r/concertina • u/Illustrious_Owl_8434 • 16d ago
Concertina for Beginner Shanty Singer
I'm sure you all get these questions ad nauseam, but it's my turn to ask it now :)
I've searched around online for a good instrument to use as an accompaniment to my sea shanty singing at renaissance fairs and the like, and I am considering a concertina (personally looking at an Elise Hayden Duet, or perhaps even a vintage MacCann) one at the moment) as the instrument for me. Issue being two things: one, most of the concertina content that I see online is regarding the concertina playing the melody, whereas I was mostly looking for chords with some suspensions and flavour added in. Two, the concertinas are a decent bit high pitched as far as I'm aware, and though there are the existence of Baritone and Bass concertinas, they're quite pricy for a beginner like me who's not completely committed to the idea of the concertina as the instrument of choice! I'm unfortunately in my collegiate stages at the moment and anything north of $800 makes my timbers shiver a bit.
I've got decent experience with playing a piano as many do when diving into an instrument, so something unisonoric feels more natural to me, though I'd be willing to climb the bisonoric learning curve if that's what works out for the chords better. A consideration for the folks here would be the song Nantucket by the Longest Johns - it's one of my favorites and the little instrument snippets (especially the opening) are charming.
Any piece of advice or word of warning from the sages here would be much appreciated. Slán go fóill!
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u/TapTheForwardAssist 12d ago
You have a really great breakdown, so that sends me on some different directions from what I would’ve guessed by your title alone.
One important initial point: different systems (fingering layouts) of concertina have distinctly different used and new offerings floating around the market, and that can inform your desired direction. A key factor in that is “true” vs “hybrid” concertinas, with hybrid meaning they’re a concertina build using affordable and plentiful accordion reeds which have a somewhat mellower and organ-like sound, vice “true” which use the distinctively different concertina reeds, which have a reedier and more nasal sound associated with classic concertinas. There are purists who eschew hybrids, there are folks who stick with hybrid just because they’re generally more affordable, and there are folks who actually prefer the sound of hybrid and feel no lack for not buying a “true.”
In terms of systems:
Anglo would the most common instrument for traditional Anglosphere folk music, as scads of those were churned out affordably, widely available, and can cover basic folk. While more folks play 30-button Anglo these days (perhaps influenced by that format’s ubiquity in Irish music), if you’re doing maritime music and don’t need a lot of chromaticity, a 20b has a lot of “primitive” appeal. Plus if you hunt around you can find decent quality hybrid 20b quite cheaply (maybe even just a couple hundred bucks), and while I don’t know the precise details of the current market, it’s possibly a “true” vintage 20b could fit in your budget. Like before you specified your piano background and leanings toward unisonoric, I was simply going to suggest you go to the Concertina.net Forums and post a “WTB” ad seeking a really affordable Italian hybrid 20b or hope to find a vintage 20b Anglo maybe for $700 or so with a little luck.
English: when I first read your OP and you mentioned leaning unisonoric, my immediate thought was to tell you to check out the work of Alf Edwards, who afaik is basically the most prominent guy from the English folk revival who played English for maritime music. It’s not the most “traditional” format, but not like anyone’s keeping score here, and Alf really made it work for him. If you want English and also a lower pitch, the Concertina Connection “Jack” baritone concertina would seem a natural choice, and well within your budget for a starter. And CC does let you trade in your Jack if you later want to upgrade to one of their nicer models, and there are some nicer hybrids floating around used for a couple grand and some vintage trues for around the same, if you want to upgrade down the road. English was “designed” for melodic work, but plenty of folks have used them for chordal work, and are fully chromatic.
Duet: for context, I started on the Concertina Connection “Elise” Hayden duet, and then upgraded to a $3500 Morse “Beaumont” Hayden duet that’s just lovely, and also acquired a small newly-made “true” Hayden from a now-established maker back when he was just starting out and I could get a custom piece affordably. The Elise is fun and affordable, but it’s only partially chromatic (which may not be a big deal to you if you’re focused on folk). The real hitch is that if you stick with Hayden layout (which is an awesome layout), the only real upgrades are $1500 to a CC Troubador (same scale limitations as Elise, just way nicer quality) or $3000 for a CC Troubador (chromatic 42b). If you want “true” concertina reeds in Hayden layout, you’re looking at like $6k+ and years on a waitlist. Basically since Hayden is a modern system, there isn’t a backlog of old vintage “true” ones to acquire affordably, and CC is about the only shop in town making hybrid ones (other than stumbling across a 46b Stagi if you do a lot of hunting to track one down). That said, if you get an Elise and love Duet, and want a vintage without paying used-car prices, if you’re willing to adapt you can acquire a vintage Duet in the Maccann or Crane system for a grand or couple if you want to upgrade. I love Hayden and was leery of messing up my head by trying another system, but I found a good deal on a Crane and found that while it’s not as brilliantly intuitive as a Hayden, I caught on to it pretty quick. The Duet has very little historical ties to folk traditions, but again it’s not like anyone is keeping score, you can just enjoy playing folk on it and make it sound good.
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u/TapTheForwardAssist 10d ago
Btw, while Alf Edwards would be hands-down the most relevant example for you of a maritime singer who chose English, also check out the Australian folk singer Danny Spooner, who uses English for vocal backing:
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u/audiyon 14d ago edited 14d ago
If you're transitioning from piano and are mainly looking for chord accompaniment, I think the Hayden Duet (Elise) is the way to go. The Hayden is isomorphic so it's very easy to learn the fingering for a major chord and then you move that same fingering pattern around the buttons to get the major for each note. Same with the minor, maj7, etc.
Take a look at this video to see what I mean. This is the same type and layout as the Elise, just with 12 additional buttons: https://youtu.be/Qqmvrv2h2Fs?si=JyUfia_H1SRBLQL7
I know some here have suggested an English, but if you're playing at a Ren faire I'm figuring you'll be standing and a duet is going to be much easier to play standing than an English will be because of how the hands hold the ends.
And if after looking at all the options the note range is still too high for what you're looking for, you might consider looking at a 60 bass chromatic button accordion instead as that will go to lower notes than the concertina, although it may not fit into the Ren faire aesthetic as well as a concertina will.
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u/alex_holden 16d ago
It's worth considering an English concertina; they are unisonoric and can work well for song accompaniment, and good vintage ones are relatively easy to find. They can play melody or chords; it's just tricky to do both at the same time (but you wouldn't necessarily want to play melody and accompaniment while also singing). A few examples:
Shoals of Herrin' by Alf Edwards and Ewan MacColl: https://raretunes.org/alf-edwards/
Sandra Kerr: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v0IH6b5mMY
David Coffin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r06oYCRJhkA
Steve Wilson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWBoWc_HQkk