A CAT & A CONCERTINA

[nkgibbs]

Dear Friends,

 

My Anglo 'playing' is pretty rudimentary and I have noticed that the cat (a 2 year-old grey fluffy tom adopted about 4 months ago) really hates the instrument. After only a few seconds of 'playing' the beast does everything in his power to get out of the room/house even if there is wind/rain/sleet/hail/snow outside.

 

Do other cat-owning-concertina-'playing'-owners have this same problem?

 

Should I confess to the RSPCA*?

 

Neil

 

 

 

*translation for non-UK folks; Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

[Fergus_fiddler]

I pointed about that in another thread. My cat is absolutely indifferent to my fiddle and to the tin whistle. But runs like hell when I pick up - not even playing, mind you! - the concertina or the button accordion.

So, more than with the frequences of the pitch, I think would have to do with the sound of the free reed instruments.

 

I'll buy a mouth organ & then I'll tell tou

 

Cheers,

 

Fer

[miikae]

My 9 year old white Cat runs out of the room and looks back in disgust as soon as i place my hand on a tina.

 

My dog's not at all bothered but my son's Cocker Spaniel just sings along loudly, but not in tune though.

 

A quick edit just to say that after quick test with a mouth organ , my dog started singing and the cat has now gone out in the rain .

 

Mike

Edited March 8, 2009 by miikae

[Fiddlehead Fern]

My family is owned by a sweet furry yellow beast that lives outside because mom's allergic to cats. In the summer I sometimes play music on the porch in the evenings with my parents (they often just mosey over while I'm practicing and we end up on the porch with me just playing for fun and them listening). Circles (the aforementioned feline) often comes around when we're just talking, because he's happiest when we're all together. He seems to be pretty neutral about fiddle and concertina though. In other words, he's never done anything alarming while I'm playing, other than saunter off to poke around the bushes and see if he can find anything more interesting than a bunch of people who aren't petting him as much as he'd like.

I used to fancy that he listened when I started learning violin, since he always seemed to be right outside when I practiced, but looking back I think that was just me imagining things (I was around 8 at the time).

 

I remember reading a book about the Lewis and Clarke expedition that was supposedly told by Captian, a dog that went along. It was amusing what he "thought" about Pierre Cruzet's fiddle playing! Hah, just remembered that now, I read that book quite awhile ago.

[Baxter]

Do dogs qualify for this conversation? My greyhound comes and curls up next to me on the couch when I play. I'm not quite sure how to take it.

 

Edit: oops, hay, check out that dog thread over there!

Edited March 9, 2009 by Baxter

[Bruce McCaskey]

My cats used to leave the room when I started playing, but it's much the reverse lately - ever since I started playing in the kitchen in the evening. Now they reliably come and gather near me shortly after I start. I like to imagine that they've come appreciate Irish music on a concertina, but that's not exactly the case.

 

The explanation is simple.

 

I don't really need a light to play so typically turn off the overhead lights and have only one of the counter-top lights on and it is located on the same side as the gathered cats. They ignore me and the instrument, but pay intense attention to the cabinets below the light. That's because the light reflects off the shiny metal end of the concertina and as I play it casts a moving pattern of light on the lower cabinet fronts. The cats closely watch the moving reflection and paw at it, entranced by its curious nature. They've learned that when they hear the music, the light is going to be there and so they are in a sense, called by the music.

 

Not quite the motivation I'd hope for in an audience, but I'll take what I can get.

 

[chris]

Hi

I only have to touch the chair that I normally sit in while I'm playing and whooosh the cats are off- they don't differentiate between instruments, guitar, flute concertina, mandoline all the same to them. It doesn't matter whether it's folk, old time or classic- they're just musical phillistines.

chris

[Rod]

In my experience there is no doubt that some dogs detest the sound of live Accordians and Harmonicas. I assume that the sound of a free reed instrument is in fact painful to their exceptionallly sensitive ears. My dog would howl loudly and persistently until I ceased and left me in no doubt that it was distressed My current dog may not appreciate the sound of my concertina but it shows no signs of distress and makes no effort to depart elsewhere when I play. I am fortunate. Clearly some dogs have greater tolerance than others. (I also remember a dog which would howl uncontrollably at the sound of it's mistress's violin.) This is potentially a significant problem for those who not only love their concertinas but love their dogs (and cats ?) even more and cannot bear to see them in distress.

