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Asher Perkins Concertina Champion


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asher's playing is quite remarkable! it's all but flawless. i cant wait to hear what comes from between those two steady hands in a few years. his playing and demeanor are truly humbling. thank you frank for sharing his music with us!

 

 

Pleasant listening but he should learn to play without tapping his foot.

Are you being sarcastic?

In some venues foot tapping is frowned upon ( symphony orchestras and the like where it is the conductor's job to keep the time ) in others it is seen more as rhythic accompaniment, and in others is music in it's own right ( clogging for instance ) In small groups of less experienced players, Having someone who taps their foot evenly and with fair volume, can really help keep people from getting out of sync or running away with a tune. Good piano, guitar or bodrhan playing is even better.

Dana

 

 

my grandma refused to let me play while tapping with the back of my foot, as loud tapping bothers some people. my grandma and her cousin, however, both play without tapping, seamlessly in time and impeccably. although i dont mind the tapping, i aim to be able to play their steadiness.

Edited by david_boveri
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my grandma refused to let me play while tapping with the back of my foot, as loud tapping bothers some people. my grandma and her cousin, however, both play without tapping, seamlessly in time and impeccably. although i dont mind the tapping, i aim to be able to play their steadiness.

Where did you get this grandma? Can I borrow? Cousin will do too.

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I agree- this is excellent playing.

 

On the (I think unrelated) foot tapping issue: I prefer not to have feet tapping because they are often not on the beat. At a recent slow sessiion I attended I could see in my peripheral vision three sets of feet tapping, all different, none in synch with the music we were playing. I've been at a session with an excellent bodhran player who happened to be tapping (well actually stomping) while playing a whistle. That player is right on when using hands, but slightly ahead of the beat consistently when tapping feet, resulting in a steady accelleration of the tune.

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I have a fiddle playing friend (who I will not name). He taps his foot to a beat that has nothing to do with the tempo that he is playing at. Weird.

 

Perhabs unrelated, but once in College, we had some afrecan students. One of them, Odak Jenkins, was dancing to a rhythm, that nobody could percieve. Yet you could tell, that the rhythm is there, just not OUR rhythm. Astounding!

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Hi

I don't have too much trouble with foot tapping. What I have great difficulty in coping with is players who mumble and half talk and half sing the tune they are playing. I find this really distracting :angry:

On the subject of Jody's fiddler friend. I had lessons on playing tenor horn and was having trouble playing a section in time and my instructor said 'tap your foot' I did this and got the 'piece' in time. However, the instructor then said 'please stop tapping your foot as I can't stand to watch you play the music in a different time to your foot tapping' What can I say it worked for me :blink:

chris

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To hear and see Asher Perkins, please visit my website www.concertinas.ca He is one of the best concertina players either side of the Atlantic, and up to now, a best kept secret. He amazes me with his playing. These are all first takes, with him literally taking the concertina out of the case, with no warm up. Don't miss it!
Lovelly, lovely playing - certainly a secret worth revealing! Thank you for putting it on.

 

And thank you for paving the way for me with Flash video (my web site is undergoing a total makeover, to come back in Flash), though, admittedly, YouTube has already done a lot of paving!

 

/Henrik

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my grandma refused to let me play while tapping with the back of my foot, as loud tapping bothers some people. my grandma and her cousin, however, both play without tapping, seamlessly in time and impeccably. although i dont mind the tapping, i aim to be able to play their steadiness.

Where did you get this grandma? Can I borrow? Cousin will do too.

 

feel free to borrow them any time. i feel very fortunate to have both of them in my life. they play with a style unlike any other i've ever heard--both lyrical and intensely rhythmic. but then again i might be biased ;).

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I try to tap my foot to keep in time with the rhythm. However I have found that I can only do one thing at a time - either tap my foot or play the concertina. I can't concentrate on both! It reminds me of the comment about George Bush - that he can't walk and chew gum at the same time. A bit depressing really.

Edited by Nigel
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If you haven't already done so and they're willing, I hope that you make some recordings. Do they play concertina?

 

Daniel

 

my grandma refused to let me play while tapping with the back of my foot, as loud tapping bothers some people. my grandma and her cousin, however, both play without tapping, seamlessly in time and impeccably. although i dont mind the tapping, i aim to be able to play their steadiness.

Where did you get this grandma? Can I borrow? Cousin will do too.

 

feel free to borrow them any time. i feel very fortunate to have both of them in my life. they play with a style unlike any other i've ever heard--both lyrical and intensely rhythmic. but then again i might be biased ;).

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Do they play concertina?

 

no, they both play fiddle. my great grandmother played the fiddle, while my grandmother's aunt played the concertina. after hearing my grandmother's stories about the concertina and how no one else in the family ever picked it up, i decided i wanted to play the concertina.

 

my grandmother's cousin, una, was very amazed at the weight of my edgley concertina, as well as the fact that it was made out of real wood and had an extra row of keys. she can pick out a tune or two on it, because it was her mother who played, so she plays like her mother did, in the key of c on one row, rather than in g or d.

 

If you haven't already done so and they're willing, I hope that you make some recordings.

i have a couple recordings of my grandmother by herself and several of her with me, all of which i cherish. i record my grandmother's cousin's playing every other week or so (though right now she's in florida), as i learn the majority of my tunes from her.

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I know that this isn't strictly staying on the thread, but I had a depressing moment while comtemplating the foot tapping issue. I popped a wine gum into my mouth just before starting to play a tune. By the end of the tune the wine gum was vitually untouched in my mouth. Normally it would last 10 seconds at most. I tried playing another tune but was unable to eat at the same time! So, not only can I not tap my foot in time with the rhythm while I'm playing, I can't even eat a sweet. I suppose I should count myself lucky that I can at least breathe and play at the same time - just about.

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Can someone post the names of the tunes he's playing? I know they're alll common session tunes and I've heard them many times before, but my mind is like a steel trap... rusted shut.
Hmm, let's see:

 

1st is "Hunt in the Bog" - track 2, tune 2 on Micheal O'Raghallaigh's "The Nervous Man" (it might well have other names)

 

2nd can be found on "Shegui's" "Around the World for Sport", from 1984. Side A, track 3. I'll be back later with name, but I am sure someone beats me to it!

 

3rd, jig, can be found on Kevin Burke's first LP, "If the Cap Fits", side A, track 4, tune 1, "Paddy Fahey's jig" which probably will open several possibilities...

 

4th: Unknown to me.

 

/Henrik

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