Anglo For Sale In Buy And Sell

[Chris Timson]

Wow, that's the exact same thing I said when taking up the 'tina and melodeon.

Nevertheless I still take my Jeffries in the pub. If I didn't, what would be the point of owning it?

 

Chris

[bill_mchale]

Wow, that's the exact same thing I said when taking up the 'tina and melodeon.

Nevertheless I still take my Jeffries in the pub. If I didn't, what would be the point of owning it?

 

Chris

 

Agreed. One of the most pleasurable aspects of playing music (for me at least) is playing with friends (friends I would never have met were it not for playing music). That being said, its when I playing with friends that I need my best musical instruments.

 

--

Bill

[Jerome C]

Also lets be realistic. These days most people had alot more disposable income than most of the Irish did when alot of what we consider traditional music was getting started. I expect what we would turn our noses up as one of the poorer lachenals was probably quite highly valued by its owner a 80 or a 100 years ago.

 

According to Michael Tubridy's notes for the Mrs. Crotty CD, even Lachenals were rare in Clare when she was growing up (though she eventually had one). Most of the concertinas there were 20-button German boxes. So it seems the Clare concertina tradition grew up on the ancestors of today's Hohners and Scholers. Certainly not on the likes of a Dipper County Clare.

[Guest Peter Laban]

And they went to town in donkey carts or on foot. They moved on from that though. Is there a relevance in this, I mean does it mean young players should stay away from better instruments or something like that?

 

The reality is ofcourse players want to play the best instrument possible and they tend to pick the ones with the best possible tone.

Edited March 15, 2006 by Peter Laban

[greenferry]

And they went to town in donkey carts or on foot. They moved on from that though. Is there a relevance in this, I mean does it mean young players should stay away from better instruments or something like that?

 

The reality is ofcourse players want to play the best instrument possible and they tend to pick the ones with the best possible tone.

I agree that it would be ideal to purchase the best possible instrument, even for a child. However, most of us (including Irish Americans) ordinarily can't afford one. When my son began guitar at the age of 6, we had to make do with what we could afford, which was pretty poor. When he was 12, we moved up a notch, a very tiny notch. I always felt bad that he was such a good player and we couldn't afford something better. This past Christmas, I was able to afford a Martin, now that he's 24. He didn't appreciate it any less. And he's still playing strong. He started fiddle at the age of 8, and we felt bad that he had such a crummy fiddle. It wasn't till he was 21 that I could afford a nice one. He started playing melodeon at 11, on one that was falling apart. When he was 19 I got a better one. He still plays all three instruments and his progress didn't seem to depend on the price of the instrument or the sound quality. We all would have loved buying the top of the line instrument when he was six, but we just couldn't afford it. I think the talent is in the person and how hard they work at it, not the instrument.

[bill_mchale]

And they went to town in donkey carts or on foot. They moved on from that though. Is there a relevance in this, I mean does it mean young players should stay away from better instruments or something like that?

 

The reality is ofcourse players want to play the best instrument possible and they tend to pick the ones with the best possible tone.

 

No there is nothing wrong with wanting to play the best instrument possible, and nothing wrong with parents wanting to provide their children with those instruments. But, there is a vast difference between that and claiming that the only suitable instruments are Jefferies, Crabbs and Wheatstones. Its also unfair to claim that a certain group of people have a priviledged claim on any set of instruments. If this was really the case, we should be sending them back to England, after all they are a product of England. If parents want to sacrifice a new car or a house for their child's musical asperations thats great, but it doesn't give them a higher claim on the instrument than anyone else. Further I think we have established that a child's musical career is not necessarily sacrificed for having to settle for a mid-range instrument until an affordable better instrument comes along.

 

--

Bill

[greenferry]

Jefferies, Crabbs and Wheatstones. Its also unfair to claim that a certain group of people have a priviledged claim on any set of instruments. If this was really the case, we should be sending them back to England, after all they are a product of England.

