FatBellows

I'm a newbie too. In the far north of California, of all places. I love my Rochelle. It's not as pretty as Bob Tedrow's beauties. But I could afford it, and it plays and sounds good to me. I like the wrist straps. I hate the thumb-straps. I tried 'em both, the wrist straps worked best for me. I also noted no difference in button layout because I had no previous experience with concertinas before I bought. The Rochelle simple felt better than the Jack. So now that's what I like. 30 buttons is enough. Heck, I only got six strings on the guitar and I haven't mastered all the notes there yet. The 30 buttons will keep me busy for years. I love the keys of C and G. I hate D and A. I like bass notes. I want a concertina that sounds like an upright bass next time. Stagis suck! Concertinas are very individual (like most instruments). You need to try before you buy. Concertinas are easy to learn. You don't need a teacher. Especially if you already play another instrument. The hard part is developing more than a simple single-note melody line. I can't do it on the guitar either. Yet.... Buy the best instrument you have money for. Don't worry about it. Just don't buy a Stagi. They're only suitable for use as wheel-chocks when changing tires. Besides guys like Bob Tedrow need to earn a living too. But don't feel guilty if you only feel you can afford a Rochelle. It's a nice instrument.

(Assumes stern countenance and booming Father Ken voice): Remember, of course, to maintain the essential dignity of the Morris at all times. I think that we can trust someone who plays a rauschpfeife to be suitable dignified I bought a Rochelle a month ago. Given my developing delight in handling the thing, I think that in your situation, I'd be unable to resist taking a finer quality instrument everywhere I went. Go for the one that gives you joy. Nothing is forever, not even beautiful instruments. Make beautiful music with it while you can. In California, we've never even heard of Morris or the rauschpfeife. Nothing could be less dignified than a heavy-metal guitarist in spandex.

That's a lot to ask in one post. But here's a geek's answer with the techno-geek explanations omitted: 1. Asking what software is "good" is like asking people what's the best dessert. You'll get ten-thousand opinions, try a few, and decide for yourself anyway. I'd suggest using/testing some of the software available for free download at CNet's download.com site. Reason being, I find they are a trustworthy source for safe software in cheap to free market. 2. MP3 is a very lossy, poor overall reproductive format. It's popularity has to do with being the first format able to include metatags (the track info such as artist and title) inside the file and being small due to the compression used. For better sound reproduction, use ogg-voorbis or flac formats if really accurate reproduction matters more than size. Skip all the technical stuff - it really only matters to high-end sound engineers. 3. The Itunes engineers want you to stay with them forever. The DRM cab be defeated but you need the advice of a geek who's used Itunes. Like a good geek, I'm using Linux and don't deal with Itunes. 4. No. Itunes wants to own your music and allow you to play it when you've been good. You'd need another geek who's used and beaten Itunes. They exist, but I don't know any.

Are you certain she "can't" memorize the staff? Maybe, at 7, she's just not ready. Sometimes this kind of stuff won't come to a person for a long time - then suddenly one day it can "click" and the person can't remember what the fuss was. I had difficulty (5th grade) memorizing multiplication tables - couldn't do it. My classmates did, I just couldn't do the instant recall as fast or easily as they did. I worked out an alternate "count and add" approach that let me calculate the answers in my head fairly quickly. I passed the class and the teacher never suspected. Years later as an adult in my twenties, something went "click" and I now have no difficulty - basic usage got those tables into my head. For this reason I would suggest letting go of the theory - still try a little reading every practice, but don't work it too hard. Try showing how the notes are related as intervals. Show how starting at one line and going to the next space means moving over one key or going from one line to the next line means moving up or down two keys. If she looks at those dots as a pattern of movement up/down whatever instrument, maybe something will click... In all likelihood, repetition and time will do the trick. After all, she's only seven.