Helen Posted August 25, 2003 Posted August 25, 2003 Just thought it might be fun to throw this around a little. I'm too new to have an odd place yet. I'll be working on it.
RoyJanik Posted August 25, 2003 Posted August 25, 2003 Not *too* odd, but I used to practice on top of the parking garage at work late at night. The sound carried a long way, but I'm sure if anyone heard it, they had no idea where it was coming from.
bellowbelle Posted August 25, 2003 Posted August 25, 2003 In the dark except for a street-light, alone in my parked car outside the Finnish Center in a city near here. With a sort of a bag over my concertina, since it was kind of cold. I had to wait for my daughter while she took a class, for a few weeks. Why weird? Well, it just seemed weird...I felt like a nut... but I did enjoy the time! More recently, I did actually sit inside the Finnish Center, and enjoyed some Folk Dancing and Folk Music by some Finnish people. (They never actually forced me to stay outside in the cold....I hadn't wanted to come in!)
Tom Hall Posted August 26, 2003 Posted August 26, 2003 Not so much odd as unusual. Some years back, a friend was retiring from the Navy and asked me and a couple other musicians in the gang to play at his retirement ceremony. We had to learn such tunes as "Anchors Aweigh" and the "Star Spangled Banner." What was unusual was that the ceremony was aboard the U.S.S. Constitution. I seriouly doubt that such an ensemble was ever gathered on that venerable vessel -- Tom
Samantha Posted August 26, 2003 Posted August 26, 2003 Not *my* concertina, but when living in Moscow I went to an educational concert demonstrating the different types of bellows driven free-reed instruments. I arrived late and was intrigued to see a blue pearloid 20 button anglo on the compere's table. At the interval I asked if anyone had played it, and on being told "no" I foolishly offered to kick-off the second half with a quick demonstration. "Foolish" because I had never played in public before, and had only been playing about a year. The audience were very kind ... Samantha
Tom Rhoads Posted August 26, 2003 Posted August 26, 2003 So far the oddest place I can recall playing was the upper (outside) deck of the ferry going from Bridgeport, Connecticut to Port Jefferson, Long Island. The performance was partly inspired by an old Andrews Sisters song (heard from Kallet, Epstein and Cicone) called "Ferryboat Serenade" which includes the lines "I love to ride the ferry/Where the music is so merry/There's a man who plays the concertina/On the moonlit upper deck arena." It wasn't moonlit yet when I was playing, I had to settle for sunset (which was quite nice). Not all that odd, really, I must resolve to do better!
Helen Posted August 26, 2003 Author Posted August 26, 2003 Oh Samantha, You are so brave. All the responses are so neat. I didn't even know there was a song about concertinas and ferries. I love reading all the neat things people have done with concertinas. And it's ok if the experience was not particularly odd, just different for you or a little offbeat. Thanks everyone for responding. I eagerly await the new responses. I hope there are new responses.
Samantha Posted August 26, 2003 Posted August 26, 2003 ..."Ferryboat Serenade" which includes the lines "I love to ride the ferry/Where the music is so merry/There's a man who plays the concertina/On the moonlit upper deck arena." It wasn't moonlit yet when I was playing, I had to settle for sunset (which was quite nice)... As I live on an island and travel by ferry ferry regularly, perhaps you could post the tune, trhoads, on the tune-a-tron? And the words? Please? Samantha
eleyne Posted August 27, 2003 Posted August 27, 2003 since i ride the puget sound ferries in washington fairly often, playing on a ferry is pretty routine. although playing on the ferry from prince edward island to nova scotia was anything but routine the oddest place i've played was one day in cape breton last year, during the celtic colours festival. it was a rainy day, and i was cranky and not in the mood to drive across the island to hear music. i decided i'd do my wash instead, so i drove down into the town of baddeck ... but given that it was such a miserable day, i figured i might find a session going on somewhere after i got done with the wash. so i put my concertina in the trunk with the laundry. when i got to town, i parked my car, grabbed the laundry, and walked up an alley to get to the laundromat. when i opened the door -- you guessed it -- a guitarist and a fiddler were sitting on one of the tables, having some tunes while they waited for their wash to get done. so i dumped my laundry back on the table, went back to the car, got the concertina out of the trunk, went back to the laundromat & asked if i could play too. later on, the fiddler said she was really surprised when i pulled a concertina out of the case. when i walked in the door carrying it, she'd thought: 'oh how cute. that woman has a case for her detergent.' sarah
