Is learning the concertina too hard?

[PaddyLosty]

Then maybe you should get one of these

[ragtimer]

Then maybe you should get one of these

Would you believe, those Tanzbaer roll-playing accordions are not all that easy to play? I tried one, and you have to pump the hand lever to keep the roll flywheel spinning, while squeezing the bellows in usual fashion, hopefully in synch with the melody's phrases.

 

I found it very hard to rub my head and pat my tummy at the same time.

 

I think I had an easier time learning to play my Hayden Duet concertina

 

But roll-playing instruments are really neat playthings! --Mike K.

[David Levine]

People ask me all the time if the concdertina is hard. Not at all, I tell them. You just have to put your fingers in the right place.

[PaddyLosty]

People ask me all the time if the concdertina is hard. Not at all, I tell them. You just have to put your fingers in the right place.

correct,youalso have to listen to yoursound and learn finger attack and bellows control.

but compared to the fiddle the intonation is easy

 

Playing both fiddle and concertina is interesting to say the least. The fiddle is difficult to begin on, as intonation is tricky to learn and the first while is rough going. However once you've gotten to a certain point on the fiddle it seems to get easy. Intonation doesn't take much thought and there is only one possibility for note layout. It becomes all about style after that. On the other hand, I found the concertina easy to learn the first few tunes on, but digging deeper and learning more tunes, it really doesn't get a whole lot easier. Completely different learning curve. I enjoy the puzzle of learning tunes on the concertina, but I can be much more expressive on the fiddle. For now anyways.

[LDT]

Then maybe you should get one of these

isn't that like putting a tape recorder in a box?

[drbones]

Then maybe you should get one of these

isn't that like putting a tape recorder in a box?

I find that a CD player does well. Nobody can tell the difference until the drum solo comes on.

[LDT]

Then maybe you should get one of these

isn't that like putting a tape recorder in a box?

I find that a CD player does well. Nobody can tell the difference until the drum solo comes on.

Or an I-pod....

[JimLucas]

Then maybe you should get one of these

isn't that like putting a tape recorder in a box?

Well, yeah. But the Tanzbar is from the age before magnetic tapes, no?

 

(How many here remember computers that used punched paper tapes?

Hmm, does that mean that your PC or Mac is just a glorified player-piano? )

[Marien]

Well, yeah. But the Tanzbar is from the age before magnetic tapes, no?

 

Hi Jim,

Magnetic tape for sound seems to have be invented around 1928 and this Tanzbär looks younger than that, but I agree that mass production of magnetic audio tape had to wait until (about) 1960.

Marien

[David Levine]

zzzzz

[Robert Booth]

not a glorified player piano, but much less glorious (depending on who you ask, of course), an exalted weaving loom.

[LDT]

zzzzz

are we keeping you awake?

[ragtimer]

zzzzz

are we keeping you awake?

Apparently not

 

But for an eye-opening experience, everyone should find an opportunity to listen to an Aeolian Orchestrelle.

This is an oversized player piano, except instead of piano action it has several banks of free reeds, an each bank does a creditable job of imitating trumpet, oboe, flute, violin, clarinet, pipe organ, etc.

 

You just won't believe what free reeds can do! --Mike K.

[Robert Booth]

Aeolian Orchestrelle! Great memories.

 

In my college days I worked in a local "Old House " Pioneer Museum, which featured an Orchestrelle that the family had aquired. When the tourists stayed away in droves I amused myself by playing my way through the collection of rolls on hand, including a roll of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, taken from Gershwin's own playing; He struck the keys and the holes were pierced into the paper as he played. Kind of a thrill to hear the master himself, as it were.

The all time best roll was Dvorak's "From the New World". You are probably familiar with how the piece builds, adding orchestration as the themes develop. This is where I learned the meaning of the phrase "pulling out all the stops."

By the time the bass sections came in the whole wall would vibrate with the enormous sound coming out of the instrument.

By all means, if you ever get the opportunity to hear, or better, play one of these great instruments, do it! It seems to be the ultimate logical development of what a collection of free reeds can do.

 

Thanks for the reminder, Mike!

RB