G'day Musicman (and Sledge .. if only in passing,

The purpose of the push-pull (harmonica) arrangement is the easy availabilty of big (if not complicated), strongly rhythmic chords for dance music. This is why the German and Anglo-German concertina was for so long such a beloved instrument of the customers - the dancers ... certainly here in Australia.

It also made learning the instrument a (near) non-task: kids almost all played harmonicas ... and so, when Dad (Uncle, Aunt, Mum ... whoever) eventually let them play the concertina they already had the tunes/tunings firmly learnt on harmonica. Once they fell into the simple, natural rhythms of the "vamp" chording they could play easily.

That is: they could play dance music:

- It doesn't matter what key dance music is in ... as long as it is in good rhythm.

- Nobody dances to sharps and flats ... they may make some tunes sound prettier to the musicians, but the dancers don't bother.

- They had to do a lot of adapting if they wanted to play for singing ... for a start, their voices might not be happy in the keys of their concertina ... and they had to conquer a lot of old harmonica habits - like huffing and puffing along with the tune ... that fought against them singing, That said, a lot of good old players did it quite well!

That's the tradition of my country ... and that's why, about 25 years back, I sold my same note each-direction, chromatic concertina (Lachenal-made, Wheatstone system Duet) to fund a button accordion and an Anglo concertina ... and now have a considerable number of each!

There's nothing wrong with people playing any other thing they want .. but I enjoy playing in my traditions ... and the push-pull instruments are such great fun - and they always have something more for me to learn and enjoy.

Regards,

Bob Bolton (so enjoy your Anglo, Sledge!)