Playing The Anglo While Standing

[Anglo-Irishman]

And sometimes they do play sanding, if necessary.

 

Assuming you man "standing", the only Russian bayan player I know any way well sits to play Bach and stands to play folk tunes. I behave analogously, but at a lower level, with my anglo - above a certain level of complexity in the music, I have to sit down and stabilise the concertina to get speed, accuracy AND expression.

 

And you CAN move your body to reinforce the expression when sitting. Pianists do it all the time, and so do good orchestral violinists. I once heard a Beethoven symphony played by an orchestra whose entire violin section sat "sedately" leaned back in their chairs. It was the most lack-lustre Beethoven I ever heard!

 

As to waving the concertina about while playing - no reason not to do that on your chair. On the front edge of your chair, that is. With your weight distributed beween the seat of your pants and the soles of your shoes.

 

Cheers,

John

[hjcjones]

above a certain level of complexity in the music, I have to sit down and stabilise the concertina to get speed, accuracy AND expression.

And so do most of us. But that's only because we don't practice playing standing enough. The top professional players - John K, Brian Peters, Jody Kruskal for example - can get all that while standing.

 

And you CAN move your body to reinforce the expression when sitting. Pianists do it all the time, and so do good orchestral violinists.

But orchestral players usually aren't rockin' along to a chugging English step-hop hornpipe!

 

As to waving the concertina about while playing - no reason not to do that on your chair. On the front edge of your chair, that is. With your weight distributed beween the seat of your pants and the soles of your shoes.

So why sit down? If you can do that seated, you can do it standing.

[chiton1]

Well it is quite simple in fact:

For English music you stand, for Irish music you sit!

For other kinds of music you do whetever you want

[wntrmute]

But orchestral players usually aren't rockin' along to a chugging English step-hop hornpipe!

Beethoven's Ninth, Second Movement.

[hielandman]

I do it all the time(every weekend, at least) Though I practice sitting, when I am out on the job I am usually standing. Most of the time though, I am accompanying my partners singing, and on the choruses where we both sing, I play chords on the left hand, and that is not too difficult. When playing tunes like Irish trad, etc, I really would prefer to sit, the stability and freedom of movement that your knees afford can't be measured. However, when out I am usually standing(except at sessions), and what I do is to find the tightest setting on my handstraps where I can still reach all(or most!) of the keys comfortably(that is a relative term!) I have had to punch my own holes on the straps for this purpose, as the straps the way they come are basically "good enough the way they are for everybody", but, as you find out on the journey, customization is often necessary when it comes to comfort. Hope this helps, take care,

Don

[m3838]

And you CAN move your body to reinforce the expression when sitting. Pianists do it all the time, and so do good orchestral violinists. I once heard a Beethoven symphony played by an orchestra whose entire violin section sat "sedately" leaned back in their chairs. It was the most lack-lustre Beethoven I ever heard!

 

They don't do it deliberately.

If you really into the music, you stop controlling yourself, so there you go. But wiggling your body and making grimaces is not equal to great music.

I don't understand the whole topic. Someone asked how to hold Anglo in the air. Two answers were straight forward and self-explanatory:

either just practice, or build a custom handle, whatever the system.

If you dig some topics, you can find my drawings with shoulder strap and a video I posted of making such s strap and playing standing with concertina firmly stabilized. Some use neck straps, some pinch the straps to the collar of the jacket. What's the use of such lengthy discussion?

2+2=4.

But what about 2+2 x 2=?

Whoever answer correctly is right.

Whoever answers incorrectly is wrong.

[geoffwright]

Playing anglo concertina whilst still standing? I didn't think anyone worried until the anglo player fell over and carried on playing.

 

I can't cope with playing anglo whilst standing - possibly 'cos I do use my little fingers (and more importantly, because I can play one-handed and have a slurp if I am sat down).

[wntrmute]

But what about 2+2 x 2=?

Whoever answer correctly is right.

Whoever answers incorrectly is wrong.

6

I am never wrong. Any apparent incosistencies are due to the deficiencies of reality.

[PeterT]

But what about 2+2 x 2=?

Whoever answer correctly is right.

Whoever answers incorrectly is wrong.

6

I am never wrong. Any apparent incosistencies are due to the deficiencies of reality.

BODMAS rules OK!

[Anglo-Irishman]

Well it is quite simple in fact:

For English music you stand, for Irish music you sit!

