Hello all.
As I am buying a new concertina, one that I will play for many years to come, I am faced with the last choice in the process:
Wheatstone or Jeffries?
I have been playing a cheap C/G 30-button for a little while now, with Wheatstone/Lachenal layout. As I try to learn tunes and technique pretty rigidly (from recordings, books and videos, as I have no access to a teacher in Norway), I am moving along slowly but steadily. My concern is if I choose the "wrong" layout today, will that be an issue when I, a couple of years down the road, want to play tunes I already know (as a fiddler) in "trickier" keys like A maj or Bb.
I also wonder what layouts accomplished players use.
I have no plans (nor finances) to aquire concertinas in different keys, so future versatility is very important to me.
If you were to order a new one, I'd suggest a Jeffries system as depicted here on Juergen Suttner's site: http://suttnerconcertinas.com/catalogue.html. The advantage for Irish music is that it has C# going both ways (referring to the C# that's an octave plus one-half step above middle C).
Having two C#'s is an advantage for playing in A. I don't play anything in Bb (yet) so I can't speak from experience about that key, but the Jeffries layout (per Suttner) has two Eb's in the upper octave, which should be helpful for playing in Eb.
You should get a low A on the left-hand G row. Some older boxes don't have this.
As described in that other thread, there are a lot of variations. Also, people who have switched from one layout to another generally report that it doesn't take long at all to adapt. So don't overthink this.
i would have to say that the jeffries layout is really good for playing Bb. i am getting a jeffries layout without that extra Eb (3 c#'s instead), and i'm going to sorely miss it. for phrasing in the key of Bb it can be very integral to have both Eb's. i dont find it difficult to play without two, but it just musically makes a lot of sense if you're going to do a lot in Bb.
if i dont like not having both, i'm going to have another reed made so i can swap them out!
Anglo concertina layout
Anglo concertina layout
Hello all.
As I am buying a new concertina, one that I will play for many years to come, I am faced with the last choice in the process:
Wheatstone or Jeffries?
I have been playing a cheap C/G 30-button for a little while now, with Wheatstone/Lachenal layout. As I try to learn tunes and technique pretty rigidly (from recordings, books and videos, as I have no access to a teacher in Norway), I am moving along slowly but steadily. My concern is if I choose the "wrong" layout today, will that be an issue when I, a couple of years down the road, want to play tunes I already know (as a fiddler) in "trickier" keys like A maj or Bb.
I also wonder what layouts accomplished players use.
I have no plans (nor finances) to aquire concertinas in different keys, so future versatility is very important to me.
Thanks
Snorre
# Posted on December 16th 2008 by snorre
Re: Anglo concertina layout
See this thread: http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/13427
If you were to order a new one, I'd suggest a Jeffries system as depicted here on Juergen Suttner's site: http://suttnerconcertinas.com/catalogue.html. The advantage for Irish music is that it has C# going both ways (referring to the C# that's an octave plus one-half step above middle C).
Having two C#'s is an advantage for playing in A. I don't play anything in Bb (yet) so I can't speak from experience about that key, but the Jeffries layout (per Suttner) has two Eb's in the upper octave, which should be helpful for playing in Eb.
You should get a low A on the left-hand G row. Some older boxes don't have this.
As described in that other thread, there are a lot of variations. Also, people who have switched from one layout to another generally report that it doesn't take long at all to adapt. So don't overthink this.
# Posted on December 16th 2008 by boxist
Re: Anglo concertina layout
I agree with boxist.
# Posted on December 16th 2008 by concertinaplayer
Re: Anglo concertina layout
Sorry for the error in my previous post. I meant to say that having two Eb's would be helpful for playing in **Bb.**
# Posted on December 16th 2008 by boxist
Re: Anglo concertina layout
Thanks lads.
I have now ordered a concertina with Jeffries layout.
# Posted on December 17th 2008 by snorre
Re: Anglo concertina layout
i would have to say that the jeffries layout is really good for playing Bb. i am getting a jeffries layout without that extra Eb (3 c#'s instead), and i'm going to sorely miss it. for phrasing in the key of Bb it can be very integral to have both Eb's. i dont find it difficult to play without two, but it just musically makes a lot of sense if you're going to do a lot in Bb.
if i dont like not having both, i'm going to have another reed made so i can swap them out!
# Posted on December 19th 2008 by daiv