About the Klingenthal concertina: Check out this site.
Dan Gleeman
Did you know that any harmonica player can also play the concertina
and the cajun style accordian or sqiueeze-box?
I've been playing harmonica since I was a kid . A few years ago I
bought a concertina. After cussing it out for30 minutes,
I discovered that it played JUST LIKE A HARMONMICA. The concertina
is a fantastic little instrument. Most people have never even seen or
heard one before. The weird thing is that because it's so easy to
play by harmonica players, I'm surprised more people haven't picked
up on it. Check out site
http://www.sandiego.sisna.com/dan1/index.htm
It has weird 3-D pictures of instruments , wav files of
concertinas,blues harp, and the Hero Mini Button Accordian which
sells for only $24 bucks.
Harmonica players...Check it out... Dan
DoN. Nichols
In article <31a50...@news.sisna.com>, Dan Gleeman <da...@sisna.com> wrote:
>Did you know that any harmonica player can also play the concertina
>and the cajun style accordian or sqiueeze-box?
Well ... that depends on the flavor of concertina. Granted, given
that your ISP is located in Salt Lake City, and thus you are probably near
there, you probably haven't seen many concertinas of any types.
What you describe is right for the anglo concertina, and for the
button-accordion, but certainly not for the English system concertina (which
I play), or the various flavors of duet concertina, and it applies only to a
central core of the keys on a Chemnitzer concertina (big square box, usually
used for polkas in the midwest.)
>I've been playing harmonica since I was a kid . A few years ago I
>bought a concertina. After cussing it out for30 minutes,
>I discovered that it played JUST LIKE A HARMONMICA. The concertina
>is a fantastic little instrument. Most people have never even seen or
>heard one before. The weird thing is that because it's so easy to
>play by harmonica players, I'm surprised more people haven't picked
>up on it. Check out site
>http://www.sandiego.sisna.com/dan1/index.htm
>It has weird 3-D pictures of instruments
It is a pain trying to scrape together a good red and blue filter
pair to view the 3-D images. (And *I* have a collection of photographic
filters around, at that.) Perhaps you should have a pointer to sources for
the 3-D glasses so people don't just look at the blur of colors and scratch
their heads.
> , wav files of
>concertinas,blues harp, and the Hero Mini Button Accordian which
>sells for only $24 bucks.
>Harmonica players...Check it out... Dan
You'll find plenty of sources for the Hero hanging out in this
newsgroup.
Good Luck,
DoN.
--
Email: <dnic...@d-and-d.com> | Donald Nichols (DoN.)
Voice Days: (703) 704-2280 | Eves: (703) 938-4564
My Concertina web page: | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---
Steven Harris
I just got a Hero button accordion (toy) 2 weeks ago, and I too was
very mad and disappointed with it at first because it was so incredibly
different and more dificult than my PA. But I've persevered and have found
that if I hang in there, I'm starting to get the hang of it. There are
certain playing "styles" that come as the result of the limitations of
these boxes, namely the alternating notes per each button depending on
push or pull and the limited billows. I'm wondering if Concertinas, being
so small have similar billows capacity. Gosh, I hope they have more. Do
concertinas (anglo, I guess) have the same basic tone and tuning as thieir
Cajun brothers? (in terms of Mussette tuning?)
And while I'm asking newbie questions, could someone let me know if most
Cajun accordions have 'stops' (term?) on top that can change not only
octaves but actually switch to a different set of reeds of different
tuning? I ask this because I'm trying to play my Hero (key of C, slightly
out of tune) with Jo-el Sonnier's Cajun Life album, and most of those
songs are played on a C accordion, but others seem to be played in the
Key of A or D possibly. Does he have a different accordion for those songs?
What keys do people attempt to play on a C accordion? Obviously C major,
possibly A minor, but more difficult. Do people play like G major on C
Cajuns? Siialr idea to cross-harp on a harmonica.
And speaking of harmonica, I play harmonica also, but I must say that hasn't
seem to be much help so far except for having a notion of the note
arrangement. Actually, I find myself starting to physically breathe with
in and out in conunction with how I'm moving the billows. Is this strange?
Maybe that is more harmonica coming through. Trouble is, I get out of breath
from playing accordion. :)
STeve
DoN. Nichols
In article <DsEnA...@boss.cs.ohiou.edu>,
Steven Harris <sha...@bobcat.ent.ohiou.edu> wrote:
[ ... ]
>that if I hang in there, I'm starting to get the hang of it. There are
>certain playing "styles" that come as the result of the limitations of
>these boxes, namely the alternating notes per each button depending on
>push or pull and the limited billows. I'm wondering if Concertinas, being
>so small have similar billows capacity. Gosh, I hope they have more. Do
>concertinas (anglo, I guess) have the same basic tone and tuning as thieir
>Cajun brothers? (in terms of Mussette tuning?)
Anglo (and English) concertina reeds use a lot less air, so there is
less of a problem, and the Hero's bellows is way too small for the reeds.
As for musette tuning, that requires a reed pair per button per
bellows-direction, and almost all concertinas (other than Chemnitzers) have
only a single reed per button per direction.
The main salvation for the diatonic box is careful use of the air
button -- press it when you hit one of the notes going in the direction
which you're seeing too little of, to gulp more air for the next passage in
the other direction.
