Ok,
In a more positive light, (I happen to like the concertina reel, it swings hard and it's one of the first tunes I teach my kids) what tunes turn your crank ?
I'm going to answer my own question because I have spent a lot of time in the wilderness and now find myself returning to a whole bunch of tunes that I haven't played in a long time that offer a lot of satisfaction, You know the ones, the top 40 tunes. However it seems that a lot of my fellow seisuinistas have never learned them and I'm left ploughing into them on my own. I have learned to love them all over again.
Pat
I've always liked the old chestnuts but thought I was on my own in that respect. (At least on Monday.) Couldn't find anyone else interested. Please keep playing them because I'm happy to play along and I know I can go to another session and find others who will play them, too.
Heather
I like the concertina too. A while back I a heard a backer put some nice chords (simple but fitting) behind it and I haven't minded the tune at all since. As for other tunes, a few of my favorites off the top of my head... Cooley's, Coppers and Brass, Earl's Chair, Maid of mt. Cisco, Christmas eve, the Swallow's tail, Dunmore lassies, Pachelbel's frolics...
I think maybe that could actually get me at least not minding the concertina, would be a nice guitar backing, though it still wouldn't be something I'd listen to very often.
Bucks of Oranmore and Rip the Calico are some that really "turn my crank" right now
It's harder for me to name tunes that "turn my crank" because there are so many, and so many different ways that they get the juice flowing. Poor But Happy at 53 is beautiful as a slow reel. I never get tired of playing Old Man Dillon (aka Mug of Brown Ale) or Finbar Dwyer's Favourite, or Joe Derrane's jigs. Sgt. Early's Dream is so well put together, and Jenny's Welcome to Charlie always suggests new ideas as I play it. But that still leaves hundreds of tunes I could list.
Hey Boxielady,
I'm referring to another scenario altogether, nothing to do with our usual early in the week bash just in case ya might be thinking. Loving the old man tune by the way, kudos to yerself for sticking to it.
I've not learned it, but my favourite tune to hear is Tam Lin. I think that's mostly because of Michael Sexton (R.I.P) and his fabulous ceili band. They always played it at the start of my favourite figure of my favourite dance, 5th figure of the Clare Lancers. Many happy days at the Fleadh in Ennis spring to mind every time I hear it.
Tam Lin is just one of those tunes that divide the world right down the middle, between those who love it and those who hate it. I'm afraid I'm in the latter camp. But then, I don't have memories associated with it.
Bimid ag Ol (or to give it the title in English as it was taught to me: We Will be Drinking and Kissing the Women in the Morning) and Old Tipperary are my all time favourites, largely because of associations.
The Otter's Holt, and its cousin the Old Dudeen, the Rookery (Vincent Broderick), Sheila Coyle's, The Leitrim Bucks (lovely), are some of the tunes I turn to to lift my spirits. An impossible list for most of us, as usual, but it's always fun to hear what gets somebody else's blood going. It's how sessions evolve.
Does anyone actually play the Concertina Reel on a concertina? Apparently, the name is a bit of a joke? A concertina player told me, laughing, after we finished playing it once, that on a concertina the whole tune is played by pulling the instrument apart. Only two or three notes are played in the other direction, so basically you get all stretched out in the process.
The Concertina Reel goes well on a low D harmonica. Great for testing out your control of breathing, rhythm and tempo in the B part too. I like the way Patrick Street did it on their first album. Tunes that I think are ordinary can suddenly sound brilliant in the right hands so I'm cautious about "favourites" lists. I think Trip to Durrow and Over The Moor To Maggie are gorgeous tunes in the right hands. And Jenny's Wedding if Liam O'Flynn's on it. Such lyricism. How long have you got. But tunes are only tunes when someone brings them to life and sets 'em on fire.
If the village is taking a vote whether or not to suspend the Concertina Reel, this village idiot votes to keep it. I would only beg the membership to table village buisiness briefly enough for me to thank all of you in the countries and states who sent contingents of professional fire-fighters to us.
SWFL Fiddler, I just started trying to play the concertina. Last night I tried to play the Concertina Reel, thinking it must be easy. Your'e correct, just about all the notes are on the pull.
Jimi ,firstly,you can use your d push,on the g row,first button,youcan also use a push a,first button left hand side accidental row.or your push B on the g row left hand side.
but dont take any notice of me,I have only been playing for35 years,and despite playing ragtime and blues and classical music[see my sound lantern site]and song accompaniment,as well as Irish and Northumbrian music,I dont know whatIam talking about.
The concertina reel is one of the most tricky tunes to play on the concertina i find.. kids love it because of its melody and don't even think about how tricky it is to play.
