Hexagonal or Polygonal Shape

Concertinas

Unlike German Konzertinas, instruments with a usually hexagonal body are concertinas of English origin.

Charles Wheatstone patented the unisonoric, chromatic English concertina in 1844. Unisonoric means that a button produces the same note on the push and pull; chromatic means that all twelve notes of an octave are available rather than only the notes of a diatonic key.

At first, the concertina was an expensive, finely made instrument of the upper classes in England. It was used for classical music, virtuoso solos and chamber music. This changed when inexpensive German copies arrived in the mid-19th century. German makers fitted the diatonic, bisonoric mechanism of their German Konzertinas into hexagonal cases.

In 1850 George Jones developed the Anglo-German concertina. He expanded the 20-button diatonic German design with additional buttons, making it almost chromatic. During the First World War, the name was generally shortened to Anglo concertina.

Duet concertinas were a later development. They are unisonoric and chromatic and allow a melody on the right to be accompanied by chords on the left.

English concertina

A key identifying feature is the thumb strap. On most related instruments nearly the whole hand passes through a strap, but here only the thumb goes through a small leather loop while the little finger rests in a metal support.

The English concertina is unisonoric and chromatic. The notes of C major lie in the central rows and the additional chromatic notes in the outer rows. Successive notes alternate between the left and right sides, so the instrument has no separate bass and treble side.

German concertina

The hexagonal German concertina contains the mechanism and reed plates of the conventional German Konzertina. It could be produced inexpensively and made the instrument affordable to a wider public in Britain.

It normally has two rows with twenty buttons and is diatonic, for example in C/G. Two-voice instruments also exist, in which two reeds sound for each note.

Its buttons are generally aligned parallel to one of the six sides. On an Anglo-German concertina they point towards one of the six corners.

C/G German concertina

Anglo-German concertina

The Anglo-German concertina was the English makers’ response to the German instrument. Whereas the German concertina uses a comparatively simple mechanism and reed plates carrying several reeds, the Anglo-German model uses the individual reeds and elaborate action of the English concertina.

An extra row often supplies missing notes or duplicates notes otherwise available only in the opposite bellows direction. Such an Anglo concertina is therefore almost chromatic. Its buttons are usually aligned towards a corner.

C/G Anglo-German concertina

Duet concertinas

Like the English concertina, duet concertinas are unisonoric, but like Anglo-German instruments they have separate bass and treble sides. While the English concertina is primarily a melody instrument, duet systems allow players to accompany themselves rhythmically—as if playing a duet.

Several keyboard layouts exist. The piano-style arrangement shown here is a relatively rare variant.