Concertina History

A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. Ithas a bellows, and buttons typically on both ends of it. When pressed, the buttons travel in thesame direction as the bellows, unlike accordion buttons, which travel perpendicularly to thebellows. Also, each button produces one note, while accordions typically produce chords with asingle button.

The concertina was developed in England and Germany, most likely independently. The English versionwas invented in 1829 by Sir Charles Wheatstone, who filed a patent for an improved version in 1844.Carl Friedrich Uhlig announced the German version in 1834.

English SystemEnglish system concertinas traditionally share several features:
Unisonoric (push and draw on each button yield the same note), chromatic.Each button has a pivot * Hexagon shaped ends (though octagons and other shapes wereproduced as well
The English concertina is a chromatic instrument, having buttons in a rectangular arrangementof four staggered rows, with the short side of the rectangle addressing the wrist. The invention ofthe instrument is credited to Sir Charles Wheatstone; his earliest patent of a like instrument wasgranted 19 December 1829, No 5803 in Great Britain. The two innermost rows of the layout constitutea diatonic C major scale, distributed alternately between the two sides of the instrument. Thus in agiven range, C-E-G-B-d is on one side, D-F-A-c-e on the other. The two outer rows consist of thesharps and flats required to complete the chromatic scale. This distribution of scale notes betweensides facilitates rapid melodic play. (Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee" was transcribedfor English concertina early in the instrument's history.). But it also renders chords moredifficult to learn than scales.

Giulio Regondi was a virtuoso performer and composer on this instrument as well as the guitar, andhelped to popularize the instrument during the 19th century. Allan Atlas, in his book The WheatstoneConcertina in Victorian England identifies six known concertos written for this instrument. Manysonatas and other pieces survive.

The English concertina is typically held by placing the thumbs through thumb straps and the littlefingers on metal finger rests, leaving three fingers free for playing. Alternatively, both thefourth and little fingers support the metal finger rest, leaving two fingers for playing. In theclassical style of Regondi, the little finger is used as well as the other three fingers, and themetal finger rests are used only very occasionally. This allows all eight fingers to simultaneouslyplay the instrument so large chords are possible. In pieces such as the Bernhard Molique Concerto No1 in G for concertina and orchestra, or Percy Grainger's Shepherd's Hey, four, five, and six notechords are not uncommon, and would be difficult or impossible to play without using all the fingers.

English-system treble concertinas usually span 3 1/2 octaves. Baritones aresimilar but transpose down one octave. The keyboard stud-arrangement and spacing is the same throughout, soconcertina band players can all play from music in treble clef, and it's straightforward to movefrom smaller to larger instruments.

Anglo System Concertinas

The Anglo, Irish or Seaman's concertina is, historically, a hybrid between the English and Germanconcertinas. The button layouts are generally the same as the original 20-button German concertinasdesigned by Uhlig in 1834. Within a few years of that date, the German concertina was a popularimport in England, Ireland, and North America, due to its ease of use and relatively low price.English manufacturers responded to this popularity by offering their own versions using traditionalInitially the term Anglo-German only applied to concertinas of this typebuilt in England—but as German manufacturers adopted some of these techniques, the term came toapply to all concertinas that used Uhlig's 20-button system. Use of the "German" part of the titleAnglo-German ceased in the UK during World War I.

The heart of the Anglo system consists of two 10-button rows, each of which produces a diatonicmajor scale in a pattern devised around 1826 by a Bohemian called Richter for use in a harmonica(Richter tuning). Five buttons of each row are on each side. The two rows are musically a fifthapart. For example, if the row closest to the player's wrist is in the key of G, the next outer rowis in the key of C below. An advantage of the Richter scale is that pressing three adjacent notes inone row produces a major triad. Also, because the travel direction inverts as you progress up thescale, at the point where the scale crosses from one side of the concertina to the other octaves canbe played in the home keys.

A third row of extra notes was eventually added, loosely derived from the C scale. Theseadded accidentals and notes that already existed in the diatonic rows, but in opposite bisonoricorientation, to make additional chords possible and certain melodic passages easier. At this pointthe instrument was chromatic over two octaves, but not every chord or other note combination wasavailable in either push or draw. There is little variation between makers and models in the layoutof the notes in the core diatonic rows, but somewhat more variation in the number and layout of the'helper' notes. The two most common layouts of this 30-button variety are the Jeffries and Lachenalsystems. Instruments in the key of C/G are most typical. Concertinas were popular with the Salvation Army.

The Anglo concertina is typically held by placing the hands through a leather strap, with the thumbsoutside the strap and the palms resting on wooden bars. This arrangement leaves four fingers of eachhand free for playing, and the thumbs free to operate an air valve (for expanding or contracting thebellows without sounding a note) or a drone. Anglo concertinas are often associated with the musicof Ireland—though they are also used in other musical contexts, particularly in music for theEnglish Morris dance and Boeremusiek. Famous English players of the Anglo include Scan Tester, JohnSpiers, William Kimber, and John Kirkpatrick.