Jump to content

Playing The Anglo While Standing


Recommended Posts

I remain baffled as to why anyone would wish to play the instrument standing when there is an option of playing seated.

Morris dancing or other "street" performance

Walking (in processional) while playing

Session where there are not enough chairs

Performance with others who are standing

 

I could go on... More than once in my life I have come upon, while carrying my concertina, a standing fiddler who, with a few exchanged nods and glances, invited me to join in. "Let me just go and find a chair" would not have been the thing to say at that point, verbally or non-.

 

Edtied for typo.

Edited by David Barnert
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 53
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Depends on the situation, doesn't it, a far as having to stand or looking for a chair?

I doubt that Noel Hill or Cillian Vallely - or Paddy Keenan or Brian MacNamara -- would feel awkward about asking for a chair.

But then, who would ask them to play standing?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remain baffled as to why anyone would wish to play the instrument standing when there is an option of playing seated.

 

May be it's just me but I believe that a concertina played sat down and anchored on on leg does not allow the player full expression. For instance I find volume dynamics far easier when stood with the concertina fee at both ends. If you look at the likes of JK or Alistair Anderson they play with all bodies from the toes up. Maybe their is a difference between the English style and the Irish one?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remain baffled as to why anyone would wish to play the instrument standing when there is an option of playing seated.

 

May be it's just me but I believe that a concertina played sat down and anchored on on leg does not allow the player full expression. For instance I find volume dynamics far easier when stood with the concertina fee at both ends. If you look at the likes of JK or Alistair Anderson they play with all bodies from the toes up. Maybe their is a difference between the English style and the Irish one?

 

I felt the same as you, until I recorded myself playing standing. No difference in dynamics whatsoever! Dynamics and expression don't depend on whether you are seated or standing.

One has to work on it, and the work is hard. Much harder than learning where the notes are or how to cross-finger difficult scale.

And it has to start from the onset, unless you want to learn to play, then unlearn to play and learn again. It's that stuff of fine polishing, where extra 90% of effort gives you only 1% of gain, but that 1% makes the music.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I felt the same as you, until I recorded myself playing standing. No difference in dynamics whatsoever! Dynamics and expression don't depend on whether you are seated or standing.

I disagree

 

One has to work on it, and the work is hard.

I agree

 

Much harder than learning where the notes are or how to cross-finger difficult scale.

Luckily for me I play an English so the delights of cross-fingering are a bafflement (mind you cross-rowing on the melodeon is more my forte)

 

And it has to start from the onset, unless you want to learn to play, then unlearn to play and learn again.

This is a wise viewpoint, unfortunately as a self taught musician I have spent the last 30 years learning/unlearning/relearning. I don't know how to know what is right for me until I try it and I refuse to be told what is right.

Edited by Lester Bailey
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know how to know what is right for me until I try it and I refuse to be told what is right.

 

I like this very much! You cannot guess how many years as a singer it took me to learn just this and declair my freedom from the pedogogical blather of a number of learned experts that tied me up in knots until I could barely make a sound.

Edited by Mark Evans
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Depends on the situation, doesn't it, a far as having to stand or looking for a chair?

I doubt that Noel Hill or Cillian Vallely - or Paddy Keenan or Brian MacNamara -- would feel awkward about asking for a chair.

But then, who would ask them to play standing?

 

Kind of misses David's point doesn't it? He was invited on the spur of the moment to play. Why not join in and enjoy, standing or no. One fine afternoon of playing happened with David, Jim Besser and myself at NEFFA a year and a month back. No chairs to be had on the lawn, so we found a quiet spot, stoood there and made music for I recon an hour on a very high and convivial level. Both these lads can by the way play the sparks off a burning log, sitting or standing.

 

If the music is of interest and you needs a chair, get one, or squat on the ground, a tree stump or whatever. We have just a few moments on this earth to make love or music (both pretty close for me) and a damned long time to be dead.

Edited by Mark Evans
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I felt the same as you, until I recorded myself playing standing. No difference in dynamics whatsoever! Dynamics and expression don't depend on whether you are seated or standing

I disagree

It's OK to disagree, but it will not do you any good.

Those crazy Russian bayan players play seated. One can argue that playing accordion standing adds to expressiveness.

