Another Duet Format

[ragtimer]

Just what we needed, another Duet type I found this concertina in the Berlin Musik Instrument Museum last month.

Note that each row is in chromatic order, and the rows are offset by about a fourth (sort of like a Hayden),

and there is overlap between end of one row and start of the next one up. This overlap would be a great use for Rich Morse's roller links, but I didn't have the scholarly credentials to remove the box from the display case and open her up to see if they used links or extra reeds :-)

(Remember, in Germany 'b' is Bb, H is B-natural, and "is" after a note means "sharp.")

This key layout is isotonic, like a Hayden, meaning that the fingering for a scale or chord is the same in any key, subject to running off an edge.

Chords would appear to be a stretch for the major third, and subject to errors in this layout.

 

Someone on this Forum has a Penn (sp?) duet with the same idea, but ISTR it was different.

 

I can't be the only member who's stumbled onto this glass case full of interesting (!) squeezes. If you're ever in Berlin, be sure to visit this museum! It has instruments of every kind, and amusing evolutionary dead ends (bassooon reeds on tubas, etc.). Also a great place to buy lunch.

--Mike K.

Edited December 4, 2008 by ragtimer

[ragtimer]

Just what we needed, another Duet type I found this concertina in the Berlin Musik Instrument Museum last month.

Note that each row is in chromatic order, and the rows are offset by about a fourth (sort of like a Hayden),

and there is overlap between end of one row and start of the next one up. This overlap would be a great use for Rich Morse's roller links, but I didn't have the scholarly credentials to remove the box from the display case and open her up to see if they used links or extra reeds :-)

 

This key layout is isotonic, like a Hayden, meaning that the fingering for a scale or chord is the same in any key, subject to running off an edge.

Chords would appear to be a stretch for the major third, and subject to errors in this layout.

 

Someone on this Forum has a Penn (sp?) duet with the same idea, but ISTR it was different.

--Mike K.

Talking to myself I don't recall checking the Left side of this squeezebox (a square/rectangular shape, BTW) to see if the LH was the same format, that is, a true Duet box. Maybe it wasn't visible, with other isntruments in the case blocking the view. Or maybe I did verify that both sides were the same layout.

 

Anyway, the sides could be the same, an octave apart, to give yet another Duet format. Which we need like the Germans need another sausage recipe

But I'd love to hear speculations as to its playability, as in "Would you like to have one to fool with?"

Edited December 4, 2008 by ragtimer

[Christian Husmann]

Which we need like the Germans need another sausage recipe

 

Excuse me!

 

only kidding. I thought that I came across a lot of boxes in this country but I can´t recall having ever seen one of those... and I live in a region where square boxes are still regularly played.

Do you remember a name ?

 

Greetings from Germany

Christian

[ragtimer]

Which we need like the Germans need another sausage recipe

Excuse me!

only kidding. I thought that I came across a lot of boxes in this country but I can´t recall having ever seen one of those... and I live in a region where square boxes are still regularly played.

Do you remember a name ?

 

Greetings from Germany

Christian

What I meant was, you have plenty of good sausages already! The beer is good too

 

I'm still kicking myself because I did not photo the description card in the display case. At least I think I did not -- will check later.

I do remember a name was given for the maker.

 

No idea if this was in production or just a prototype, tho the complete instrument looks like a commercial product, with nice inlays on the case edges.

I also forget the town where it was made -- but ISTR it was not Chemnitz. --Mike K.

[Marien]

Interesting system, it looks a little complicated but not impossible to make chords (like CEGBC). Maybe this is more relevant for the right hand.

 

It seems to me that I would prefer an other orientation for the rows, the C to be on the right side above the G and not on the left. Do you know if the tones FCGDA (second column) are going up this direction, or down?

 

By the way, do you mean the museum in the Tiergartnerstrasse ?

 

Thanks,

Marien

[ragtimer]

Interesting system, it looks a little complicated but not impossible to make chords (like CEGBC). Maybe this is more relevant for the right hand.

I'm assuming that the left and right sides are the same, but an octave apart, as on any (other) Duet.

I still think that major 3rds are a bit of a stretch, though I mentally played a major scale on it and it seems to fit well, with generous use of the pinky.

It seems to me that I would prefer an other orientation for the rows, the C to be on the right side above the G and not on the left. Do you know if the tones FCGDA (second column) are going up this direction, or down?

Again, I've been assuming (!?!) that the tones would go down in the direction you suggest, that is, the rows rise in pitch going upwards in the photo. I think it's safe to assume the air button is for the RH index finger.

By the way, do you mean the museum in the Tiergartnerstrasse ?

Thanks,

Marien

Well, something my wife and I visited was near the Zoo. I do know the museum was in the Kulturcomplex with other museums, all very modern buildings (nowhere near the classic Museum Insel).

 

Also, I think it was a "Pitt Duet" that was described by (I think) Jim Lucas as being rather close to this scheme, in that each row was half of a chromatic octave.

--Mike K.

[JimLucas]

Also, I think it was a "Pitt Duet" that was described by (I think) Jim Lucas as being rather close to this scheme, in that each row was half of a chromatic octave.

No, that was a different one... not my Pitt-Taylor, but the one in the avatar of C.net member aeolina.

[Ivan Viehoff]

...rather close to this scheme, in that each row was half of a chromatic octave.

If I remember correctly, it was a special one-off made by Wheatstone to a purchaser's specification. If I remember further correctly, there had been a misunderstanding, and it was not what the purchaser expected, and so it ended up getting sold off. Anyway, whatever the story was, the present owner says that in practice (like the Jedcertina) it is much harder to play that well-known duet designs, and hence a curiosity rather than a useful muscial instrument. I suspect the same is true of this German one.

[wes williams]

Stuart's duet is shown here ....