c2 B2|e2d2 c2 B2|B4 A2 Bc| d2dd d2dd|e2d2 c2B2|dcBc A2dc|BcAB G2dc| BdBd AdAd|GdGd FdFd|EdEd FdFd|GdGd AdAd| EdEd FdFd|GdGd AdAd|cedc B2A2|G6|| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now