Terminology: notes and buttons

Note terminology

Bb/F Concertina by Adelaide maker Pierre Hooft ( dec’d)

In this tutor I use “abc” system conventions to describe the notes ( a full explanation of all this is here in the quick guide to the abc notation system ) . But, I do diverge from that system by using c# and F#/f# instead of ^c and ^F/^f, just so this is easier to read.

Button positions/names

I will call the buttons according to the row they are in, C, G or T (T standing for 3^rd row but some people call this the outside row, or accidentals row too). So the first bass button in the C row LHS, the lowest note on the instrument, is called C1, then up the LHS as far as C5, which plays the notes G and A. Then you just continue on the RHS. So C6 is the button closest to the top of the instrument, your RH index sits on it, and it plays notes B and c.

And so it goes up to the upper range of the instrument to button C10.

Now the same naming pattern applies to the G row and the T row. So the buttons in those rows are called, respectively , G1-G10, and T1 – T10. Most of the Irish music we play (apart from those fiddle tunes which go down onto the G string) ranges from buttons G2 and C3 up to G7 and C9. Of course we can go lower down than G2 and C3 on the concer, but you’re much more restricted with options and fluency than say a fiddle.