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Happy New year everyone! Here’s a tune by Jim Sutherland of Edinburgh. I first it heard it from Pete Grassby playing from England on Zoom, but I’ve recorded a version that I found online at the Session. Played on my 40-button Wheatstone Edeophone 1934 D/A Anglo concertina. Notes & ABC here (setting #1) -- https://thesession.org/tunes/955

Here's a stage hornpipe from Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883). Ryan attributes it to Frank Livingston. The tune is apparently named for a ship, which is in turn named for the city in Georgia. But there have been several ships with that name, in both the U.S. & Confederate navies, and online sources disagree about which one Livingston may have meant. I’m playing my 40-button Wheatstone Edeophone 1934 D/A Anglo concertina. It took a good deal of trial and error to figure out how to finger this tune smoothly. I found that the Wheatstone 40-button layout was a real asset on this one. It lets me play the B-part with very few changes of bellows direction. It would be much harder to play with a Jeffries system instrument, or with only 30 buttons The online sheet music that most closely match Ryan’s is online at ITMA -- https://www.itma.ie/scores/ryans-0833/ There are some slightly different versions at The Session, with ABC notation – https://thesession.org/tunes/1607

UPDATE: SOLD. Donation made to concertina.net. My sister passed away and I'd like to sell her McNeela Phoenix concertina. I believe it is 5 years old. 30 button, Anglo C/G Jeffries layout. It is in very good playable condition. There is no shortage on this forum about the merits of McNeela concertinas , so look up the subject and see the different opinions. This is a very decent, beginner/intermediate concertina, light weight, fast fingering. Selling new right now on their website for $1800. If you are interested, I could send videos of me playing it to hear the sound. Asking $1200, including hard case. Shipping will be negotiated. I'm located in US. I will donate 3% to Concertina.net. Will accept reasonable offers.

Just in time for Christmas, from Barbara Steinger of the Akkordeonschule Aarau in Switzerland, a new concertina book: 55 Christmas Songs from All Over the World for Anglo Concertina (Rollston Press, 2025). All have melodies in musical notation with chords, plus the same easy Anglo tablature used in Rollston Press books. Available now from Akkordeonschule Aarau and from Amazon worldwide. Enjoy! Gary Here's a list of the tunes: 1. Aba Heidschi Bumbeidschi (But go to sleep) 2 Adeste fideles (O come, all ye faithful) 3 Alle Jahre wieder (Every cold December) 4 Am Weihnachtsbaum (On Christmas trees) 5 A szép Szűz Mária (Sweet Maria rocked her son) 6 Corramos, corramos (Let’s run, let’s run) 7 Der Christbaum ist der schönste Baum (Of all the trees in forest green) 8 Entre le bœuf et l’âne gris (Next to an ox and a donkey grey) 9 Er is een kindeke geboren op aard (A little child on the earth has been born) 10 Es ist ein Ros entsprungen (A great and mighty wonder) 11 Es ist für uns eine Zeit angekommen (The time is come, let us sing the glad story) 12 Es kommt ein Schiff geladen (There comes a galley, laden) 13 Es wird scho`glei dumba (The night is approaching) 14 Fröhliche Weihnacht überall (Merry Christmas, everywhere) 15 Hei, tonttu-ukot hyppikää (Hey little elf men jump) 16 Hola, Hola (Hello, hello) 17 Ihr Kinderlein kommet (O children come quickly) 18 Il est né le divin enfant (Christ is born, let us dance and sing) 19 In dulci jubilo (Good Christian Men Rejoice) 20 Inmitten der Nacht (At deep dead of night) 21 Jingle Bells 22 Kaj se vam zdi (Lullay, sweet Jesus-Child) 23 Kling Glöcklein, klingelingeling (Ring, sleigh-bells, ting-a-ling-a-ling) 24 Kommet ihr Hirten (Come all you shepherds) 25 La Ronda de la estrella (The star round) 26 Lasst uns froh und munter sein (Let us be happy and cheerful) 27 Leise rieselt der Schnee (Snow falls silent and deep) 28 Les anges dans nos campagnes (Angels, from the realms of glory) 29 Lulajże, Jezuniu (Lullay, sweet Jesus-Child) 30 Macht hoch die Tür (Opens the door) 31 Maria durch ein Dornwald ging (Now Mary went a-wandering) 32 Mennyből az angyal (The angel is from heaven) 33 Morgen Kinder wird’s was geben (Come tomorrow to the party ) 34 Morgen kommt der Weihnachtsmann (Santa Claus will come tonight) 35 När det lider mot jul (When it is suffering towards Christmas) 36 När juldagsmorgon glimmar (When Christmas morning glimmers) 37 Nesta noite Natal (This natal night) 38 Noi siamo i tre re (We are the three) 39 Nu är det jul igen (Now it’s Christmas again) 40 O du fröhliche (What a blessed time) 41 O laufet ihr Hirten (So hurry, you shepherds) 42 O Tannenbaum (O Christmas Tree) 43 Pásli ovce Valaši (Shepherds keeping watch by night) 44 Quando nascette Ninno (When Jesus Christ was born) 45 Schneeflöckchen, Weissröckchen (O snowflakes, how gently) 46 Still, still, still, weils Kindlein schlafen will! (Still, still, still, the baby lies quite still!) 47 Stille Nacht (Silence night) 48 Süsser die Glocken nie klingen (Hark to the bells in the steeple) 49 Tochter Zion, freue dich! (See, the conqu’ring hero comes) 50 Venid pastorcillos (Come little shepherds) 51 Vom Himmel hoch, da komm’ ich her (From highest heaven I come to tell) 52 W żłobie leży (Infant holy) 53 Was soll das bedeuten? (What can this be happ’ning) 54 We wish you a Merry Christmas 55 Zu Bethlehem geboren (In Bethlehem’s dark city)

