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[GbH]

There seem to be a fair number of people here that play both melodeon and concertina.  Now I must confess that I know very little about concertinas, beyond little bits of knowledge picked up online and reading catalogues, but it does seem that these two types of squeezebox require playing techniques that are more likely to be confusing than complementary.  Also, whilst I would have assumed that melodeon players would automatically go for the Anglo system, this doesn't always appear to be so.

So, am I missing something here?  Are there other reasons why people choose to play both interchangably?

Guy

[Tattyjacket]

My first squeeze box was an Anglo.
It wasn't long before I got my first melodeon, a pokerwork.
I play both equally badly.

Personally, I find the  playing technique very similar.
Some tunes sound better and/or are easier on the Anglo, some are better on melodeon.
When I play for Morris though, I use melodeon for about 95% of the time as my concertina simply doesn't carry enough volume outside.
Still, I love the concertina, and I remain convinced that its study will drive away Alzheimer's syndrome.

Phil

[forrest]

  Also, whilst I would have assumed that melodeon players would automatically go for the Anglo system, this doesn't always appear to be so.

So, am I missing something here?  Are there other reasons why people choose to play both interchangably?

Guy

  I started on Anglo and continue to pursue it.  Also guitar, (50 yrs. worth), mandolin and octave mandolin.  (Don't ask me to sing  ).
     I don't think it unusual that some folks have multiple musical interests.  Many famous players in the folk scene play diverse instruments, as well as sing. And excel in all.........

[Randal Scott]

I find anglo c. very similar to melodeon--both being very intuitive--and go back and forth between them about 50/50.  I prefer to play my "Irish" repertoire on anglo concertina: it's very easy to play quickly paced tunes, and the very "dry tuning" of the concertina suits the music very well.  I also play a bit of english c. and find more dissimilarities between these two types of concertina than between anglo c. and melodeon.

[Waltham]

Back in the day when I lived in Dublin and the only squeezebox I played was my B/C/C# Casali I was walking past a certain MacNeil's Music Shop and saw what my colleagues would term a quare yoke in the window. I went inside and asked the nice man what it was and Stephen Chambers (for it was he) told me it was a Crane Duet, and showed me how it worked.  For a week or so I kept seeing it as I passed by, impressive when you consider that MacNeil's wasn't on my way to anywhere.  My tax rebate had just come through 'cos I'd only spent half the tax year in the country and it was burning a hole in my pocket.  I had to have it and I'm so glad I did.  I played everything on it: Irish, English, Hymns (Abide with me was very effective), Morris etc.  It's the only one of my squeezebles I'm not putting up for sale, instead I'm hoping to put the proceeds from all the others to adapt it for one-handed use.  Sometimes an instrument finds you instead of vice versa.

[rees]

I was with Geoff Crabb (concertina maker) last weekend. He had with him a huge Crane system Duet. What a beautiful sounding instrument.

[Lester]

I am one of the rarer melodeon/concertina players in that I play an Engligh concertina. As to why, if this was being answered on concertina.net I might say I use my melodeon for tunes and my concertina for music, but I would not say that here.

But more to the point the as my concertina is fully cromatic so enables me to play in the keys my wife sings in and also to play in keys many and varied with other players.

[jonm]

I started on piano accordion for morris and country dance. I've been told that, for morris, I play it in a very melodeon-like fashion. I still play it for American square/contras and Appalachian step dance, but rarely for morris.

I took up the English concertina for song accompaniment (variety of keys and the ability to play softly and away from your ear) and because my better half plays piano accordion. Two hernia ops later....... EC is an instrument capable of being played with as much rhythm and dynamism as an anglo, or smoothly, and the range of chords, inversions and partials is greater than that available on the anglo.

I've only ever found the English too quiet for morris when in a massed band or somewhere really noisy, like a station platform.

I took up melodeon because (a) it was an intellectual challenge, never having played bisonoric instruments before, (b) it has al the notes and chords I need for morris and most tunes, without all the surplus reeds and buttons which make the PA so heavy and bulky, and (c) because they look so damn' sexy!

Oh, and in bands and solo folk club spots, I also play guitar, cittern and mandolin.......

One thing I have found is that by learning new things on one instrument, your playing improves on all of them, through the broadening of knowledge. I often try  song accompaniment on concertina, then transfer the same accompaniment to guitar, adapt it for guitar and try to transfer the result back.

[ladydetemps]

Started on anglo concertina...then after 6 months of not much progress tried melodeon and well preferred it.
I tend to play 'pop' music on concertina and folkie stuff on melodeon.
I find concertina easier for carrying around....but I find it waay too complicated for my brain to handle.

[Steve_freereeder]

The first free-reed instrument I ever played was an anglo concertina. It was a battered, old, cheaply-constructed German-made 20-key instrument in F/C, given to me at the age of 13 by a school friend. It had been in his family for many years but no-one knew how to play it and since I seemed to be musical (playing clarinet), it passed to me. It looked a bit like this one:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31561713@N00/1058580823/
The paper-and-card bellows leaked a bit, but nothing that couldn't be put right with a bit of sticky carpet-binding tape   

I soon managed to work out the push-pull sequence of playing up and down the rows, but since I didn't really know many 'tunes', other than nursery rhymes from BBC's 'Listen with Mother' and hymn tunes, that was about the end of my exploration on it. It certainly didn't lend itself to playing the classical music I was working at on my clarinet.

