The Use of the Concertina in Morris Dancing

Free reed instruments are used in various performances of morris dancing. While the accordion is the most common of these instruments to use there are some other free reeds, and one of the most common is that of the concertina. The use of the concertina in morris dancing is made through the unique sound that the instrument creates.

The concertina is similar to an accordion in that it is one of the free reed instruments used in morris dancing. The concertina features buttons on each end of the instrument and work in accordance with the direction that the button is at when it is pressed. Different sounds are used based on the directions.

Each button on the concertina will create an individual note. This is different from that of an accordion in that the accordion can create chords with one button. However, with the concertina more complex moves will be needed for a chord to be created.

Each bellows direction will be able to create sounds. This includes double action sounds that are created when sounds are made through both bellows direction.

The fingers on the hands will have their own use for this instrument. Four fingers on each hand will be used for creating the notes through the buttons on the concertina. The thumbs will be used for helping to work the air valve on the instrument. The controls for the valve are used for the expansion and contract of the bellows of the concertina without creating any additional notes.

Various different keys are used for the concertina in morris dancing. The C/G key is considered to be the most popular key to use. The G/D and Bf/F keys are also used here. However, the C/G key is used by people who are more interested in musical traditions used in Ireland for the performance of morris dancing.

The concertina has become one of the more popular free reed instruments to use in morris dancing. This is because of the variety of notes that can be created through the instrument. While the pipe and tabor have been used over the past few centuries as the main instrument of choice the concertina has become an instrument that is more in favor with others because of this. This is especially the case for styles of morris dancing when tunes can change multiple times during a performance.

The concertina in morris dancing is an instrument that is great and important to many who are interested in the form of dancing. This is one of the free reed instruments that is great in that it is easy to handle and can create various notes and combinations of notes as well. With this it can be seen that it has indeed become a more popular instrument in recent years.