Laitch

Maybe they can get over to Savoy Music Center's Saturday Cajun session near Eunice.

Now that's a hellish video! It's like a scene from Jacob's Ladder.

Is speedfolk the same as Balkan kolo dance music? The only speedfolk I've heard of run meth labs.

According to Wikipedia the last bellows-driven mandolin was used to start up then fuel a campfire somewhere around Hawke's Bay. A copper plaque was installed to commemorate the event but regional authorities believe it was stolen and sold for scrap.

I agree. It's easy to be attracted to its uses in the kitchen but resist using the ends to grate cheese on or the bellows folds for holding knives.

Hey screech Give her your Tedrow and plenty of reassurance that you'll get another for yourself.

I got a marinated parsnip that I've been pretending is a prestigious german-silver ended anglo concertina coveted by all my imaginary musical friends.

Hey Fiddlehead I used Steve Mansfield's tutorial to learn abc notation.

Check out this page, Chris.

Suzanne Dirge is, as they say sometimes in some places where English is spoken, spot on. Playing rock chops on a 20-button anglo concertina is neither brain surgery nor rocket science. It's way less complicated than making an omelette while wearing mittens and looking through the fractured viewing lens of a clogged respirator that's regulating your breathing. Same goes for eastern European music licks although they're way easier than driving a Trabant through flaming lard while wearing a thong laced with chili powder. In other words, no problems. Get yourself Audacity. Free. Get the Audacity help files. Free. Get yourself Lamelib. Free. Drop into Audacity a track from a cd that has a melody that you want, slow the tempo and even change the key to fit your 'tina if you need to, and work it out from there. Really. It's as easy as playing a harmonica while using someone else's lungs and you even can eat a sandwich while playing, if someone will feed it to you. Rock on! Immediately!

Sean You've acknowledged both the Ramones and the futility of your question, Sean, and seem to realize that you'll know when a tune is "up to speed" only after you've spent countless hours listening with understanding to skilled musicians playing that tune type in differing circumstances on recordings and in person, and then spent countless hours trying to apply what you hear to what you play. Furthermore you probably have accepted the fact that your tunes are going to be dry as dust at whatever speed you play them if you play them straight off a sheet. David mentioned that speed depends on context. Tempo varies regionally, locally, circumstantially (step dancing, set dancing, contradancing, sessions, performance, parties, solo, group), and personally. Here's a benchmark. In Terry Moylan's book "Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra," Moylan charts the average speed of tunes in beats per minute as played by O'Leary: hornpipes, 98; jigs, 140; polkas, 138; reels, 118; and slides, 152. You could use your metronome to clock the speed of Noel Hill and Tony MacMahon as they play for dancers on the recording "In Knocknagree." That'd be a benchmark, for those tunes, on the night they played them anyway.

From the jeevesaudio site, here's Herb Patten imitating a king parrot call and playing "Londonderry Air" using a gum leaf.

Well, the first eleven seconds I had the patience to download using dialup sounded to me like "The Cashmere Shawl," Lars.

Hey Sally While you're exploring the basics, try Alan Day's free audio 20-button C/G anglo tutor.

Hey tony Your reference to "this ABC programme" is not specific enough for me so I'll provide a couple of references for you. The first reference is a thread about a software upgrade of C.net's Tune-O-Tron. The second reference is a link to sources of ABC notation and conversion software.

Hey Ishtar You might head to the tune links page page to hear what the EC players are offering up with, or without, harmony.

Hey Jake Use this well-written tutor to learn ABC notation. This tutor eliminates guesswork. After you read this info, you'll appreciate the system's simplicity and be able to fill in your ABC button chart by yourself, if you still think you need one. The ABC notation system is based on the C scale. Using the 30-button concertina chart you've supplied but eliminating its top row, its two lower rows apply to your concertina and the note sounded by the C2 button on the left-hand top row of your concertina should be "middle C," if it's a C/G layout. You wrote G/C in your post and that layout would be unusual. Here's to your having lots of tunes on your Lachenal!

B Mulhaire, Although personally I'd ignore all further correspondence from this "seller," Johnjo's is the reasonable track to follow with this. You could, however, figure out a way to start a correspondence stream with the seller like this guy did if you had nothing better to do but people keep insisting on getting married so I guess Silkwood keeps you hopping.

Bob, I think the quote you're citing refers to a 20-button C/G. I'd guess the Rochelle has a button layout similar to the 30-button Wheatstone layout on the chart. That layout should give you all the notes you want in A major. Check Wakker's website. You'll have more fingering options though with a 30-button D/A or G/D and a 20-button D/A would work fine but they're not common. There's an interesting Stagi/Bastari D/A on ebay or maybe you should take a breather and consider renting an Anglo 30-button C/G, 30-button G/D, or an English before you take a plunge. You might be able to arrange something with a place like The Button Box. There's a nice Dipper G/D being auctioned on ebay right now which you may be able to get for under 10 grand.

Here are some keyboard charts. Holding it with low notes on the left, yours is probably laid out like the bottom two rows of the C/G 30-button Wheatstone. The home scales start on the middle buttons of the left rows and first (uppermost) buttons of the right. Whatever pushed-bellows note starts a complete ascending scale from those positions on each row---moving up on the left side and down on the right side---defines the keys of that concertina.

Jim's method is très cool for that particular key change! Nicholas, for other key changes you can get the ABC file of the score from Mick's link and can drop it on Jens Wollschläger's ABC-Transposer. If this tool is no longer available at the original link it can be found at other sites using a Google search. You need to copy all the required headers but only need to copy to where the ABC stops. It'll transpose the melody but scramble the lyrics and mess with the chords so you should paste in the correct the lyrics and rewrite fouled chords if you need them or close up space between the bars if you delete the lyrics after it's transposed. You then drop the file on the Convert-a-matic on this site.

O ye of little faith! Need reassurance that they're legitimate? After all, the description of their "Express Mail/Shipping Services" says that their "partners are coming." Edited to remove link in order to protect the innocent, fearful and/or morbidly curious.

The original 2006 ebay posting for this Jeffries seems to be here. It apparently was discussed in this thread.

I'd snap up this lot in a heartbeat (although I'd prefer to pay the more reasonable sum of $39,200) but unfortunately all my disposable income is tied up in the construction of a teleportation dock at the moment

Don't use the ends to make fancy patterns in fresh cement.