The Cutest Little Concertina - Bob Tedrow's "Concer-tiny"

Web Site by Tom Lawrence

Part of the appeal for me was the minimalism of having only 10 buttons. It is very like a single row melodeon, which also has 10 buttons. You have to think and plan ahead, yet it is possible to play most tunes with a little adjustment.

Bob's standard configuration takes the C row of a regular concertina and raises it one step, to become a D row. The choice of D lends itself to Irish music quite well. Such a configuration is shown below. It plays in D major, but the lack of a C-natural and F-natural can be a handicap for Irish music.

In my notation, each dot above the letter indicates an increase of one octave, where each octave starts in C and ends on the B nearly an octave above. A C with one dot is middle C. The next half-step below is a B with no dot, and the next half-step above is a C-sharp with one dot. The first letter indicates the pitch on the press and the second letter indicates the pitch on the draw.

Since I play primarily Irish music, I decided to ask Bob for a couple of simple modifications. First, the very low notes on the left hand button and the very high notes on the right hand button are not really needed in Irish music. Therefore, they could be replaced by the F natural and C-natural. The F-natural is on the press, like the F-sharp, and the C-natural is on the draw, like the C-sharp. The second octave F natural replaces the unused third octave F-sharp.

One conundrum was what to do about the highest C, at the top of the second octave. It could either be a C-natural or a C-sharp. Since it is easier to retune a reed down, I decided to start with the C-sharp here, but I am inclined to think the C-natural might be a better choice since tunes employing scales using C-sharp (such as D major) tend to sit lower than those employing C-natural (such as G major and A dorian).

Finally, to facilitate ornamentation on the right hand, I asked Bob to put an additional air button on the left hand side.

I find this instrument fun to play and relaxing to mess about with. I'm not nearly as proficient on it as I am with the standard configuration, but I've found that having a significantly different alternative system actually gives insight back to the primary system I use, such that I've found new ways of playing that I would not have thought of had I not been playing this instrument.

One thing that amuses me greatly: the concertina is quite small yet it is much the loudest concertina I have. It's a great bit of irony to pull at a session.

http://www.concertina.net - A comprehensive source of information about concertinas, and a very friendly discussion board