For other kinds of music you do whetever you want

 

Whatever the nationality - do any of you sit to play the National Anthem?

 

Cheers,

John

[Anglo-Irishman]

Well it is quite simple in fact:

For English music you stand, for Irish music you sit!

For other kinds of music you do whetever you want

 

Whatever the nationality - do any of you sit to play the National Anthem?

 

Cheers,

John

[Robin Madge]

For the mathematicians:-

Reverse Polish notation rules KO!

 

Robin Madge

[David Barnert]

You know, after all this, I have to point out a few things I have realized that suggest that although I enjoy playing standing and do not shy away from it, there's something to be said for playing seated.

 

One is that although when I play standing I have no choice but to hold both ends in the air (ignoring the possibility of adding a neck strap), when I play seated I have the choice to rest one end on a knee (and we'll just forget, for the moment, about which end and which knee) or hold both ends in the air. But I always choose the end-on-knee option. It must be that something in me prefers that position, which is not available to me when standing.

 

Another is that although I always stand when playing for a performance of Morris dancing, sometimes I sit at Morris practice, particularly when I am tired.

 

Also, I have recently achieved two firsts: I performed in a high-level concert (the staff concert at the NorthEast Concertina Weekend in Amherst last month) and I recorded some tracks for a high-level recording project (Duet International). I did them both seated, and I suspect that I would have been rather hesitant to do either of them standing.

 

Edited for 2 typos.

Edited May 28, 2008 by David Barnert

[Robin Madge]

I like a high bar stool with a couple of horizontal struts at different heights. With that I can stand or sit, using the struts in either stance to put a foot on and rest the concertina end on the knee. With a high stool you're not noticably lower thatn the other members of a group. For an evening on stage with a band I use my 4 concertina box, which has a 2 by 2 arrangement of pigeon holes for concertinas, as a foot-rest. It also has a tray that it sits on that holds the foot pedals.

 

Robin Madge

[Samantha]

...

Position 2 - Put hands through straps lift hands so that bellows are just below neck height - this is comfortable for me and corners of anglo frame seem to "nestle" at the base of my palms helping with feeling of security. Weight passes straight down fore arms which are almost verticle... I'm no three stone weakling so perhaps that also explains why I don't find it too difficult...

 

This is the way I've played from day one. I'd never seen anyone play the concertina so had nothing to go on. It works for me: I find resting one end on my knee far too constricting.

 

Samantha

[Brian Peters]

I have had to punch my own holes on the straps for this purpose, as the straps the way they come are basically "good enough the way they are for everybody", but, as you find out on the journey, customization is often necessary when it comes to comfort.

I found this, too. The precise strap tension which enables you to get an instant response from the instrument, but doesn't stop your fingers from functioning, is something worth experimenting with.

 

I favour Peter Brook's Position 2 [Put hands through straps lift hands so that bellows are just below neck height... corners of anglo frame seem to "nestle" at the base of my palms helping with feeling of security. Weight passes straight down fore arms which are almost verticle.] The forearms are held about 30 degrees off vertical, and stability is achieved through balancing the pressure of the base of the palm on the instrument corner, against the pressure of the back of the wrist against the strap. You can 'wave it around' a bit from this basic position, but I wouldn't want to play with forearms horizontal for any length of time.

 

That said, there are certain types of piece that remain very difficult to play without one end of the instrument supported: tunes with very busy bellows reversals, tunes which use a lot of little finger work, and anything involving a LH thumb drone.

[geoffwright]

Hi Brian,

"busy bellows reversal" - isn't that why the Irish players started playing across the rows so you didn't have to do too much bellows work?

And they still sit down to play!!

 

[Robert Booth]

First time i've read through this thread.

Never having had any models whilst learning, it goes something like this:

 

A) Starting to play. Noodling, scales, instrument on lap, body relaxed, even reclined.

 

Getting into it now, sitting up straighter. Concertina lifted above lap. Volume, intensity growing.

 

C) Really wailing now, standing up. Tunes coming out by themselves, smoothly, correctly!.

 

D) Deep in musical trance. Concertina closer and closer to my face until my nose is in danger of being nipped in the bellows. Pacing the floor.

 

E) In high dudgeon. Deeply buried in personal version of Portugese Fado songs. Door opens, wife comes home.

 

F) Sitting down again, concertina on shelf, listening respectfully of litany of wife's daily frustrations.

Mind lost in musical thought.

 

Elapsed time...about 1 hour.

So it goes.