Demonstration - New Designs for the English Concertina

Concertinists Henrik Müller (Denmark/Sweden) and Stuart Eydmann (Scotland) demonstrate their physical adaptations of the English Concertina and playing techniques developed to make the instrument more suited to Scottish and Irish music.

Henrik Müller purchased his first English concertina in 1976, inspired by a concert with the Chieftains. He began exploring music from the British Isles in 1978 with emphasis on Irish music. In 1980 he discovered the groundbreaking LP featuring Noel Hill and Tony Linnane and realised that the system he had chosen was radically different from what is used in Irish music. Faced with the choice ”give up playing or build your own”, he designed and built his own English concertina in 2006, debuting it at the Éigse Mrs. Crotty concertina festival in Kilrush.

Stuart Eydmann has played and recorded (Claddagh, Greentrax) with the Scottish traditional band The Whistlebinkies for over 45 years. He has researched and written on the history of the concertina, particularly in Scotland. In recent years he has piloted changes in the layout of the English Concertina and adopted ideas from Henrik Müller with a view to making the instrument more suited to the characteristics of Scottish and related musics. This led, in late 2024, to the Caledonian concertina that he will demonstrate today.