We folkies need something as lightweight and portable
as a guitar and as multi-voiced/pressure-sensitive as
a modern electronic keyboard.

And so say all/most/a few? of us.

wrote in message
news:6a26c77b-5efc-4b80-9b09-84fa6146d963@26g2000hsk.googlegroups.com...
> We folkies need something as lightweight and portable
> as a guitar and as multi-voiced/pressure-sensitive as
> a modern electronic keyboard.
>

And which doen't need batteries or a power supply?

Keith Cunningham wrote:
>
> wrote in message
>news:6a26c77b-5efc-4b80-9b09-84fa6146d963@26g2000hsk.googlegroups.com...
>> We folkies need something as lightweight and portable
>> as a guitar and as multi-voiced/pressure-sensitive as
>> a modern electronic keyboard.
>>
>
>And which doen't need batteries or a power supply?
>

And comes with "Traditional" pre-installed (free trial; activation 
required).


-- 
Ian White

>> We folkies need something as lightweight and portable
>> as a guitar and as multi-voiced/pressure-sensitive as
>> a modern electronic keyboard.
> And which doen't need batteries or a power supply?

Learn Mongolian throat singing, then.

==== j a c k  at  c a m p i n . m e . u k  ===  <http://www.campin.me.uk> ====
Jack Campin, 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland == mob 07800 739 557
CD-ROMs and free stuff:  Scottish music, food intolerance, and Mac logic fonts

>  wrote in message
> news:6a26c77b-5efc-4b80-9b09-84fa6146d963@26g2000hsk.googlegroups.com...
>> We folkies need something as lightweight and portable
>> as a guitar and as multi-voiced/pressure-sensitive as
>> a modern electronic keyboard.
>>

To fill what gap that you perceive in all the available instruments, just 
out of interest?

-- 
Steve Mansfield
Manchester, England
http://www.lesession.co.uk

"Ian White"  wrote in message 
news:obSc9AT2JjTIFAm2@ifwtech.co.uk...
> Keith Cunningham wrote:
>>
>> wrote in message
>>news:6a26c77b-5efc-4b80-9b09-84fa6146d963@26g2000hsk.googlegroups.com...
>>> We folkies need something as lightweight and portable
>>> as a guitar and as multi-voiced/pressure-sensitive as
>>> a modern electronic keyboard.
>>>
>>
>>And which doen't need batteries or a power supply?
>>
>
> And comes with "Traditional" pre-installed (free trial; activation 
> required).


Bagpipes....

Dave R

On 10 Jun, 18:15, "Steve Mansfield"  wrote:
> >  wrote in message
> >news:6a26c77b-5efc-4b80-9b09-84fa6146d963@26g2000hsk.googlegroups.com...
> >> We folkies need something as lightweight and portable
> >> as a guitar and as multi-voiced/pressure-sensitive as
> >> a modern electronic keyboard.
>
> To fill what gap that you perceive in all the available instruments, just
> out of interest?

Well, I'm a keyboard player, thinking about going gigging again when
I got to thinking that guitaritsts can trot about with their
instruments
but anything keyboardy which wants to be taken seriously has to
have 6 octaves and weighs 3 tons.

The message

from Gill.Smith.999@googlemail.com contains these words:

> On 10 Jun, 18:15, "Steve Mansfield"  wrote:
> > >  wrote in message
> > >news:6a26c77b-5efc-4b80-9b09-84fa6146d963@26g2000hsk.googlegroups.com...
> > >> We folkies need something as lightweight and portable
> > >> as a guitar and as multi-voiced/pressure-sensitive as
> > >> a modern electronic keyboard.
> >
> > To fill what gap that you perceive in all the available instruments, just
> > out of interest?

> Well, I'm a keyboard player, thinking about going gigging again when
> I got to thinking that guitaritsts can trot about with their
> instruments
> but anything keyboardy which wants to be taken seriously has to
> have 6 octaves and weighs 3 tons.

Which I suppose is why there aren't really a lot of folk piano players
out there.

Mind you, I've always fancied swapping the melodeon for a Wurlitzer,
just for one number in the second half, obviously...

