Concertina Music Score Sample

The above nine measures are taken from a music sheet written for the concertina. It's a waltz called Darling Let's Bring Back The Years and was recorded by The Larry Olsen Band of Lake Benton, MN. As with almost all concertina sheet music, it is written for a key of 'C' concertina.

Click here for the complete tune................... Click here for the lyrics

In the above example the numbers above the staff are the buttons that need to be pressed on the melody side of the instrument to sound the proper note. The upper number is the lead note and the lower number is the harmony note. The numbers with the inverted V above them tell the player to press (or squeeze) the bellows together while playing them while those without the inverted V above them tell the player to draw (or pull) the bellows apart.

The bass and chords are played on the bass side of the instrument. The example above doesn't show the fingering necessary to play the bass side of the instrument. Almost all commercial music sheets show the fingering with a numbering system that is similar to that which is used on the melody side of the concertina.

A typical polka, as played around the New Ulm, MN area, consists of about 112 to 144 measures of notation. The tempo is about 53 to 58 measures per minute.

A waltz is about 144 measures long, more or less. The waltz tempo is about 52 to 54 measures per minute and they last for about 2 1/2 minutes.

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