Am I On The Right Lines?

[Mikefule]

I am a new concertinist - about 3 weeks so far with a Rochelle C/G Anglo. My background is playing diatonic harmonica and D/G melodeon in a folk club/Morris dance setting.

 

I haven't heard a huge amount of concertina because the Melodeon is the weapon of mass destruction of choice in Morris sessions. I therefore know little about styles and about this much >< (you will see there is a very tiny gap) about technique.

 

I have sort of identified 4 basic styles from what I have heard:

 

Playing almost exclusively one note at a time - i.e. melody with no significant amount of accompaniment - a bit like a fiddle with only occasional double stopping for effect. This may be OK in jigs and stuff, but sounds a bit dry in slower tunes.

 

Playing lots of big "crunchy" chords and luxurious harmonies. This seems to be popular for accompanying songs. My singing is unpopular enough without adding that detail.

 

Vamping an accompaniment in a melodeonesque manner. So why not play a melodeon? This does not appeal to me.

 

Playing mainly single note melodies, but adding occasional runs and fills with "the other hand". This is the one that appeals to me most. Simplicity is good (keep it simple, do it well) but it is a waste of an instrument capable of playing notes simultaneously if you don't sometimes decorate and harmonise.

 

Of course, there will be times when all these styles (or others) may fit a particular tune, but I think I have a clear idea of the style I would like to develop.

 

The instrument I have is C/G. Of course started by playing solely on the C row.

 

Then I started to "fold" the top part of the scale so that it was played with buttons 1-3 on the G row instead of buttons (3) 4 and 5 on the C row. It seems to make it much easier, especially if the tune goes above "top C". The fingers don't get so tangled if you change rows early rather than late. Does that make sense? Am I on the right lines?

 

I then tried a tune (Ladies' pleasure, Headington Quarry, for those of you who know Morris tunes) in G. It was really squeeky. I tried it in the lower octave and found it clumsy and a bit "unnatural" to be carrying so much of the melody with the left hand.

 

The tune starts with a run G A B C D. I tried this starting the run on the highest G in the C row on the left hand and playing G A B C D in the C row, then moving the next (higher) phrase onto the G row. Does this make sense or am I being far too clever and going down a blind alley?

 

I have sort of picked up that playing across the rows is a major part of making the instrument work. I am finding it necessary to experiment with unexpected fingerings partly to stop my fingers tangling, and partly to change the belows direction as I find the air button is not quite in the right place for me.

 

Thanks for any advice or guidance you can give me.

[geoffwright]

Ladies of Pleasure, Headington???

Is that Bledington??

[PeterT]

The instrument I have is C/G. Of course started by playing solely on the C row.

 

Then I started to "fold" the top part of the scale so that it was played with buttons 1-3 on the G row instead of buttons (3) 4 and 5 on the C row. It seems to make it much easier, especially if the tune goes above "top C". The fingers don't get so tangled if you change rows early rather than late. Does that make sense? Am I on the right lines?

 

I then tried a tune (Ladies' pleasure, Headington Quarry, for those of you who know Morris tunes) in G. It was really squeeky. I tried it in the lower octave and found it clumsy and a bit "unnatural" to be carrying so much of the melody with the left hand.

 

The tune starts with a run G A B C D. I tried this starting the run on the highest G in the C row on the left hand and playing G A B C D in the C row, then moving the next (higher) phrase onto the G row. Does this make sense or am I being far too clever and going down a blind alley?

 

I have sort of picked up that playing across the rows is a major part of making the instrument work. I am finding it necessary to experiment with unexpected fingerings partly to stop my fingers tangling, and partly to change the belows direction as I find the air button is not quite in the right place for me.

Hi Mike,

 

I can't find a 30 key instrument keyboard, but this will suffice to cover my point:

 

http://www.concertina.com/fingering/images...0-W1000H300.gif

 

I believe that, as you are finding, to change between rows is key to understanding how to unlock the potential in the "English" style. I normally use three fingers, and play the "C" scale as follows:

 

C1 D1 E1 F1 G1 (all on "C" row)

A1 B1 C2 (all on "G" row)

 

However, there are occasions when the G1 on the "G" row might be the better option.

I would always finish a tune on a "push", so C2 on the "C" row would be my option, by moving my third finger across by one position.

 

By doing the above, you can then try chords, counter-melody, or single note octave playing on the left hand, or any combination of these options.

 

I considered your comments regarding "Ladies' Pleasure". The Lionel Bacon book has both Bledington and Field Town versions. From memory, both are jigs, and are danced either as solo, or double jigs. As musician, you should have a free rein. Many teams prefer just a solo musician for jigs, and it should be the ultimate test of the musician's ability to play for the dancer, rather than the dancer dancing to the musician. You might have to learn the tune in "G", but on a C/G Anglo, play it in "C" - it feels right, and sounds great. Apart from the finishing note (see above) only the first three buttons of the "C" row and the first three buttons of the "G" row are needed.

