Concertina

Technical distinctions

The term concertina designates a family of instruments held in the hands, with bellows and with free sheers builds according to various models. Those differ one from the other by:

let us tons them and the ranges available
in the provision of the buttons
sonority

the instruments known as Bi-sound produce a different note according to whether one pushes or that one draws.
the instruments mono-sound produce the same note with thorough and the drawn one.

the production of sound according to the action on the bellows

the instruments with action-simple produces sound only in one direction (usually only of the basic instruments)
the instruments with action-double produce sounds with thorough and drawn the

the size
the form
the technique used to hold the instrument

A player accustomed to the one of the systems will be probably disorientated on another system.

Models

The most frequent systems of concertina are listed below. This list is neither exhaustive nor final because, even if it is relatively old and rependu, the concertina is prone to modern experiments the such chromatic ranges offering more than 12 variations per octave, or the instruments of which the height can be modified by the musician.

Concertina Anglo

In English " Anglo-concertina" (of Anglo-German ) has buttons laid out in arc of circle. It is a Bi-sound instrument, i.e. for the same button the notes are different according to whether one pushes or that one draws, similarly with the Harmonica S which according to whether one blows or that one aspires produce different notes.

The heart of the type Anglo , is consisted two arranged of 10 buttons, producing each one a range major diatonic. 5 buttons of each arranged are located at each end. An interval of a Quarte separates both arranged. For example, if arranged nearest to the wrist of the musician is in Treble clef, the arranged following one will be in Clef of C. The contemporary instruments have an arranged third of buttons, offering inalienable deterioration S differently and redundant notes but to reversed Bi-sonority, facilitating the play. There are the small ones but many variations in the provision and the number of the buttons according to manufacturing.

The concertina Anglo is held by slipping the hands - except the inch - into small leather thin straps, the palms rest on a shoulder out of wooden. This catch, leave free 4 fingers per hand to play the notes, and the inches to actuate valves of air escape (in order to compress or extend the bellows without producing sounds) or to play a bumblebee. The model Anglo-concertina is often associated with the music Irishwoman. The instruments out of key do/sol are the most used in sessions of traditional music Irishwoman. One also finds it in other musical contexts like the dances English Morris .

It is often admitted that George Jones was the inventor of the concertina Anglo. At the end of XIX and at the beginning of XX the active factors count C. Jeffries - specialist in the model Anglo - and Louis Lachenal, manufacturing most prolific of models Anglo and English in his time.

English Concertina

In English English concertina . It is a chromatic concertina , offering 4 arranged buttons, laid out in rectangles whose small sides are opposite the wrist of the musician. The invention of this model is allotted to Sir Charles Wheatstone which patented on December 19th, 1829 (number 5803 in the United Kingdom) a very similar model. It is a mono-sound instrument. I.e. the thorough one and the drawn one produces the same note for the same button. Both arranged more inside the instrument offers a major range in C, distributed alternatively side and other of the instrument. For example, in a given range, C-semi-ground-if will be on a side and D-F-ground-do'-mi' of the other. Two the arranged external ones offer the flat and the Dièse S supplementing the chromatic range. This distribution between the sides facilitates a fast play but complicates the training of the agreements compared to the ranges. During the XIX, Giulio Regondi was a type-setter and interprets virtuoso who popularized this instrument. Allan Atlas in its book " Concertina Wheatstone in England Victorienne" evoke six Concerto S specifically made up for this instrument. Many a Sonata S and other compositions survives the beginning of the XXI.

The English concertina is held while placing the inches in small leather thin straps and the little fingers on small metal holds. That leaves free 3 fingers per hand for the play of the melodies. Another method uses annular and auricular ones to hold the instrument, releasing only two fingers for the play. In the traditional style of Regondi, the metal hold only is seldom used, leaving eight fingers for the play and the agreements. In parts like “Concerto No 1 in ground for concertina and orchestrates” of Bernard Molique or “the straw of the shepherd” of Percy Grainger, the agreements of four, five or six notes are not rare and would be difficult or impossible to play without using all the fingers.

Concertina Duet

In English Duet-Concertina . This model is less frequent than Anglo or English. The characteristics common to all the Duet model are:

Offers a provision of the buttons where the low ones are accessible in left hand and the high ones in right hand with some overlappings.
Is mono-sound. I.e. a button provides the same sound at the time of the thorough one and of the drawn one.
Is chromatic completions.

The most frequent models of concertina Duet are McCann and the Cranium (chosen by armed with the hello under the name of “Triumph”). The models Duet Jeffries are much rarer. A model Anglo Jeffries of more than 40 buttons is probably transformed a Duet model. The model Hayden, more recent, was invented to the XX.

German Concertina Chemnitzer and other models

There exist several German models of concertina which share details of constructions as well as provisions of buttons. In the United States, in particular in Midwest, the term “Concertina” often indicates the Chemnitzer model. These models are Bi-sound. They are very close to the bandonions, different by the provision of the decorative buttons, choices and the mechanical inventions due to research pionnières of the factor Otto Schlicht.

Bandonion

One can notice the bandonion , which east is a German model of which the Bi-sound structure at summer conceived by Heinrich Band.

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