Hereward

That was great thanks. Spoken would have been more difficult but reading it was no problem. Ian

Lovely playing and singing by Mark Evans. Ian

I believe even Van Morrison has sung it. Ian

That is excellent news Al and thank you for your efforts here. I just know this tutor has something for me in it. Ian

Probably better than I do. Ian

I agree that this is an excellent plan. Normally I have a certain disdain for Ruperts but that's in the Green Army and not the Salvation one. Ian

You are right and the copyright might well still be valid therefore. Ian

That's one excellent mask with the Piaf song. Ian

Copyright for this was increased some years ago but is still only 70 years and that has run out. Ian

I am confused Michael. You have posted the Crane Tutor but we are talking about an English Tutor and surely that is a different animal. Ian Edited because your post changed somehow whilst I was replying to it and now my reply is redundant.

I do hope that Stephen is able and willing to have the talk published at some time because it sounds excellent. Ian

You can only do it yourself if you have access to a scanner. Once it's scanned in the resulting document can be converted to PDF by using any suitable software, including ones freely available online. Ian

The spontaneous element makes it funnier I think. Ian

Even better would be scan into a PDF. Ian

Playing a concertina (or indeed any instrument) on a unicycle must be fun to do and watch. Ian

'I just need to find the right stool', is my suggestion. Ian

The more I hear and read about Mr Morse, the more impressed I get. What more can I say. Ian

No-one should have trouble with the subjunctive in English or even German. Try Old Norse/Modern Icelandic - that hurts! Ian

Looks well dodgy, Ian

That is excellent news. I definitely will support this in any way I can. Ian

Is that not slightly too high a price to ask? Ian

The end result looked great and the sense of pride you must have has been richly deserved. I can think of many worse ways to earn a crust. Ian

Actually that's quite an easy one to answer. To play a piece slowly, or indeed to play a slow piece well, requires a good level of skill and expression to prevent the music from sounding moribund. There is a great deal of difference between practising slowly in order to master the technique of playing a particular tune before playing it at full tempo and deciding to play a fast tune at a slower pace whilst still maintaining interest and eloquence. The beauty of the tune is the first thing I consider. I then learn to play that tune with the expression it demands, however slowly I'm forced to play it in order to achieve that. Speed itself is never a consideration, the longer you've played the piece the easier it will be to simply 'step on the gas'. Do remember though that winning 'the fastest gun in the west' competition doesn't necessarily make you a good musician and may indeed hamper your ambitions. Music is about breathing life into your playing and not about achieving speed or mechanical dexterity per se, those are attributes that will come naturally with time, as is the sense to realise when it's appropriate to use them or not as a performance device. Thanks for that insight. Such things are always useful to me. Ian

That cube is strangely fun. Ian

I find that after I am a little competent with a tune, playing it slower is actually more difficult, for reasons I find hard to put into words. Ian