Sionainn

@chantersandbellows have you played any of Willie's instruments yourself? Wondering how responsive they are.

Thanks. Wes!

Congratulations on the twins, Wes! I have a 30 button anglo Lachenal & Co with rosewood ends, serial number 160867. Judging from another post with a similar serial number, I'm guessing this was made around 1898. I'm wondering if anyone knows what species of rosewood Lachenal was using at that time? I was hoping to bring my concertina on an upcoming trip to Ireland and then back to the US, and I'm trying to determine how feasible that might be re. CITES, based on whether or not this is Brazilian rosewood. (I've read up on USFWS permits for bringing it back into the US.) Thanks in advance for any information available!

I started the Jack Talty course a year ago when I got my first concertina. As a total beginner who hadn't played music since I was a teenager, it was really excellent. Jack has a very methodical approach to teaching, and it has given me a solid foundation. I flew through the beginner course, learning quickly. I'm most of the way through the Intermediate course now, and it's been great too, but a steeper learning curve, so I've gone through it much more slowly. I also branched out quite a bit after getting a foundation in the beginner's course, so I haven't been as devoted to the lessons as I was early on--but that's a good thing, because he gave me the foundation to be able to branch out and learn music on my own! I think it's been a good value for the amount of material there, but I will probably cancel fairly soon, as I'm no longer using the course as much. Hopefully I can figure out how to cancel! I've done Caitlin's sample video lessons and enjoyed them. but Jack's approach is a better fit for me. I also did some lessons through OAIM, mainly because I forgot to cancel after the free trial ended. Learned some good tunes there, but the instruction isn't nearly as thorough as Jack or Caitlin's course. I live in a tiny remote community in Alaska, so in-person tutoring isn't possible, and I've been really impressed with how much I learned from Jack's course.

I got a concertina 8 days ago and started Jack Talty's lessons that day and have been doing one lesson per day. I think the course is absolutely excellent from a beginner's persepctive, considering how much I can do in such a short time, and not having played music much at all in about 25 years. I feel like he's setting me up with good habits and a good foundation, and the course is laid out very logically. He does mention where the fingerings would be different for a Jeffries layout.

Beautiful! This is the song that compelled me to start learning concertina. Love your rendition with the drone!