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Yesterday, I started mucking about with an old 'legacy' ABC file (from 2012), and thought that I'd try the URL which was included with each tune. These old URLs are usually 'dead', but this one wasn't! The Highland Music Trust (HMT) web site contains much of interest to lovers of Scottish music - including free PDFs to download (but no ABC as far as I can see), and a selection of printed tune books to buy. I'd never heard of the HMT, and can find only one mention when I search in concertina.net (over 20 years ago!), so I reckon it's worth mentioning again... I'm having a great time editing the ABC file I currently have into a form which suits me, and which plays back half-decently. A bit further down the road, I may well look at those PDFs and do a couple of transcriptions of my own, from scratch.... Worth a look? (x-posted to melodeon.net)

My dear friend Celtic-Harper Beverly Black often loans me the use of her harp to compose tunes. Not surprisingly, I compose very different tunes on other instruments that my fingers aren't familiar with like they are on concertina. I didn't compose for harp (not knowing what to do with the left hand) but the resulting melodies were lovely. This pays homage to Bev's lovely harp and its addition to my repertoire. If it seems like I'm recording the baritone often its because it hadn't been played much before I bought it and at 120 years old, I decided to let it go through a vigorous break-in period before I tune it to A440 (currently in A442 7-9 cents sharp). Dropbox link to dots, musixml &xml files:https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/4t517bygrsgut7ugpr7z8/AH57uMrbRViI_jcCDfON6Ac?rlkey=re11zkrpvumgit58ctfjz45sc&st=02f6xnvg&dl=0

I composed these tunes between 2004-2012 to represent the "keening" or mournful cries of the seal "people" as they yearn for return to the ocean. Dropbox link to dots,musicxml,xml: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/ukwmlbrfsm15fot1l3ns7/AGw7wtsZRGZsZIGPf7H7Sz8?rlkey=wdfqks0xx679fmarlidfwqosu&st=nhripuyh&dl=0

A Scottish pastoral air I composed in 2000 in tribute to Robert & Isobel Campbell, proprietors of Pitnacree Cottage, Perthshire during our 1996 Honeymoon in Scotland. Robert was a native Shetlander and amazing raconteur. My favorite advice from him was "Be careful hereabouts who you tell that you're a Campbell, there's still some grudges about!" Dropbox link to dots,musicxml,xml files: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/8igpbd3fip9jw0eong8te/AAczGQWNIoHmdDGnPcXzgDQ?rlkey=1dtgj4wdh2qtklw6cl0lev63v&st=99w2mv2n&dl=0

These 3 tunes were composed by me for the Rideout Family Burns Night Dinner Concert. I dedicate it to Doug & Betty Rideout who hosted me for over 30 years and their daughter Bonnie, who first brought me to into "the fold". This was the very last of the Burns Night gatherings due the Pandemic & Doug's passing last year. Those Burns Nights will be with me forever and greatly contributed to the player & composer I am today! Dropbox link to the tunes dots, musicxml, xml files. Dismiss or ignore any options Dropbox throws at you and move on to the tunes. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/m641x1206shfmxcpj5o29/AE_8vdLffH5tLuJpyQF6N2w?rlkey=jl627tx6ephpfp7apbcmxqgvb&st=3tq4o1jk&dl=0

The first 3 tunes are a 6/8 march set from the 2016 Rideout Family Burns Night Concert and the last piece is a 2/4 strathspey/march named after the Pre-Revolutionary War "Colonial Militia" detailed to the British at the Straits of Mackinaw in Michigan. A million years ago Frank Edgley used to play this on Scottish small pipes with me on concertina. I've included in the dots my variation where in measures 10 & 14, where I replace the A & triplet with a "Birl". Link to dots/musicxml,xml:https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/c8bypthj6foz29mc4gwp5/AKYtxpf5FOgSitgF7N3L7hQ?rlkey=xvclygf0dntxanh1gdd27hyzp&st=4ioxezx0&dl=0

3 of my Scottish compositions from the 2019 Rideout Family Burns Night Concert: "Gazing Out her Window" (pastoral air) "Nether Largie" (bagpipe strathspey) -including "Birls" "Fiddler's Whimsy" (march/reel). Dropbox link for dots, musicxml & xml files: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/8cs6nluivab3z8h5fv8we/AEsdFlE_iLyPxsLSjvbvtWE?rlkey=4dilwebmqek107fmd264rqzz0&st=6t11omq2&dl=0

Another of my Scottish compositions for Burns Night concerts. I'm the "skirt" on the left. Dropbox link for pdf dots, musicxml & xml: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/igbs1vf8vzv9pw0zt6rel/APEu8q7jXbwfBQTiT9Hpuok?rlkey=0iznu1yerd9e0orl8syzrh5v2&st=t0b9let9&dl=0

Found one last old cassette tape of me playing in the early 1980s. Mostly Scottish, but one Northumbrian and an old time fiddling set from 1800s. Couldn't seem to filter out the "hum" no matter how hard I tried, Sorry! https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/6t4lagzu4ojvsdnkkc8gu/matt-s-concertina-side-1.mp3?rlkey=5sxgk418zgnd5ag5l60a7mb4s&st=f36b3qx9&dl=0 Signed-In Members can access more of my music files at Dropbox link at bottom of this posting

Please see below for details of the new album, 'Blyde Lasses', featuring Frances Wilkins on English Concertina. Copies of the album can be purchased online at www.blydelasses.com Traditional music duo Blyde Lasses release their debut album of folk songs and tunes, all with a strong Shetland accent. Frances Wilkins and Claire White’s 'Blyde Lasses' album has developed out of seven years of domestic and international performances by the pair. Concertina player Frances explains ‘After many requests for recordings at concerts we finally entered the studio in 2013 to produce an album which encapsulates our own brand of Shetland music.’ The CD features old and new instrumental pieces as well as traditional and self-penned songs in Shetland dialect. Claire White adds ‘I’ve been playing fiddle for a very long time, but songwriting and singing are recent pursuits, inspired by my love of stories and a desire to weave more words into Shetland’s living musical tradition.’ The duo's name means 'glad girls' in Shetland dialect, reflecting the fact that both players spent their formative years in the islands before basing themselves in Aberdeen. Their playing partnership has seen them tour New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates, the UK and Ireland in recent years, performing the music of Shetland and telling stories of island life. As an ethnomusicologist Frances is expert at ferreting out old recordings and dusting them down for the duo. Claire works for BBC Scotland by day on all manner of creative projects and loves composing new material for Blyde Lasses to play and sing. Biographies Claire White was raised in the beautiful Shetland Islands. She learned the fiddle with Dr Tom Anderson from the age of eight and played as a member of Shetland's Young Heritage in Europe, New Zealand, the USA and Canada. She now performs regularly in popular Aberdeen-based ceilidh bands Danse McCabre and Jing Bang. In her day job, she brings all sorts of stories to the airwaves as a BBC Producer. Frances Wilkins fell in love with the music of Shetland while living there in the 1990s and taught herself many of the melodies on the English concertina. She was soon performing throughout the British Isles and internationally with three-piece band, Sølan, and recorded two CDs in 1999 and 2001. She moved to London in 2001 to study music at the School of Oriental and African Studies before returning north in 2006. She performs regularly with a number of groups and is a lecturer in Ethnomusicology at the University of Aberdeen. Editor's Notes: Contact: Frances Wilkins, frances@blydelasses.com, 07780 504930 Hear selected tracks, buy the album, see photos and read reviews at www.blydelasses.com