It's been a few weeks since I started the Accordion Crossroads post. I just thought I would give a short update. For dance music I will continue with the piano accordion with stradella bass and musette tuning, that's a given.
But also in the last 9 months or so I bought a Quint converter to write new music with and play traditional slow airs with more flexible harmonisation options. This was a novel idea, but overall I think it worked better than I could have expected. I was able to write a couple of tunes in a different style - Dalriada and Finding Tir na nOg. I have also discovered that if I take a traditional air like The Wild Mountain Thyme, I can play it as a waltz using stradella and then switch to free bass and even just working on the 3 outermost rows (rows 4, 5, 6) create a simple harmony pattern, for example:
Row 4 (fundimental) sustain the bass note A with finger 4. And play broken chords on rows 5 and 6 such as:
A C# E C# HighA C#
(fingers) 4 3 2 3 2 3
But really, I am a
casual quintist, so to speak
. I have never had any desire to play classical music or anything serious. It had always just been an experiment with smoothing the harder edges from stradella pre-set chords. In this sense I have already achieved my goal and can usually improvise a simple bass harmony to accompany an air with little effort.
However, I think quint can do a lot more than this, because I have heard so many good accordion players playing beautiful music on the instrument. For example, Margherita Berlanda plays Bach's English Suites on a quint converter, and it sounds great.
In the last few days I have started working on one of Bach's Two Part Inventions - VIII in F major. I am focusing on the bass only and have reached bar 16, though I am playing it slowly. I want to take my time and not build in mistakes. I hope to be through the bass part before the end of June, and playing it at a reasonable tempo. I think the quint accordion is suited to this type of keyboard music. However, my aim in learning this piece is not out of a burning desire to play Bach. No, it is a means to develop the technique of the hands, so that I can compose more music and experiment with different styles.
However, I am not closed to the thoughts and ideas of others. I have read a lot about the potential of the chromatic converter. I have made a number of enquiries to hire an accordion with C griff chromatic system. I am hopeful that I will obtain an instrument shortly. However, if I do find one, it will not be a piano accordion. I want to try to find a button instrument with mirrored bass. It seems like a natural combination to me. I don't know if it will work for me but I am open to give it a go.
At the end of the day, once I have tried a chromatic converter, I may decide that I have discovered all I need to from the freebass accordion. For all I know, I may retire from all forms of free bass and just go back to stradella accordion with musette tuning. I sense that in all it's wonderous diversity the many free bass accordions are a great invention, but part of me thinks I might be just as wise to put my efforts into playing the piano to get the counterpoint hit. Simple (in the flow of keys) , international and I would become a multi instrumentalist.
Here's my favourite version of Bach's Invention VIII.
Take it away Glenn:
I have a bit of practising to do now. Might take a while, but I am sure we will speak again soon.
Thanks for all your comments.
Stewart
