English Fingering

[Aldon]

Okay, so I say that I agree with everyone who says that the more ways one knows how to approach a given musical situation, the better off and more musical one will be in the long run. I've learned of 4 (as I count them now) ways to approach playing the same note 2+ times in a row:

 

1- Use the same ole cotton pickin' finger, because it's already there. (Good for much but the faster of tempos.)

 

2- Switch fingers. (Takes practice, but ain't all that hard.)

 

3- Switch bellows direction. (Taken to extreme can become a 'sorta' piano accordeon 'bellows shake.')

 

4- If you're playing folk-type music, substitute a tongue, cut and tap, sort of sounding thing.

 

I'm sure there's a myriad other approaches.

 

My take on it again: as a musician, the more ways you know how to do something, the better of you'll be in the long run.

 

OR: learning a new technique will ONLY HELP your musicianship.....

 

Aldon

Edited November 27, 2003 by Aldon

[Clive Thorne]

I am an anglo player but agree with Allan that there is no right or wrong; Listen to opinions, and take advice, but in the end do what works for you.

 

I use two, and occassionally three, fingers on a melodeon, but, as 'fiddlersgreen' says, on a concertina I just find that the fingers get in the way of each other, mainly becuse the target (ie button) is so small compared with a melodeon. When using two fingers I find I that the first finger has to be well out of the way before the second one can get in, and I find that I can actually move a single finger up and down quicker than I can do that.

 

A lot must depend on the geometry of the keyboard and the shape/size of the individuals hand and fingers.

 

One other thing of course, when using two fingers on one button it leaves you less fingers to do anything else with. eg I sometimes will hold one button down while doing a triplet on another note. Perhaps this is less relevant on an english.

 

Clive.

[Nicholas MacLean]

The Salvation Army tutor for the English concertina clearly advises using two fingers on reiterated notes. The relationship with the concertina and the S.A. goes back a long way and for many it also included membership of the concertina bands

that were once a way of life in the north of England.

I have been studying the English for several years now and good tutors are hard to come by but this publication is one of the most comprehensive I have found. First published in the thirties with the rather stilted phraseology of that era, it gives many exercises, chord progressions and pieces for the student to tackle that would probably take several years to reach proficiency in all if one followed it religiously.

Admittedly a lot of the pieces are hymn tunes but that doesn't bother me. If I could play ''What a Friend we have in Jesus'' like I once heard played by Freddy Gardener on sax it would all have been worthwhile.

Whatever you decide to do can later be hard to undo should you wish to change so remember that probably the one advantage a beginner has is that they have the option.

Good luck.

[Richard Evans]

All I can say on the topic of alternate fingers on the same button is that over the years I have met two "Classical" players of the English concertina. Alex Richards and Frank Butler who if they were still alive would be around a hundred years old today. They both insisted that repeated notes should be played with alternate fingers and from this I deduce that in the 19th century this was the preferred method. I play the duet myself and find that is only possible with certain notes, though on the duet it is possible to use the duplicated octave on bass and treble to obtain the effect.

Yours Concerternally,

Richard Evans