 

If I play "Ladies' Pleasure" in "G", I "fudge" the melody by swapping between octaves and using the "G" from the left hand "C" row, plus buttons 1&2 from the right hand "C" row, and buttons 1,2,3 from the right hand "G" row. It's a bit ugly, but it's functional, and will teach you how to do the same when you progress to playing tunes in the key of "D".

 

Keep us posted.

 

Regards,

Peter.

[inventor]

You need the William Kimber book by Dan Worral. This gives the exact buttons and press or draw on an Anglo-concertina to play all the Headington Quarry Morris tunes in the original authentic manner; and loads of other information on other ways of accompanyment. This is the very best concertina book that I have ever come across; I wish this had been available when I first took up the concertina to accompany morrisdancers. over 50 years ago I heared William Kimber playing at an EFDSS Albert Hall Festival. This was several years before I took up the Melodeon and quite a number before I started Anglo. The book is available from EFDSS, Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regents Park Road, LONDON (I don't know the post code). For some reason most of the usual Folk Music Supplyers don't seem to stock it.

Inventor.

[Chris Timson]

Then I started to "fold" the top part of the scale so that it was played with buttons 1-3 on the G row instead of buttons (3) 4 and 5 on the C row. It seems to make it much easier, especially if the tune goes above "top C". The fingers don't get so tangled if you change rows early rather than late. Does that make sense? Am I on the right lines?

That is certainly the way I would play G on a C/G. I also do something similar for the key of C.

 

One style you've missed, and a pretty important one, is playing in parallel octaves, that is, playing the melody on both the left and right hands simultaneously. Sounds great and one of the very few techniques for which we have genuine evidence in the English tradition in the shape of the playing of Scan Tester.

 

Chris

[Mikefule]

My mistake - I meant Old Mother Oxford, not Ladies' Pleasure. D'oh!

[Brian Peters]

My mistake - I meant Old Mother Oxford, not Ladies' Pleasure. D'oh!

Ah, now that's a different matter. I recently recorded that tune in William Kimber-ish style (only an approximation since I hadn't at the time seen Dan Worrall's book - which I too would recommend).

 

On a C/G anglo you don't really want to play it on the G row. Personally I like the brightness of certain tunes (including some morris tunes) on the G row, but Old Mother Oxford has a large range - an octave plus two above the key note - so it will indeed sound very squeaky. There ways of playing it an octave lower (i.e. keynote G falls on the left hand) and keeping the chords going, but it means playing parts of the tune 'inside-out' on the C row and I wouldn't recommend that to a player with three weeks' experience.

 

If you play it in the key of C (i.e. starting on RHS C-row button 1), you can play the first five bars of the A part on the C row, then switch to the G row for bars 6 - 13 (the high bit), and back to the C row for bars 14 - 16. The Worrall book would show you that more clearly than I can explain it, but it sounds to me as though you've already worked that out for yourself.

 

Of course you may want to play it in a style other than William Kimber's, but getting the hang of crossing the rows to play a C scale is a useful trick to learn in all kinds of contexts.

[Nick Oliver]

At a Brian Peters workshop last year he was suggesting using a scale of G starting on the highest draw G on the left accidental row, then that press A (same button) then rh C row BCDE, then rh G row F# G. This gives a nice bouncy bellows reversal between each note, and a nice meaty G major chord (on the C row lh) on the draw, as well as C major (press) in some useful places. You can also dodge back to D major draw chords, by using some draw alternatives - lo - the three chord trick!

 

I wish I could do this consistently, though. I started simply with Shepherds Hey, which works nicely.

[Brian Peters]

At a Brian Peters workshop last year he was suggesting using a scale of G starting on the highest draw G on the left accidental row, then that press A (same button) then rh C row BCDE, then rh G row F# G.

Yes, that's exactly what I meant by "playing parts of the tune inside-out", and thanks for explaining it in more detail, Nick. Someone was obviously paying attention!

[Mikefule]

Aha! Well, I was doing that except instead of doing draw G, push A on the accidental row on the left hand, I was playing push G Pull A on the left hand C row. That's playing GA/BCDE on the C row ( slash separates left hand/right hand) then F# G on the G row.

 

So I wasn't far off. It sounds nicer and less squeeky than starting on G on the right hand. This particular tune I know well on two other instruments, and I reckon I can now play it to dance speed on the concertina, but with no accompaniment.

 

The accidental row is still pretty much a mystery. If they call the bloomin' thing "accidental" it hardly inspires confidence. They should call it the "bonus row".

[PeterT]

The accidental row is still pretty much a mystery. If they call the bloomin' thing "accidental" it hardly inspires confidence. They should call it the "bonus row".

Or maybe "surprise row" until you get to know your instrument. It can certainly be this, if you pick up another Anglo with a different keyboard layout!

 

Regards,

Peter.

[m3838]

Aha!

 

Well, I think that as melodeon player, you'll find that choice of a row and the direction of bellows will depend on the chords you play on the other side.

I also disagree with your conclusion about why play concertina in Oom-pa style, when there is melodeon for it Accordions' preset chords are, I believe, 2nd inversion. On concertina you can chooze what chords to play.