Hello from Australia

[Howie]

Hi everyone,

I have been lurking here for a while. I'm brand new to Piano Accordion and only just bought one to start learning on.

I play several other instruments including Piano. Strangely enough it is learning harmonica (chromatic, the one with a button) that led me to Accordion. They both have a similar sound.
I enjoy listening to gypsy jazz and zydeco, just for starters. I'm also keen to be able to eventually play what I think of as "the usual accordion repertoire", although I'm ashamed to admit that while I hear these familiar tunes played by many different accordionists, I don't know the song names.

I have played piano for a long time now but I'm not going to fall for the trap of thinking accordion will be easy... there's those buttons, for a start. There seem to be no teachers where I live, but that hasn't stopped me from learning instruments before.

Thanks for having me.

cheers Howie

 

[Soulsaver]

Hi Howie... welcome. We don't have many from Oz on here... but we know a couple of decent players from there.
How frustrating you don't know the names... for you and us. No worries, they'll come up eventually..

 

[TomBR]

Hi Howie and welcome.

Good fun on accordion coming from a piano perspective by Brendan Cavanagh here


Cathie Travers is a great Australian accordion player and teaches, but in Western Australia I guess shes a long way from you!
https://www.youtube.com/user/AccordionJo

Cheers
Tom

 

[Corsaire]

Hi Howie - don't worry about not remembering the names of tunes. I'm hopeless but it doesn't cause a problem - just irritating at times ! If you already play the piano, you'll soon get the hang of the keyboard. The bass buttons - well, a bit of trial and error, and if you've got a good ear, you should be able to pick up the basics.

Being able to pick up stuff from internet is a real boon - as you will have seen, there are some really knowledgeable people here, and you should be able to get some useful YouTube links to help you.

 

[Nuuksu]

Welcome to forum!

If You play piano and enjoy jazz music why not take a look into Jamey Aebersold Play-A-Long series. http://jazzbooks.com/ Theory in Jameys books is quite universal for any chromatic instrument. Volumes 1, 2, 3 and 54 are nice starting set. Backiing tracks from them are also good quality real stuff not just another cheezy midi.

Also dont forget to give my warm wishes to Australian bats, flying foxes are soo lovely

 

[Howie]

Thanks for the warm welcome folks.
Soulsaver, I've been listening to accordion on youtube to try to find the names of pieces I wish to (eventually) do justice to. I found a couple books on Amazon with french accordion music - Beuscher, and also a Mel Bay collection. From what I've seen they're beyond even confident beginner level, no surprise.

Tom, Brendand Cavanagh! I have enjoyed his boogie woogie piano vids for ages, and I did see the accordion one. Yes Brendan's a lot of fun. Love his video of being hassled by security for playing a public piano at a station somewhere. And Cathie Travers, wasn't aware of her, very talented. But she is such a long way from me.

The internet, specifically youtube, is a great help so far Corsaire. It's a wonderful time to be a musician. I know only one local accordion player (button and piano) - without the internet that would be my only real help.

Nuuksu, I'm a big fan of Jamie Aebersold play-a-longs. I use them mostly for sax (I play tenor). Yes, Aebersold is the gold standard of backing tracks for Jazz. Speaking of cheezy midi, I also use the iReal Pro app for sax and harmonica practice, good for pieces I don't have by Aebersold. It's pretty good for an app, worth a look if you haven't tried it out yet.
We do have a lot of lovely bats in my area, there is one place I see them at night flying a circle pattern around a lit monument, feeding on insects in warm weather. We've had bats somehow find their way into our house twice - tiny things, like a small mouse with wings. Flying foxes are lovely I suppose, until they took over a local park here in their thousands. It's no longer safe to walk in the park - due to the blessings dropped from above. And the smell is.... interesting.

cheers Howie

 

[spacetrakker]

Good Day Howie,
Welcome to the Forum from another Aussie!

I live in West Australia and am pretty much self taught on the accordion although I have played other instruments most of my life. I found this site very helpful in my accordion journey .
http://duaneschnur.com/index.htm

Again, welcome and enjoy the ride.

John

 

[Howie]

G'day John, thanks for the link. It's encouraging to know it's possible to be self taught. I too play various instruments, I guess that gives us a head start. I could travel down to Melbourne for lessons, but I'm lucky to have full time work so making a regular trip down there is difficult.

I've found an "easy" arrangement of Sous le Ciel de Paris / Under a Paris Sky, and I have been wearing out youtube viewing some tutorials.

Howie

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Howie,

A very warm welcome to the forum.

You are certainly in the right place to pick up invaluable information on accordions.

I hope that you will share the details of your progress via these pages.

Good Luck,

Stephen.

 

[Howie]

How frustrating you dont know the names... for you and us. No worries, theyll come up eventually..

Just an update on my intro thread and my progress. Listed below are a few of the pieces Ive learned, some of which I was thinking of when I mentioned the usual accordion repertoire, others are familiar to us but not to the casual listener. I should add that although I can play most of these confidently, a couple will take a lot more work. Czardas in particular.

I would like to hear suggestions for more pieces to learn along these lines, but perhaps thats for a different thread.

La Mangave
La Varenne
Czardas
Indifference
La Cumparsita
Sous les toits de la rue Tiquetonne
Valse des Chevaux de Bois
Godfather Waltz
La Paloma
Sous les Ponts de Paris (under the bridges of paris)
Sous le Ciel de Paris (under paris skies)
Hava Nagila
Le Revenant
La Vie en Rose

 

[Soulsaver]

Sounds like quick progress to me.. good job :tup:

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Hello Howie,

I'm glad that you play La Vie en Rose, as it is one of my absolute favourites.

Maybe you would consider, when you have time, looking at "The River" (Le Colline Sono in Fiore) or "Love Me With All of Your Heart." Both these tunes are beautiful, and not all that difficult to play.

Kind Regards,

Stephen.