Happy New Year!

Happy (almost) New Year to all melodeon nerds! This post marks over 2 years of Music and Melodeons (a temporary name that I have never got around to changing) and the end to another calendar year.

Jazz Ceilidh Project

Hello everybody! Have a listen to this:

Kristjani Reilender

I have a new spot to practise. I’ve been trying to get back into playing box recently (see this post) with some success. What I’ve been trying to do is create times where playing the box is desirable, rather than just snatching some time and trying to be productive. I find productivity rather difficult on box, I tend to progress most when I’m supposed to be doing something else. I suspect I am not alone in that regard.

Jazz Ceilidh – 24th November at Jagz in Ascot

Tickets: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/239740

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/195882387252836/?fref=ts

I have something exciting to announce. I am playing in a ceilidh! Nothing new about that you may say, but this one is special.

Inside and Out Part 7 – The Atzarin Accordion

Well. It has been a while since I last spoke to you, hasn’t it? My apologies. Life moves on, ever more hectically and finding the time to keep up this blog gets ever more difficult. But I shall try. I always seem to have a few posts in mind, I just need to find the time to write them down!

Since last I spoke to you I have been busy. I spoke at a conference in Oxford on Musical Instruments organised by the Galpin Society and gave a poster at the Stockholm Music Acoustics Conference. This was very rewarding. Musically things are starting to pick up again (see this post if you are new to this blog) and I have an extremely exciting project starting, of which more anon.

Why I didn’t give up melodeon

I came very close to giving up box this year. For those that know me (or have bothered to read the rest of this blog), that may seem inconceivable. But I did come very close to giving up.

The Atzarin Accordion

Hello everybody! Today I announce a new project. A little while back I wrote a post on Accordion Classification, which mentioned that there had never been a “Bisonoric, Chromatic Button Accordion”. It did however mention two such systems, the Loomes Chromatic and the Atzarin System.

A tribute to Tony Hall

It is a week of tributes apparently. I am going to break convention by making a tribute to someone whilst they are still alive. That person is Tony Hall.

I remember the first time that I ever heard Tony Hall. It was also the first time that I heard his name. It was at an amazing concert called “The Sound of Hohner” at the Manor Pavilion Theatre during Sidmouth Folk Week 2008 (I think). It was a concert which featured some of the best players of Hohner instruments around, including Tony Hall, John Kirkpatrick (another massive influence), Pete Coe, Ed Rennie (who organised it), Chris Parkinson and others. You had to be there and I’m fortunate in that I was.

It has been too long

Hello everybody! It has been far too long; over three months have passed since last we spoke.

They have been an eventful three months, which is my principal excuse for inactivity. I was offered a job part way through January and am now working full time as an Acoustic Consultant (see this post for why), mainly looking at noise management for construction projects. Unfortunately it is a hefty commute away and so most of my time has been spent going to work, commuting and sleeping. I am now getting into the swing of things though, so fingers crossed I should have a bit more time soon.

Inside and Out Part 6 – The Shand Morino

Today we go back to Inside and Out and I’ve got one of the giants of the accordion world to take apart for your delectation and delight. For those of you who are new to the blog and don’t know what this series is about, see Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. This week I’ve been given a set of pictures by Ian Cruickshanks (the same Ian Cruickshanks who took the pictures of the Schwyzerörgeli) from one of his other accordions – his 1950s Shand Morino.