I can't find anywhere on C. Wheatstone & Co. where it says that their concertinas are manufactured exclusively for British citizens. And if it did, in the fine print somewhere, I suppose that they would sell to British citizens of any gene pool, including descendants of slaves and naturalized British citizens who have immigrated from former colonies in Asia, India, and Africa, as well as truebloods and bluebloods who just like to collect them, along with people who like concertina music but have mediocre talent. And I guess that would mean they would not sell to their neighbors who are not British, including the Irish. Perhaps they might give an honorary dispensation to the Chinese, who seem to have been first to build free-reed instruments. Fortunately, C. Wheatstone & Co. seems to be egalitarian minded, that is, if you can afford one in the first place.

Edited March 15, 2006 by greenferry

[chainyanker]

Give us your tired, your poor,

your unwanted conertinas.

sorry i chouldnt resist.

[chainyanker]

Give us your tired, your poor,

your unwanted conertinas.

sorry i chouldnt resist.

[greenferry]

Give us your tired, your poor,

your unwanted conertinas.

sorry i chouldnt resist.

 

and Your huddled masses . . . I want one, too!!

 

Edited March 15, 2006 by greenferry

[bill_mchale]

Jefferies, Crabbs and Wheatstones. Its also unfair to claim that a certain group of people have a priviledged claim on any set of instruments. If this was really the case, we should be sending them back to England, after all they are a product of England.

I can't find anywhere on C. Wheatstone & Co. where it says that their concertinas are manufactured exclusively for British citizens. And if it did, in the fine print somewhere, I suppose that they would sell to British citizens of any gene pool, including descendants of slaves and naturalized British citizens who have immigrated from former colonies in Asia, India, and Africa, as well as truebloods and bluebloods who just like to collect them, along with people who like concertina music but have mediocre talent. And I guess that would mean they would not sell to their neighbors who are not British, including the Irish. Perhaps they might give an honorary dispensation to the Chinese, who seem to have been first to build free-reed instruments. Fortunately, C. Wheatstone & Co. seems to be egalitarian minded, that is, if you can afford one in the first place.

 

 

I was making a rhetorical point for those who somehow think that selling concertinas in Ireland to Americans or anyone else outside of Ireland is somehow poaching Ireland cultural heritage.

 

--

Bill

[greenferry]

I was making a rhetorical point for those who somehow think that selling concertinas in Ireland to Americans or anyone else outside of Ireland is somehow poaching Ireland cultural heritage.

 

I was, too. Just a rhetorical point. I think we are in complete agreement.

Edited March 15, 2006 by greenferry

[Animaterra]

and Your huddled masses . . . I want one, too!!

 

What's that in the crook of Lady Liberty's arm? Begod, it's a concertina!!

[Paul Read]

I see it's still up for sale. Maybe he'll get his wish and it will stay in old Blighty by default!

 

I guess you can't limit your market and ask top dollar without a bit of luck.

[JimLucas]

If this was really the case, we should be sending them back to England, after all they are a product of England.

To "England"? No, no! They were made in London, England. They should be taken back from all those Cotswold Morris dancers, etc. and returned to the city of their birth. It's the only "fair" thing!

 

On second thought, maybe not. Some of those London-made concertinas currently belong to me, and I don't really want to have to move to London to keep them.

[Theodore Kloba]

If this was really the case, we should be sending them back to England, after all they are a product of England.

To "England"? No, no! They were made in London, England. They should be taken back from all those Cotswold Morris dancers, etc. and returned to the city of their birth. It's the only "fair" thing!

In chemnitzer circles in the US there's a rivalry between the German-American and Polish-American players... I remember once hearing a (German-American) friend at a club meeting: "The Germans stopped building concertinas as soon as the Poles started playing them!"

[m3838]

We can all pretend that a context, in which the world lives, doesn't exist.

The hope is to avoid animosity and be friends. Good. Doesn't always work though.

[Theodore Kloba]

I am acquainted with the seller whose comments precipitated this thread, and I suspect they had more to do with seller's devotion to English traditional music - and the necessity for the English to possess appropriate instruments to play on - than any political motive.

I remember once hearing a (German-American) friend at a club meeting: "The Germans stopped building concertinas as soon as the Poles started playing them!"

but does not this guy have aright to sell it to who he likes

I thought I should clarify my previous statement: My German-American friend was in effect stating a similar opinion to the seller of this Anglo, a devotion to his preferred musical tradition. Of course people have a right to sell or not sell as they please, whether it makes business sense or not. It's just that the things people have a right to do and the things we hope they will do are often different things.