Accordion, Concertina

A concertina, like the various accordions, is a member of the free-reed family of instruments. It was first invented in 1844 by Sir Charles Wheatstone. more...

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Concertinas typically have buttons on both ends and are distinguished from an accordion (piano or button) by the direction of their button travel when pushed. Concertina buttons travel in the same direction as the bellows whereas accordion buttons travel perpendicular to the direction of the bellows.

Concertina Types (Systems)

The name Concertina refers to a family of hand-held bellows-drive free reed instruments constructed according to various systems. The systems differ from one another:

• in the notes and ranges available;
• in the positioning of the keys (buttons);
• in the sonoricity of the notes provided by the keys:
  • the keys of the bisonoric instruments produce differing notes on the press and on the draw;
  • the keys of the unisonoric instruments produce the same note on the press and on the draw;
• in the ability to produce sound in both bellows directions:
  • single action, producing sound only in one bellows direction (usually found only on bass instruments);
  • double action, producing sound in both bellows directions;
• in size and shape of the instrument and the technique required to hold the instrument.

To a player proficient in one of these systems, a concertina constructed according to a different system may be quite unfamiliar.

The most common concertina systems are listed below. The list is not exhaustive, as the concertina is not only a venerable and widespread instrument, but also an evolving instrument: modern experiments in concertina construction include chromatic scales offering more than 12 steps per octave, and instruments which allow the pitch of the notes to be sharped or flatted by the performer.

Anglo concertina

The Anglo concertina (from "Anglo-German") has buttons in curved rows following the fingertips. It is bisonoric: that, is pushing and pulling the bellows (press and draw) give two different notes from the same button, just as a harmonica (which the Anglo layout resembles quite closely) produces different notes on blow and draw.

The heart of the Anglo system consist of two ten-button rows, each of which produces a diatonic major scale, much like the layout of notes on a harmonica. Five buttons of each row are on each side. The two rows are musically a fourth apart, e.g., if the row closest to the player's wrist is in the key of G, the next outer row will be in C. In modern times, a third row of helper notes has been added, consisting in part of accidentals omitted by the diatonic rows, and in part of notes which do exists in the diatonic rows, but in opposite bisonoric orientation to make certain chords possible and certain melodic passages easier. There is some small variation between makers and models in the layout of the notes in the core diatonic rows, and even more variation in the number and layout of the helper notes.

Read more at Wikipedia.org