SIMPLE music for concertina

Subject: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: Zany Mouse
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 11:50 AM

Can anyone recommend a book of SIMPLE trad tunes arranged for the concertina please?

Rhiannon

Subject: RE: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: GUEST,scooby
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 12:08 PM

Rhiannon,
I know Eyelander and MISKIN MAN are learning to play concertina ask them next weekend.
Yas

Subject: RE: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: Zany Mouse
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 12:30 PM

Thanks Yas.

Rhiannon

Subject: RE: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: pavane
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 01:17 PM

My program HARMONY does tablature for ANGLO concertina. It also imports abc format, giving a choice of thousands of tunes, many very easy


Download from www.greenhedges.com

Subject: RE: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: Leadfingers
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 03:25 PM

Having attempted (briefly) English concertina , there is NO such thing as a simple tune for Concertina .

Subject: RE: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: nancy o
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 03:28 PM

What system concertina do you play?
Are you a member of the International Concertina Association?
They have a library full of stuff you could access.
Cheers,
Nancy O

Subject: RE: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: Zany Mouse
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 03:35 PM

I'm learning the Crane Duet system.

Rhiannon

Subject: RE: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 04:35 PM

G'day Zany Mouse,

I was going to second Nancy O's query and suggestions ... but follow up that I play Anglo - for Australian traditional music and, to me, the Anglo is a simple instrument that happily plays the folk tunes around it.

The traditional path to Anglo (and button accordion) was that kids all played mouth organ and, by the time Dad let them touch his Anglo or button box, they already new many of the tunes for their own music and could quickly play them. However, your reply says you play Maccann (often called Crane) ... an entirely different story! My first concertina (bought 1966) was a Maccann ... and I didn't have the motivation (or the model) to persist and I eventually moved to the simple, traditional instrument - but listening to Irish Bishop, when she was out here last year reminds me of what it can really do!

I suggest you look at Bob Gaskin's great Maccann Concertina Site ... it's one of the most comprehensive sites for all systems of concertina and it links lots of Maccann-specific material, including instruction books and music (much not exactly simple!).

Persist ... but enjoy!

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: Andy Jackson
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 04:43 PM

Hmm, Crane Duet eh? Choose something difficult why don't you? English is bad enough after getting sort of used to the simple up and down again of melodeons and Anglo connis. If you are starting from scratch though the Crane will be worth it in the end, that's what I keep getting told about my English....
Do I see a conni workshop coming up at Miskin p'raps?

Subject: RE: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 05:53 PM

G'day again Zany Mouse ...

Aaaarghhh! That's the second time I gone and confused the Sally Army concertina (Butterworth / Crane / Triumph) with the Maccann! Sorry about that ... If I had found a Crane (Triumph ... &c) concertina in Hobart in 1966 - I would probably still be playing it. It's a system with elegant simplicity ... and plays arrangements of simple, human tunes (like Salvationist hymns!) beautifully. Good concertinas in the this system are rare ... you have to wait for someone to die, mostly, because there is real loyalty to the system.

Conversely, Maccanns can look really weird ... but play wonderful, complex, tunes and accompaniment ... eventually! Iris Bishop was really lucky to have heard the last of the old stage virtuosi (Tommy Williams ... ?) when she was wondering what to do ... and how ... with the strange concertina she had bought - the gods were with us, that night.

Anyway, you may be aware that there is a Mudcatter calling himself "Crane Driver". He visited Sydney late last year .. and plays very nicely. PM him for specific tips on suitable music sources.

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 06:55 PM

Crane is the easiest duet system, though limited in compass if you only have one of the cheap ones. When asking about concertinas, you should always specify the system and, ideally, the range (number of buttons, anyway). Otherwise you will get misleading and mostly irrelevant replies.

Subject: RE: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: curmudgeon
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 07:32 PM

You really need to post this query to concertina.net.

This site is like a Mudcat for concertina players, with members from all over, and players of every system. You'll get some help -- Tom

Subject: RE: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 12:28 AM

And check out my EC cake there! :o)

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: Gurney
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 03:54 AM

Bob Bolton, I suspect the Sally Army bought and played all sorts of concertinas, in England anyway. certainly my English-system Lachenal is ex-Sally Army, it had the label, -Salvationist Publishing Co,- and it had even been recently retuned from the sharp pitch they used.
Brave, to start with a Duet. There was a guy with one arm who used to play one, half of one anyway, very competently, years ago, in a group called (I think) Swan Arcade.

