I'm very fond of acquiring old books or compilations of tunes. Any source will do - second-hand bookshops, t'internet, friends collections - and the probability is that a very high proportion of the tunes will be unfamiliar to me.

What unknown gems might lurk between the covers? How will I know without being able to read the notes? I remember acquiring the "Northumbrian Piper's Tune Book, No. 1" sometime in the early '70s and reading through the titles in anticipation. Some of the tunes I knew from my vinyl album of Billy Pigg (still treasured), the rest I just worked my way through, very slowly - but getting faster as I did more.

I doubt I would have heard some of these tunes at a session, either in London (where I was living then) or would hear them in Sussex, where I live now - and no recordings to speak of. That's where being able to work your way through the dots - however slowly - is a bonus.