And THIS is where the smaller diatonic box really shines. It's easily possible to throw them overhand, with good form, and high velocity. Sure, the big PAs and CBAs hit hard, when they hit at all...(sigh) so it's come to this... "how hard you throw them". Really? I despair.
Surely technique counts for something...
If the straps are in good condition a "hammer turn" throwing technique would be excellent...
Or perhaps some kind of accordion trebuchet.
Not to mention the thumping great harp hiding him from view!
That is exactly the path I went. Quietly learning the fingering on the Roland gave me the assurance I could make the switch and I haven’t regretted anything. It was plenty responsive in the keys but It didn’t feel like a real instrument to me (I never used it in a session). The few times I played with other acoustic players in public I found the internal speakers too weak, but I loved the C-griff system and quickly located my first acoustic CBA (and soon after traded my PA FR4x for the FR4-bx).
Ok, I know, WHO'S PLAYING IT?
I play PA and would like to be fast enough to sometimes play melody for contra dances, which on some tunes go as fast as 240 notes per minute (120 metronome). I'm quite sure I'll never be nearly that fast on PA, at least not while playing crisply and accurately.
Funnily there was a time when "æsthetics" were a reason to camouflage button accordions as piano accordions.
Pretty sure. There are also variants where the black keys are register switches.
That's a bandonion. A CBA is perfectly regular, like a 16-string guitar with 4 frets and tuned in minor thirds. But the audience likely doesn't know that.
I am curious. How are glissando supposed to work on a B system layout?
The tradition thing is really weird for me. I was contra dancing in the 70's, and here in New Hampshire piano accordions were the exception - it was almost all concertinas and melodeons. I don't recall ever seeing Dudley play PA, and almost everyone else around here learned contra music directly or indirectly from him. There are more PA's now, but calling them "traditional" would be just wrong here. I guess that's part of the appeal of CBA for me - as you've said, the articulation, especially for smaller CBA's, seems closer to those little diatonic button boxes, in my strictly-youtube experience.
Playing very fast has the advantage that you don't hear how much the accordion is out of tune.
For contra dance music, you try to play at the tempo the dancers will get the most joy from dancing to. That varies with the dancers, the dance, and the music. Obviously, fast dances (steps per minute) and tunes with more notes per step are more challenging. Dance speeds are varied within a set to give everyone a chance to catch their breath. For an example of a fast tempo contra tune, listen to the fiddle on the first tune, Star of Munster, of this:
If you were contra dancing in the 70's, then you are obviously an old-timer (like me). Dudley goes way back (he is 90+) and is still doing contra dances. He most definitely played PA at one time. Here he is in the 1960s playing the PA and calling a contra dance at the same time. The young woman playing PA in the band is Sylvia Miskole, who, like Dudley, is still active.
I play with Sylvia every month. She's the one PA player (that I knew was one) I can remember playing at NH dances back then. Here's another video of Dudley with a PA, from 2010. My memory is obviously just of the collection of dances I went to, and less than perfect!
Well, this is some background we have not had until now. Are you taking lessons, or just sitting in with a band? What does Sylvia have to say about switching to a different accordion system to improve your playing?
