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New Videos Concertina


Leo

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I found myself playing the concertina today and the camera was already set up (pointing at my bird table on my balcony) and just needed turning round - so I found myself recording
.

 

One thing is that it shows that with a strap across the bottom of the bellows you can play without the pinky rest (so all 4 fingers free to move and play) and not have the bellows flapping around.

 

 

 

Your playing appears so effortless. Very beautiful. I've never seen a concertina played with a strap like that. How is it anchored?

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I've never seen a concertina played with a strap like that. How is it anchored?

 

Sticky-backed velcro. A strip of the soft stuff about 2.5cm long on the concertina, and the long bit is the "rough" stuff with the sticky scraped off. I've been sticking velcro on my concertina for many years and (I just checked) can't see any marks on the wood underneath where velcro used to be. Depending on your concertina type/finish you might want to be careful though. I have the strap so it's got just a little bit of tension in it when the bellows are closed.

 

Also, my guess is the strap wouldn't work well on a standard treble, since it obviously limits the amount the bellows can extend. The idea is that although it means you have to change bellows direction more often, the stability is such that it doesn't matter when you do.

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I've never seen a concertina played with a strap like that. How is it anchored?

 

Sticky-backed velcro. A strip of the soft stuff about 2.5cm long on the concertina, and the long bit is the "rough" stuff with the sticky scraped off. I've been sticking velcro on my concertina for many years and (I just checked) can't see any marks on the wood underneath where velcro used to be. Depending on your concertina type/finish you might want to be careful though. I have the strap so it's got just a little bit of tension in it when the bellows are closed.

 

Also, my guess is the strap wouldn't work well on a standard treble, since it obviously limits the amount the bellows can extend. The idea is that although it means you have to change bellows direction more often, the stability is such that it doesn't matter when you do.

 

 

I don't understand why you think it might not work on a standard treble. Because the instrument is smaller than a tenor treble?

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You can't stop a man with a tina and a camera. Well, sometimes you can't...

 

So I've put up two YouTube videos. Here's the first:

 

 

I can't tell you the link to the second one yet, as it's still being processed as I write. Anyway, have fun...

 

Gavin

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You can't stop a man with a tina and a camera. Well, sometimes you can't...

 

So I've put up two YouTube videos. Here's the first:

 

 

I can't tell you the link to the second one yet, as it's still being processed as I write. Anyway, have fun...

 

Gavin

 

Oh dear... it doesn't seem to be working exactly. If anyone can tell me what the problem is please, I'd be grateful!

 

Thanks,

 

Gav

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Oh dear... it doesn't seem to be working exactly. If anyone can tell me what the problem is please, I'd be grateful!

 

You mean the problem that the audio is out of sync with the video? There's a brief bit of info here, but I don't know how much that will help... Maybe you can tell how you made the video (what camera, what format it saved the original in, what software you used to process it etc).

 

My camera outputs uncompressed AVI movies that are far to large to upload directly. So - I pass them through Windows Movie Maker (which is as free as Windows is) and save the result as "High quality video (large)" and in wmv format. It also lets you substitute the audio track embedded in the video for another track (so when I'm not feeling lazy I record the audio and video separately and splice them together).

 

Nice to hear you playing again, though :)

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Oh dear... it doesn't seem to be working exactly. If anyone can tell me what the problem is please, I'd be grateful!

 

You mean the problem that the audio is out of sync with the video? There's a brief bit of info here, but I don't know how much that will help... Maybe you can tell how you made the video (what camera, what format it saved the original in, what software you used to process it etc).

 

My camera outputs uncompressed AVI movies that are far to large to upload directly. So - I pass them through Windows Movie Maker (which is as free as Windows is) and save the result as "High quality video (large)" and in wmv format. It also lets you substitute the audio track embedded in the video for another track (so when I'm not feeling lazy I record the audio and video separately and splice them together).

 

Nice to hear you playing again, though :)

 

Thanks!

 

The problem I thought I had was that the files were visible on YouTube but wouldn't play. Now they will play, but as you say the sound and video are out of sync...

 

I've no idea why this should be. I used a Minolta Dimage Z1 camera, which produces .mov files. Dunno... Maybe I'll have to ive with the problem for a while.

 

Gav

 

G

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You can't stop a man with a tina and a camera. Well, sometimes you can't...

Hi Gavin,

 

Well, despite the technical problems, it's nice to see your Jeffries Duet in action.

 

Regards,

Peter.

