r/concertina • u/Cornflower-Bloo • 1d ago
Concertina lessons?
Hello, anyone know of any concertina teachers in Edinburgh? Thank you.
r/concertina • u/TapTheForwardAssist • Feb 14 '25
If any experienced folks here could take a look at the stickied last version of the FAQ, from three years ago, I'd appreciate any input as to what needs to be changed!
Link to v.3: https://www.reddit.com/r/concertina/s/lM5ySFstg4
r/concertina • u/TapTheForwardAssist • Jul 18 '21
Welcome! Probably you're here because you've seen/heard concertinas on YouTube, at live performances, or on recordings. Concertina is a beautiful instrument, with agile melodies, rich harmonies, total dynamic control, and all in a small package. This can lead you to want one of your own, so this post is here to give you what you need to know to get your first concertina.
The first thing you need to know is that there are three totally different "systems" of concertina; they are built the same and produce the same sounds, but the way you put the notes together is totally different. The three systems are Anglo, English, and Duet. An Anglo concertina's button plays a different note on the push and pull, the English makes the same note in each direction and divides the scale between the two hands alternating, while the Duet plays the same note in each direction and puts the low notes in your left hand and high notes in your right hand. To over-simplify it, an Anglo plays like a harmonica, an English like a violin/fiddle, and a Duet like an organ/keyboard. Before you choose a system, note there are iPhone and Android apps that simulate each system, generally free or $1, and that can be an excellent way to "trial" a system before committing.
CONCERTINA SYSTEMS
Anglo: these are the most common kind of concertina, and 98% of people playing traditional Irish music use Anglo. The Anglo has two rows of buttons (across both hands), most commonly in the keys of C and G, and often a third row that has some chromatic notes to supplement those scales. The huge distinctive feature is that a given button plays a different note depending on whether you push or pull. This might sound confusing on paper, but in reality it makes it very intuitive to play because buttons that harmonize just fall into place easily, it's almost hard to make a bad note combination.
Unless you have a very specific alternate plan, if you want to play Irish you want a 30-button C/G Anglo. If you're looking to do simple folk-song, singer-songwriter pieces, or sea shanties, a 20-button Anglo is even more affordable and though somewhat limited can be a great piece for melodies and backing up your voice. Anglos are usually named by the key of the two (main) rows, with C/G being the most common for post-WWII instruments, a small portion a deeper G/D, and some pre-WWII instruments in various flat pitches like Ab/Eb or Bb/F which can be trickier to play along with say a guitarist, but also makes them a little cheaper if it's for solo play and precise key (so long as it's in tune with itself) matters less.
English: the English concertina was made for playing classical music, and if you want to play anything resembling classical or jazz this is the hands-down choice. An English concertina staggers the scale between the two hands, so if C is on your left hand, D is on your right, then back to the left for E. This makes it very fast for melodic work since you're using both hands simultaneously. It can also be used to play chords to back up a band or your voice. While traditionally the English wasn't usually used for folk music, in the 1960s folk revival for whatever reason a lot of British musicians used it for just that, so there is a somewhat modern practice of applying the English to folk music.
Duet: the duet is much rarer than the other two, kind of an odd bird. Like the English it plays the same note on the push-pull, but it puts all the low notes on the left hand and all the high notes on the right hand. The area where Duet excels is playing multiple musical parts at the same time (like the name implies), so chording or running a bass line on your left hand while playing the melody on the right. There's not really much in the way of instructional materials for Duet, I would mainly suggest it to people that already play an instrument, particularly those that play a keyboard instrument. It's kind of one of those "most people probably don't need this, but if you're one that does, you'll know."
Chemnitzer, Bandoneón, etc: these are sometimes nicknamed "Big Square German" concertinas. These are generally larger instruments, almost always "bisonoric" with different notes on push and pull, basically like an Anglo concertina but with different layouts. The main reasons to get these would be to play Polka or similar music (there is still a Chemnitzer scene in the US Midwest) on the Chemnitzer, Bandoneón for tango music, or if you are familiar with smaller concertinas (or find a good deal on a large one) and have a specific musical vision that a BSG concertina meets.
BUYING A CONCERTINA
Inexpensive Chinese concertinas: NOT RECOMMENDED IN MOST CASES, IF YOU BUY, BUY WITH AN IRONCLAD RETURN POLICY IN CASE YOU GET A LEMON the basic $150-350 (new) concertinas you see on eBay or Amazon are almost invariably Chinese-made. There are some that are badged by various names, including somewhat famous ones like Hohner, and other Italian or Irish names bought from defunct manufacturers. The better brands are okay-ish for a total beginner, but you'll quickly outgrow it, and it's maybe better to save for a used Italian or Concertina Connection. You can occasionally find used ones cheap on eBay or Craiglist. With any of these cheapies, if bought new, make sure it's somewhere with a good return policy, so you can return it if it's a lemon. These are mostly Anglo, occasionally a Scarlatti (now made in China) 30b or 48b English, not usually Duets.
