Bill Crossland
First of all, define your concertina. Instruments ranging in size from the barely visible to the barely liftable, with bellows in the middle and keys or buttons at the ends, are often misdescribed as ‘concertinas’. They include piano accordion, bandoneon, and melodeon but the true concertina falls into the barely visible classification – small, usually hexagonal or octagonal in shape, with buttons on both ends. As a means of music making, they are loud, bouncy, portable and fun. Most are antiques in their own right – from beautiful specimens in exotic woods with gold buttons to the workaday with crudely cut wooden fretted ends and very basic internals. They work on the principle of passing air over a metal reed (a ‘free reed’), causing it to vibrate and sound the note.
Invented by Sir Charles Wheatstone and patented in 1829, their heyday was from around 1850 to the early 1930’s. Starting out as parlour instruments for the Victorian soiree’s and Concert Halls, they were adopted by the populist environs of music hall and The Salvation Army. Concertina bands were formed, rivalling brass bands. They entered colonial duties to accompany Zulu singing, into Ireland to play dance music and many other manifestations where a lot of music was required from a very small instrument (the Royal Navy, for instance). But they but gradually fell into disuse, with the last volume manufacturer, Wheatstone, ceasing production in the 1970s. Their saving grace was their size – where many bigger instruments were thrown away to make room for something more modern (remember the piano smashing competitions of the 60s and 70s), concertinas were tucked into the back of a cupboard or stuck in the loft, from whence they are now making a triumphal return.
Revival in interest in the instrument started in the 1960s, and a major collection by Neil Wayne of over 600 instruments is now on public display in the Horniman Museum in London, together with a host of information on Wheatstone himself.
The two most common types of concertina are the English and the Anglo. The ‘English Concertina’ layout plays the same note on push and pull has a fully chromatic keyboard, usually with 48 keys in four rows per end, embracing 3 octaves. The German music industry embraced the concertina in the mid 19th century and evolved an alternative design playing alternate notes on the push and pull for each button, rather like a mouth organ, which became known as the Anglo-German, or Anglo. These were generally tuned in two keys (usually C/G or D/G), with rows of accidentals to enable other keys to be accommodated. This design was rapidly embraced by the London based manufacturers and offered as an alternative to the ‘English’. Other variants which attempted to simplify the playing have made appearances, including the Duet concertina, but English and Anglo layouts are the most predominant. As well as the more common treble instruments, piccolo, baritone and bass instruments and all options in between were made (largely for band work). As well as Wheatstone, several other manufacturers came and went, including Lachenal, Crabb, Jefferies. Jones, and Case, all manufacturing in London. Abroad, the Germans, Italians, and now the Far East have all tried to build cheaper beginners instruments, with varying degrees of success.
My own interest in these little beasts goes back to the 70s, when I bought a simple 20 key anglo which was filed it in a cupboard along with fiddle, mandolin and whistles, all requisites of a budding folk enthusiast. When I took it out again a few years ago, it needed some remedial work on the bellows and retuning to modern concert pitch. This was standardised in the 1930s to A= 440Hz – most concertinas were made before this and appear in all sorts of tunings, mostly sharp. While they are generally in tune with themselves, if played in the convivial atmosphere of a session they sound awful – even jazz enthusiasts complain. To cut a long story short, it cost an arm and a leg to have this work done professionally, so I took it up as a hobby and began a gentle decline in concertina fetishism for which there is no cure.
Where can you see and hear them beasts locally? The Sycamore hosts a folk session on the second Thursday of every month, followed by one at the Butchers in Hepworth on the third Thursday – both are free and welcome the casual listener and indeed players of all abilities. Both usually include three or four concertina players of both persuasions (English and Anglo, I mean), alongside fiddle, mandolin, banjo and melodeon and are generally spirited evenings.
If you want more info there is an excellent site on the web, www.concertina.net, which has loads of history, advice, warnings, music and instruments for sale. If you have one which wants repairing, or to sell, give me a ring for advice.
