Concertina Gathering In Seattle

[Bruce McCaskey]

Over the last few years there have been several mentions of efforts to put together an organized large gathering of concertina players in the Pacific Northwest, but to date none seem to have happened. No doubt there have been good reasons in each case, but I think those of us that live in the area are still hoping that someone makes this happen some day.

 

In the meantime I’m curious as to the degree of interest in a much smaller scale event to be held in the Seattle area. Kevin, a local Anglo/Duet musician has offered the use of his home for a gathering of interested concertina players. The date and time isn’t set in stone as yet, but he’s thinking of holding it September 23rd, starting about 2 PM and running into the evening.

 

The intent is get folks together to meet, exchange viewpoints on tunes, instruments and playing styles, and generally offer everyone a chance to get to know one another. It will be open to players of all levels, and might be especially insightful for new players that have not had a chance to be around others to get a feel for their approach to the instrument. Depending on the turnout, there will likely be a mix of English, Anglo and Duet players present.

 

At the moment we are trying to assess the level of interest and get a feel for the number of people that would show up. Assuming enough people respond to make the event worthwhile, those that confirm intent to attend will be provided with specific location information when the date is nearer. Since this is to be held in a private residence, location details will not be posted publicly. Rather than tie up concertina.net resources with message exchanges, interested people can contact me directly. What I'm looking for is identification of those that would be interested and able to attend on the specified date.

 

Please forgive the complication, but I’m trying to avoid feeding the email spam sniffers so you’ll have to do a little decoding to reveal my email address. Remove the three “x” characters in the address below to accomplish that.

 

xbruce@xangloplayer.xcom

[Bruce McCaskey]

Kevin has confirmed the date and time as mentioned in the prior posting. At the moment we are feeling confident of six to eight people and hope a few more will see the posting and respond.

[David Barnert]

I'll be traveling to Seattle two weeks later. Wasn't thinking of bringing the concertina, but I would have if the date worked out.

[Bruce McCaskey]

Sorry to hear that we're going to miss you David, it would have been good to have you. We considered trying to coordinate a date with people's availability but in the end elected to just pick a Saturday in the near future and commit to it so long as a reasonable number of folks said they could make it.

 

This is in part a sort of trial run. Depending on input from attendees, the next one may be better tuned to maximize availability opportunities and better address common interests. Our goal for this gathering is primarily that people have a chance to meet, relax and have a good time sharing.

 

If I can offer any insights on the area (no promises since I'm not much of a tour guide) let me know. I'm not much of a session player, but have some notion of where and when they are held (I can offer some related website pointers) if that'd be of interest.

[Animaterra]

Sorry I can't make it, Bruce! But I'll be back in the area sometime within the year and will try to give fair warning to you all- and I'm planning to give myself more time to get to know the place, so it would be great to get together then.

[David Barnert]

...I'm not much of a session player, but have some notion of where and when they are held (I can offer some related website pointers) if that'd be of interest.

Thanks, but I'll be traveling with my wife and, as I said, I don't expect I'll be bringing the concertina.

[Bruce McCaskey]

Hope you enjoy your time here anyway David, so far the weather's been better than I'd expect coming into fall.

 

And Allison, I'll be looking forward to your next visit this direction and perhaps there will be more opportunity for you to meet others on your next trip even if no "gathering" is scheduled. Given more time I'm sure we could find several more tunes in common.

[David Barnert]

Hope you enjoy your time here anyway David, so far the weather's been better than I'd expect coming into fall.

Thanks. I didn't mean to be discourteous. I just don't like to travel with the concertina unless there's a good reason.

[Robert Booth]

Hi, Folks

 

It's been a while since i've been able to check this forum, so I am sorry to have missed the window, so to speak.

I've been hoping that an event like this would come together because I desperately want to meet some other players so that i can unlearn all those bad habits i've evolved... but the dates givenare awkward right now.

I did, however, want to show interest and support so that there might be future opportunities to join in.

Heres hoping that we can meet someday.

 

See you around

Rob

[Bruce McCaskey]

Robert,

 

Sorry to hear the date doesn’t work for you. You may be wrong about having “bad habits;” you may have developed a new style that others will want to learn from you. I expect there will be another such gathering in the future so perhaps we can meet up then. If you’re headed up to Seattle sometime maybe we can get together and share perspectives.

 

As to other opportunities in the Pacific Northwest, I don’t know what your interests are but if you have a leaning towards Irish music Noel Hill offers a summer class in the Newberg, Oregon area and there’s also a concertina workshop/class (Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin has instructed the last two years) held in late winter as a part of the Friday Harbor Irish Music Camp. That’s an hour’s ferry ride from Anacortes, Washington to the San Juan Islands. Both are receptive to players of all skill levels.

 

I should warn you, when I went to my first Noel Hill class I had no special interest in Irish music but I was desperate for some sort of formal instruction on the instrument and so decided it’d be beneficial even if I didn’t want to play the music once class was over. While I was pretty tentative the first evening when I found everyone else was playing things I’d never heard before, by the end of the week I was addicted and have been doing nothing but Irish music since.

 

Bruce

[Robert Booth]

Well, Bruce, I call that kind, your comment about my bad habits being a unique aproach to the instrument. It would not be correct but it is kind.

Thanks for the information about the Noell Hill classes in Newburg. I hadn't heard about them before, and it would be an easy run down the Valley to attend. I'll look into it.

I do hope that I can meet some of you Seattle area folks sometime too. Keep us posted about any future events; If the Concertina Gods (or are they Goddesses?) are smiling, we'll all play together sometime.

As for style, I'm not real picky. I'll play any tune I can teach myself...uniquely, of course!

Rob

[Bruce McCaskey]

We’ve just sent out the last of the emails with location information for this gathering. If anyone who has contacted me and expressed intent to attend hasn’t received the email let me know (my address is at the start of this thread) and I’ll remedy the situation.

 

Looks like we will end up with something between a dozen and sixteen people; not a large group in some respects but good sized for a gathering such as this and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone on Saturday.

[Bruce McCaskey]

I think the event went quite well. I've posted several photos and a description here. We had 14 concertina playing musicians present on Saturday and a much larger number of instruments between them.

 

Thanks to all for attending, and to Kevin and his wife Laura for the hospitality.

 

Bruce

[Animaterra]

Bruce, I get a "file not found" message for your link!

[Thom Davies]

Bruce

I got a blank page when I replied

Thom

[Bruce McCaskey]

My website hosting company had some issues today. I went in to make some minor changes this morning and it deleted the old file but wouldn't accept the update. That's been corrected now, so please give it another try (click here). Sorry for the inconvenience.

 

Bruce