Beginnings...

[tzirtzi]

This seems an appropriate thread in which to make my first post .

 

I'm being nosey again ;P

 

SO what made you want to learn the concertina? Who inspired you? Did you have any goals when you started?

 

Well, I've just ordered my first concertina from the buttonbox, so I'm not actually a player or even an owner of a concertina yet. I wanted to take up a new instrument and had been thinking of piano accordion - but when I started researching free reed instruments I found myself drawn to the concertina instead... Its portability was a major attraction, as was the fact that John Spiers plays it ^^ - I'm very much a Spiers & Boden and Bellowhead fan, and at the few gigs of theirs that I've been to I always enjoy watching Spiers play his various instruments. I chose an English concertina because I didn't like the idea of playing an instrument that wasn't chromatic (my other instruments are the piano and saxophone) - I'd feel a bit cheated buying an instrument that didn't allow me to play in every key .

 

So that's the why and the who. As for the goals, I'm not 100% sure right now - I want to be able to play comfortably enough to be useful at scratch ceilidhs, and to be able to get through a few Spiers & Boden tunes. After that... I'll have to see.

[LDT]

Well, I've just ordered my first concertina from the buttonbox, so I'm not actually a player or even an owner of a concertina yet. I wanted to take up a new instrument and had been thinking of piano accordion - but when I started researching free reed instruments I found myself drawn to the concertina instead... Its portability was a major attraction, as was the fact that John Spiers plays it ^^ - I'm very much a Spiers & Boden and Bellowhead fan, and at the few gigs of theirs that I've been to I always enjoy watching Spiers play his various instruments. I chose an English concertina because I didn't like the idea of playing an instrument that wasn't chromatic (my other instruments are the piano and saxophone) - I'd feel a bit cheated buying an instrument that didn't allow me to play in every key .

 

So that's the why and the who. As for the goals, I'm not 100% sure right now - I want to be able to play comfortably enough to be useful at scratch ceilidhs, and to be able to get through a few Spiers & Boden tunes. After that... I'll have to see.

ooh...I'm a fan too One of the reasons I took it up was hearing thier music.

are you on the forum too http://forums.spiersandboden.com/index.php

[malcolm clapp]

First time around, I was still at school in 1967 when I saw Alistair Anderson and Louis Killen at a local folk club. Mesmerised by the concertina, I discovered in Bristol(UK) a hardware shop, would you believe, that had a glass counter in which were a number of concertinas for sale. I managed to borrow the 8 quid I needed to buy a 30 key C Jeffries anglo.

 

There followed a few weeks of total frustration; I couldn't get my head around the anglo system at all. Eventually, some one told me I had the "wrong" instrument. What I really needed, they said, was an English, as my (then) heroes Alistair A and Louis K played, a real concertina, not this "cheap toy" that played a different note in and out! (How times have changed!!!)

 

So, back to the shop, where the owner (a Salvationist I believe) agreed to buy back the Jeffries, gave me 10 pounds because he said it might help me towards buying an English if I was serious, but which would be much more expensive than an anglo.... (he only had anglos). What a nice man!

 

So with 10 quid to spend, off I went in search of an English...for the next 13 years....

 

In the meantime, I had recovered from my push/pull phobia and had purchased several anglos. My former heroes had changed; Louis K and Alistair A were replaced by John Kirkpatrick and William Kimber, amongst others.

 

I have since learned to play English, but not well; those extra years on the anglo have meant that my English playing has never quite developed to the extent of my anglo abilities, which in turn are probably limited in that I didn't persevere with the "cheap toy" I briefly owned back in 1967.

 

And I still feel a slight guilt that I didn't quite do the right thing by my benefactor from the hardware shop.....

 

MC

[tzirtzi]

ooh...I'm a fan too One of the reasons I took it up was hearing thier music.

are you on the forum too http://forums.spiersandboden.com/index.php

 

I don't have a user but I've lurked there on occasion and my girlfriend posts - are you by any chance ladydetemps?

[LDT]

ooh...I'm a fan too One of the reasons I took it up was hearing thier music.

are you on the forum too http://forums.spiersandboden.com/index.php

 

I don't have a user but I've lurked there on occasion and my girlfriend posts - are you by any chance ladydetemps?

yes I'm ladydetemps Who's other half are you then?

