Anglogeezer

You could always have your own embossing plate made?? See here Embossing at Le Provo Leathers of Newcastle. For those of you that want a leather case making for your favourite concertina then see here Casemaking regards Jake

I would say, "WHOOAA THERE", slow down, choice of system is very personal. Discuss it with her and ask her what she wants. regards Jake

John, who comes to our Easy Session in Beverley, East Yorks plays one of these. It sounds very good. Jake

Yees, brilliant isn't she. No trace of nervousness, no frown of concentration. Makes me wish I'd started fifty years ago!! jake

I know, I know. It's a mandolin/banjo site but if you browse around the scales and chords pages you may find they shed some light on your quest for enlightenment. Here :-Scales and here :-Relative Minor regards Jake

************************** Sorry, no ABC or Midi available Jake

I seem to have it sorted now. I think the file was toooo big! regards Jake

Here, posted with the permission of the composer - Mike Bennett - is a slow air called "AIR for RUSSELL". Mike's a regular at our Tuesday easy session and his confident guitar & fiddle playing gives the beginners something to aim for! regards Jake

I'm attempting to attatch a file and keep getting the message :- "! Error No file was selected for upload" What am I doing wrong?? regards Jake

NO, no experience of him at all. Just happened to come across the site as I wandered thru the www. regards Jake

Those of you living in America may already know about Bear Paw Fiddles in Alamada, San Francisco who also deals in concertinas, see here :- Bear Paw Concertinas All told quite a range of interesting instruments besides concertinas and might be helpful to someone looking for another "box" regards Jake

In my wanderings around the net I came across the website of STEVE TURNER who has .. " a really nice Lachenal "New Model" treble English concertina for sale with raised rosewood ends, 48 metal buttons, steel reeds, concert pitch, 5-fold bellows, in excellent condition. It has been refurbished by Alan Davies." see here .. For Sale regards Jake

Spotted on news group "uk.music.folk" - Thread title "Morse Baritone Concertina" Jacey Bedford is considering selling her Morse baritone concertina. I know that there are some here who may be interested!! regards Jake

What you need is a friendly native guide to show you the way! Otherwise you will only get bogged down and progress will be SLOW. A visit to the library or Waterstones for a book may help or these sites Theory On the Web and Music Theory As Dominic said, if there are NO sharps (#) or flats ( b ) at the beginning of the stave you have the key of C. (forget minor keys for the moment) If you have one sharp -# on the F line of the stave you are in the key of G and ALL F's are played sharp. If you have one sharp -# on the F line and one sharp -# on the C space you are in the key of D and ALL F's AND C's are played sharp. The need for sharps/flats when changing keys arises because the intervals between notes is NOT the same in all cases. A scale in the key of C may be represented thus:- C | D | E F | G | A | B C ...... where the | represents the half step between the notes, that is C# for example. Note that between E/F and B/C there is only a half a tone. In order to maintain the intervals between the notes a scale in the key of G looks like this:- G | A | B C | D | E | F# G ...... the semitone interval between E & F is matched by B & C but that between B & C requires the F to be made sharp. And in the key of D :- D | E | F# G | A | B | C# D ...... in this case C is forced to be sharp also. End of lesson!? This is the first time I've tried to explain any theory with out being face to face. I hope it hasn't made you more confused. If your'e ever in Beverley, East Yorks, we have an excellent easy session on Tuesdays 8pm at the Tiger Inn Lairgate. regards Jake

Here from the Fiddlers Companion :- SCOTCH COME OVER THE BORDER. AKA and see "Scotchman Over the Border," “Scotsman Over the Border,” "Blue Bonnets Over the Border [1]," "Over the Border [1]," "Blue Bonnets [2]," "Dublin Streets." Irish, American; Jig. USA, southwestern Pa. D Major (most versions): D Major/Mixolydian (Taylor). Standard tuning. AABB. The tune is a form of the Scots jig "Blue Bonnets Over the Border," a variant of the 3/4 time "O Dear Minnie/Mother (What Shall I Do?)" which in the 18th century was fashioned into a 4/4 dancing piece variously called "The Braes of Auchtertyre [1]," "The Belles of Tipperary [1]," and "The Beaus of Albany [1]." Both Stenhouse and Bayard, contradicting Gow, think that the "Braes of Auchtertyre" is derived from "O Dear Minnie." The melody is also similar to "The Carraroe (Jig)." Sources for notated versions: William Shape (elderly fiddler from Greene County, Pa. 1944) [bayard]; fiddler Jimmy Murphy (b. 1938, Meelick, near Swinford, County Sligo) [Flaherty]. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 583, pg. 515. Flaherty (Trip to Sligo), 1990; pg. 44 (appears as "Scotchman Over the Border"). Mallinson (Essential), 1995; No. 89, pg. 38 (appears as “Scotsman over the Border”). O'Neill (1850), 1979; No. 1064, pg. 200 (appears as "Blue Bonnets Jig"). Taylor (Through the Half-door), 1992; No. 57, pg. 40 (appears as "Scotsman Over the Border"). Shaskeen - "Atlantic Breeze."

