Trip- wrote:Of course Irish music and of course with people. Learning curve will be longer on D/A I presume. But I may as well give up to the C/G instead. Other things to consider were probably discussed here alot; Wheatstone, Jefferies... Makers... etc.
From what I gathered around, I'd want a low action - shorter button traveling distance. My question is if D/A or C/G have any difference in playability, as if things on a D/A will be easier to achieve, and vice versa, easier on the C/G.
Often, concertinas in different keys will be played using pretty much the same fingering/buttons as the "standard" C/G concertina. In other words, if you play a tune that's normally in C major on a Bb/F concertina, it will come out in Bb major and not in C major.
That makes a lot of sense since quite a few people own several concertinas in different keys. It would be a major pain in the you-know-where having to re-learn each and every single tune with different fingering for each of their instruments!
Concertinas in different keys are generally used with instruments that can transpose easily, ie. non-melody instruments such as guitars. Often, lower-tuned concertinas are chosen as solo instruments for the nicer sound of the lower reeds. As for playability, there shouldn't be any difference at all; what you play on them will just be in a different key.
The D/A seems to be an exception from other concertinas since the A row is tuned a forth below the D, not a fifth above as in other concertinas (cf.
http://www.concertina.net/kc_known_keys.html). So this would definitely ensure that you couldn't play any other concertina "on the fly" unless you stay strictly within one row.
It's hard to imagine how this difference would affect your playing. You might want to ask this question at concertina.net; maybe you can find somebody who actually plays Irish music on a D/A (I'd be surprised, though).
There are two major "schools" of concertina playing, within the rows and across the rows. Within the rows is the older way, probably because earlier concertina players more commonly used two-row instruments without the accidentals and therefore generally played tunes in C and G (and transposed tunes in other keys to those keys, cf. Kitty Hayes played a lot of tunes in C). To some extent, modern players all make use of cross-fingering.
You play across the rows in order to use buttons that are more convenient in regard to finger sequence or bellows direction and to play in different keys from the two main ones. The advantage of a D/A for Irish music would be that you get lower D, lower E, and F#s and C#s on both pull and push (if my improvised button layout conversion is correct). However, you get also G#s and D#s on one of the two main rows, which are not that often used in ITM. This is more or less a waste of "real estate". You'd want to have notes in the two main rows that are most commonly used. The only button that is missing in the C/G layout is the C# (placed in the accidental row). In that respect, a D/G concertina would be a more logical choice than the D/A.
Due to the lower register of the A row, you'd have to use your weaker fingers more on the higher alternate notes on the A row (d, e, f, a would use ring finger and pinky). This might have the effect that you'd play more within the D row and less across the rows, particularly as a beginner in need of developing strength and dexterity in those fingers. Nothing wrong with that per se, but it's a limitation in some regards. This is one of the nice things of the layouts where the inner row is a fifth higher: the most commonly used alternate buttons are placed much more conveniently together for use with your stronger fingers.
I don't quite understand your preference of a D/A over the C/G. Learning to play the C/G well will be "interesting" enough and a big enough challenge. A C/G will allow you to play with others, to participate in workshops or use tutorial DVDs, to get advise from fellow learners, maybe even find a teacher, etc. If you meet another concertina player, you can swap instruments to try out different models/makers. You can listen to recordings and learn much more easily from them; in some recordings, you can clearly distinguish right and left hand usage. This is very helpful in figuring out what the musician does and how certain effects are achieved. If they use a concertina in a different key, you can use Transcribe or the Amazing Slow Downer to change the key and can still use the information on the C/G. Forget about that for the D/A. You'd be pretty much on your own in regard to figuring things out.
You also play the whistle right? You wouldn't advise a beginning whistle player to get a whistle in F, would you?
You can always get a D/A concertina as a second instrument, should you still have the desire later.
