Roger Hare

Thank you very much! I have roughly a dozen of these 'slow when not danced' annotations in my collection of ABCs, and they've always left me a bit puzzled - wondering whether they are played at the gallop for a dance, and slowly otherwise, which, as an idea, somehow didn't 'feel' right. That clarifies it! (Later edit: I should perhaps say that those annotations are all in Strathspeys by William Marshall, and that I don't know whether they were in the original (printed?) score, or were additions by the original ABC transcriber - that's why I'm in such a quandary...) I'll have a look at that Paul Anderson video later. Thanks again!

Yup! Apart from weeding out all dodgy rhythms and key sigs., I also ditched tunes from Ukraine, Macedonia, etc. from that small selection. 'Twould have been at least twice as large otherwise.

Thanks for that! I'm a great admirer of William Marshall's music. This is played rather slowly, but I've seen instructions on ABC transcriptions 'Slowly unless danced'. Is it acceptable to play it a bit quicker then?

My pleasure! It keeps me off the streets and out of the public houses, as they say. If you are ABC-savvy, you can always transpose some of the weirder key sigs. into concertina-friendly keys..... Further down the road, I'll be interested to hear how you get on when you actually try this stuff out on an audience of Serbs. I haven't actually tried any of them myself...🙂

I have little or no expertise/knowledge of Eastern European music, but here's a selection of tunes from my 'master tune book' which appear to have some claim to being 'Serbian'. I'll make no comment other than that to me, the origin attributions of some of these tunes sometimes seems a little dubious? I've removed tunes in seriously weird keys and meters, and left in the source attributions so that you stand at least a chance of tracking down the originals if you are so inclined, because (warning!) I have edited all of these a little... I've attached all the tunes as an ABC file, plus one tune as a PDF so you can see what it looks like. If you are not familiar with ABC, I will post a PDF of the complete selection. If you want simple tablature, I will post a PDF with (ABT) tabs. MirkovoKolo.pdf serbia.abc

Thanks one and all! Now I can see/hear the ABC for the two tunes, the difference is clear! I tend to listen to these video/audio clips first thing in the morning, before I've 'got my ear in' and sometimes find it difficult to spot the difference(s). Bad habit... Two great tunes though...

That's very instructive - I think I had started to 'see through a glass darkly', and slowly begun to realise this. Thank you for 'confirming' (or at least re-inforcing) my dawning realisation. Is it also the case that doing it this way can make for clearer printed scores (which is probably a pretty subjective thing...)?

Any ABC code for this one? I looked for both the full and abbreviated title, and neither the Traditional Tune Archive or the Session delivered the goods. Is it the same as 'The Duke Of Fife's Welcome To Deeside' (which sounds a bit similar to my tin ear?)... Ta...

Brilliant! I've recently been wading through some old ABC transcriptions of music from Galicia and (mostly) Asturias, with a view to trying some of the (very!) simple tunes out on the concertina. This gives me a great feel for how it should sound. Thank you!

As far as the 20- vs. 30- button Anglo discussion is concerned, it might be worthwhile considering an 'in-between' Anglo with 24/26 buttons? Almost as versatile as a 30-button? Possibly cheaper than a 30-button, if you are considering a 'vintage' instrument? Probably more difficult to track down a particular key configuration (G/D. C/G, etc.)?

I think SG means something like this: The top example uses inline '^' to indicate pull, the bottom example uses an 'overbar' to indicate pull.(the button numbering is not the same as GC's, the illustration is just to provide an example of what I think SG means...). I'm sorry about the poor quality of the image (I think!). I'm currently transitioning between spectacles and am having severe problems seeing anything in focus...

I operate at a much lower point down the food chain than either of the posters (so far), but I agree. My 'Master' ABC tune book contains many transcriptions by other people, and I always try and include an acknowledgement in my (usually slightly) edited version of their transcription(s). This can be as simple as a reference by name, or a reference to a web page, or even a recommendation to 'buy the book' (free advertising - it can't get better than that!). Sometimes the transcription is so old and beat-up that there is no recognisable/usable 'identification'. Anything I post publicly will also have any tune which includes the word 'copyright' or a copyright symbol filtered out. What I don't do is post other folks' email addresses - I edit them out of everything I do... I don't always include the acknowledgement in the score - scores are busy enough already, but I admit being a little uneasy about that particular point...