For the rest ... I'll refrain from typing -- I'm an English 'tina
player, and I'm developing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, it seems.
Look for shorter postings, and fewer.
Squeeze On,
Sushiqueen
> In article <DsEnA...@boss.cs.ohiou.edu>,
> Steven Harris <sha...@bobcat.ent.ohiou.edu> wrote:
>
> [ ... ]
>
> >that if I hang in there, I'm starting to get the hang of it. There are
> >certain playing "styles" that come as the result of the limitations of
> >these boxes, namely the alternating notes per each button depending on
> >push or pull and the limited billows. I'm wondering if Concertinas, being
> >so small have similar billows capacity. Gosh, I hope they have more. Do
> >concertinas (anglo, I guess) have the same basic tone and tuning as thieir
> >Cajun brothers? (in terms of Mussette tuning?)
>
> Anglo (and English) concertina reeds use a lot less air, so there is
> less of a problem, and the Hero's bellows is way too small for the reeds.
I'd like to add that concertinas differ in bellows capacity. Some anglos
have 10 or more folds and several bellows sections, giving ample bellows
room, and some cheap concertinas (Anglo mostly) only have 4 or 5 folds,
making it a bit of a challenge to manage the airflow.
>
> As for musette tuning, that requires a reed pair per button per
> bellows-direction, and almost all concertinas (other than Chemnitzers) have
> only a single reed per button per direction.
Um...I hate to contradict you DoN, but there are many 20-button anglos
with 2 or 3 voices. We sell several models of them at HMT, so I know.
However, they are almost never musette tuned, rather they are tuned in
different octaves, and there are never any switches, so one has no choice
of reeds.
>
> The main salvation for the diatonic box is careful use of the air
> button -- press it when you hit one of the notes going in the direction
> which you're seeing too little of, to gulp more air for the next passage in
> the other direction.
The air button can not only be used during a note as DoN describes, but
also the same way a flute or whistle player breathes during a tune, by
dropping, shortening and/or rearranging notes to make way for the breath,
and by breathing at the end of a phrase.
>
> For the rest ... I'll refrain from typing -- I'm an English 'tina
> player, and I'm developing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, it seems.
I'm sorry to hear this, DoN. Seems to be an epidemic of this lately - must
be contagious.
>
> Look for shorter postings, and fewer.
OK but not TOO few, OK?
Wendy
>
> Squeeze On,
> DoN.
>
> --
> Email: <dnic...@d-and-d.com> | Donald Nichols (DoN.)
> Voice Days: (703) 704-2280 | Eves: (703) 938-4564
> My Concertina web page: | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
> --- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---
Sushiqueen, Wendy's Home for Wayward Accordions
http://www.hmtrad.com/hmtrad
1996 is the Year of the Accordion
DoN. Nichols
In article <sushiqn-0506...@zippy.cais.net>,
Sushiqueen <sus...@cais.com> wrote:
>In article <4p0agi$1...@windigo.d-and-d.com>, dnic...@d-and-d.com wrote:
[ ... ]
>> Anglo (and English) concertina reeds use a lot less air, so there is
>> less of a problem, and the Hero's bellows is way too small for the reeds.
>
>I'd like to add that concertinas differ in bellows capacity. Some anglos
>have 10 or more folds and several bellows sections, giving ample bellows
>room, and some cheap concertinas (Anglo mostly) only have 4 or 5 folds,
>making it a bit of a challenge to manage the airflow.
O.K. -- you're discussing the wider range of anglos of all
construction techniques. I'm thinking of the English-made ones, which may
have a six-fold, but seldom more. The anglos with more folds are usually
built with accordion reeds, I believe.
>> As for musette tuning, that requires a reed pair per button per
>> bellows-direction, and almost all concertinas (other than Chemnitzers) have
>> only a single reed per button per direction.
>
>Um...I hate to contradict you DoN, but there are many 20-button anglos
>with 2 or 3 voices. We sell several models of them at HMT, so I know.
O.K. Again, I suspect, these are the ones with the accordion
construction techniques, instead of the English style of a reedpan with
dovetailed reeds placed in radially around a central thumbhole, and with
radial partitions to subdivide into chambers. (I could imagine one with two
reeds per direction, but the reeds would probably not speak well, unless the
two reeds were in their own chambers, and the valve pad was large (probably
oval) to cover two holes.
I had seen *one* years ago, which had two different octaves per
button. It was red MOTS ends, and definately *not* English construction. I
normally don't wind up with instruments in my hands unless they *are* of the
English construction (either to play, or to repair), so I obviously have
missed quite a few of the ones which you mention.
[ ... ]
>> For the rest ... I'll refrain from typing -- I'm an English 'tina
>> player, and I'm developing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, it seems.
>
>I'm sorry to hear this, DoN. Seems to be an epidemic of this lately - must
>be contagious.
I've modified the wrist support, both at home and at work, to
something which keeps my wrists straighter. This seems to be helping
significantly.
>> Look for shorter postings, and fewer.
>
>OK but not TOO few, OK?
I'll try. (After I'm back from Mystic, at least. :-)
Squeeze On,
DoN.
P.S. Nice to run into you and spend some time at the WFF last Saturday.