Naive Concertina Questions

[dfernandez77]

Howdy!

My girlfriend and I recently went to a local (Southern California) session, where we met a few Chiffers, and we sat and enjoyed the music for a couple hours.

My girlfriend has since asked about the Concertinas, and was very interested in a couple squeezboxes we saw while idly wandering through a Sam Ashe. She asked me about fair priced beginner's instruments and how to learn to play a concertina. I told her I was completely ignorant about the squeezeboxes, but would play tunes with her on whistle if she took it up.

Like nearly every Chinese girl, she learned a little piano, violin, and guitar as a kid. She reads music and plays around on my keyboard - but hasn't really played anything for some time.

Given that introduction, I've a couple questions:

1. Is there a decent Concertina available for a beginner and a reasonable price, on which they can play a little and decide if they want to continue?

2. What would you say is a good way to get an introduction and beginner's lessons? Things like books and online resources.

Here's me and the lovely lady. She's a Texan Chinese - used to crack me up when she said stuff like "what are y'all fixin' to do now?"
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3 ... 2d1b68a98e

[FluteDude]

I've heard Stagi concertinas are good, and they don't cost so much... a couple of hundred bucks. Depends on what you view as pricey of course.

I'm guessing your girlfriend is not entirely into irish traditional music.
If she just wants to play some tunes, without all the irish ornamentation, then I think a Stagi would be fine.

[Herb]

Hi Daniel,

Go here: http://www.concertina.net/

and all will be revealed. It's the Chiff and Fipple of the ButtonWorld. Good people, very informative forum boards, useful links.

Be warned -it's going to become more confusing before it is finally comprehensible. I'm a few weeks ahead of you and your girlfriend on this quest.

Herb

[MTGuru]

I've heard Stagi concertinas are good

Not from a concertina player, I'd guess.

I used to sell these things at Sam Ash when I worked there. Yes, they might do for getting started or fooling around. But the last time I tried a Stagi / Bustari / Hohner concertina, it had the action of wet oatmeal, the responsiveness of an asthmatic frog, and buttons the size of chopsticks. The Anglos sold are usually 20 button, which is limited for playing much Irish music.

Daniel, you saw two entirely different types of concertinas at the session. One 56-button English system (mine) and several 30-button Anglo system (the others). The fingering systems are quite different. Anglo is usually used in Irish trad, though people tell me I don't entirely mangle the music with my English, which turns up more in Scottish and English trad. You should do some snooping on Concertina.net to scope out the differences.

I'm no expert on the current market and pricing. But something like the Rochelle is bare entry level at around $350. And you can probably find a decent beginners Anglo starting around $1500 used or $2000 new.

[Azalin]

Yeah, depending on what system she will play, I'd suggest starting with a 'hybrid', like Edgley, Morse, Tedrow, all excellent concertinas... and if it doesn't work out, then you can sell a small loss I'd say. The concertina is one of these instruments where entry level models are barely playable and can put you off playing the instrument.

[kkrell]

Daniel, you saw two entirely different types of concertinas at the session. One 56-button English system (mine) and several 30-button Anglo system (the others).

Thanks for that info, John. I tried counting the buttons, but it was like trying to count the stars up in the sky. That's just crazy.

Kevin Krell

[MTGuru]

The standard English concertina layout is 48 buttons. The Wheatstone Aeola (mine) and Lachenal Edeophone have 56 for an extended treble range - which is basically never used for trad music anyway.

[dfernandez77]

Hi Daniel,
Be warned -it's going to become more confusing before it is finally comprehensible. I'm a few weeks ahead of you and your girlfriend on this quest.

This is what I had assumed. That's why I asked here - to save myself a little research.

So now it's time to do some research. Haha!

[mutepointe]

I was given a Bustari in really bad shape a couple of years ago for Christmas. I knew nothing about concertinas. Let me tell you, there are very few free resources on-line that I could find, other than a fingering chart. I've not spent much time on it, have no need to play fast, and this concertina works just fine for me. I consider it a great big giant harmonica split down the middle. Speaking harmoncia-ese here, I wish the concertina was split between the 3 & 4th holes of the harmonica rather than the 6 & 7th holes.