AlexCJones Posted August 27, 2003 Posted August 27, 2003 I mentioned this occassion in a different topic already, but this topic seems more appropriate: Several times I have gone to the Thatcher Woods nature preserve and played by the Des Planes River in River Forest Illinois (just outside Chicago) to practice when the weather is too nice to stay indoors. I was practicing in kind of a clearing, sitting on the trunk of a tree that was mostly horizontal (the upper portion of the tree extends over the river). I looked up from the concertina to find a deer staring at me from 10 feet away (about 3 meters) as I played. If that happens again, I should play her that tune from Sound of Music -- you know the one I'm talkin about. - Alex C. Jones
Alan Day Posted August 27, 2003 Posted August 27, 2003 Our band was on the way to France by Ferry and we decided to have a practice in the lounge and so many people came to listen we had them all dancing.Best ferry crossing ever. The most unusual places I have played was a dance underground in a cave deep in the hills of Kent.I was also very early for a meeting with a high ranking officer at the Chelsea Barracks (where the Chelsea Pensioners are based).After my car was searched for bombs they let me in to where I had to wait for about an hour for the meeting,which was outside the band practice hall.I carried my concertina with me in the car ,so out it came for a practice.After about fifteen minutes of practicing someone bellowed at me "Get your hair cut and I could have a job for you".I declined his offer and I didn`t even get a charge!! Regards Alan
Howard Mitchell Posted August 28, 2003 Posted August 28, 2003 In the 1970s whilst at University, it was usual for students to do sports activities on Wednesday afternoons. Not being the sporting types, a fellow student and I used to play in Parliament Hill Fields (London) overlooking the lake. We played mostly for ourselves or for the birds but occasionally drew a small audience. In the same years we played at the University of London Union during a visit of the Queen Mother. We were practicing before the performance at the bottom of a long stair well - the acoustics were amazing. I've played in the Albert Hall at an EFDSS festival, for a customs officer who wanted to check that there was nothing hidden inside the instrument, and like Alan, on a cross-channel ferry where a quick practice can turn into anything. Howard
Greyboy Posted August 28, 2003 Posted August 28, 2003 On the park bench in front of my home, at noon on Sundays, with a beer at hand. While not unusual for me, it might be so for the golfers on the green about 80 yards away. I play with my legs crossed, hiding the concertina. My bent sense of humour gets a kick out of watching the players searching for the source of that strange sound. In the normally quiet, tree-lined surroundings it is difficult to pinpoint the direction from which the sound is coming. I've been known to crack a bull whip in the same area, but that is another story....
Alan Day Posted August 28, 2003 Posted August 28, 2003 I don`t think I would like to meet you on a dark night Greyboy. A previous posting reminds me of a time I was practicing in a laybye and so concentrating on a tune,when I looked up from my concertina, a grinning huge West Indian fellow, was head and shoulders inside my car window face to face with me.To say it made me jump was an understatement,his reaction "PLAY IT AGAIN MAN". Be good Alan
Lester Bailey Posted August 29, 2003 Posted August 29, 2003 This year Aldbury Morris visited the caves at Wookey Hole in Somerset and we danced in the Witches Parlour. This is some 300 feet under the Mendip Hills in Somerset. Acoustics were brilliant.
Pam B Posted August 29, 2003 Posted August 29, 2003 Well it may not be that odd, but nobody else has said that they have played in the school gymnasium at 9:00 at night for 70+ 3rd graders. It's our annual Read-in, with a little music to go along!
Alan Day Posted August 30, 2003 Posted August 30, 2003 I actually play as organist for our Masonic Lodge,as far as I know I am the only person in Freemasonary to do this but if you do too, please Email and let me know. I will keep it a secret!! Regards Alan
Guest Posted August 31, 2003 Posted August 31, 2003 Whenever my husband and I take a long drive (I have family four hours drive away) I always take my concertina and play during the trip there (I am usually too tired on the way home). We are heading over the Ireland/Scotland in three weeks time for a driving holiday, and I am taking my concertina with me for that too... (Yes, my husband is a saint... he actually really likes to hear me play in the small confines of a car.... ) Regards Morgana
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