G'day Zany Mouse,

I was going to second Nancy O's query and suggestions ... but follow up that I play Anglo - for Australian traditional music and, to me, the Anglo is a simple instrument that happily plays the folk tunes around it.

The traditional path to Anglo (and button accordion) was that kids all played mouth organ and, by the time Dad let them touch his Anglo or button box, they already new many of the tunes for their own music and could quickly play them. However, your reply says you play Maccann (often called Crane) ... an entirely different story! My first concertina (bought 1966) was a Maccann ... and I didn't have the motivation (or the model) to persist and I eventually moved to the simple, traditional instrument - but listening to Irish Bishop, when she was out here last year reminds me of what it can really do!

I suggest you look at Bob Gaskin's great Maccann Concertina Site ... it's one of the most comprehensive sites for all systems of concertina and it links lots of Maccann-specific material, including instruction books and music (much not exactly simple!).

Persist ... but enjoy!

Regards,

Bob