I realise this wasn't what Greg meant (and also that I've probably told you this already in person, Darren), but when playing triple hornpipes on *melodeon* I'd avoid playing oom-pahs on the left hand. They tend to level out all the syncopation that makes these tunes so interesting. Anahata's scheme (2 2 2 / 1 2 1 2) is a good illustration of the typical syncopation, with the minim in the melody straddling the first and second of the three beats in every alternate bar. It sounds effective if, in the syncopated bars, you stress the first minim, i.e. the offbeat - but oom-pah basses don't really allow you to do that. Better to devise a cross-rowed right-hand fingering scheme so that you can play sustained or stabbed chords on the left hand. Is this making any sense? If not, remind me to go through it at the next Sheffield tutorial session.

Tootler, is "Rusty Gully" actually written as alternating bars of 3:4 and 6:8 in the Vickers MS, or just in the Folkworks Session Collection? I had the idea that was Alistair Anderson's way of playing it.

And since everyone else is shamelessly plugging their merchandise, I should point out that every one of the 8 CDs I've recorded in solo, duo and dance band incarnations (but excluding the Rocky Mountain Ploughboys whose country / old-timey / rock'n'roll repertoire curiously didn't feature any 3:2) includes at least one and usually more triple hornpipes. Go here to find out more. And buy Greg's "The Beggar Boy" while you're about it.