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Thanks Samantha !

 

Will try to find it anpother day in the Tune-O-Trone.

 

But Ireferred m,ore or less to something saying that the Concertina Player is attracting to women as the mentionned Piano Player seems to be.

 

I remember now another one, I heard song by Harry Bellafonte which says more or less :

 

Bring down your Concertina and play a wellcome song for me.

 

Will bring it to Sweden, where I hope to meet you.

 

Kind regards

Joacjhim

 

Perhaps we can sing togehter something we may invent for the occasion.

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It's Friday night and I'm about to pull my concertina out to play and I was wondering.... what do you love most about music in general, and playing the concertina in particular?

Well in the meantime it is Sunday morning. I spent the early morning in an icy cold garden, where I had to pollard some willows at the waterside.

Coming back inside with almost no feeling in my hands I picked up my concertina and you can imagine how my playing was :( .

 

Music goes very deep for me. Especially when I play for my own pleasure, it can take me away completely. So after a day's work I have two options to forget about my work:

1. drinking dutch jenever

2. playing concertina

Often I combine 1 and 2 and think that when there was no Dutch jenever, my playing could have been much better. When you reverse this, you can imagine what I could become without a concertina :ph34r:

 

The first time I saw and heard a concertina was at my first visit to Ireland (1978?) where I attended the "fleadh nua" in Ennis. It is a folk/traditional event that takes several days with a lot of activities: playing in almost all bars in Ennis and even on the streets. One of the central events is a concert in the main oval hall in Ennis (Aos Óg Concert). Sitting rather high I had a nice overview of the oval stage below me. At a given moment the national champion concertina of under 14 years was announced. In the middle of this empty stage a little girl sat down on a chair and placed an instrument on her lap. At the distance were I was, I could hardly see what it was, and then... she started to play.. This tiny box filled the big hall with lovely music. That's when I became fascinated by this instrument.

I still have a tape with a recording of this concert (lucky me!).

BTW: you can listen to the fleadh nua concert of 2002 at http://fleadhnua.ennis.ie/virtual_aosog.htm

The second tune of the first part features nice concertina-playing.

For those who have the opportunity, this years fleadh nua will be at: Ennis County Clare - 24th to 31st May 2004.

 

Henk

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What I love about the concertina is its portablility. I also play folk harp and it was always a chore traveling with a large instrument in a case. When I travel by plane the concertina fits so well in the overhead bin. It also can handle all of the dance music I love to play as well as slow airs. Other than the whistle, I think the concertina is the most convenient and versatile instrument.

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As for many others who've contributed to this topic, music takes me away from everything to be absolutely in the present. There are times when I go along to a trio rehearsal after work and I'm thinking "I'm too tired to do this", but when I get there I forget all that, and leave the rehearsal relaxed and energised. Also it is a great reliever of emotional stress - if I'm miserable all I have to do is play (any tune, it doesn't have to be a sad one) and that gives an outlet which makes me feel better.

 

As to why the concertina , well, my first instrument is the French Horn, but as I live in a place where we still have the occasional informal ceilidh (musical/entertainment house party, either in a private house or the pub) I began to look for a small, party animal of an instrument with more harmonic possibilities. I first lighted on the piano accordion (40 button bass, rather than one of the monster ones) but we didn't really get on. I read a book called "Last night's fun" (highly recommended) and began to wonder about the concertina, and came across a Scholer-type at a small "antiques" fair. I bought it and the rest. as they say, is history. As a wind player and singer, I find the concept of moving the bellows not in accordance with the phrasing intriguing and love the "intuitive" way you can get harmonies so easily on an anglo.

Samantha

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As a Folk Dancer/Vintage Dancer, I wanted something that I could pick up and play a tune on. A Waltz, a Polenase, Polka, Schottish, Fox Trot, Two Step. Whatever I needed. The portability and (supposedly) easy to learn nature of the Concertina appealed to me.

 

Now that I have it . . .

 

It's a grinde for me to learn, my fingers seem to go wrong so much. But when it works, and music comes out instead of noise, there's nothing like it.

 

And yeah, I've found a lot of crazy nice people on this forum, too.

 

Russell Hedges

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I won't comment on music; why try to pin down what is ineffable by its nature?

 

But the concertina, who could have predicted?.... I can't remember even why

I bought one if the first place, pure capriciousness.

 

I never would have guessed I was getting an instrument (the Anglo, for now) so idiosyncratic. How many players have given it up for that reason; I have no idea. But for those who persist, and have the right mentation, who can resist? The peculiarities and idiosyncracies become part of the allure. The logic of the (various) layouts eventually reveals itself. Each subject to debate, assuredly, but why not? Each player/concertina maker has different ideas and styles and essential notes and hand dimensions, but any player can make it work. Right now, when I get home and survey my group of instruments (some older, so newer), the concertina calls by far the loudest, and I think I've only scratched the surface of its capabilities.

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Music is the deepest form of expression for me. My survival requirements: breathe, music, eat, sleep. Probably in that order!

 

I am a singer, I bang on the guitar, play recorder and some whistle, but never found "my instrument" and figured that singing was mostly it.

 

I came to the concertina through my partner and soul-mate, Byron Smith. He had been playing for my morris team and recording my chorus concerts for several years, when we realized we were meant for each other. He had played both anglo and English concertina, as well as button accordion (AND guitar, AND bass, AND clarinet...).

 

We had 22 months together. Byron died of a heart attack in my arms on October 5 of last year.

 

As I worked through the devastation and grief, I found myself missing the sweet sounds of his concertina playing. One day I found myself at the Button Box playing with the wares, and came home with a rented Stagi anglo. I also borrowed a Mayfair english from a friend. I started learning just before the start of 2004.

 

It has been my lifeline. I have found "my instrument". I spend most of my time with the anglo, because the English has several wheezy reeds, but I seem to have about equal facility. I hope to settle on one soon, to develop some expertise. But I know I'll drift towards the other someday, since I have use for the smooth legato qualities of the English as well as the snappy energy of the anglo.

 

I'm waiting to see what will happen to Byron's concertinas. His sons are getting ready to decide soon; I don't think they'll want to keep them. I have my fingers crossed...

 

I hope I haven't injected too much of a serious or sad note to this interesting discussion. But it is how I came to the instrument.

 

Allison

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