Picked up a Jackie a few months ago because I've always wanted a squeezebox and it's what was available with all the international shipping shutdowns. One thing I might suggest for new players is that the tune "Lightly Row" has a good, one-hand, other-hand, both-hands pattern to it and transposes up and down the scale pretty trivially, so it seems to work well for getting your head wrapped around where all the notes are in relation to each other.
Not sure if you're still monitoring this page. Totally beginner question. I am having a trouble duplicating your use of the bellows. You change the bellows' direction every three bars roughly for Morning Has Broken, or every phrase. I find myself changing direction practically every bar. I have a brand new Trinity College AP-2230 English concertina. Its bellows is smaller than yours. Your Jackie measures 19 mm between parallels, 21 mm between points. My Trinity measures smaller, 17 mm for parallel, and about 20 mm point-to-point. My strong hand is my left. I position the concertina on my left leg, and pull the bellows with my right hand. It's not easy. Is the bellows of the new concertina still stiff? Or is the smaller volume of the Trinity filling more quickly? Or am I pulling/drawing too hard? (Pushing is okay.) Thanks.
I honestly don't think it matters. Your new concertina will definitely have stiff bellows so harder to push and pull. The main thing is - does your performance sound musical? Smaller bellows will run out of puff quicker of course. I plan all my bellows changes in advance - look at my latest EC videos. It depends on the piece. Sometimes I change direction every two bars, sometimes every fours bars. Sometimes I will change direction on the last note of a bar because it makes more sense from a musical point of view. Obviously you don't want a great huff of air in the middle of a phrase and every concertina is different. So my advice is "plan your journey so you don't run out of fuel"!! Hope this helps.
Hello, is it possible for someone who isn’t very musical talented to play an English concertina? Ive inherited a 48 key 1838 concertina,Charles Wheatstone concertina, I would love to be able to play a tune on it
If you just want the song 15:04
Excellent!
Picked up a Jackie a few months ago because I've always wanted a squeezebox and it's what was available with all the international shipping shutdowns. One thing I might suggest for new players is that the tune "Lightly Row" has a good, one-hand, other-hand, both-hands pattern to it and transposes up and down the scale pretty trivially, so it seems to work well for getting your head wrapped around where all the notes are in relation to each other.
Merci !
Not sure if you're still monitoring this page. Totally beginner question.
I am having a trouble duplicating your use of the bellows.
You change the bellows' direction every three bars roughly for Morning Has Broken, or every phrase. I find myself changing direction practically every bar.
I have a brand new Trinity College AP-2230 English concertina. Its bellows is smaller than yours. Your Jackie measures 19 mm between parallels, 21 mm between points. My Trinity measures smaller, 17 mm for parallel, and about 20 mm point-to-point.
My strong hand is my left. I position the concertina on my left leg, and pull the bellows with my right hand. It's not easy.
Is the bellows of the new concertina still stiff?
Or is the smaller volume of the Trinity filling more quickly?
Or am I pulling/drawing too hard? (Pushing is okay.)
Thanks.
I honestly don't think it matters. Your new concertina will definitely have stiff bellows so harder to push and pull. The main thing is - does your performance sound musical? Smaller bellows will run out of puff quicker of course. I plan all my bellows changes in advance - look at my latest EC videos. It depends on the piece. Sometimes I change direction every two bars, sometimes every fours bars. Sometimes I will change direction on the last note of a bar because it makes more sense from a musical point of view. Obviously you don't want a great huff of air in the middle of a phrase and every concertina is different. So my advice is "plan your journey so you don't run out of fuel"!! Hope this helps.
Hello, is it possible for someone who isn’t very musical talented to play an English concertina? Ive inherited a 48 key 1838 concertina,Charles Wheatstone concertina, I would love to be able to play a tune on it
This is the easiest of the concertinas to learn. Same note on the push and pull Generally you're playing tunes only. Perfect for a beginner.
I honestly cannot get my damn finger around the button on my concertina, it's a Scarlatti