Fast-forward 15 years or so and I'd moved on to the melodeon, first to a 1-row 2-stop Hohner in C and then to a D/G Pokerwork. That particular story has been told elsewhere if you're interested:
http://melodeon.aimoo.com/melodeon-net/What-made-YOU-pick-up-the-melo-1-330002.htmlhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/janepbr/2774565845/
and met Mr Neville Crabb himself, who showed me a beautiful Wheatstone metal-ended 48-key English. With a gulp, I exchanged my anglo plus quite a bit of extra cash for the English, wondering all the time on the train journey back to west Wales whether I'd done the right thing.

After a week or so, trying to avoid maniacal waggling of the bellows, I managed to find my way around it and played it, and it's replacement - a nice 56-key Aeola right up to the present day. But about 5 years ago, I decided that I still loved the bouncy push-pull nature of the anglo, and because I'd been asked to teach beginners' anglo, I decided to get one once more and (via a couple of others on the way) eventually ended up with my current instrument, a fine old 30-key C/G Wheatstone. Inspired by the playing of Brian Peters, I also decided that I was going to learn to play the thing properly: you know, cross-rowing and playing in D and F and Bb an stuff like that. It's a work in progress but very rewarding. I really love the anglo! But I find it much harder than the melodeon to play really well. No automatic basses and chords on the concertina. You have to 'make' every note. 

The English concertina? Yes - I still play it too and love its sustained organ-like sound. The anglo and English are so different from each other that there is not much danger of confusion between the two systems.

Concertinas are great. Such a wealth of music from such a little box.

[Sebastian]

For me the question was: why play melodeons too?

I have to admit I prefer the double and triple reeded concertinas to the anglo (which is usually single reeded) and never played english.

[mikesamwild]

I was impressed by Steve's playing at Bradfield last weekend, the various keys on a C/G was quite an encouragement to get more adventurous. As a D/G melodeon player I have found it quite tricky playing irish music in various keys on a C/G Jeffries anglo.  Now I'm having a more serious go at F and Bb!

that's why I play both instruments

[TonyRussellDavis]

The reason is that you get different noises on different instruments.
The skills are rarely interchangeable - you just get used to them. I don't get confused swapping from BCC# to 1 row 4-stop, but they are not as similar to play as it would seem. So, English Concertina uses my brain in another way, as does mandolin, guitar, steel guitar (incl. pedal variety in two tunings), northumbrian pipes, ukulele, whistle ..... One thing I never could figure out though; ................................. a piano keyboard!!!

BTW Matthew, many years ago I knew a one-armed guy who played a duet (quite successfully, actually) sitting, with one end strapped to his leg - no other adaptation than an extended wrist strap.
T.

[Steve_freereeder]

I was impressed by Steve's playing at Bradfield last weekend

<Blush>
Thanks, Mike!  
it was a great weekend, but a pity I couldn't get to more of it. From the bits I attended, I was impressed by all the concertina players. There's a lot of talent and artistry out there.

[TomB-R]

BTW Matthew, many years ago I knew a one-armed guy who played a duet (quite successfully, actually) sitting, with one end strapped to his leg - no other adaptation than an extended wrist strap.

Similarly I used to know a duet player who used to play quite a lot of the time with her left hand just resting on top of that end whilst she played on the right.

[rees]

Dave Brady from Swan Arcade was another one-armed concertina player.

[TonyRussellDavis]

Rees, same guy - just didn't give the name. Tony.

[GbH]

Thanks for the many detailed and varied replies to this.  It made for some interesting reading.

I think that somewhere in the back of my head is a little voice saying "shouldn't I get one of these instruments, too?".  At the moment, though, the common-sense side of me still thinks it's a better idea to focus my efforts on learning the instrument {melodeon) I already have.  Either way, the obvious enthusiasm expressed in the above posts does make me think that I should take a bit more interest in these instruments in future, if only to enjoy what others are able to achieve with them.

[Randal Scott]

...I should take a bit more interest in these instruments in future, if only to enjoy what others are able to achieve with them.

Do you like hearing a concertina played?  i would think this is the important question.  If so, then it is easy enough to transfer your skills to an anglo.  Unfortunately, they are -- pound for pound -- one of the more costly instruments to acquire.  Otherwise, the compactness of the instrument and the economy of motion required to play it makes it quite a fun instrument, in itself.

[Malcolm Austen]

I have an Anglo but have not found it as enjoyable to play as the melodeon or to offer any advantage with out great effort, it will have to wait for my retirement.
I have had a long hard look at a lot of instruments to find something for song accompaniment and to allow better sight reading and have decided on a duet concertina. For the last 2 weeks I have been the owner of a Hayden duet, 20 years after first hearing a talk by Brian Hayden I have found one that is affordable and playable enough to give it a try.
One first observation, after a practice session straining to play simple parts with both hands on the duet what a joy it is to pick up the melodeon and rip through a few well known tunes without having to think at all.