Dear Derek,

Please except my sincere apology for Alex's very rude post. In the several years of this forum, there was only one other post I recall that was so uncalled for.

I feel that I let you down by strongly encouraging you to share your music, and then for you to witness such a rude response as Alex's.

Please do not let Alex's rude comments discourage you. I much admire you dedication to sharing your musical interests and creativity with other senior accordian players. You have the right spirit about music. It's not about one-upping some other musicians. It's not about glorying yourself. It's about sharing an art that touches our souls, with music's dimension of time, that brings up memories from our lives.

Sherry, are you listening? (Of course you are.) Please do this: Run Derek's Tango through some good GPO accordian sounds. Spend some time making it sound good, like what Derek's group of 10 accordian players sound like after they've practiced the Tango a good bit. Then post the GPO .mp3 version of Derek's Tango here so that we can appreciate what he's hearing in his own head, and with his accordian group, rather than hearing GM grand piano.

Derek, please let me know if you'd like me to delete Alex's post. If so, you can send your request privately to support@notation.com. I might delete it anyway if other forum participants privately express some outrage to me.

And, Derek, I hope you will not be discouraged from sharing more of your music with us. I will exercise my right to censor such misbehavior as you've seen here.

Cheers
-- Mark