Subject: RE: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: treewind
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 04:30 AM

I have a copy of the Sally Army "Triumph" tutor at home.
As I also have a Crane system duet box I guess I should take a look at it to see if there's anything useful.

Of course, any collection of simple tunes (for any instrument) will be a good start for all types of concertina and just playing the melody is going to get you a long way in finding your way around the instrument. However, if it's a duet system you'll be wanting to add bass lines and harmonies. There are lots of websites with general info but not very much about the Crane system.
www.concertina.net already mentioned
www.concertina.info
plus loads of links from those.

(good luck!)
Anahata

Subject: RE: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: pavane
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 06:24 AM

You can do some simple bass lines and chords on an Anglo, more so on 30+ keys than a 20-key box. For example, I do play 'Beaux of London City' with some parallel notes in bass and treble. It is just a bit tricky in places because the lower and higher octaves are not laid out in the same way!

I have never seen any system of tablature for free-reed instruments which can show anything other than a single melody line. If anyone has ideas, I would like to add chords and harmony lines to my concertina tablature format.

Also, providing a chord chart would be useful. You can get quite a variety of chords if you know where to find them!

Subject: RE: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: Andy Jackson
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 06:33 AM

Crane Driver is A South Wale's Man so me well show at Miskin! Second thoughts, he is probably away at Lancaster.

Subject: RE: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 07:55 AM

The MacCann site mentioned above would be ideal. It has arrangements of tunes of varying degrees of difficulty, and should be just as playable on the Crane as on the MacCann.

Subject: RE: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: GUEST,Paul Burke
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 08:11 AM

Gurney: what's brave about starting with the duet? The MacCann is the only one I can play at all. Never could get on with pushmepullyous and as for all that side-to-side stuff...

I don't know about the Crane, but the MacCann is great for chords.

Subject: RE: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: treewind
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 09:10 AM

Dunno about tablature, never believed in it because I can read music anyway, but concertina music e.g. for duet concertinas is written out/printed in full in two staves like piano music.

Oh, and Pavane, are you telling me that I can do bass lines on an Anglo?

I'd better look out for Crane Driver at Miskin.

Anahata

Subject: RE: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: Crane Driver
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 12:01 PM

I am indeed booked to appear at Lancaster over easter, so won't be at Miskin, but I'll be around at a few more festivals over the summer, and always happy to chat about duet concertinas. I agree with paul above, starting on a duet system is no more difficult than starting on any other system - also learning to play Anglo or English will be of absolutely no use whatsoever when you switch to a duet, they're that different. The Crane was my first concertina system, and although since then I've owned a McCann duet, an English and an Anglo, I've sold them all on and stick with the Crane - it's simply the best.

To have a go at Zany's question, when I started (ye gods, that was 1971!!!), I got a simple melody line book of tunes I (sort-of) knew from the EFDSS - Morris tunes, I believe. Since I knew what they were supposed to sound like, I then prodded around until the sound that came out sounded like what I was expecting. Concentrate on playing the tune with your right hand first. When you can play the tune, you can start experimenting with chords and runs on the left hand end. I've never used music with two staves, I just make up the left hand bit as I go, on the "if it sounds right, I'll keep it" principle - don't think I could cope with double-stave music, too complex for my little brain.

All the best,
Andrew

Subject: RE: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: treewind
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 12:40 PM

I doubt if I'll be using music either - I've always worked things out for myself, and if one's to view the concertina as a folk instrument then that's how it should be. But somebody mentioned tablature and I felt like throwing in my 2p's worth...

Sorry I'll miss you at Miskin - but really what I need is to sit down with the Crane and just spend time learning how to play it.

Glad to hear you still like the Crane system after having tried all the others. I'm not going to stop playing the Anglo though - far too much time invested in developing my own particular style on it (which approaches a duet style anyway)

Anahata

Subject: RE: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: pavane
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 03:51 PM

Anahata - I DID say SIMPLE!
Regards
Neil

Subject: RE: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: Zany Mouse
Date: 22 Mar 05 - 05:43 AM

Many, many thanks for all the help and information. Lots to work on I think!

Off to Miskin (via a couple of pals) in an hour or two so I'll see some of you down there.

Have a good Easter break, everyone.

Rhiannon

Subject: RE: SIMPLE music for concertina
From: Ralphie
Date: 22 Mar 05 - 05:51 AM

Hey Anahata! (and other players of the Duet, in all its forms)

Let's not demystify its difficulties too much.
Otherwise, everyone will want one, and the price of second hand boxes will rocket.....Mmmm, On the other hand!! Keep up the good work chaps!

Ralphie