-- 

                    Arthur Marshall
           Caller for Traditional Dances
              nb Lord Byron's Maggot
     www.users.zetnet.co.uk/barndancer
       www.myspace.com/arthurhimself

wrote in message
news:e3a6a99a-5837-48f3-86fb-0f44baab7e0d@m73g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
> On 10 Jun, 18:15, "Steve Mansfield"  wrote:
> > >  wrote in message
> >
>news:6a26c77b-5efc-4b80-9b09-84fa6146d963@26g2000hsk.googlegroups.com...
> > >> We folkies need something as lightweight and portable
> > >> as a guitar and as multi-voiced/pressure-sensitive as
> > >> a modern electronic keyboard.
> >
> > To fill what gap that you perceive in all the available instruments,
just
> > out of interest?
>
> Well, I'm a keyboard player, thinking about going gigging again when
> I got to thinking that guitaritsts can trot about with their
> instruments
> but anything keyboardy which wants to be taken seriously has to
> have 6 octaves and weighs 3 tons.

I've seen roll-up computer keyboards so why not a roll-up piano keyboard?

> I've seen roll-up computer keyboards so why not a roll-up piano
> keyboard?

They exist.  They have the same responsiveness as hammering your
fingers on carpet underlay.

I tried a Yamaha MIDI wind instrument once.  It had a touch like
a mobile phone.  Playable mechanisms can't be as minimal as the
electronics manufacturers would like them to be.

An accordion is about the best you can get in the direction the
original poster wanted, without using electronics.

==== j a c k  at  c a m p i n . m e . u k  ===  <http://www.campin.me.uk> ====
Jack Campin, 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland == mob 07800 739 557
CD-ROMs and free stuff:  Scottish music, food intolerance, and Mac logic fonts

Keith Cunningham wrote:
> 
> 
> I've seen roll-up computer keyboards so why not a roll-up piano keyboard?
> 
> 

...they're buggers to light, you know

Keith Cunningham wrote:

> 
> I've seen roll-up computer keyboards so why not a roll-up piano keyboard?
> 
> 

I bought one to take to the folk club - they are useless. They are 
almost impossible to play and sound terrible!

David

On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:56:15 +0100, Tony F
 wrote:
>...they're buggers to light, you know

So are accordions ... although they burn well once you get them going
:-)

SteveW

On Mon, 9 Jun 2008 17:47:46 -0700 (PDT), Gill.Smith.999@googlemail.com
wrote:

>We folkies need something as lightweight and portable
>as a guitar and as multi-voiced/pressure-sensitive as
>a modern electronic keyboard.
>
>And so say all/most/a few? of us.

The human voice makes a nice trad instrument.


Dav Vandenbroucke
davanden at cox dot net

In article 
, 
Gill.Smith.999@googlemail.com () wrote:

> 
> We folkies need something as lightweight and portable
> as a guitar and as multi-voiced/pressure-sensitive as
> a modern electronic keyboard.
> 
> And so say all/most/a few? of us.

Figure out how to play old circuit boards?

wg

On 10 Jun, 22:56, Tony F  wrote:
> Keith Cunningham wrote:
>
> > I've seen roll-up computer keyboards so why not a roll-up piano keyboard?
>
> ...they're buggers to light, you know

But they are great to step dance on. And that way, the dancing and the
music is always perfectly in sync.

But I'd agree with Jack, a piano accordion is probably the best
option, though some of them can be heavy enough. The other alternative
might be an English concertina, though I still can't get my fingers to
have a sensible working relationship with mine.

> But I'd agree with Jack, a piano accordion is probably the best
> option, though some of them can be heavy enough. The other alternative
> might be an English concertina, though I still can't get my fingers to
> have a sensible working relationship with mine.

Well English concertina was where I was going to be honest - portable, fully 
chromatic, great for tunes and song accompaniment, and (if your brain works 
the right way) nice to play.

My brain does do EC, thankfully, but I do know some people never get on with 
them (in the same way that I've made repeated attempts to play diatonic 
accordeon and never get past first base).