Tailor's Twist is a traditional Irish hornpipe I learned from Randy Miller’s tune collection The Fiddler’s Throne. His version is quite similar to the first setting on The Session --https://thesession.org/tunes/996 Played on my 40-button Wheatstone Edeophone 1934 D/A Anglo concertina. I found Belle of Boston in Ryan’s Mammoth Collection (1883). Ryan calls it a reel, but I think it sounds more like a hornpipe. Ryan attributes it to Boston composer Edwin Christie (not to be confused with Edwin Christy with a Y of the Christy Minstrels). The notes and ABC are online here -- https://tunearch.org/wiki/Belle_of_Boston

I've finally gotten my recording gadgets working properly, after replacing my computer in August with one that will tolerate Windows 11. It took me two months to figure out that the tech guys had installed obsolete software for my webcam, and that's why my attempts to record sounded awful. So anyway here's new recordings of two tunes. All they have in common, besides being my favorite tunes du jour, is that each was written by an Anglophone fiddler, but named in another language than English. Giga de Tenerife is an odd jig by Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser, written after his visit to Tenerife in Spain's Canary islands. According to the notes on his "In the Moment" CD with Natalie Haas, "it was written (for lack of paper) on a plane from Tenerife to Madrid on the inside of a certain bag that can always be found in the seat pocket in front of you!" Played on my 40-button Crabb G/D Anglo concertina. Notes & ABC are online at the Session -- https://thesession.org/tunes/15772 Valse Laurencienne is a waltz by fiddler Steve Jones, an emigrant from England to Montreal. I learned it from the playing of the Quebecois band Raz de Marée. Played on my 40-button Crabb G/D Anglo concertina. The notes (to a slghtly different version of the tune) are online here -- https://tunearch.org/wiki/Valse_Laurencienne

All, Thanks to publisher Gary Coover of Rollston Press, and my co-author Jarrett Branch, a much expanded and completely rewritten second edition of The Anglo Concertina Music of William Kimber (originally published in 2005) is now for sale on Amazon, and in the future, at brick and mortar outlets. The layout is similar to that of last year's Chris Droney and the Tradition of the Concertina in North Clare: an extensive biography, a detailed music analysis with tutorial, and then transcriptions of all his recorded tunes - both Morris and social dance. Andy Turner (musician for the Headington Quarry Morris Dancers) has contributed a Foreword. And there are QR codes linking to audios on YouTube of both Kimber's playing and of the transcriptions themselves. More details are available in the attached pdf. Jarrett and I hope you enjoy it; it is out just in time for both Christmas and for the 125th anniversary of the famous Boxing Day meeting of Cecil Sharp and the Headington Quarry Morris dancers in the snow at Sandfield Cottage! Of particular interest to Forum readers may be the analysis of his playing techniques on the two-row Anglo, and in particular of his unusual chord choices, something which has been a topic on this Forum in past years. All the best, Dan Worrall Kimber Book Summary.pdf

This was the title song on Phil Ochs' 1967 Album, and apparently inspired by John Ford's film The Long Voyage Home. Accompanied on my 19th Century George Jones G/D anglo concertina.

