Francois Parisi's accordion - anyone speak French?!

[Ganza]

I need some help with translation please:


I met Francois Parisi of "Midnight in Paris" soundtrack, "Annie-Zette" etc in Paris in December. I wrote him a few questions about his accordion, but I'm not sure if I've got the answers right (with jargon and all). I've put a picture of him and his accordion in this message.

Can anyone translate his answers below, in bold? Essentially, I'm trying to understand if his accordion has 3 or 4 reeds in the treble. And, if he only has 3, why...

At-il 4 voix (basson et piccolo) et at-il 1 ou 2 boîtes de résonance?
Il n'a pas de piccolo juste une boite de résonnance.

Pourquoi pensez-vous que le piccolo musique (reed) est inutile?
le piccolo peut servir pour certaine musique il faut faire des choix

 

[Buttons]

Google translate may help. I used it once for Slovak. Dont know how it would work for 'technical translate'.

First one is....He has no piccolo just a box of resonance.

Second one is....piccolo can be used for certain music must make choices
ATTACHMENTS

Languages was my fail subject at school!!!!!! I dont understand it!!!!

 

[Ganza]

Thanks for trying!

Im not sure if "juste" means "just"?

Because I've seen french write "plein juste" or something before in relation to accordion tuning, but I have no idea what that means...

A boite de resonance is a cassoto i know that...

Is he perhaps saying that his piccolo reed is not in a cassotto, bearing in mind that some older french style accordions had the piccolo reed in a cassotto?

Confusion reigns!

 

[debra]

At-il 4 voix (basson et piccolo) et at-il 1 ou 2 boîtes de résonance?
Il na pas de piccolo juste une boite de résonnance.

Pourquoi pensez-vous que le piccolo musique (reed) est inutile?
le piccolo peut servir pour certaine musique il faut faire des choix

Brushing up my French here...

The accordion (Il) has no piccolo. With just une boite de résonnance he actually means it just has a cassotto to allow a distinction between mellow and sharper sound. It does not have a piccolo which would create an even sharper sound.
So there is M in cassotto, mellow sound, and M outside cassotto, brighter, sharper sound, but no piccolo for even sharper sound.

The piccolo can serve (be used in) certain music but one has to make choices.

One case I would use this is that when the M-M register has rather slow tremolo, say around 10 cents or less, people can add the piccolo reed to it, using MMH, to play a musette instead of using M-M-M on more musette-oriented instruments.

Of course the il faut faire des choix also refers to having a 4 reed, not 5 reed instrument meaning you can have either LMMM or LMMH but not both. His instrument is indeed too small to be a 5 reed instrument.

 

[donn]

Or it could well be that the cassotto reed is the L, n'est ce pas? As it is in my Fratelli Crosio, probably a little older than his but also LMMM. That allows the MMM to be 3 same sounding reeds, not two bright and one muffled, plus a less strident L bass.

 

[JerryPH]

Being a polyglot with a good amount of French under my belt, perhaps I may help.

I need some help with translation please:
Il na pas de piccolo juste une boite de résonnance.

Pourquoi pensez-vous que le piccolo musique (reed) est inutile?
le piccolo peut servir pour certaine musique il faut faire des choix

In his first response, he is saying that there is no piccolo, just a resonance box, but the meaning is likely closer to something akin to there is no piccolo, just Cassotto. Without seeing the entire conversation, it is hard to be definitive, but I know that the piccolo sound is usually the H in a LMMMH accordion, so he may be saying that his is a LMMM or LMM accordion without the highest sounding set of reeds. You may be able to know what is meant if you had the conversation with him.

In the second he is saying that the piccolo may serve for some kinds of music but that you must make choices. Translated a little better, he is saying that the piccolo sound can be used with some music, but that it sounds better on music that is better suited for this range of tones.

Does this help?

 

[Ganza]

Thanks everyone for your efforts.

Yes I take it to mean:

1) Francois Parisi's accordion doesn't have a piccolo reed, just LMM with the L in cassotto.

2) Francois Parisi feels that the piccolo reed is useful for some types of music, but not necessary for the music he plays (jazz, bossa nova and musette) and so he doesn't have one.

 

[donn]

Or LMMM, if its 4 voices. But listening to a couple recordings .,.. what does this sound like? Parisi quatuor décembre 2014 Nanterre

After a couple minutes of that extremely bright sound he briefly switches to a much mellower reed selection. The initial and ending setting sounds to me like what I would expect from MMH, but I really only know what my own accordion sounds like, which for sure has no H reed.

 

[Ganza]

In that clip, I think he's play LM, and then just L in cassotto, and then back to LM...