[Harp-L] Re: Similarities between harp and anglo concertina

[Richard Hammersley <rhhammersley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Harry
I have now had the concertina long enough to make some comments. Mine  
is a Crucanelli and cost about £425 (there was a bit of haggling). I  
played a few before choosing that one. Anything costing much less than  
that is unplayable. The Crucanelli is made by an Italian Accordian  
maker and I believe that there are now a number of such models - with  
various names - that may be fine. They are relatively cheap because  
they use accordian reeds rather than concertina reeds. Not being a  
concertina devotee as yet, it sounds fine to me and it is possible to  
play at speed without the buttons sticking, which is generally the  
problem with cheaper ones. Hobgoblin music do similar mid-price  
Italian models and have a USA site.

It is a 30 note Anglo in C and G. This is like having two diatonic  
harmonicas in parallel, with a row of accidentals. Like harmonicas,  
the rows are tuned so that all the push (blow) notes give the chord  
notes of C or G, but the tuning is not  Richter. For instance the C  
row is tuned CGCEGCEFCE on the push and GBDFABDFAB on the pull. With  
the accidental note row, the middle two octaves are fully chromatic,  
the lowest and highest octave are not.

In terms of transfer from diatonic harmonica: What sounds good in  
terms of timbre and dynamics of playing is similar and there are  
commonalities of free reed sound. You can't bend etc. though. The  
fingering is nothing like harmonica really. It is possible to play  
'like' a harmonica and go up and down the row in the key of C or G.  
This sounds OK, but concertina players are sniffy about this as lazy  
technique and when I try that I want to play harmonica instead, which  
is far better suited to this treatment. Playing across the rows you  
can (a) play many more chords than on a harmonica and (b) play very  
fast runs using all push or all pull notes (this feels a bit like  
cat's cradle in the fingers). I find this kind of fingering has more  
transfer from the guitar than the harmonica as you need to imagine  
which finger needs to go where.

So in terms of transfer from harp: Push-pull is good, relatively small  
and portable is good. You could sing and play at the same time (once  
your brain had settled down to the challenges of concertina that is).  
I see it as an enjoyable extension. Also, if you think harmonica is a  
minority instrument, try searching for concertina on youtube!

I'm not planning to learn loads of folk tunes but more work on blues/  
jazz on it. There seems to be zero information about this.

Richard

On 27 Aug 2010, at 15:02, Harry Thomas wrote:

> Richard,
> I'd be very interested in what you learn. I've window-shopped for  
> concertinas for years, wondering if my harp playing would give me a  
> leg up, but I could tell that the cheap ones wouldn't be rewarding  
> to play. If you don't mind discussing money, what did you end up  
> buying and how much did it cost you? As a rule Concertinas aren't  
> very common in music stores in U.S.A; usually it's a low-budget  
> Hohner with layer of dust on it, and they have to hunt for it, and  
> nobody in the store has a clue about how they're played or tuned. I  
> have a friend here who plays and he recently went to Scotland to buy  
> a very good one, but it cost more than the trip.
> Regards,
> Harry
>
>
> On Aug 26, 2010, at 11:41 PM, harp-l-request@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>
> > Message: 10
> > Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2010 22:53:56 +0000
> > From: "Richard Hammersley" <rhhammersley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Subject: [Harp-L] Similarities between harp and anglo concertina
> > To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> > Message-ID:
> > 	<122995889-1282863237-cardhu_decombobulator_blackberry.rim.net-1326585-@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
> > >
> > 	
> > Content-Type: text/plain
> >
> > About seven years ago I had the idea that the anglo concertina is  
> > kind of like two parallel diatonic harmonicas (usually in C and G,  
> > plus a row of accidentals), so I bought a cheap one to expand my  
> > free reed skills. Why not learn one instrument properly shout the  
> > neighbours? Cos I like to mess about with new things. Cos my hay  
> > fever makes harp difficult two months of the year.  Anyway, the  
> > initial box was unplayable. I've just bought a better one with  
> > buttons that work. Anyone have experience of playing anglo  
> > concertina and harmonica, and have anything interesting to report?  
> > Anyone interested in hearing in due course how I get on and whether  
> > harp skills are useful on anglo concertina? If there is interest I  
> > may give occasional reports.
> > Richard
> > Richard Hammersley
> > Grantshouse
> > Scottish Borders