Here's a fun tune by Jim Kimble of Rochester, NY, that has become a standard at our local session, but is little known outside central New York state. Played on my 19th century George Jones G/D Anglo concertina. and here's the notation ...

Here's an old hornpipe I first heard on Neal MacMillan's Northumbrian small pipes at a Zoom session during the pandemic. It was first Published in 1885 in Köhler's Violin Repository of Dance Music. I found the dots & ABC online here -- https://abcnotation.com/tunePage?a=tunearch.org/wiki/Mrs._Wilson’s_Fancy_Hornpipe.no-ext/0001 Played on my 40-button Wheatstone Edeophone 1934 D/A Anglo concertina.

The Commons Pattern. Irish Slide, composed by the late Box & Melodeon player Timmy O'Connor from Toureendarby, Newmarket Co. Cork. No, nothing to do with Parliament, but actually named after the roadside dancing platform that used to be near where Timmy lived. Played on my wee 26k Lachenal G/D Anglo Concertina & Hammered Dulcimer, Fiddle, English Concertina, Tenor Banjo & Bodhran. Lockdown Video 837

I've been busily replacing my computer with one that will tolerate Windows 11, through a labyrinth of downloads & tweaks & muttered curses. I haven't yet had time or courage to try recording on the new hardware. Meanwhile, here’s a July recording of a long-time favorite E minor modal hornpipe I found in O’Neill’s Music of Ireland, played on my 40-button Crabb G/D Anglo concertina. Dots & ABC are online at The Session here -- https://thesession.org/tunes/2079

Last night I recorded these two A major hornpipes from Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883) on Youtube. Both are played (with just a few bobbles) on my 40-button Wheatstone Edeophone 1934 D/A Anglo concertina. The Dew Drop Hornpipe is apparently popular in Bluegrass world. Victoria Hornpipe should not be confused with another tune of the same name on The Session.

Here’s a another hornpipe I found in Ryan’s Mammoth Collection. Played on my 40-button Wheatstone Edeophone 1934 D/A Anglo concertina. (Oops! On the first time through I seem to have played the A part three times.) The notes and ABC are online at The Session -- https://thesession.org/tunes/8244

Here’s a reel from Ryan's Mammoth Collection, named for, or maybe written by, early 19th Century Boston violinist Louis Ostinelli, who reputedly refused to play dance music. Played on my Morse Ceili D/A Baritone Anglo concertina. There's notation & ABC and some cool notes on the history of the tune on The Session here -- https://thesession.org/tunes/13639

Here's an old-fashioned stage hornpipe by Matthew Heumann that I learned from his posting on concertina.net last year (Thanks, Matt!). Played on my 40-button Crabb G/D Anglo concertina. Matt's original recording on English concertina, along with music notation, is here -- https://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?/topic/28298-the-imperial-hornpipe/#comment-239426 . I think Anglo vs. English gives the tune a slightly different feel.

Here's three hornpipes I found in O'Neill's Music of Ireland, all named for a legendary Irish fiddler called Spellan. Played (with just a few bobbled phrases) on my 40-button Wheatstone Edeophone 1934 D/A Anglo concertina -- and I even use some of those extra buttons on these tunes.

Another musical selection I have had in my collection for many years; a wonderfully evocative, and varied musical work by Warlock [ Philip Heseltine]. [one of the many clever[lesser known] composers we had in Britain during the early 20th Century]..Normally played with string orchestra, but very playable on concertina due to the variety of rhythm and form in the movements [ particulalry the last movement - 'Mattachins' [a sword dance!] After the beginning - a serene slow movement is followed by a 'lullaby' like tune - then closes with the snappy final mattachins!

I found this unusual "Lancashire Clog" in the hornpipes chapter of Ryan’s Mammoth Collection of fiddle tunes from 1883. It’s credited to Edwin Christie (not to be confused with Edwin Christy with a Y, the founder of the Christy Minstrels.) Played (with just a few stumbles) on my 40-button Wheatstone Edeophone 1934 D/A Anglo concertina. The notes & ABC are online here -- https://tunearch.org/wiki/Belle_of_the_Stage I've tweaked the notes a bit here and there in my recording. In particular there's a typo in the online transcription which omits the final high A.