See below information from The Fiddler's Companion . Can't add anything else to that!! regards Jake CARRAROE (JIG), THE. AKA and see “The Lark on the Strand [4].” Irish, Jig. D Major. Standard tuning. AABB. See also related tunes “Blue Bonnets Jig,” "Scotsman Over the Border," "Mist on the Meadow," "Mist in the Glen." Reg Hall (1995) provides (in liner notes to the reissue Irish Dance Music): “In 1926, Father Tom Larkin created the Ballinakill Traditional Dance Players for local public ceilidh dances, bringing together fiddle and flute players, all men, small-farmers and ear players, from the tradition of country-house dancing.” Members included Jerry Moloney and Tommy Whyte on fiddles, and Stephen Moloney and Tommy Whelan on flute. The piano player with the Ballinakill Ceili Band (who recorded in the 1930’s) was named Anna Rafferty. Her home, where the band often gathered, was Carraroe House, in Ballinakill, east Co. Galway. However, that is not the origin of this particular tune’s name. It is one of the first two tunes (along with “What will we do if the kettle boils over”) learned by concertina player Gerdie Comman (b. 1917) of Ballyknock, Kilnamona, County Clare. He was 8 or 9 years old at the time and learned from a Mrs. Barry who lived in Rushane. Hall (1995) calls the tune a relative of the pipe march “Blue Bonnets Over the Border.” Sources for notated versions: set dance music recorded live at Na Píobairí Uilleann, in the 1980’s [Taylor]; Donegal fiddler Tommy Peoples [bulmer & Sharpley]; Ballinakill Traditional Dance Players (County Galway) [Miller & Perron]; ]; New Jersey flute player Mike Rafferty, born in Ballinakill, Co. Galway, in 1926 [Harker]. Bulmer & Sharpley (Music from Ireland), 1974, vol. 3, No. 50. Carlin (Master Collection), 1984; pg. 149, No. 261. Harker (300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty), 2005; No. 180, pg. 56. Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music), 1977; vol.2, No. 36. Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music, 2nd Edition), 2006; pg. 18. Taylor (Music for the Sets: Yellow Book), 1995; pg. 18. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, vol. 1), 1999; pg. 34. Folkways Records FW 8821, Ballinakill Traditional Dance Players - "Irish Dance Music" (1973. Reissue recordings, re-released on Topic in 1995). Old Hat Music OH!02, "The Old Hat Dance Band" (1992). Topic TSCD 602, Ballinakill Traditional Dance Players – “Irish Dance Music” (1995. A reissue of the 1931 original). See also listings at: Jane Keefer’s Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources Alan Ng’s Irishtune.info X:1 T:Carraroe M:6/8 L:1/8 R:jig K:D DED F2 A | dfe d2 B | AFA def | afd e2 f | DED F2 A | dfe d2 c | d2 B AFA | dAF E2 D :| dfa afa | bge edB | dfa afa | bge e2 f | dfa afa | bge edB | d2 B AFA | dAF E2 D :|

Try the West Country Concertina Players. They may have someone close to you and willing to advise. regards Jake

There have been a number of threads on how to do this, or what's the best way to do that. Here is a link to the Writings of John Kirkpatrick culled from various publications. There may be something of interest to somebody in them?? regards Jake

I was sorting through some old photographs and came across one my brother sent me some years ago. I've had to split it into two parts to upload it to FLICKR here :- Free Reeds the big beastie in the midddle looks interesting!! I counted 46 buttons on the side you can see. The lady Ruth Askew takes this collection around the Steam/County fairs of the south west. See here for a book about her :- Ruth Askew and here :- Ruth Askew again regards Jake

********************************** This seems to be a song I know as "The Collier Brig" or "Waiting for the Day", the words I have are :- Collier Brig (Waiting for the Day) Well the worst old brig (ship) that ever did weigh Sailed out of Hull on a windy day We're waiting for the day, waiting for the day Waiting for the day when we get our pay She was built in Roman times Held together with roping twine Off Spurn Point she sprung a leak Hear her poor old timbers creak Her keel is buckled and her rudder won't turn She's steered by a dohbi bucket hung on her stern The skipper's half dutch and the mate is too The crew are fourteen men too few There's nothing in the galley and nothing in the hold But the skipper's in bed with a bag of gold It's up the Humber and up the town Pump you bleeders pump or drown Her coal was loaded by a drunken crew The bottom was rotten and it went right through! Now the moral of this story is easy to tell 'cause we're all here and the skipper's in hell! ************ There's also an old thread on MUDCAT about it see here :-Collier Brig as for the tune/dots I can't help you there. It seems to be one of those songs that was adapted for any location. regards Jake

It seems from this site NAXOS Meno Meno (Italian: less) is used in musical directions to qualify other words as in meno mosso, with less movement. that MENO means less - so MENO TEMPO means LESS SPEED?? regards Jake

Congratulations all you squeezers, membership is now 3500!! It would be interesting to know how many of this number are still active in this forum?? Is there any way of finding out?? regards Jake

Welcome to concertina.net. I'm not trying to get rid of you!! - but - you may find this site/forum will be able to give you more information Melodeon.net regards Jake

Hi Leo, followed up your links, they refer to a song from 1972 by Dot Rainville. A bit of Googling led me to this blog :- Five Bucks which has this comment by Dot. Hi Yves, My name is Dot Rainville and I am the writer and singer of "Polar Bear Express" The song was done in 1972 for the opening of the new Polar Bear express train run, from Cochrane Ontario to James Bay. I was absolutely delighted to find this blog and I do thank you for your kindness towards the song. regards, Dot Rainville Now whether or not this song has the tune I'm looking for I don't know!! because I've also traced it to here Canadian Fiddle Music I just thought the title gave it a seasonal link (very tenuous I know), tho not many polar bears in Yorkshire. regards Jake

Does anyone have the dots or ABC to the "Polar Bear Express"?? It's in "Canadian Fiddle Music Volume 1" I heard it a couple of years ago, it might do as a "seasonal "tune !! regards Jake