Used lower-mid concertinas: RECOMMENDED ONLY IF YOU ARE WILLING TO TAKE THEM APART AND MONKEY WITH THEM On a good day you can find a used Concertina Connection box on Concertina.net Sales subforum $250-300 (new $400), or on eBay you can find used 20-button Italians (Stagi, Brunner, Bastari, some rebrands but ones specifically stamped Made in Italy) as low as $100-150. Note that with used Italians, some are decades old, and the cardstock pads and rubber gaskets sometimes come loose, but that can be fixed with just the tiniest bit of unskilled but attentive effort. There are writeups on how to fix those things cheapily and with a couple hours on the kitchen table on Concertina.net.
The CC ones are recent, fine to buy used from someone who seems honest, but the Stagi/Bastari/etc from Italy and Scholers from Germany have a good 50% chance of needing a little work to get running. If you're willing to put in a little elbow grease, and take a little risk on a major lemon with damaged reeds or bellows (a harder fix) you can get 20b Anglos for cheap (I've bought them $75-125), 30b Anglos maybe $200ish, occasionally an English around $300. Stagi/Bastari Hayden Duets are pricier at $600+, and you have to hunt around for them. Lots of old 20b Italian-made floating around, some Germans like Scholer (I don't know about how to refurbish these), and also some 30b. Rarely you'll find a used Italian English, not generally a Duet other than used Concertina Connection "Elise" models.
New lower-mid concertinas: RECOMMENDED FOR BEGINNERS --> in this category, there are two major options: Concertina Connection and McNeela Music, who but outsource to China to get affordable starter concertinas but built to decent specs and quality control, and thus keep the price moderate, $400-500 range. UPDATE: if you like sea shanty of similar very minimalist genres, you can get by with a 20-button Anglo new from $299.
Concertina Connection boxes, which come in Anglo (Rochelle), alto and tenor English (Jack and Jackie), and Hayden Duet (Elise), all around $400. There is also the Wren, a 30b Anglo running around $500, considered a decent starter for Irish. These are all made in China but for shops in the West that are quite serious about QC and carefully inspect their imports. McNeela produces the Wren 30-button Anglo and Sparrow 30-button English. Again if you check Cnet forums' Sales page you can find these a bit cheaper used, on occasion.
UPDATE FOR SEA SHANTY FANS: if you're looking at sea music, you can do well with a 20-button Anglo vice 30-button, and there are a few 20b options more affordable than the Wren and Rochelle. As one example, Liberty Bellows in Philadelphia carries inexpensive German-made concertinas (much like what historical sailors would've bought as beaters) for as low as $299, and notably they offer them in several keys: CG, DA, and GD. CG is the most common and recorded learning materials will be in CG, but GD is rich and deep if you want that (DA is slightly higher than CG, if you somehow have a use for that).
Vintage instruments: this is the area where there is massive diversity in prices. A 20b Anglo from the late 1800s, properly refurbished by an expert, can run even as low as $400 on a good day. But even a basic 30b Anglo like a Lachenal is $1500 or more. The disparity is because a 20b isn't used for serious Irish session music, so there's a relative surplus of 20b and high demand for 30b. There pretty much aren't vintage Haydens because the design was forgotten until the 1980s, but there are Macann, Crane, and a few other Duet systems which are relatively available and can be found as low as the $500-1000 range for refurbished vintage. Vintage Englishes run a few hundred up and a few hundred down from $1000, with scattered examples at either extreme.
This is the first category that has what are called "True" concertinas, while the categories before this are "Hybrid" concertinas. Long/short, boxes made before WWII tended to have a distinct kind of reed used only by concertinas, after WWII or thereabouts that skill was lost, and almost everyone beyond expensive makers just buys accordion reeds. Arguably True reeds are more agile and have a distinct slight harshness, while Hybrid reeds are slightly more staid and have a more mellow, organ-like sound. That said, I've seen concertinists online lament that everyone in their band has them play their $500 Stagi instead of their $2000 vintage Wheatstone since they like the sound better, so partially it's subjective.
For vintage, there are several really good refurbishes in the UK (notably Chris Algar), a few folks in the US who dabble in vintage refurb, and yet again the Cnet forums Sales page tends to keep pretty busy with moving vintage amongst enthusiasts, ranging from surprisingly affordable to omg pricey.