Which reminds me I wanted to start another thread :)


-- 
Steve Mansfield
Manchester, England
http://www.lesession.co.uk

banksie@cix.co.uk wrote:
> SNIP

  a piano accordion is probably the best
> option, though some of them can be heavy enough. The other alternative
> might be an English concertina, though I still can't get my fingers to
> have a sensible working relationship with mine.

An interesting concept, then, may be a shotgun-marriage between an 
accordion and a synth.  Keep the key/button layout, but substitute 
electronics - result, a lightweight accordion that can pretend to be a 
grand piano!

And they said Frankenstein was mad!!!

Dav Vandenbroucke wrote:

> 
> The human voice makes a nice trad instrument.
> 
> 

Not all of them...............

> An interesting concept, then, may be a shotgun-marriage between an 
> accordion and a synth.  Keep the key/button layout, but substitute 
> electronics - result, a lightweight accordion that can pretend to
> be a grand piano!

They've been around for years.  Roland V-accordions are one type.

It's not exactly lightweight if you have to carry a PA rig as well.

==== j a c k  at  c a m p i n . m e . u k  ===  <http://www.campin.me.uk> ====
Jack Campin, 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland == mob 07800 739 557
CD-ROMs and free stuff:  Scottish music, food intolerance, and Mac logic fonts

Jack Campin - bogus address wrote:
>>
> 
> It's not exactly lightweight if you have to carry a PA rig as well.
> 

Not trying very hard in the design department then - even a mobile phone 
can produce an annoyingly loud output from damn-all weight these days. 
Can't be beyond the wit of man to build a speaker in - NXT panel frinstance?

Actually, looking at the Roland, not quite what came to mind.  I wasn't 
really thinking of an accordion substitute, more a device that used the 
layout, for familiarity's sake, but with the relationship to the 
original that a skeleton electric fiddle has to a standard acoustic violin.

Not that the wiring of my digits would ever allow me to make anything 
resembling music from any of the above discussed, you understand...

Tony "Ten-thumbs" Fisk

Voice, PC and power drill accompaniment

Tony F said:
>
> And they said Frankenstein was mad!!!

They were right, and all.

-- 
Richard Robinson
"The whole plan hinged upon the natural curiosity of potatoes" - S. Lem

My email address is at http://www.qualmograph.org.uk/contact.html

In message <XiU3k.70200$Bz2.26316@newsfe28.ams2>, Tony F 
 writes
>An interesting concept, then, may be a shotgun-marriage between an 
>accordion and a synth.  Keep the key/button layout, but substitute 
>electronics - result, a lightweight accordion that can pretend to be a 
>grand piano!

These exist. Theres a local lad who turns up at one of the 
your-turn-next "sessions". Plays accordion. Plays it well. Has bought 
one that is electronic and to my dismay prefers it and all its synth 
this-sound and that sound pretensions to the actually very nice sound of 
an ordinary accordion.

Dont' get me wrong. I like synths (I have some), but I like them for 
what they do and accordions for what they do. One is not the same as the 
other and all that.

Apparently one of his reasons for liking the synth accordion is that it 
is lighter than the genuine accordion. Having held the synth one I can 
only guess that the genuine accordion is ****ing heavy!

Stephen
-- 
Stephen Kellett
Object Media Limited    http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk/software.html
Computer Consultancy, Software Development
Windows C++, Java, Assembler, Performance Analysis, Troubleshooting
Reg Office: 24 Windmill Walk, Sutton, Ely, Cambs CB6 2NH.

Keith Cunningham wrote:
 >  wrote in message
 > news:6a26c77b-5efc-4b80-9b09-84fa6146d963@26g2000hsk.googlegroups.com...
 >> We folkies need something as lightweight and portable
 >> as a guitar and as multi-voiced/pressure-sensitive as
 >> a modern electronic keyboard.
 >>
 >
 > And which doen't need batteries or a power supply?
 >
 >

Here's my suggestion- an electronic hurdy-gurdy. A slotted wheel 
supplies the right- hand information - speed and acceleration- while 
simple keyswitches are adequate for the left hand- the hg is decidedly 
digital as regards the keys. Energy to run the thing can be harvested 
from the crank, but only enough for a small amplifier. So the main 
amplification would be done by acoustically- the instrument maker's art 
is retained, along with the tone of an acoustic instrument.

