John, Wexford

JackJ, That is just fantastic news, and I hope you are keeping well. I was at one of Tony's CD launches in 2017, and I have to say it was the gig of the year for me, and I said as much to him on the day. I am Facebook friends with Tony, and if you'd like, I could share this thread with him. I know he has Wally Carroll concertinas too. Regards, John.

From 2017, Tony O'Connell's CD, 'live and well is astonishing. Brilliant repertoire and selection of tunes, ornamentation, accompaniment and lovely chording throughout. Your friend won't be disappointed!

I have a gorgeous one, and it will be for sale, when I get my new one.

John is a member of Concertina.net.

Down with bushing boards.😉

I'm sorry, I'll be washing my hair.

David, You beat me to it. Ctrl + sliding two fingers on the touchpad is the same as pressing Ctrl and using the wheel, on a wheel mouse. Here is a screenshot from Microsoft, which gives some other actions (or gestures) which can be performed with a touchpad:

Could it be this one: If you have a wheel mouse, keep the Ctrl key depressed, and scroll up or down, using the wheel in the mouse. This should have the effect of changing the size of the displayed tune in the top right hand window. It works in most MS Office applications too.

Here are the dots:

I was very lucky to get a copy of a C90 cassette tape of Tommy Reck playing at home. This would have been in the late 70's or early 80's. It was a first generation copy of a reel to reel recording, which the late Seán Reid had made of Tommy Reck. Have you heard the version of "Higgins's" / "The Cliff", as played by Frankie Gavin. He introduces a one-note change in the first part of the tune, and the part has a completely different feel to it. I'll post a clip of the abc's for the first two bars in a few minutes. The note in question is the first note in the 2nd group of 4 notes in the first bar.

The late Tommy Reck's rendition of Bonny Kate, a well known and much loved fiddle tune, was a masterpiece.

Hi Michael, Here are a few of my all-time favourites. I am sure that you play most of them. Jigs: Track 4 from Mick O'Brien's album the "May Morning Dew" : Bumper Squire Jones / An Sean Duine / O'Sullivan's March. (Actually anything from Mick O'Brien is excellent! ). When Sick is it Tea You Want / Slieve Russel / The Maid on the Green (1st two from Seamus Ennis, and the last one from Patsy Tuohey.) The first jig is very good for emulating the regulators, if you like that idea. The Pitchforks, i.e. The Rambling Pitchfork and the Sporting Pitchfork The Gold Ring The Wandering Minstrel Reels: Colonel Fraser, The West Wind, The Enchanted Lady and The Holy Land (these last two as a set), Corney is Coming / The Curragh Races / An Bhean Tincéara (the 3 part version) / Jenny Tie Your Bonnet Garret Barry's Reel / The Virginian / Miss McGuinness (the piping, possibly Tommy Reck, version) Hornpipes: I don't really go for the big ones, like the Groves, Johnny Cope, but there are some gorgeous piping hornpipes all the same. Higgin's The Green Island / Spellan the Fiddler The Friendly Visit Kilcooley Wood Grogan's (from Mary Staunton's first album has recently started to be played by some pipers). Tuamgraney Castle Pipes and concertina can be a gorgeous combination, and there does seem to be a trend towards playing piping tunes on the concertina. What I like to hear today also is that many pipers are tackling into concertina standards as well. Regards, John.

Hi Squeezymike, Head over here: https://www.worldcat.org/title/dance-music-of-willie-clancy/oclc/4989205 for a complete listing of the contents of the book, which hopefully should give you loads of ideas. There's also the book on the piping of Patsy Tuohy in the same vein. Try looking up actual piping albums on TheSession . org, or IrishTune . info for tunes played by pipers. I hope this helps. Regards, John.

The first tune is the Boys of Bluehill. You should check out the Seamus Ennis version on the Session.org, version 8, for a lovely little wrinkle on the tune. For the life of me, I can't think of the name of the 2nd one.

2 of 2 I hope this is of some help to you. I have previously engaged with Alex Holden on the issue of the air-button. I was lucky on some of my concertinas to be able to slope the handrail down towards the air-button, but it depends on lots of factors, whether you have a metal handrail or where the retaining screws are located. Here is very crude image of what my handrail looks like. Regards, John.