Doing exercises / Doing pieces

[Ganza]

Ive been learning CBA with a teacher for about 5 months and will have my first lesson next week, after a months break for summer holidays.

The books we are using a french, ive mentioned them before. Theyre hard, but have alot of exercises/techniques (eg missing notes, 3rds, 5ths , bass runs etc etc) and only a few (hard) pieces. My teacher supplements with other, simpler (piano) accordion pieces, and we change the fingering.

I like doing pieces, but i also actually like exercises and doing arpegios, scales etc, im not the type of person who gets bored by repetition.

So, my question is, could i do ALL teachniques/exercises for awhile, and NO pieces? At least until ive learned all 3rds to octaves fingerings for the 1st row, for example.

Is there a problem with this approach? i feel like having to learn a new piece every week or two takes up alot of time...

 

[Rebeka]

That's mostly how I was taught - lots of music theory, lots of hand-clapping rhythms, and a serious amount if exercises on the keyboard. Not terribly exciting when I was 5, but I think that understanding of the accordion is why I an sight read now.
So as long as you're not bored, get to know your instrument as well as possible, it can only help you in the future

(Although, make sure you're doing things like playing both hands together, or that'll trip you up later, and you'll be back to the start.)

 

[Anyanka]

Respect! I can't make myself stick to exercises only, but I'm sure it's good for progress. One thing to incorporate is to play even scales with expression and feeling - basically, to put quality into everything you do. I'm trying that approach with my flute learning right now, and it makes the exercises as enjoyable as the tunes.

 

[Ganza]

Very useful info, thank you both

 

[morenito]

Bravissimo. If you feel the need, without getting bored, to study more' exercises technique than the music, you're destined to become a good accordionist. Good luck.
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[simonking]

I've taough myself the accordion so far over the past 7 or so years by playing pieces that I like. The problem is I don't think I'll ever get truly good that way - I often think I should spend 6 months or so playing nothing but scales, exercises etc. but I just don't have the discipline or the time! Whenever I pick it up most often I carry on playing music I know as usual and think next time I'll do some scales....hmm....

 

[Glenn]

I think in general there is a difference between playing and studying.
Although playing the pieces you enjoy does help of course, studying a piece (or exercise) has a more lasting effect.
Of course you can use a piece you like as a study piece, but then you have to approach it in a different way.

Select one of your preferred music piece to study which poses a challenge for you, then work through the piece bit by bit, stopping and really working hard to perfect certain passages.
Don't skip over bits that are OK but could be better or that only work 50% of the time.
If you find a passage that causes some issues then this is your study passage for the session.
Work on this passage, making notes of fingering the suits you or works well etc.
This way you will get a lot out of your practice session.

 

[george garside]

What Glenn says is very important and applies equally to readers and by ear players. If you are having difficulty with a certain part of a certain tune - take it out of the tune and practice it separately - then when its perfected, or at least somewhat improved, go back to playing the whole tune.

There is a great deal to be said for the old adage '''practice makes perfect''

george

 

[JimmyM]

Ive taough myself the accordion so far over the past 7 or so years by playing pieces that I like. The problem is I dont think Ill ever get truly good that way - I often think I should spend 6 months or so playing nothing but scales, exercises etc. but I just dont have the discipline or the time! Whenever I pick it up most often I carry on playing music I know as usual and think next time Ill do some scales....hmm....

Im very new to the accordian though ( if i say so myself ) fairly accomplished amateur musician on other instruments. I practice or play (and they are definately not the same thing) pretty much every day. Usually for about half an hour, sometimes more. If Im practising Ill maybe spend some time on technique ( i play a drum called a timbau so Ill always spend some time on the basic sounds and drum rudiments -kind of the drumming equivalent of scales?)
then i may spend time on different rythmns, another time I may play along to different tracks. Around twice a week i play along with other people usually at our bands regular rehearsal and an African drumming circle that is nearby.

Writing this it seems like a lot but most days its 30 or 40 mins -how any people spend that much time checking their Facebook or watching tv -both of which i still do

I guess what Im saying is that a small amount of directed effort will work wonders We are what we repeatedly do Aristotle, I think {}

 

[losthobos]

i've tried playing scales, exercises etc but i'm not sure if it's my neighbours, loved ones or self that gets annoyed first...
i practice/play tunes and just keep adding more to the library....they're never perfect but i find if i forget a tune i go back , restudy, reaarange and gradually things get better sounding and some kind of style begins to emerge.
I'd suggested to Harry Hussey that i was going to stop learning new tunes and meticulosly (you try and spell it) go over past material to try and bring up to scratch...his advice was Don't be so daft, keep learning new stuff and you'll see recurring themes, techniques etc that'll bring your whole playing forward...enjoy playing song's for the beauty that they are to the best of your interpretation
i'm game for that, got the rest of my life and can always move/get another girlfriend etc if the neighbours/lover object too much..

 

[lasvegascolonel]

Just a few days ago, while struggling with some of the songs in Book 4 of the Palmer-Hughes series, i realized that I'm grinding through some of the songs because a few of my skills are lacking in the note-reading and fingering skills. Like some people are saying here, perhaps it's useful and wise to "re-group" as we say in the military...go back to really concentrating on those drills or scales. Right now, I do a scale or so and I'm bored so I play some songs I know, but I think I'm going to cut back on the song playing which is often for entertainment value, and focus on the drills which are usually keyboard and bass scales. Long term, these should pay bigger benefits than the actual song playing. I find myself sometimes counting the lines and spaces on some of the upper lever notes on the keyboard too...guess I should try to learn them by sight. I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees the need for more effort on the nuts and bolts than the final product.

 

[Glenn]

If the songs in the Palmer Hughes books are well crafted, and I'm sure they are, then the pieces themselves will illustrate the exercises. Thus as long as you stop and carefully play the bits causing a problem, you are effectively doing exercises.

 

[KLR]

I have a laptop computer in front of me while I practice, and set some text to scrolling by - makes practice interesting even if it's just rote repetition of scales/arppegs/whatever. Google Chrome has an extension called Simple Auto Scroll that lets you set the pace. Another extension called Page Zipper takes you from page to page of numbered documents automatically, pages in discussion forums like this one, for instance.

 

[Ganza]

What a great idea KLR, combines 2 of my favourite pastimes - playing accordion and reading!

 

[lasvegascolonel]

If the songs in the Palmer Hughes books are well crafted, and Im sure they are, then the pieces themselves will illustrate the exercises. Thus as long as you stop and carefully play the bits causing a problem, you are effectively doing exercises.

Yes, I guess thats true, Glenn. The drills are practice drills FOR the songs coming up in the lesson so playing them is, in effect, doing the exercises. Since Im not under any time constraints, I am taking my time on all of these. Its amazing that young children were expected (and perhaps still expected) to pick up these concepts rather early in life. Thanks!

 

[Leighton]

I'm just a CBA beginner, but as a seasoned saxophonist I can say that I enjoyed playing exercises so much that I started making up my own system, but even so I was always taking a break for playing by ear to a tune I wanted to learn if only for a riff. Learning a tune was my reward for playing scales, etc.

As I said I just joined this forum to try to pick up tips on learning the CBA. I'm curious as to what books you are using?
I presume that if they are in French that they are for C-system. I have a B-system and I'm having no luck finding exercise books.

 

[Ganza]

Hi leighton,
Yes mine are C system by Andre Astier.
Im not sure about B system, but theres on in russian here for B system:

http://www.ronpearcemusic.com.au/rpweb1/Russian_Bayan_promo.htm

 

[Pietro]

Ganza, I have this book, but I've found it to be no use whatsoever because as you say its written in Russian.

Pete