One advantage would be that the keyboard would be easily relocatable, so 
left handers wouldn't have to have a special instrument made.

JS

On 11 Jun, 17:50, "Steve Mansfield"  wrote:

> --
> Steve Mansfield
> Manchester, Englandhttp://www.lesession.co.uk

Does 'Lilypond syntax' mean anything to you?

In article <g2t9f2$k8f$1@aioe.org>, JSprocket   wrote:
>simple keyswitches are adequate for the left hand- the hg is decidedly 
>digital as regards the keys.

Many players, myself included, would beg to differ. Vibrato, pitch
bending and other techniques would be impossible with keyswitches.

Dave

Gill.Smith.999@googlemail.com wrote:
> On 11 Jun, 17:50, "Steve Mansfield"  wrote:
> 
>> --
>> Steve Mansfield
>> Manchester, Englandhttp://www.lesession.co.uk
> 
> Does 'Lilypond syntax' mean anything to you?

Have a look at http://lilypond.org/ for everything you might possibly 
want to know, assuming that is that you're talking about the music 
notation system that looks like an unholy alliance between abc, XML, and 
ten thousand monkeys taking a break from trying to write Hamlet :)


-- 
Steve Mansfield
Manchester, England
http://www.lesession.co.uk

On 11 Jun, 18:54, Tony F  wrote:
> bank...@cix.co.uk wrote:
> > SNIP
>
>   a piano accordion is probably the best
>
> > option, though some of them can be heavy enough. The other alternative
> > might be an English concertina, though I still can't get my fingers to
> > have a sensible working relationship with mine.
>
> An interesting concept, then, may be a shotgun-marriage between an
> accordion and a synth.  Keep the key/button layout, but substitute
> electronics - result, a lightweight accordion that can pretend to be a
> grand piano!

The other option is a motorised piano. The Steinway 'Allegro'. 0-60 in
six bars.

No problem getting to gigs then.

Traffic jams become alfresco gigs. Tremendous.

The easiest solution is a melodica. Used with the tube extension it
can be held flat like an organ keyboard (so you're well away from the
off), or even placed on the knees and played with both hands, though
it takes a lot of puff to sound 5 notes at once! This was my first
choice when I first needed an 'acoustic' keyboard. Accordions are all
very well but very heavy, and splitting your brain to play two totally
different instruments (keys and chord buttons) at once is not easy.
English concertinas are ok but not very versatile for chords, melody
and harmony all at once. Get a duet. Works for me. Tom

On 23 Jun, 08:05, TomBliss  wrote:

> The easiest solution is a melodica. Used with the tube extension it
> can be held flat like an organ keyboard (so you're well away from the
> off), or even placed on the knees and played with both hands, though
> it takes a lot of puff to sound 5 notes at once! This was my first
> choice when I first needed an 'acoustic' keyboard. Accordions are all
> very well but very heavy, and splitting your brain to play two totally
> different instruments (keys and chord buttons) at once is not easy.
> English concertinas are ok but not very versatile for chords, melody
> and harmony all at once. Get a duet. Works for me. Tom

That's exactly what I'm intending. Hoping to get to my first open mic
on Thursday to  try and hitch up with a local singer.

Far too many folks still seem leery of cyberbands but to my mind
conventional gigging is about to become prohibitively expensive.

Hi

Surely what is needed is a definition of what is meant by a "folk
instrument" - and if one performs "proper" folk music on a non-folk
instrument, can it still be regarded as folk music!!!    8^)

Regards (hastily ducking for cover)

p.s. joking apart, even if I am hazy about the time and place, I still
remember the turmoil caused at the (Keele??) folk festival many years
ago (late 1960s??) when somebody on stage had the audacity to plug his
amplified instrument into the nearest mains socket - like poking a
stick into an ants' nest it was; I think the committee had a communal
heart attack!!!!!!


KGB