"all American Concertina Album"

[Dirge]

But then again, I will not be able to add octaves and harmony, while playing the melody, so it's a solid trade-off.

Why not?

[m3838]

But then again, I will not be able to add octaves and harmony, while playing the melody, so it's a solid trade-off.

Why not?

 

For octaves it means that I will have to add as written, octave on the right side and accompaniment octave below on the left. All while playing other stuff.

If the accompaniment is interesting enough, it's probably more beneficial to drop an octave playing and add some accompaniment instead.

As for harmony, I can't add harmony, consisting of the same notes as used in playing the melody, and if I am going to play as written, the harmony is often written below my range, and I have no way of playing it octave above, as the space is taken by the treble cleff part. When I'll put both parts in one cleff, I'll have many surprizes.

[Michael Eskin]

I picked up this book the past weekend, starting in on The Liberty Bell march. What fun, now I know what all those notes I've literally never played are up there on the high right side. Its about the most difficult thing I've every taken on musically, and I can sight read piano scores generally, but the additional complexities of the mapping to the anglo buttons and bellows direction is really quite a pleasant brain teaser.

 

I figure it will take me at least a month to learn just this one tune, I really want to get to where I can play the Maple Leaf Rag, as its one of my favorites on the piano, maybe in a year or two, this style of playing is about as different as is imaginable as the traditional Irish style I primarily play.

Edited June 3, 2008 by eskin

[Paul Groff]

I picked up this book the past weekend, starting in on The Liberty Bell march. What fun, now I know what all those notes I've literally never played are up there on the high right side. Its about the most difficult thing I've every taken on musically, and I can sight read piano scores generally, but the additional complexities of the mapping to the anglo buttons and bellows direction is really quite a pleasant brain teaser.

 

I figure it will take me at least a month to learn just this one tune, I really want to get to where I can play the Maple Leaf Rag, as its one of my favorites on the piano, maybe in a year or two, this style of playing is about as different as is imaginable as the traditional Irish style I primarily play.

 

 

eskin,

 

That's what I'm talking about.

 

Now, my new copy is loaned away already and my copy of an earlier edition has still not been returned by a well-known concertina professional who promised to mail it to me .... over a year ago.... so I am working from memory here, but as I remember, Alan took some of the chromaticism out of the Joplin rags. I used to play some of them on the piano too, and missed a couple of the chromatic passages and the right hand harmonies. But his arrangements could easily be tweaked to add that if the player can handle it (and if your instrument has the notes, in the right directions). Anglo arrangements will always have to be adapted from piano music, and there is a lot of room for the taste and style of the performer.

 

I wonder if there will be a new increase in the demand for 45 - 50 key anglos! I know I had been considering selling a 45 key and I think now I had better hold on to it. The 50 key (project) has already been offered at a price so that one will have to go if the potential buyer likes it.

 

Can't wait to get my copies of Alan's book back so I can go to work on these arrangements too.

 

Paul

Edited June 4, 2008 by Paul Groff

[David Barnert]

I realise that on CG Anglo you'll have to play it higher. I suspect it was done for convinience of reading, to avoid many leger lines on both ends of the G-cleff stave..

When I created the notation pdf for Alan Day's Anglo tutor tape (now sound files) I also had to notate some of the tunes down an octave for the same reason.

[Phantom Button]

It would be great to get some audio or even better, video clips of Alan playing those marches. It would no doubt be a great asset to the book to see his hands as he plays. I remember the first time I heard these was in 1986 at my house when I was hosting a concertina workshop with Noel Hill. Noel was very impressed with what Alan was doing, as were the rest of us there.

[gcoover]

If I may resurrect this old thread and all its frustrations with a bit of good news...

 

Rollston Press has reached a deal with Mel Bay Publications to publish a completely new book of all the Anglo concertina arrangements in Alan Lochhead's All-American Concertina Album, with notes shown in actual pitch (not octave low), double treble clefs, and with button numbers and bellows direction tablature just like all of our other Anglo books. Alan is even planning to add a new tune.

 

Inspired by meeting Alan last December at the concertina gathering in San Francisco (Berkeley, actually), I'm excited to make his arrangements more accessible and available. They are incredibly difficult, but are totally worth learning.

 

With luck, it should be available in paperback and Kindle in about a month. I'll keep you posted.

 

Gary