[tzirtzi]

ooh...I'm a fan too One of the reasons I took it up was hearing thier music.

are you on the forum too http://forums.spiersandboden.com/index.php

 

I don't have a user but I've lurked there on occasion and my girlfriend posts - are you by any chance ladydetemps?

yes I'm ladydetemps Who's other half are you then?

 

Her username's hevaa. I don't know whether she's been posting recently, but she went to the folk proms over the summer with a bunch from the forum.

 

I see you're from Essex - whereabouts are you? I'm at the uni at Colchester atm, though I come from the SW.

[LDT]

Her username's hevaa. I don't know whether she's been posting recently, but she went to the folk proms over the summer with a bunch from the forum.

I know who you mean You should post on the forum too.

 

I see you're from Essex - whereabouts are you? I'm at the uni at Colchester atm, though I come from the SW.

Not that far from you in Southend actually.

[tzirtzi]

I know who you mean You should post on the forum too.

Aye well.. I find that trying to be active on too many forums results in getting very little else done ever . So I try to keep my forum memberships down to a minimum.

 

Not that far from you in Southend actually.

 

Ah cool . Much of a good folk scene in southend?

Edited October 29, 2008 by tzirtzi

[LDT]

Not that far from you in Southend actually.

 

Ah cool . Much of a good folk scene in southend?

Not that I can find....large 'clubbing' scene but practically nothing folk wise. Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places.

Only place I could find when I googled was a place in leigh. *sigh* I live in a cultural cul-de-sac.

[tzirtzi]

Not that I can find....large 'clubbing' scene but practically nothing folk wise. Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places.

Only place I could find when I googled was a place in leigh. *sigh* I live in a cultural cul-de-sac.

 

Yeah, as far as I'm aware it's similar here - some good folk gigs at the arts centre and there's a pretty good poetry scene but there's no folk club at the uni and I've yet to come across one outside. Who knows, though... There may well be events/etc. yet to be found.

[LDT]

Well, I've just ordered my first concertina from the buttonbox, so I'm not actually a player or even an owner of a concertina yet.

Have you got your concertina yet?

[tzirtzi]

Well, I've just ordered my first concertina from the buttonbox, so I'm not actually a player or even an owner of a concertina yet.

Have you got your concertina yet?

 

Just received it today! A long story with unexpected customs charges and two failed attempts by parcelforce to deliver it has finally come to a happy end . I've posted a pic in the appropriate thread... ^^

[RustyH]

What an interesting thread!

 

Played guitar, 20 years ago ran fingers through table saw twice, a year to the day apart (no longer work on my saw Feb 6th). Just knuckles of first and second left hand. Ended guitar playing as the fingers are fused on middle knuckles.

 

This spring we were in the UK visiting in-laws. Wife plays violin and was going into various music stores looking for a particular piece of sheet music. On one of these sojourns in Inverness, she asked if I would like to take up an instrument again. I had been thinking about doing so for years, but couldn't decide on anything specific and told her so. So as we wandered in downtown Inverness and headed into a music store (guitars, electronics, and drum sets) there was a small accordion thingy, not what I wanted, so asked the guy if he had a concertina (never seen one in real life, just pics. Why Concertina? No idea, it just popped into my mind, maybe because my wife's name is Tina). He looked at me like I had two heads. This was repeated wherever we went, even elicited an unrepeatable phrase that more or less told me I was unwanted in his store (Leicester). As we were travelling, and needed all the money we had saved, I wasn't too upset, but definitely got more curious (wife says it's my stubborn back side getting up).

 

When we got home in May, one day I went online and was a bit bored. Googled "concertinas", ended up here, found them on ebay, and finally understood why all the weirdness. $8000 are you NUTS!! This site led me to Bob Tedrow, where I ordered my Rochelle. It has also helped me find instructional CD's (live in a remote location), music, advice, software, recording devices and teachers. I have also purchased metronome, new computer speakers, a new stereo that has a USB port for data sticks (so much easier than CD's for moving mp3 files and ABC files from laptop to desktop to computers down at my son's place when we visit).

 

Now I have weekly sessions online via Skype with Alan Egan, and I'm beginning to notice a marked improvement. Poor Alan probably isn't seeing any improvement, but I know what little things are being absorbed and adjusted in my private practice moments. Now my Rochelle is starting to show the hours as my D is starting to sound a little flat, and Alan's concertina sounds so...right....that I realize I'll soon have to get on a list somewhere and spend the money.........

 

The journey has begun.