English Questions!

[Pete Dunk]

I don't know what it's like where you are Dirge but there are no players of Cranes or McCanns or even Duets over here

Apparently MacCann duet player are ten a penny in New Zealand.

[Ptarmigan]

I don't know what it's like where you are Dirge but there are no players of Cranes or McCanns or even Duets over here

Apparently MacCann duet player are ten a penny in New Zealand.

 

Hey tallship, aren't pennies themselves, rather rare in New Zealand?

[Dirge]

I don't know what it's like where you are Dirge but there are no players of Cranes or McCanns or even Duets over here

Apparently MacCann duet player are ten a penny in New Zealand.

 

Hey tallship, aren't pennies themselves, rather rare in New Zealand?

 

Concertina players are rare here full stop.

[Anglo-Irishman]

I don't know what it's like where you are Dirge but there are no players of Cranes or McCanns or even Duets over here & believe it or not, only one English player that I know of, which is of course a big drawback, cause it'd make life so much easier for me, if I could have a wee rattle on each, before I took the plunge.

 

Dick,

That's also my position here in Germany. Concertinas of any kind are few and far between, and when you find one, it's an anglo owned by an ITM freak. You'll occasionally find a Stagi English in a big-city shop, if you're lucky. Duet - whazzat?!?

 

Also, not having a large pile of money in my pocket means that I am a little restricted in my choices.

 

Ditto

 

Couldn't see that English gained him nearly so much.

 

I wonder, does that go for a Tenor/Treble too, Dirge?

 

As far as I can see, the only difference between treble and tenor-treble is the range. They're like pianos with longer or shorter keyboards - same system, same learning curve.

Range can, of course, be an issue. I decided against a 35-button Crane, which would have been relatively cheap, because it lacks the high A in the treble, which is often needed in dance tunes in D. And there's no "useless" accidental in the neighbourhood that you could retune to an A.

 

One thought I had about the change of system is that the English and Anglo systems each have their capabilities, but also their limitations. The anglo lets you play melody on the right and accompaniment on the left, which is handy for European music, but the diatonic architecture imposes limitations on harmonising keys other than the main ones. The English gives you full, chromatic melodic capability, but forces both hands to keep swapping between bass and treble for harmonised playing.

So switching from Anglo to English or vice versa would just be swapping one difficulty for another.

The history books tell us that the duets were devised to combine the "treble right, bass left" of the Anglo with the "all notes available simultaneously" of the English. So, to me, the step ahead would be a duet - the English would only be a side-step. After that, it was merely a matter of which duet system to go for. The fact that the Maccann, Crane, Jeffries and Hayden duet systems are all so different actually made the choice pretty easy for me.

 

One decision aid I used was printing out the various fingering charts at www.concertina.com and trying to play "air concertina" on them!

 

Hope this helps,

Cheers,

John

[LDT]

One decision aid I used was printing out the various fingering charts at www.concertina.com and trying to play "air concertina" on them!

Its a shame there isn't a virtual concertina online to try....or practice on.

[Sebastian]

Its a shame there isn't a virtual concertina online to try....or practice on.

 

http://www.id-werbeagentur.com/concertina/

 

Sebastian

[LDT]

Its a shame there isn't a virtual concertina online to try....or practice on.

 

http://www.id-werbeagentur.com/concertina/

 

Sebastian

 

wow! that's cool. Thanks Sebastian.

[m3838]

Its a shame there isn't a virtual concertina online to try....or practice on.

 

http://www.id-werbeagentur.com/concertina/

 

Sebastian

 

wow! that's cool. Thanks Sebastian.

It's useless. Better chance to actually learn what it feels like is to print chart of buttons with notes on them, and, having laid them side by side on the table, "play" a tune or two.

[Ptarmigan]

Its a shame there isn't a virtual concertina online to try....or practice on.

 

http://www.id-werbeagentur.com/concertina/

 

Sebastian

 

That's brilliant Sebastian.

 

I was able to check out exactly where the low G is & where that 'useless' G# is!

 

Thanks for posting that.

 

Now if only I could work two mice at the same time on this screen, I could probably even play a tune on that dude.

 

Cheers

Dick

[m3838]

I thought he should definitely get a duet, though. Couldn't see that English gained him nearly so much.

Hmm. What the English will definitely do is to teach a player to be economical and deliberate with the choice of accompaniment.

Less is more.

A Duet system may fool one to think it's a strangely shaped piano. As a listener, I would vote for English, then for Anglo, then for Duet in terms of listenability. But it's suggestive and I'm yet to produce my version of "Fly around, my little Miss" by Jody, composed for the Anglo, and Bony's waltz, played on Hayden Duet.

And I haven't even touched my English in 4 weeks, so I better shut up.

[Sebastian]

It's useless.

 

Yes.

 

Incidentally I never claimed it to be 'usefull'.

 

Sebastian

[Ptarmigan]

I thought he should definitely get a duet, though. Couldn't see that English gained him nearly so much.

Hmm. What the English will definitely do is to teach a player to be economical and deliberate with the choice of accompaniment.

Less is more.

A Duet system may fool one to think it's a strangely shaped piano. As a listener, I would vote for English, then for Anglo, then for Duet in terms of listenability. But it's suggestive and I'm yet to produce my version of "Fly around, my little Miss" by Jody, composed for the Anglo, and Bony's waltz, played on Hayden Duet.

And I haven't even touched my English in 4 weeks, so I better shut up.

 

Interesting you should say that, because this very evening I finally made up my mind!

 

I decided to follow Jon's advice & have ordered a beautiful Wheatstone, with the low G# tuned down to F.

 

I have a few photos of it, but I'll resist the temptation to post those until I finally have this little beauty in

my hands.

 

Thanks again for all your very helpful advice guys.

 

It made my decision so much easier.

 

You can be sure I'll be asking loads of ... how do you do this & how do you do that ... kinds of questions, next door, very soon!

 

Cheers

Dick

[Anglo-Irishman]

Interesting you should say that, because this very evening I finally made up my mind!

 

I decided to follow Jon's advice & have ordered a beautiful Wheatstone, with the low G# tuned down to F.

 

...

You can be sure I'll be asking loads of ... how do you do this & how do you do that ... kinds of questions, next door, very soon!

 

Cheers

Dick

 

Dick,

Congratulations!

 

I agree - this forum is a wonderful place for advice in a situation like you and I were in recently. Lots of first-hand knowledge, but little ideology. I also have the impression that it's a good place for a beginner to be, but you and I will be finding that out by experience in the days, weeks, months ... years? ... to come, won't we!

 

Cheers,

John