xx’s eight hundred and sixty-two comments

Smash the windows, Irish washerwoman I think are the first two. more…

I suspect that Ms Shannon uses B/C fingering patterns on all her boxes - check out the keys some of her tracks are played in - Eb and E - which suggest occasional outings of old B/C favourites on C/C# and C#/D boxes. more…

I was briefly tempted to try C#/D. The comparison with a D flute is a very good one and although there are good grounds for playing such a box I decided (wisely or not) to stick with B/C, and stay on the side of the barely-respectable. more…

yeah i got it the wrong way. Xmas fatigue more…

everything Mark M says is dead right. Without the proper rhythmic foundation your tunes will fly to pieces when you play them “up to speed” and unaccompanied. more…

For ITM a G/C box is limited. In fact it’s probably a C/G box. more…

This will be the year when I learn to get the 8 buttons on the left hand sides of my boxes to earn their keep. more…

Arthur Gondolor: more…

It’s a shame that really good professional players often have to over-ornament tunes and play them at ridiculous speeds just to add that little bit extra that will sell their music in markets already flooded with very good but more plainly presented tunes… more…

As I remember, Peter Cooper says (in the Mel Bay Irish fiddle book) that reels were played at about 112 at London sessions in the 1980s. I’ve heard that 113 is the “official” speed for dancing a reel. more…