I just moved to Arizona from Ireland. Long story. Can anyone tell me where I could find someone to repair and tune my concertina? the heat is playing hell with it over here and I just bought a humidifier for it today.
thanks everybody
Slainte!!!
You moved from Ireland to Arizona! I'll bet it's a long story.
I met an Irish couple recently who appeared to be doing everything they could in their lives to divest themselves of anything to do with Ireland - they were enthusiastically throwing themselves into living their perceived dream of a suburban life in the Hills District in Sydney, Australia. You know, that's one of those collections of suburbs full of middle-class, 4WD-driving city folk who attend happy-clapper type fundamentalist WASP singalong churches, glooooory be to god! I hope they decide they've done the right thing. They looked at a bit of a loose end actually.
So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
Ok,
In a more positive light, (I happen to like the concertina reel, it swings hard and it's one of the first tunes I teach my kids) what tunes turn your crank ?
# Posted on July 12th 2008 by Patkiwi
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
I'm going to answer my own question because I have spent a lot of time in the wilderness and now find myself returning to a whole bunch of tunes that I haven't played in a long time that offer a lot of satisfaction, You know the ones, the top 40 tunes. However it seems that a lot of my fellow seisuinistas have never learned them and I'm left ploughing into them on my own. I have learned to love them all over again.
# Posted on July 12th 2008 by Patkiwi
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
I'm sorry for "your kids". I bet you have a high drop out rate
# Posted on July 12th 2008 by llig leahcim
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
The Foxhunter (jig). Many times, we end our session with it.
# Posted on July 12th 2008 by nofrets
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
Only two seem to have "dropped out" llig but they're a bit young to be teaching yet.
# Posted on July 12th 2008 by Patkiwi
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
Pat
I've always liked the old chestnuts but thought I was on my own in that respect. (At least on Monday.) Couldn't find anyone else interested. Please keep playing them because I'm happy to play along and I know I can go to another session and find others who will play them, too.
Heather
# Posted on July 12th 2008 by boxielady
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
I like the concertina too. A while back I a heard a backer put some nice chords (simple but fitting) behind it and I haven't minded the tune at all since. As for other tunes, a few of my favorites off the top of my head... Cooley's, Coppers and Brass, Earl's Chair, Maid of mt. Cisco, Christmas eve, the Swallow's tail, Dunmore lassies, Pachelbel's frolics...
# Posted on July 12th 2008 by Whiddler
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
I think maybe that could actually get me at least not minding the concertina, would be a nice guitar backing, though it still wouldn't be something I'd listen to very often.
Bucks of Oranmore and Rip the Calico are some that really "turn my crank" right now
# Posted on July 12th 2008 by JosephofCK
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
It's harder for me to name tunes that "turn my crank" because there are so many, and so many different ways that they get the juice flowing. Poor But Happy at 53 is beautiful as a slow reel. I never get tired of playing Old Man Dillon (aka Mug of Brown Ale) or Finbar Dwyer's Favourite, or Joe Derrane's jigs. Sgt. Early's Dream is so well put together, and Jenny's Welcome to Charlie always suggests new ideas as I play it. But that still leaves hundreds of tunes I could list.
# Posted on July 12th 2008 by Will CPT
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
Hey Boxielady,
I'm referring to another scenario altogether, nothing to do with our usual early in the week bash just in case ya might be thinking. Loving the old man tune by the way, kudos to yerself for sticking to it.
# Posted on July 12th 2008 by Patkiwi
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
I've not learned it, but my favourite tune to hear is Tam Lin. I think that's mostly because of Michael Sexton (R.I.P) and his fabulous ceili band. They always played it at the start of my favourite figure of my favourite dance, 5th figure of the Clare Lancers. Many happy days at the Fleadh in Ennis spring to mind every time I hear it.
# Posted on July 12th 2008 by SineadE
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
Tam Lin is just one of those tunes that divide the world right down the middle, between those who love it and those who hate it. I'm afraid I'm in the latter camp. But then, I don't have memories associated with it.
Bimid ag Ol (or to give it the title in English as it was taught to me: We Will be Drinking and Kissing the Women in the Morning) and Old Tipperary are my all time favourites, largely because of associations.
# Posted on July 12th 2008 by benhall.1
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
Best way to play the concertina reel is play it twice through in D, twice through in G, and twice through in A. Makes it interesting.
# Posted on July 12th 2008 by Free Reed
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
Concertina is also one of the early ones I teach, because it's easy for kids to remember and learn.
