G'day Sonja,

I can't lay my hands on the Mel Bay Book (I just had a massive cleanup ... at my wife's behest ... and now I can't find anything! However I looked up the review I did for Concertina Magazine (Australia) #24, 1988 and I see that the correct title is Mel Bay's Deluxe Concertina Book, by Frank J Converse: Melbay Publications MB93758 and I paid Au$14.95 for it in 1988.

I have seen it about in music shop stock recently and it is not a bad way to start the basic 20-key German system. The most of the tunes given as examples are popular old American ones, so this makes it easy for new players - at least they know roughly what they should be playing.

Your idea of going to listen to some "professionals" is a great idea, but I urge you to get take along your concertina. I am constantly frustrated by people coming to my very informal music workshops without the instrument they want to learn ... saying; "But I wanted to get a bit better before I played it in public."

It doesn't work - you can't stay out of the water until you lear to swim! Folkies are mostly wonderful, gentle people and they will help you if you are prepared to help yourself. No one will laugh at your early efforts ... they can all remember that they had to start out too.

I will (eventually) post my setting of Henry Lawson's The Good Old Concertina. As well as the basic tune, I have a two line (either 2 treble clef lines or the great stave (played octave above) transcriptions of roughly what I play in a traditional 2-hand style ... possibly of interest to other Angloists. I could email a GIF image of the written music, if anyone wishes.

Anyway, it turned out as a pretty little polka tune, very comfortably placed on the basic, 20-key Anglo - and won me a prize in the Bush Music Club Tune competition!

Regards,

Bob Bolton