[AnnC]

My cat is unbothered by the concertina, she will happily try to get on my lap for a snooze if I'm sat playing knowing that she'll have a comfy seat for a good while I used to practice during my lunch breaks, going to a nearby wood with a field of cows next to it and they would always amble up to the hedge for a listen

[jmmo]

My cats, all four of them, tear out of the room after just a few notes on my Jackie concertina, but in the few days I've owned/played a Lachenal they have remained sleeping in the same room. Presumably there are high frequency resonances we can't hear but that are excruciating to our feline friends.

 

jmmo

[Mark Evans]

Late 70's in Chapel Hill, N.C., one of my cats would jump up on the back of my overstuffed chair when I picked up the concertina and wrap herself around my neck, under my long, hippy hair, purring, "kneeding bread" and drooling down me freakin' back as I played. Sometimes she would get so "happy" that at the end of a practice she'd slip out from my hair and give me a little nip on the chin.

 

The opinions of my chums on this odd behavior ran the gamut from, the poor kitty was stoned out of its gourd to a theory that she was a concertina player's lover in a former life.

Edited March 23, 2009 by Mark Evans

[fidjit]

No problems with my cat with either Concertina or Melodeon..

 

I got to him early on so I guess that he doesn't know that he's not supposed to like them.

[jlfinkels]

My cats could care less about the concertina or fiddle, even though I keep warning them that if they don't behave they'll end up as violin strings. They have yet to fall for the idle threats, especially since they are probably more internet savvy than I and have looked it up in Wiki. I've noticed cat hairs on the computer keyboard so I think they are sneaking access when we're not home.

 

One of my dogs on the other hand howls whenever she hears either instrument and runs around the house howling at the top of her lungs. She'll finally wear herself out and fall over panting, then casually walk over and get a drink of water and start the performance again.

 

I still can't figure out if she is singing and dancing, or if it bothers her ears. If I hide out of sight she won't make a sound, so I like to believe it is modern dance with vocals.

[LHMark]

A cat and a concertina, eh? I'd be surprised if this ancient (1887) New York Times article hasn't been trucked out on C.net before, but it seems so relevant:

 

http://preview.tinyurl.com/dfqqly

[Simon H]

Music, Physics and Engineering, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Music-Physics-Engi...1077&sr=8-1 has the likely explanation that free reed instruments carry a lot of high amplitude ultrasonic overtones. Whatever one of our cats leaves the room the moment I pick up the instrument, the other hangs in for a few minutes but usually gives up if he thinks the practice is going on too long.

[drbones]

I wonder if the key of the instrument has anything to do with it. Seems some players' cats don't mind while some do. Is the key the key? Maybe some of you could add the key of your instrument when responding to this question. It could save some feline/homo sapien relationships.

Personally, I love cats,...Taste like chicken!

[Pam B]

One of my cats would come up and try to bite my hand to get me to stop - now that's bad!

 

To comment on the last post - I don't know if it's the instrument, or the tune, but I know the higher the notes - the further away the current cat runs!

 

[lmc]

How funny!! This is a great thread because my female schnauzer ( but not the male) goes into full howling mode when I play my anglo, and in particular, Constant Billy. She doesn't seem to mind the single note tunes but as soon as chords are used she seems to either sing along or howl in pain along. But it is Constant Billy that reliably sets her off. And not only makes her howl, but somehow makes her butt become terribly itchy all of the sudden...and she has to worry it and drag herself around, no she does not have worms and only does this to Constant Billy...Do you think Constant Billy played on an Anglo can set off the annal glands in a dog?

 

 

It does make practicing a little bit of a challenge...and no, I don't think she is per se commenting on my playing (although, I am sure it leaves much to be desired, that's why I practice when the family is away and I am in the company of my supposedly devoted canines).

 

So glad to hear I am not alone, but the butt thing, I guess that's a little different. Maybe a certain frequency vibrates something that gives her an itch? Weird.

 

lmc