Right now, I can't stop playing Jug of Punch, the Collier's reel, and the Graf Spee.
# Posted on July 12th 2008 by reenactor
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
The Otter's Holt, and its cousin the Old Dudeen, the Rookery (Vincent Broderick), Sheila Coyle's, The Leitrim Bucks (lovely), are some of the tunes I turn to to lift my spirits. An impossible list for most of us, as usual, but it's always fun to hear what gets somebody else's blood going. It's how sessions evolve.
# Posted on July 12th 2008 by pennhorse
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
A tune has to have something very good about it to get it into that Universally Disliked category.
# Posted on July 12th 2008 by de Selby
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
Does anyone actually play the Concertina Reel on a concertina? Apparently, the name is a bit of a joke? A concertina player told me, laughing, after we finished playing it once, that on a concertina the whole tune is played by pulling the instrument apart. Only two or three notes are played in the other direction, so basically you get all stretched out in the process.
# Posted on July 12th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
...on an Anglo, obviously. Those instruments that 'go both ways' don't have the same problem.
# Posted on July 12th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
Love at the Endings. Fantastic tune.
But really, I have too many "favorite" tunes to list. There are so many good ones.
# Posted on July 12th 2008 by Marklar
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
The Concertina Reel goes well on a low D harmonica. Great for testing out your control of breathing, rhythm and tempo in the B part too. I like the way Patrick Street did it on their first album. Tunes that I think are ordinary can suddenly sound brilliant in the right hands so I'm cautious about "favourites" lists. I think Trip to Durrow and Over The Moor To Maggie are gorgeous tunes in the right hands. And Jenny's Wedding if Liam O'Flynn's on it. Such lyricism. How long have you got. But tunes are only tunes when someone brings them to life and sets 'em on fire.
# Posted on July 12th 2008 by Steve Shaw
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
If the village is taking a vote whether or not to suspend the Concertina Reel, this village idiot votes to keep it. I would only beg the membership to table village buisiness briefly enough for me to thank all of you in the countries and states who sent contingents of professional fire-fighters to us.
# Posted on July 12th 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
I like The Concertina Reel. It's quite easy on the melodeon and I have not developed beyond the stage of finding such a boost to the ego.
# Posted on July 12th 2008 by nicholas
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
SWFL Fiddler, I just started trying to play the concertina. Last night I tried to play the Concertina Reel, thinking it must be easy. Your'e correct, just about all the notes are on the pull.
# Posted on July 13th 2008 by Jiml
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
Jimi ,firstly,you can use your d push,on the g row,first button,youcan also use a push a,first button left hand side accidental row.or your push B on the g row left hand side.
but dont take any notice of me,I have only been playing for35 years,and despite playing ragtime and blues and classical music[see my sound lantern site]and song accompaniment,as well as Irish and Northumbrian music,I dont know whatIam talking about.
# Posted on July 14th 2008 by Rufus Jameson
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
Out on the Ocean is, of course, the best tune ever.
# Posted on July 15th 2008 by AlBrown
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
I love it. Play Off to California real slow too. To hell with the naysayers!
# Posted on July 15th 2008 by Steve Shaw
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
Benhall wrote:
>Tam Lin is just one of those tunes that divide the world right down the middle, between those who love it and those who hate it<
I'd say "Tam Lin is just one of those tunes that divide the world right down the middle, between those who hate it and those who don't hate it ...yet"
- Chris
# Posted on July 15th 2008 by ramblingpitchfork
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
The concertina reel is one of the most tricky tunes to play on the concertina i find.. kids love it because of its melody and don't even think about how tricky it is to play.
# Posted on July 25th 2008 by Concertina82FloFahy
Re: Concertina Repair
I just moved to Arizona from Ireland. Long story. Can anyone tell me where I could find someone to repair and tune my concertina? the heat is playing hell with it over here and I just bought a humidifier for it today.
thanks everybody
Slainte!!!
# Posted on July 25th 2008 by Concertina82FloFahy
Re: So the "Concertina" doesn't do it for you ?
You moved from Ireland to Arizona! I'll bet it's a long story.
I met an Irish couple recently who appeared to be doing everything they could in their lives to divest themselves of anything to do with Ireland - they were enthusiastically throwing themselves into living their perceived dream of a suburban life in the Hills District in Sydney, Australia. You know, that's one of those collections of suburbs full of middle-class, 4WD-driving city folk who attend happy-clapper type fundamentalist WASP singalong churches, glooooory be to god! I hope they decide they've done the right thing. They looked at a bit of a loose end actually.
Is Arizona better than that?
# Posted on July 25th 2008 by Duijera Dubh