Moonsagotunes: 2026

Saturday, September 12, 2026

Halloween Song

Morse Geordie Baritone EC and me singing

I wrote Halloween Song in 1994, but it had a bit more to the melody, and an additional verse that I've decided to omit.

When I wrote it, I was using a Chinese pentatonic scale as a basis (something new to me), so that's kind of how a tune given in the key of A minor has ended up beginning with a B minor chord moving to a C-sharp minor chord.

So now that I've changed things so that it's more of a simple tune but kind of odd, I've been trying to figure out how to explain it. I guess I'd just say there's some modulation. The key of B minor moves to the key of A minor.

The words:

Hello, it's Halloween

Dress for the scene

Eat pumpkin pie

If you can fly, grab a broom

We'll go hopping

From tomb to tomb

(Instrumental verse)

Who are you? Nobody knows

Gliding wherever the

Wind of the cemetery blows

Go to the BOX file with the ABC code

Friday, September 4, 2026

Sweet By And By

Here's a brief mp3 of "Sweet By And By" played by me on my Stagi tenor English concertina.

Sweet By And By - Stagi tenor EC

I like to play this in a set with The Auld House.

And, here's a brief mp3 of "Sweet By And By" played by me on my Morse Geordie Baritone EC.

Sweet By And By - Morse Geordie Baritone EC

The tune: Joseph P. Webster (1819-1875)

The words: Sanford F. Bennett (1836-1898)

A great website where you may find the lyrics and a lot of interesting details:

The Cyber Hymnal

See their list of search options.

I noticed that this hymn is filed there as "In The Sweet By And By," and not as "Sweet By And By."

Sunday, August 30, 2026

The Old House (The Auld Hoose)

The Old House mp3 - Stagi tenor EC - My own interpretation. Not exactly as given online at thesession.org, though maybe that version is better/more correct. What I had to start with is found in "English Concertina Music," an old collection of arrangements by Faulkner Brandon (or... Brandon Faulkner, not sure) , and I don't play it exactly as printed there but... it's what it is.

I like to play this in a set with the old hymn, Sweet By And By (mp3 file), in the same key.

You'll find the Brandon Faulkner PDF at The Rowlhouse

And here is "The Auld Hoose" at thesession.org

Who wrote the song? Lady Nairne (Carolina Oliphant) - 1766-1845

Here are the words at allpoetry.com

She was both a composer and a lyricist, though she sometimes set her words to traditional Scottish tunes. (Right now I don't know for sure about this tune.)

Thursday, August 20, 2026

Away Today

Away Today MP3 - EC, Foot Bass, Vocal

"Talk to me later..." and I'll possibly have the ABC code

for this oldie. I do have the code but it's not

showing up correctly right now.

Tuesday, August 18, 2026

Happy Heavenly Birthday to my Mom

I miss mom, yes, and also I was left with a great stack of notebooks, lol.

I haven't really known what to do with all of her writing -- the finished, the unfinished, the printed published copies and the never yet published.

She left a couple things on some thumb drives, so it's quite easy for me to make them available. So today on what would have been her 86th birthday I'll share a PDF of a story I remember her being quite pleased with. When she shared with me that it was finished, she smiled and said, "It's good."

CHEF'S CHOICE by Sally Warren - PDF

Thursday, August 13, 2026

Packington's Pound

MP3 - PACKINGTON'S POUND - EC & Foot Bass

The recording linked above is from July of 2014, when this tune was the TOTM (tune of the month) for those of us participating in learning it, at concertina.net.

Go to the BOX file with the ABC code

This tune is very old and gets played a few slightly different ways.

Here's some interesting history at Tunearch.org

Unfortunately, my foot bass isn't working right anymore. It could be repaired (again) I suppose, but that's... complicated.

Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Better Is A Dry Morsel

Go to the BOX file with the edited ABC code better for .mid results

Or if you don't want the ABC code,

here is an MP3 (from the MIDI)

Both of these notations of the tune are correct. But the original (below) has ABC code that doesn't produce the .mid file I want, at least not within the limits of the app I use and my own understanding of ABC.