 

Thanks Peter. For those of you who want more, here it is:

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For those of you who want more, here it is:

 

 

Absolutely delightful! Thank you. It reminded me of warm summer eveningings in Old Montreal many years ago. There was a gentleman who played on the street corner not far from my in-laws flat.

Edited by Mark Evans
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Thanks Peter. For those of you who want more, here it is:

Gavin; I've got to say that it's fun trying to play along to your recording, whilst ignoring the fact that your fingers are not going where my ears tell me that they should be! :blink: :unsure:

 

My great joy, in a pub session, is sitting opposite a box player with the same layout, and watching the fingers if I'm not familiar with the tune [guess this is straying into "Teaching & Learning"]. I see what you mean about your use of the right index finger.

 

Is the "intro" as written, or your arrangement?

 

Regards,

Peter.

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Thanks Peter. For those of you who want more, here it is:

Gavin; I've got to say that it's fun trying to play along to your recording, whilst ignoring the fact that your fingers are not going where my ears tell me that they should be! :blink: :unsure:

 

My great joy, in a pub session, is sitting opposite a box player with the same layout, and watching the fingers if I'm not familiar with the tune [guess this is straying into "Teaching & Learning"]. I see what you mean about your use of the right index finger.

 

Is the "intro" as written, or your arrangement?

 

Regards,

Peter.

 

Sorry about the tricky lack of joy thing!

 

I'm not smart enough to know how to sort this synching problem out. One answer might be to use my high-ish res webcam rather than my camera in the future. But since I'm so darn busy at the moment making more scruffy U-bend concertina videos may have to wait a little while.

 

The intro is as-written. Lot of well known Tin Pan Alley have funny little intros few people know, some of which work well on a tina and some of which are terrible. I always suspect this one of being the inspiration for the Steptoe & Son theme, and I think if throws audiences off the scent too :-)

 

What doesn't come across so well in these vids is the octave doubling in the right hand - you can't see my little finger doing most of the hard work in the upper octave, and it isn't very audible either. It's a shame, as to my mind it gives the whole sound a real lift when you hear it in real time.

 

Gav

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What doesn't come across so well in these vids is the octave doubling in the right hand - you can't see my little finger doing most of the hard work in the upper octave, and it isn't very audible either. It's a shame, as to my mind it gives the whole sound a real lift when you hear it in real time.

I was too busy worrying about where my little finger was going to see exactly what you were doing with your other digits; guessed that you were using both octaves, though.

 

Hear what you mean about Steptoe & Son; link for the benefit of those not familiar with this great series:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles...n_7776035.shtml

 

Thanks for all the info.

 

Regards,

Peter.

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I'm not smart enough to know how to sort this synching problem out. One answer might be to use my high-ish res webcam rather than my camera in the future.
More likely it has to do with the compression of the data. I see this on a lot of YouTube videos, even ones professionally produced for television (see below).
What doesn't come across so well in these vids is the octave doubling in the right hand - you can't see my little finger doing most of the hard work in the upper octave, and it isn't very audible either.
Are you using a digital camcorder? A lot of them default to 12-bit audio resolution; You can set it to 16-bit, and all you lose is the not-too-useful capability to dub additional audio onto the tape. That might make the high notes more audible.
Hear what you mean about Steptoe & Son; link for the benefit of those not familiar with this great series:
What do you know... I didn't realize Sanford and Son had its roots in London. Now there's a TV theme (by Quincy Jones) I ought to try learning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzRqDpU3NcA

Love that bass harmonica!

Like the title says: Fifteen Minutes of Fame

And the same image-to-audio synching problem (at least when I'm viewing)! Edited by Theodore Kloba
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Is it possible that both the "amateur", and the "professionally recorded" videos are correct in the sync and display properly? Then upload and store properly. The difficulty might be on the receiving end depending on the configuration of "my" computer based on frame rate, download speed, refresh rate etc., and not on the recording end?? I suspect a gazillion different configurations would make it difficult to get it right for everybody. :unsure:

 

I really didn't pay attention to the sync until you guys mentioned it. So far I've enjoyed all of them regardless of how they were made and hadn't noticed anything out of place. Just a thought. :)

 

Thanks

Leo

 

PS: found another one:

Edited by Leo
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Some new ones found this week. 24 Jan 2007:

 

Duet Hymns

 

Moonlight Serenade on a duet

 

Sunny Side of the Street

 

A very nice waltz on an english. Impressive

 

To those who take the time to make these videos: Thank you they are great. :D

 

Enjoy.

Thanks

Leo :)

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