The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #38646 Message #2838793
Posted By: tinasqueezer
14-Feb-10 - 07:18 AM
Thread Name: English Concertina Tutorial
Subject: RE: English Concertina Tutorial
"yes, guran, what tina squeezer says doesnt make sense to me either,even if you are not changing bellows direction,how you pump the
bellows is vitally important"
Having re-read my posting I can see why it's not clear - it's difficult to use words to describe something as intricate as music of course.
I come from a background of playing for dancing so, to me, timing, tempo, attack, and emphasis are all important.
I suppose my rant was kicked off by the assertion that we want EC's to sound like Anglos, and the way to do that was to be to use the bellows. Consider how the anglo player has to use the instrument: If a rapid run of notes is needed that require changes of bellows direction then the action is something like: Press first note, release first note, change bellows direction, press next note....etc. Getting this to sound continuous is what distinguishes a good Anglo player. (yes I realise that some beginers will hold a button down and use the bellow to change note, but to me that just sounds like a donkey braying)
The fact that a note has to be released before the bellows direction can be changed is what leads to the distinctive anglo sound, not the use of bellows per-se.
I have played with a number of accordion players who can produce strong rhythmic music and they certainly do not use bellows changes to achieve it. They use the technique which I mentioned in my first post, i.e. to use the note cut-off to give punch to a tune.
The EC is a much more versatile instrument than the anglo of course and it can produce a range of musical styles. I hope I am offering a technique that will lead to EC players not wrecking their bellows by trying to emulate the anglo!
Happy squeezing!