Site News

The Concertina Journal is pleased to announce the publication of a new article by Eric Matusewitch entitled The Concertina and “The Princess”. Eric Matusewitch discusses The Princess Comes Across, a 1936 movie featuring a concertina player in a starring role.

The Concertina Journal is pleased to announce the publication of a new article by Eric Matusewitch entitled Rolly Rolls: “The Merry Parisian”. Eric Matusewitch discusses the life and work of the celebrated performer Rolly Rolls.

This month we have added three new items to the Journal:

• An Article by Henrik Müller entitled “No Thumb Straps, No Finger Rests, but it IS an English: A Personal Journey”. Henrik tells the story of developing a modified English concertina, optimised for playing fast Irish traditional music.
• A new Current Chronicle entry for Great Britain by Harry Scurfield. Harry’s piece is based on interviews with several young British concertina players.
• A Brief Note from Eric Matusewitch. Eric Matusewitch uncovers the only known composition for concertina by his father, Boris, who wrote it while serving in the Army in 1944.

The Concertina Journal is pleased to announce the publication of a new article by Göran Rahm entitled “The English Concertina and the Dilemma of the Fourth Finger: An Ergonomic View”. This short article examines the anatomy of the hand and its implications for players of the English concertina.

The Concertina Journal is pleased to announce the publication of a new article by Allan Atlas entitled “The English Concertina and Finger 4: Four Victorian Views”. Learn what prominent Victorian concertina professors had to say about releasing the little finger from its finger rests in order to play with all four fingers of each hand.

A number of new items are being added to The Journal, just in time for your holiday reading:

• An Article by Allan Atlas entitled A Richard Blagrove Letter at the Royal Academy of Music. Blagrove was a prominent nineteenth-century proponent of the English Concertina.
• Reviews by Roger Digby of recent recordings by Charles Marshall, Cormac Begley, Steven Arntson, and Michael Hebbert.
• A new serial segment within Brief Notes entitled Concertina Tutors of the Victorian and Edwardian Eras. Three old tutors are posted in their entirety (one by Richard Blagrove for the English Concertina, with comments by Allan Atlas, and two by Charles Roylance for the Anglo Concertina, with comments by Dan Worrall)
• A Current Chronicle entry for Australia, by Warren Fahey, who joins the editorial staff as Country Correspondent for that country. Warren comments extensively on the history and status of the concertina Down Under.
• Also in the Current Chronicle, a text-only version of a book by Dan Worrall entitled House Dance: Dance Music Played on the Anglo-German Concertina by Musicians of the House Dance Era, originally published by Musical Traditions in 2014. There are instructions there on how to hear the 200+ archival sound recordings from around the world that accompany the text.

With best wishes for the Holiday Season,

The Editors

The Concertina Journal is a new online magazine that provides an opportunity for publication of articles related to all aspects of the concertina. This nineteenth-century musical instrument has a small but dedicated following of aficionados from locations that range from the UK and Ireland to Australia, South Africa, Germany, and the Americas, among others. In its various forms, the concertina appears in genres ranging from classical to deeply rooted traditional music to contemporary pop. The new journal gives voice to this great diversity by providing space for scholarly articles, both long and short, each of which is peer-reviewed and edited to academic standards. In addition, a Current Chronicle will invite reflections on present-day concertina playing around the world, while the Reviews section will carry reviews of books and recordings.

The Journal’s founding editors include Allan Atlas, Roger Digby, Randall Merris, and Dan Worrall, each with a long list of publications and involvement with concertina-related activities in the UK and the US. Invited “country correspondents” in the first launch include Tim Collins, Ireland; Stephaan van Zyl, South Africa; and Harry Scurfield, Great Britain. A true online journal, articles are published as they are edited and reviewed, without waiting for arbitrary issue dates or print deadlines. The contributors, including Webmaster Alex Holden, are all volunteers, and they invite colleagues around the globe to submit articles for publication. There are no subscription fees.