Concertinas, free-reed instruments developed in England and Germany, produce sound by forcing air past a vibrating reed to make vibrations heard through its body. Used for many forms of music composition and performance.
Charles Wheatstone invented the concertina in 1829 and its popularity quickly spread among Victorian England’s drawing rooms and drawing room music scenes, before being adopted by Industrial bands and organizations such as The Salvation Army.
English
Concertina music is distinguished by the ability to produce multiple notes simultaneously on one instrument. This process is accomplished by pressing down on a bellows and making metallic reeds vibrate under pressure from pressing against it; sounds produced may differ depending on instrument shape and pressure applied by pressing bellows.
Small instrument with bellows similar to an accordion and hexagonal ends featuring studs (no KBD). Bellows can be operated manually by pressing down on metallic reeds that produce sounds when pressed by hand.
There are various variations of concertinas, some producing sound when compressed bellows are compressed while others allowing sound when drawn back by drawing out bellows. Most have buttons arranged along a chromatic scale with even semitone steps between buttons.
The two row Anglo-German concertina was an extremely popular instrument during the late 19th century in America, especially among working classes and members of Salvation Army for chordal accompaniment.
Anglo-German
The concertina is a free-reed instrument similar to an accordion, however unlike accordions which rely on individual buttons for every note produced, concertinas utilize an array of ten buttons which produce full scale sound.
Charles Wheatstone first invented the concertina in 1829, with further advancement occurring later by Carl Friedrich Uhlig in Germany. Later brought back over via German steamships for distribution throughout North America where it soon became widely popular.
Irish traditional music incorporated accordions as a primary part of its repertoire, played predominantly by working-class people from Ireland’s working class population. They soon adopted it for use by London street musicians, Yorkshire mummers, Boer trekkers and Australian diggers.
Anglo-German concertinas were traditionally two row instruments, although some designs included three and four rows as well. Most frequently they were played using the C/G system as shown here (Richter tuning), although they could also be made to play in key combinations such as A/D or Ab/Eb.
Franglo
The concertina is a bellows-driven free-reed instrument similar to an accordion or harmonica, featuring expanding and contracting bellows, reed pan, action pan and buttons at either end.
Throughout the 19th century, concertinas were an extremely popular instrument used for music and dance across English-speaking regions of the world, including Ireland and Salvation Army circles as well as North America, Australia and New Zealand.
There are various varieties of concertinas, all featuring folding bellows and button configuration. Their key difference lies in how scale notes are distributed between sides.
English and German concertinas were both invented during England’s industrialization during the 1830s; respectively designed by Charles Wheatstone for England and Carl Friedrich Uhlig for Germany.
Bandoneon
Bandoneons are a form of concertina that are widely played in Argentina and Uruguay, where it forms the backbone of traditional orchestras (tango orquesta tipica) as well as smaller ensembles of tango musicians. A bellows-driven free reed instrument with miniature accordion-like characteristics, it is popularly used in these countries.
Heinrich Band (1821-1860), in Germany, invented the bandoneon as an improvement on an older German concertina (now considered to be folk instrument). Italian season workers and German immigrants introduced it to Buenos Aires late 19th century where it quickly gained favor among tango musicians.
As with other concertinas, the bandoneon must be held between both hands and pressed with fingers to open free metallic reeds that can be routed through reedpans or instrument buttons. Furthermore, players must time air pressure changes in the bellows in order to create different timbres known as bisonoric sounds; this challenge presents itself to beginners but with practice it becomes second nature over time.