Chromatic Accordion book

[simonking]

I was in the library the other day and saw a little old book (more of a pamphlet really) called First Steps: Chromatic Accordion. Its only for C system but thought it might be useful for somewhere to start with scales and fingering on that. Only a few pages look like theyre any use - most of the rest is the usual stuff about music notation/theory that people either already know well or need to learn from another book. Here are the useful bits (I had to resize them in order to upload) - I dont play chromatic so forgive me if its outdated or controversial!

 

[pentaprism]

Thanks, simonking. This is exactly what I'm looking for.

I've been playing PA and just got a small CBA to see if I should switch to CBA. This will keep me going.

 

[mjh]

Thank you for posting these Simon, I've been on the brink of asking advice for learning scales so this is handy to say the least! And with practice tunes to boot. Can't find this particular book in our national library database either. What about minor and major 7th, are they just not as useful that they've omitted them from the book? I know next to nothing about musical theory.

 

[Glenn]

Is this what they call C-griff as thed C is on the first row?

 

[simonking]

Yes, C system, C-Griff, whatever. I don't know when or why people started using the German term in English - seems a bit superfluous to me!

It's just these three scale patterns really - the rest of the book has a bit about the Stradella bass and maybe a few more practice tunes. It's not a big book but the small amount of information was interesting, as I was under the impression that the thumb was used on C system. But as I said, I haven't got one and I don't play it!

 

[Glenn]

I use the term "griff" because I am a bit of a poser.

 

[Soulsaver]

Not many realise but Chromatic is included in L O ANZAGHIS Complete method - 200+ A4 pages.
All the usual scales arpeggios exercises AND some tunes. Its c £32 inc post ouch! (below) but youd need a 6 or 8 books in the Palmer H or Sedlon methods to compare so is value.

Wasnt available on Amazon for a while but there is one there now - should you go for one make sure its in English cos Italian ones come up - neither is owt to do with me - I bought one from the ebay guy - nice old fashioned looking (the book) :lol:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listin ... dition=new

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281038516460 ? ... 1497.l2649
And believe Allodis have it, too.

 

[donn]

Its just these three scale patterns really - the rest of the book has a bit about the Stradella bass and maybe a few more practice tunes. Its not a big book but the small amount of information was interesting, as I was under the impression that the thumb was used on C system. But as I said, I havent got one and I dont play it!

The thumb is used on C system, for sure - but not by everyone!

Take a look at Odd Arne Halaas on Over Bølgen - I hope Im not confused here, he has a C system, right? His thumb is thoroughly integral to the technique.

But Eric Bouvelle gets along rather well without it. Ive seen other videos where it looks like he (and others who have a similarly essentially 4 finger technique) will throw in a thumb once in a while. (Like theyve learned all the tricks, including they have a thumb up their sleeves.)

A big difference to my eye is that the first video, Halaas really uses all 5 rows. The 5th row is really wasted on the French & Portuguese types - I mean, maybe theyd use it if they were transposing a tune to another key, but normally theyll stay on the 3 outer rows, or at most 4 outer. It seems to me that the hand position, the use of rows, and the use of the thumb kind of go together here.

 

[nathen]

Hey Glenn,

When I just read your reply of why you use the term C - Griff, it was so unexpected that I burst out laughing, and it took me a while before I could share it with my wife. She's used to me laughing at the drop of a hat anyway.

The timing was perfect. Thanks for that Glenn.

nathen

 

[nathen]

If you're coming from a pa to a CBA, is one system easier to learn than the other? Plus, why are there two systems anyway! It's like having the pa system upside down as an option!

nathen

 

[Matt Butcher]

I haven't heard that one is easier than the other. Some say there are advantages or disadvantages of both, one is meant to be slightly better for right hand chords, the other for fast melodic playing or something, but I forget which is which. But from what I've seen by the time you are good enough for this differences to make any noticeable difference, you are also good enough to overcome them and the difference is more theoretical than practical. access to advice on fingering (whether in person or online or in a book) may be helpful as a simple tip on fingering can often get you out of a tangle and then you can apply it to the next tune, so if you know another B or C system player that might be a factor. That's been my experience anyway.

I think. The two systems (in fact there are more in use) are historical accident as the instrument went its own way in different parts of the world and there's probably no chance of standardisation now.

Just don't try to mix B and C systems at the same time...

 

[billwolfe]

Wow! Where to start with this thread? First, thanks Simon for posting this material. Can you share the name and author of the pamphlet? I just posted a rather long post on another thread in this forum on CBA tutors and scales. I had presumed to offer a neat classification of CBA major scale fingerings, but the major-scale fingerings in this tutor follow yet another entirely different set of principles--one so alien to me that I can't even characterize it. I have to assume the author(s) actually played music on the CBA, but the scale fingering in this book seem to prescribe a series of needlessly convoluted finger patterns. I have to emphasize I have no claims to expertise here, and if someone actually plays CBA with this kind of fingering, I'd love to here about their experience and insights. For beginners, my knee-jerk advice would be "Run Away!"

Thanks, Donn for the links! I was well aware of Odd Arne Halaas and his great 5-finger CBA style. Eric Bouvelle is new to me, but he really personifies the amazing virtuosity of tthe classic 4-finger French musette tradition.
BW

 

[donn]

All I know of him is from some youtube videos, which seem to document his life to an unusual extent. Starting with the child prodigy. Prodigious, of course. A number of videos over several years of his career as an adult. Very professional. The ones I really recommend are a series recorded in what appears to be a very small venue in Portugal, with another accordion player, a woman named Domi Emorine. The playing is incredible, superhuman, but he's engaged in a way that projects, and it's immensely entertaining -- and then when Domi Emorine joins him it quadruples everything, and they look like they're having so much fun they're about to explode. She is very good too, of course, has to be to keep up with him.