I just finished converting this song to be able to be played on my C/G Anglo concertina. This is one of my first attempts at translating a song so it might not be the best, but I think I did a pretty okay job. Feedback is appreciated. Edit: A few notes are purple because they were hard for me to see Nocturne_of_Ice.pdf

The Anglo Concertina Music of Alan Day is now out and available through Red Cow Music (UK) and Amazon! With musical notation for the melody and Anglo button numbers and tab like all the other Rollston Press books, plus QR code links to videos of Alan playing the tunes. It has been a pleasure working with Alan on this book - 65 tunes, of which 46 of which were composed by Alan in a variety of styles, and including one surprise tune composed very recently. A couple of weeks ago I posted his tune "Bonjour Mazurka" here on CNET. The book also includes a QR code link to Alan's 20-button Anglo Tutor audio files on the ICA website. I've really enjoyed transcribing and playing his tunes, and I'll be teaching "Chocolate Rabbit" at the Old Palestine Concertina Weekend in East Texas in two weeks. With luck I will have some copies of the book with me, hot off the press. Kudos to Alan for writing so many great tunes and for being such a tireless promoter of the concertina. It's both a privilege and an honor to showcase his work. Hope you all enjoy it too! Gary

Just published by Rollston Press - a collection of 65 tunes especially arranged for the Anglo concertina, from 16 historical tutors written between 1837 and 1889 for the 20-button German concertina and the diatonic chromatic Anglo-German concertina. Scans of the original tunes are included along with updated notation in the same easy-to-learn tablature used in the other Rollston Press concertina books. 53 of the 65 tunes can be played on a 20-button Anglo concertina, and several can be played on only one row. And then there are some that are in 4 sharps! The attached example is "Isle of Beauty" from Jefferys's German Concertina Tutor published in 1885. THE TUNES: As Welcome as the Flowers in May, Beautiful Star, Belle Mahone, Black Tea Polka, The Blue Bells of Scotland, Buonaparte’s Grand March, Bonnie Dundee, Comin’ Through the Rye, Dodworth’s Original Lancers, Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes, Eulalie, Favorite Hornpipe, Fred Wilson’s Clog Dance No.1 and No.2, Gentle Annie, God Save the Queen, Had I a Heart for Falsehood Framed, The Harmonious Blacksmith, The Harp that Once Thro’ Tara’s Halls, The Hercules Hornpipe, Hold the Fort, Hunting the Hare, In My Cottage, Isle of Beauty, Jefferson & Liberty, Kelvin Grove, Kind Words Can Cheer the Heart, Kleine Waltz, The Lass O’Gowrie, The Last Rose of Summer, Logie o’ Buchan, March in “Guillaume Tell”, Men of Harlech, The Minstrel Boy, The Mother’s Evening Song, My Love, She’s but a Lassie Yet, Nelly Was a Lady, Oh! My Love He is a Saileur Boy, Old Continental March, On the Beautiful Blue Danube, Only a Pansy Blossom, Pet Robin Polka, Red White and Blue, Rose of Allandale, Rosefield, Roslyn Polka, Santa Lucia, Schottisch, Scots Wha Hae Wi’ Wallace Bled, Shall We Gather at the River, Shule Aroon, The Sicilian Mariner’s Hymn, Silver Moonlight Winds are Blowing, Silver Threads among the Gold, Skylark Polka, The Star Spangled Banner, Tyroler Walzer, Under the Willow She’s Sleeping, Vesper Bell Mazurka, The Victory Hornpipe, Villikins and his Dinah, White Wings Waltz, Write Me a Letter from Home, Yankee Doodle, Ye Banks and Braes, Young May Moon. Available through Red Cow Music in the UK, and Amazon.com. $25, 20 GBP, 23 Euro. Isle-of-Beauty-19c.pdf

Three reels composed by Carl Hession, featuring Maura O'Connor on Concertina. Grace Broadhead on Fiddle, and Carl Hession on Piano.

EVENT CANCELED DUE AIR QUALITY ISSUES. The duo 2 Many Buttons is performing at the FDA Farmers Market in Washington, DC on Friday, June 9th. 11:00 - 1:00 Come by, say hello