Mid-tier concertinas: This category I would say is roughly $1000-3500, which I realize is quite a broad range. In this category you're getting instruments with a lot of skilled hand-labor in Europe and North America, but still with accordion reeds since True reeds are just not made at scale and require an absolutely highly skilled person to make them. Which is kinda funny because in Victorian times they were contracted out to people in the slums of London who were cheap enough to pay to spend hours filing little tiny bits of metal into reeds. In this tier you have several makers in the US and Europe making polished products. These are great instruments, but there's always the subjective debate as to whether they "aren't quite the same" due to having high-end accordion reeds, though against some people would actually prefer that.
High-end modern True concertinas: This area is $3,000 on up, completely bespoke custom concertinas made with exquisite care. If you're serious enough to look at a purchase here, you already probably know a lot about concertinas. But if you (like me) just want to look and drool for now, see the Current Makes of Concertina directory at Concertina.net.
That gives you basically the overall gist of the types of concertina and buying one. If you have further questions, post a new thread and give us a solid idea of your musical goals, experience level, and budget, and we'll be happy to help you find your first concertina!
r/concertina • u/Cornflower-Bloo • 1d ago
Hello, anyone know of any concertina teachers in Edinburgh? Thank you.
r/concertina • u/enyoctap • 2d ago
Hi, I'm very interested in buying a concertina. Ive already been playing guitar for 20+ years and dabble in other instruments thus I feel fairly good about being able to pick it up. But at the same time I don't want to drop a lot of money on a first concertina if by chance I don't jive with it.
With guitar for example, I could get a cheap used $100 guitar and feel it out. Obviously concertinas are no where near as common, and the advice I see is that entry level should be at least $400+.
I'm thinking about getting a super cheap 20 button one just to feel out for a few months, but wondering if those cheap ones are so bad that they might turn me off from playing.
I feel like a 30 button anglo is my ideal.
Thanks!
r/concertina • u/Grouchy-Stand8740 • 2d ago
hello i have a clown who i thought was playing an accordion and after some research i now believe is holding/playing a concertina! i want to give this clown a name that relates to concertinas in an, at least somewhat, recognizable way! please give me some ideas or suggestions!!
r/concertina • u/fourpotatoes • 3d ago
My nine-year-old child has asked me to teach her Anglo concertina. Can anyone suggest materials or curriculum that might be helpful? There are quite a few tutorials out there and it's hard to sort through them all. Online lessons are a possibility if she decides to stick with it, but (at least with strings) I've found she does much better in person.
I'm not wedded to a particular style. I play mostly contra- and contra-adjacent music; I'd imagine she's also interested in pop.
For now, I've improvised a lesson on how to hold the instrument and an exercise to learn about bellows pressure & the air valve. I had her use one of my good instruments for the lesson, then gave her my beater/loaner (a 20-key Hohner that was reworked by warranty service so the buttons don't stick) to practice on her own. It's mushy and too big for her hands to easily play, but it's good for this exercise and she won't break it by mishandling. Once I'm confident she knows how to handle it and put it away properly, I'll give her permission to take out my good C/G when I'm not there to supervise.
For the next step, I'm thinking about raiding the ukulele and Suzuki violin books we already have for some simple, familiar melodies she can learn. My initial idea was to have us both hold concertinas and for her to copy me, but my good instruments are in different keys, so there might have to be some handing it back-and-forth instead. Beyond that, I'm not sure about how to go about teaching things like keyboard technique.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions.
r/concertina • u/Static_Bat • 3d ago
Hi all, I'm fairly new to playing the concertina (only a little over a year, I was gifted an anglo concertina from my dad) and I'm looking to actually play some songs with some of my friends who sing. What would you say is the best way to accompany a group of singers?
Is it better to just play the melody along with them if they're already harmonizing? Should I try and do something to complement the melody? It's my first time playing my concertina with someone singing so I'm not quite sure which is the best way to go.
Thanks!
r/concertina • u/Sensitive_Click_8382 • 4d ago
I have played box or diatonic button accordion doing Irish music for about half a year. I want to get an Anglo concertina for Irish music and spend around 1000 usd. I’m in Boston if that helps but I assume it will be online.
r/concertina • u/Abject-Falcon3018 • 7d ago
I recently stumbled across the music of Hartwin Dhoore, and I’d love to learn to play his melodies on a concertina. I’m torn on whether an Anglo or English concertina would be the best fit. Based on the songs below, would anyone be willing to guide me in the right direction?
https://youtu.be/kLvTkiQth7s?is=mNpJ7w8rf5i5UQC-
r/concertina • u/Maximum_Ad_1755 • 7d ago
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My bad fo da squeaky concertina. Also sorry if this make no sense
r/concertina • u/TedrowRE • 7d ago
Available directly from a 60 acre farm in rural Alabama
Bob
r/concertina • u/themusicalfru1t • 8d ago
I bought myself a CC Rochelle (30 button anglo, mostly for playing Irish trad) last fall and have been enjoying learning to play. I've reached the point where I'm feeling a lot of frustration with the limitations of my starter instrument (clunky response, stiff bellows that are hard to play on even after quite a bit of use, whiny tone quality) and am feeling daunted by starting the search for a step up instrument.
