What kind of concertina

The instrument is chromatic and gives the player the note on the push and on the pull no matter which way the bellows are moving, the same as a piano accordion. The Duet Concertina is the least common and least available to find or buy in modern times.

The Duet is actually a versatile concertina which plays the same note on the push and on the pull in the same way as the English Concertina The high notes are played on the right side and the bass notes are played on the left side, the same as most concertinas.

The problem with playing Duet Concertinas, if it is a problem! From time to time we have some vintage concertinas in stock. Squeezebox jargon demystified - Eagle Music explain the most used terminology. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

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Browse our video section. Concertina buttons on vintage concertina makes such as Lachenal and Jeffries were often made of bone and sometimes ivory. Modern makers tend to make a dome shape out of the top of the concertina button for a more comfortable touch for the finger tips. Noel Hill purportedly plays the smallest concertina in the world.

It is two inches by two inches and features 5 buttons on each side. Anglo concertinas usually feature a maximum of 46 buttons. The less common Duet and English concertinas can feature as many as 70 buttons however. The most common size concertina for traditional Irish music is the 30 button anglo concertina. You will also find a number of 20 button anglo concertinas on the market.

However you may find yourself restricted in terms of the number of musical keys you can play in. Always try to go for a 30 button concertina if you want to play traditional Irish music on your concertina. Your future concertina playing self will thank you for it. Read more about the different concertina types here: English vs Anglo Concertina.

Each layout features a slightly different positioning of the notes played by the buttons on the right hand side of the concertina.

The difference is slight. Refer to the above chart for more details. It comes down to personal preference.

Either layout is equally appropriate for a beginner concertina player. That being said, the Jeffries layout is sometimes preferred by Irish concertina players. So, if traditional Irish music is your preferred genre, and you have the choice, you may well opt for the Jeffries system.

Some concertinas are only available with Wheatstone layout. In fact, the Wheatstone system is actually the more common of the two. This in no way excludes the playing of traditional Irish music using this layout however. As far as learning goes, any teacher worth their salt will be able to instruct you without issue regardless of which concertina layout you choose. The shape of the concertina bellows has given rise to many modern terms for items or methods unrelated to the instrument itself.

Concertina wire for example earned its name because it mimics the shape of the concertina bellows and expands and contracts in a similar way. Likewise a concertina fold also known as an accordion fold is a continuous parallel folding of material in a concertina-like fashion.

This can apply to paper, clothing or any construction material. The tune is played with the right hand and the accompaniment with the left, hence the name duet. Duet concertinas are usually much larger as they feature more buttons than either the English or the Anglo concertina. Sometimes up to 80! Most serious duet concertina players will argue that you need a minimum of 58 keys to get the best of out of the instrument and fully display its versatility. Different styles of music favour different musical keys.

As a result, the most common key for each concertina varies depending on style. This means that one row of buttons plays a full scale in the key of C, and another row plays a full scale in the key of G. The two innermost rows of the button layout on each side contain all the notes required to play a C major scale. The two outer rows consist of the sharps and flats required to complete the chromatic scale. Duet concertinas are available in the widest range of keys of all the types of concertinas.

At their most complex they can span up to five octaves! This depends on the type of concertina. The size of the concertina and number of keys dictates how many notes it can play. A 30 button Anglo concertina for example can span three octaves, playing from C below middle C, to C two octaves above. In addition to the three main styles of concertina — English, Duet and Anglo — concertinas can also come with different voicings:.

Treble concertinas feature the highest concertina voice and are the most commonly played. Baritone concertinas sound an octave below a treble concertina and are a favourite for accompanying singing. Bass concertinas play an octave below the tenor concertina or two octaves below treble concertinas. Of all the traditional Irish instruments, the concertina is one of the easier instruments to learn.

Unlike other Irish instruments such as the fiddle , uilleann pipes or even the Irish flute , the notes on the concertina are already in tune and playable with a simple press of a button and a squeeze of the bellows. Mastering the concertina takes plenty of practice and musical skill. Compare how easy it is to learn the Anglo concertina with the fiddle and the flute. The needs of a beginner concertina player will differ depending on which style of music you want to learn.

For traditional Irish music, the Anglo concertina is the most popular choice. It sure is a good way to boost brain activity but choosing what exact instrument to learn can make your brain hurt!

So what if you find a particular instrument, like a concertina, but have no idea what it is or the differences between models? What Is It Actually? As a free-reed wooden family of Instruments, a concertina might be similar to an accordion, but they are certainly not the same thing! The Origin The first person who created the patent for concertina is Charles Wheatstone, during the s in Great Britain.

Interestingly enough, Wheatstone is more known for his work in science, as he made many breakthroughs in the field. But he nonetheless started with inventing patients for musical instruments. The Different Types Since it is a whole family of free-reed instruments, there are multiple types of the instrument itself.

This can cause lots of confusion amongst those who are not educated in this matter. There are three main types of Concertina — Anglo, English, and Dual.