Compared to those players at the top of food chain, who play seated, added expressiveness of playing standing doesn't count. Clearly they know something we don't about expressiveness, and standing is not part of it. One can argue the opposite, that standing with concertina flopping in your hands diminishes expressiveness and adds calamity, as the instrument is not firmly anchored.

But anchor or not, expressiveness is result of a talent and much work, not the holding technique. So far my Notepad Finale plays back with more expressiveness than me. Much to my dismay.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In Mr. Worrall's thread about his forthcoming article about the Anglo in Angle-land, Mr. Chambers has a link to an old black and white film showing sword dancers, second page of the thread I think. There's an Anglo player there who is standing (and walking about), and you can get a sense of his technique. You have to register to get the clip, which some people dislike. But that player moves his Anglo from the neck high position, down to the hip level position, and then back again, sometimes moving the instrument around in a circle. It wasn't a Céilí, either, one can safely assume. It wasn't a slow tune, either, he was pretty quick on it. I couldn't make out what his little fingers were doing though, my monitor seems to play all movies with too much darkness.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Those crazy Russian bayan players play seated.

Of course they do, those things weigh a ton! :huh:

 

Edited for speeling... :(

 

Not a ton, really. Some meager 15kilos. And sometimes they do play sanding, if necessary.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I couldn't make out what his little fingers were doing though...

Watching the clip again, he seems to be using his left hand little finger to steady the instrument anyway, though that may not be clear from the only still that's available: https://www.britishpathe.com/stills.php?id=7787&searchword=miner%20dancers&searchword=miner%20dancers&frame=85

 

By the way, you don't have to register with the Pathe site to view the stills, and if you click on the image you can see it as a high resolution enlargement.

Edited by Stephen Chambers
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Those crazy Russian bayan players play seated.

Of course they do, those things weigh a ton! :huh:

Not a ton, really. Some meager 15kilos. And sometimes they do play sanding, if necessary.

Well a Wheatstone wooden-ended Anglo that I have here weighs 1Kg, so that's the equivalent of 15 concertinas (and we're discussing how heavy an Anglo is to play!) - so I think (metaphorically speaking) I'd call that "weighing a ton"... :blink:

 

Sanding? :huh:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not a ton, really. Some meager 15kilos. And sometimes they do play sanding, if necessary.

 

 

I presume that's to be able to give a more smooth performance! ;)

 

Chris

 

Perhaps not sanding, but definitely making good use of their Drills.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remain baffled as to why anyone would wish to play the instrument standing when there is an option of playing seated.

 

May be it's just me but I believe that a concertina played sat down and anchored on on leg does not allow the player full expression. For instance I find volume dynamics far easier when stood with the concertina fee at both ends. If you look at the likes of JK or Alistair Anderson they play with all bodies from the toes up. Maybe their is a difference between the English style and the Irish one?

 

 

Generally, I prefer to play sitting down because I feel I have more control. I'd prefer to concentrate on the fingering and the music rather than on supporting the instrument. But there are times, particularly when playing for dancing, when you get more expression by involving your whole body, and you can only do that standing up. Standing can also be necessary for the purposes of giving a performance, which goes beyond merely making music.

 

Both JK and AA are performers as well as superb musicians. They need to be able to play standing in order to communicate with their audiences, often in folk clubs with no amplification or even a stage. Sitting down to play wouldn't have the same impact.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First there's the matter of practicality; sitting is just not an option for most Morris players. Just trying doing that in a processional (like the Woody Allen movie where he's a teenaged cello player in a marching band; every time he gets his instrument set up, the parade has passed him by.) Or playing for Northwest Morris in dances where the musicians circle the set (a wheelchair, maybe?) More and more, I find myself moving around -- to get a better view of the dancers I'm using as guides, to get closer to a wandering set so they can hear, to provide visual cues.

 

There's also a stylistic difference. English/harmonic players emphasize rhythmic punch and tend to use a lot of body english. Look at

playing for Morris or
playing a contra dance; it's hard to picture these guys sitting sedately in a chair.

 

Irish players seem more focused on speed, control and precision; the ones I've seen aren't playing for dancers, and sitting seems in keeping with that style.

 

But for me, it's hard to play for dancers while sitting, at least the kinds of disreputable dancers I hang out with.

Edited by Jim Besser
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...