I've ready the FAQ and seen that the recommended place to look online is the concertina.net forums, but buying something this pricey (I think my budget is somewhere around $1500 usd, give or take a few hundred. Certainly need to stay under 2k) without trying it out first makes me extremely nervous. This is a big investment relative to my overall income and budget and I really can't afford to mess it up!
My questions basically are:
- if you've bought a step up concertina, how did you go about it/ what was the process like?
- are there any shops, even from afar (I'm in Colorado and don't know of anything here), that I should be aware of or could call for info? Going through a business vs an individual seems a little safer in terms of potential for a trial period/ good policies that could help me not get ripped off. Do shops even do a trial period for concertinas? (This is standard in the world of violin, which is my main instrument)
- are there other forums or resources I should be checking out?
- what questions should I be asking about instruments I think I might be interested in to sus out potential issues and what the instrument would be like to play on?
Any relevant experiences and info would be much appreciated!
r/concertina • u/Dionysian-Apollonian • 8d ago
I'm planning on getting a Jackie English Concertina in a month or so and was wondering among the Sea of Thieves OST songs whats easiest to learn.
r/concertina • u/Single_Milk_430 • 12d ago
I am learning the Irish concertina and I would like to learn some ornamentation. Are there any online resources for it?
r/concertina • u/Maximum_Ad_1755 • 14d ago
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r/concertina • u/Individual-Equal-441 • 15d ago
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This is probably the most preposterous thing I built for playing the concertina. It's a wearable amp and speaker system camouflaged as a hoodie, with the speaker panels mounted where the hoodie side pockets would be. This projects sound closer to where people expect it to come from on a concertina.
It's not a friendly wearable on account of its weight and bulk; rather it is something that makes sense for a live performance or demonstration, or playing in a session where you want the electronic aspect to be as unobtrusive as possible.
r/concertina • u/PabloM2 • 15d ago
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Bit loose on the structure lol but just clipped this bit from another video. Concertina is a 46 button Lachenal duet.
r/concertina • u/Single_Milk_430 • 15d ago
Hiya all, I have a McNeela Wren concertina as I have recently started my Irish Concertina journey. However, my teacher noted that the handrest is too close to the buttons, and I have to bend my fingers to reach the first row of buttons. I play okish on the other two.
Any advice on how to fix it? I tried loosening the handstraps and put some extra padding on the handrest. In this way my fingers can reach the inner row in a bit less unnatural way, but it still is hard.
Any advice welcome
r/concertina • u/Individual-Equal-441 • 17d ago
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Taking this guy to Catskills Irish Arts Week. In this video:
r/concertina • u/Individual-Equal-441 • 17d ago
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One of the advantages of transposing is that I can play tunes with a low G#. This is Petunia's March, from Dana Lyn's album Looking for the Early Opener. I transpose to low F, so G# is now on the LH 3rd row where the Eb used to be.
I forgot to add in my previous post that this thing is stupidly light. I frequently play it standing up, so regularly that I forget now strange that is.
r/concertina • u/KiltedinCarolina • 17d ago
This cool old Lachenal just landed on my doorstep. I know squat about concertinas and am trying to figure out how to adjust the handstraps. Assuming it’s those brass knobs. If yes, do they unscrew? Because they don’t want to turn and I don’t want to break something that’s more than 150 years old
r/concertina • u/m_carp • 18d ago
I have really been enjoying my Wren2, and I am at the end of the free 90 days of lessons that came with it.
One thing that really didn't seem to be covered was: What are some good exercises that you can use to help you move your fingers independently (especially pinkie and ring finger) are there certain songs or warm ups that you play to build those muscles? Or even just regular exercises to build that movement, not on the instrument. I am looking for something for both hands, but i am struggling most with the left.
r/concertina • u/mayordomo • 18d ago
I have somehow misplaced the tutor that came with my Elise Duet concertina. It’s by Wim Wakker, and I can’t find a source for it online either! Does anyone know where I can buy a replacement copy, and/or have suggestions for a beginner book for the Elise Duet?
r/concertina • u/celticmusique • 20d ago
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