bax

There's no need to be mysterious. Who are you, and what instrument are you referring to?

I took Brenda's class at the St Louis Tionol this year. She is indeed an excellent teacher - we had a wide range of levels and she still had something for everybody. It was a fun class and very helpful to see up close how she was playing. I particularly appreciated that if you sound the instrument at inappropriate times, she will give you The Look. If you don't stop, she will Have A Pointed Word. I assume that after that comes The Boot but we never reached that point

good troll

This tune I'd play in A minor because it's easiest on main rows of C/G and has most options for chording. Also you can play in the middle octave across both hands, or the upper octave to leave the left free for accompaniment. I wouldn't do an oompah bass, that doesn't fit it to my ears either. Maybe some drones and occasional chords for punch.

To put it a different way, here is how the triads sound: Ab garbage (major and minor) - can't physically be played on my instrument Eb major is good, minor is off Bb major is good, minor is off F major is good, minor is off C major and minor are good G major and minor are good D major and minor are good A major and minor are good E major and minor are good B minor is good, major is off F# minor is good, major is off C# minor is good, major is off G# see Ab

To a degree, yes. All the fifths are the same except the wolf, so C+G and D+A pairs sound the same, a hair flat of 3/2 - the wonky fifth D+A is the major source of the horribleness of any D triad in just tuning. The major and minor thirds are all equivalent in the central five keys (C,G,D,A,E on my instrument). F and Bb major, B and F# minor keys are edge cases depending how you harmonize. Ab is unusable (wolf fifth) and for the same reason Eb has a wonky IV and C# a wonky V chord so you would want to avoid those keys too I think.

Haha, yeah, I can't tell the difference in the A in an Irish session type of environment. I do try to give people a D if they ask to tune though. The tuning I'm using is most different from ET at C# (4 Hz beat) and especially G# (7 Hz beat). I like the flattish C# but yeah you could get closer to ET for D+G keys by basing at A and compromising the E flat instead.

I have hated the equal tempered major thirds for decades. I asked Wally Carroll to tune my Anglo in 1/5-comma meantone. (Partly due to discussions here and other places, so thanks!) It matches standard equal temperament at D, so A is ~2 cents flat and G is ~2 cents sharp. The major thirds are noticeably sweeter. I quite like it. I don't notice that it clashes with other instruments, and no one else has commented on it either. I am generally playing Irish traditional, where the key center is near D and pipes and fiddle don't use equal temperament in the first place. The wolf interval is G#/D# and is intentionally not even available on the same direction of the bellows on this one. Now, I do have another instrument with a slightly different 1/5-comma setup where the wolf interval is C#/G# and can be played, and I would call it "awful"! I was tempted to try 1/4-comma meantone to get the just major thirds. But the discrepancy with others is larger. And, the fifths are very commonly used in Irish concertina, and are noticeably flat in 1/4-comma. So I'm not sure it would work out well. Anyway, in my experience so far I would certainly agree that 1/5-comma is a good compromise and not extreme. Would recommend, would let it marry my sister, etc.