Looks like an Anglo? Looks like he's holding it 'wrong'. Surely this will invalidate his policy in the event of a claim?...🙂

Fine. I haven't seen that one, but I used Mick Bramich's other two books when I started. For me, they were the simplest and most accessible of the tutors I looked at before starting to learn the instrument. The reason for my asking the question in the first place was that you seem to be struggling a little with 'theory'? If that is the case, it might be worth your while considering getting a copy of In-Between Anglo. This includes a clear description of the Anglo, and a gentle introduction to music theory which I found very useful. (This may be included in 'The Irish Concertina' but remember, I haven't seen a copy of this one)... ___________ Later: Oh, I just saw that the other two books are no longer available as hard-copy - PDF download only. Shouldn't be a problem if you decide to invest in a copy of In-Between Anglo...

May I ask for details of that book? I don't recall having seen that one before. Five minutes later: Oh! I think it may be Mick Bramich's book? Is that correct? Thanks.

Personally, I think that (for some of us) that's a highly relevant observation. The text in 'Civil War Concertina' reads "Notes on the pull are shown by a button number with a line across the top". I presume the text is the same in other GC books? In the illustration in the OP this is true for notes on the right hand - look at buttons 2 and 3 - some have a line over the top of the note (pull), some don't (push). For the left-hand, pull notes are shown with a line on the far side of the staff. This is not 'across the top', it is 'the other side of the staff'. This is not as described in the text. This is confusing.

Maybe I'm missing something vital, but that tutor appears to be for an Anglo? The OP states that they have a Duet? Aren't the two systems incompatible? Whatever, here is another Duet tutor... ______________________ There are also a couple of downloadable items here, but they may not be suitable on the grounds of different system and/or 'age'...

Thanks! Yup! I'd already sussed it. I've never had the occasion to use an XML file before, so wasn't quite sure precisely what I should be doing. Simply changing the extension of the original XML file from .musicxml to .xml allowed me to import the file directly into EasyABC. This has turned into a useful exercise in familiarising myself with using XML, (even if only a little) - another potentially useful tool in the toolbox... The ABC code generated by importing direct into EasyABC looks a bit different to the ABC code I generated at first, but was (musically) essentially the same. Once I'd 'got my ear in' this seemed to behave beautifully. Thanks - nice tune...

Thank you for the XML file! For some reason, I couldn't import the XML file into EasyABC, so I tried a new (to me) sequence of operations with this one: load the XML file into ME's program save as ABC, and load that into EasyABC final fine editing with EasyABC (not that there was all that much to do... Worked almost perfectly. There was a slight anomaly on playback... Later: Fixed - see next post but one below...

I did a quick trawl through my 'Master Tune Book' and came up with the attached tunes. Some duplication, some ambiguity over tune names, some non-Irish. Whether they are 'thematically appropriate' is above my pay-grade... SaintPatrick.abc SaintPatrick.pdf

They provide a link back to the Tune book Table of Contents. Look at the section "Adding a PDF Tunebook Table of Contents and Index" in the User Guide to see how to do this...

Answer my own question! I think I may have mis-understood exactly how (and when) this feature operates. It's now back (if it ever really went away!).

Thank you for the continuing interest. However, unfortunately my pal has suddenly been hit with a large (~£10k) bill for repairs to the property he lives in, so he's had to shelve any idea of purchasing a G/D for the time being...

I hope I'm sending this to the right destination... I've always seen a sort of summary panel at the right hand side of my screen when looking at concertina.net. It included stuff like most active threads and things like that. It's now disappeared. I'm not aware of having made any changes myself. Any ideas why this panel has vanished? Ta...

True story - it was that recording of 'Salmon Tails' which really decided me to get stuck in and learn to play the thing - brilliant - a belated thank you!