Looking For A Recording

[stevejay]

Hi

 

I can't seem to find a recording which would take me further into fuller arrangements such as what is delineated in the "Concertina Demystified" book in selections such as constant Billy and New Rigged Ship.

 

I can play single lines and many Irish tunes, but full arrangements are what I find most inspiring, the sound a single concertina can make with the bass and treble in full force. This style limits available keys, but I find it satisfying.

 

Should I listen to Morris music? Is there something else out there? The "Naked Concertina" cd is incredible, but on a 30 button c/G this may not be most appropriate for a student seeking to learn about technique since it is created on a G/D with extra harmony buttons. What I heard on this CD was just wonderful concertina music to my ears. The instrument is being used to its full potential.

 

My hunch is go for the William Kimber recordings and transcriptions, or just write my own tunes that are "concertinaistic" which is where my Ragtime is going now. I stopped fighting the limitations, and focused on what it does well, which begged for some original tunes.

 

Am I the first to observe a great wealth of info and recordings in the Irish style on a 30 button anglo, and much less for chordal "fuller" arrangements of a lone concertina?

 

The recorded links section has some wonderful full arrangements for an anglo 30 button in c/g, and were under the "English" category. Thanks to the contributors, when I feel I have developed something worthwhile towards my goal, I would like to have something to contribute.

thanks in advance

 

Steve

 

Ps The Rochelle Anglo is still recommended as a good student instrument. It is well balanced in volume between the hands and has no issues yet.

Edited October 9, 2006 by stevejay

[Jim Besser]

Should I listen to Morris music? Is there something else out there? The "Naked Concertina" cd is incredible, but on a 30 button c/G this may not be most appropriate for a student seeking to learn about technique since it is created on a G/D with extra harmony buttons. What I heard on this CD was just wonderful concertina music to my ears. The instrument is being used to its full potential.

 

A lot of Jody's tunes are perfectly doable on a 30 key C/G. I play a handful on both the C/G and G/D, without all those extra buttons, and they sound great. Well, not as great as when Jody plays them, but believe me, that has nothing to do with the extra buttons, just the extra talent.

 

I'd also suggest Brian Peters' "Anglophilia" CD, which has terrific melody-and-chord arrangements, on a C/G. Don't worry about the extra buttons, you can make these tunes sound good with a paltry 30.

 

Also listen to both of them on the C.Net "recorded links page." I'm particularly fond of Brian's "The First of August," which to my ear is an almost perfect concertina tune, and Jody's "Hurdy Gurdy," which I think is a good starting point for those wanting to learn this style. Both of those are on C/Gs.

Edited October 9, 2006 by Jim Besser

[Boney]

Hifull arrangements are what I find most inspiring, the sound a single concertina can make with the bass and treble in full force. This style limits available keys, but I find it satisfying.

That's the style I've been starting to work on too. Here's my arrangement of "Whistling Rufus," a Cakewalk tune (or "Ragtime March") that I adapted from the 1899 sheet music. It's played on a 30-key CG anglo.

 

http://concertina.jeffleff.com/graphics/rufus.gif

http://concertina.jeffleff.com/audio/WRufus.mp3

 

I'm working on a few other tunes too, and I'll post them when I've got them arranged and can actually play them...so don't hold your breath. One is a classical guitar piece that is going to take quite a while, but it's promisingly possible so far. I've been playing a touch over three years, and this stuff is pretty tricky for me (the above file was recorded with a few errors edited out). I'd love to see other arrangements as well.

[stevejay]

Hifull arrangements are what I find most inspiring, the sound a single concertina can make with the bass and treble in full force. This style limits available keys, but I find it satisfying.

That's the style I've been starting to work on too. Here's my arrangement of "Whistling Rufus," a Cakewalk tune (or "Ragtime March") that I adapted from the 1899 sheet music. It's played on a 30-key CG anglo.

 

http://concertina.jeffleff.com/graphics/rufus.gif

http://concertina.jeffleff.com/audio/WRufus.mp3

 

I'm working on a few other tunes too, and I'll post them when I've got them arranged and can actually play them...so don't hold your breath. One is a classical guitar piece that is going to take quite a while, but it's promisingly possible so far. I've been playing a touch over three years, and this stuff is pretty tricky for me (the above file was recorded with a few errors edited out). I'd love to see other arrangements as well.

 

Thanks Boney and Jim-

 

The arrangement of "whistling Rufus" sounds great.

 

I think I will focus on "old-time" tunes for a while, such as Over the Waterfall etc, because these leave space for chords and are less challenging than ragtime. I will come back to ragtime as well, but learning will be easier from techniques in less harmonically complex tunes such as some of the American fiddle tunes.

 

We only have so much time in a day for hobbies, might as well play what inspires us most.

 

Steve

[stuart estell]

Should I listen to Morris music?

 

Definitely - two records I found really inspiring were Morris On and John Kirkpatrick's Plain Capers. JK's contributions to the Boxing Clever compilation are quite something as well, as are Harry Scurfield's.

 

Harry's style might really appeal to you if you're looking at ragtime too, given his repertoire of blues, jazz standards, and goodness knows what else - he's a fantastic player

[Paul Woloschuk]

IMO, John K has an amazing ability to wring full-sounding arrangements out of an anglo.

If I recall correctly, the album The Rose of Britain's Isle by John Kirkpatrick and Sue Harris (TOPIC 12TS) contains a couple of tracks where John plays some impressively-arranged stuff on his Anglo, though it might be difficult to obtain now.

However John's website: here! lists a CD called A Short History of John Kirkpatrick 1994 (Topic TSCD 473), maybe this has something that you'd find interesting.