Hello from near Edinburgh

[Jack Campin]

I've been playing Scottish and other kinds of trad music, mostly on wind instruments, for decades (see my website for what I'm into). So I have a vast repertoire of tunes in my head. I've been playing along with accordionists for half my life, but never really played anything that could do harmony, except the autoharp. A few years ago I got a Maugein C-system with Belgian basses when I was thinking about accompanying a fiddler - didn't work out, the fiddler went back home to Sweden, and I never got anywhere with the accordion.

But a couple of weeks ago I got a beautiful old Ranco 4-voice-treble 140-bass PA (possibly from 1936) - amazing sound and everything still works. The piano keyboard feels a bit bulky compared with buttons, but I'm getting used to it. The thing really feels like it was made just for me.

What I am intending to use to learn from:

- Conway Graves, The Concise Piano Accordion Tutor, Hohner 1949 (getting on okay with this)
- Ian Lowthian, Scottish Folk Tunes for Accordion, Schott
- Merima Kljuco, Eastern European Folk Tunes for Accordion, Schott
- David Oliver, English Folk Tunes for Accordion, Schott (maybe - not sure I'll need it)
- David Ledbetter, Continuo Playing According to Handel, OUP (eventually - I want to learn Baroque harmony)

I have a few parts of Sedlon but I'm not sure where it fits in. And a bunch of other tutorial stuff I may look at eventually. "The Mighty Accordion" looks like a waste of time.

I've still got the Maugein. Might get back to it once I can play the Ranco well enough to take it out in public. Sounds very different, classic coffee-and-Gauloises timbre.

 

[Glenn]

Hi Jack,
Welcome to the forum.
I have the Schott book of Scottish folk music. It is a nice book but far from being a book for beginners.
If you listen to the CD you will knkw why.
I also have the Eastern European Folk book. This is equaly difficult with the added issue of some rather complex rhythms which are far removed from Scottish folk music. A third the book uses 7/8 time signature which should be a warning

 

[Jack Campin]

I've been playing almost all of the tunes in Ian Lowthian's book for years - I picked it because the material is extremely familiar and it's stuff I like playing. Ditto with the Kljuco book, though I guess I only have about a third of it in my head already. Is it going to be that hard to add the left hand? It looked to me like Lowthian starts roughly where Graves leaves off.

If I have to slog through two years of Italian and Italian-American easy-listening tunes, forget it. That kind of repertoire is what put me off going anywhere near the accordion for decades.

 

[george garside]

Welcome to the forum Jack. You certainly don't need to learn tunes fom a book as , as you have said, you have a stack of them in the memory bank. All you need to do is to develop playing technique on the box which will probably come quite naturally to you anyway , perhaps with a bit of mentoring , pointing in the right direction or whatever if you can get someone to help in that way. Your tunes will then be playable on the box.

george

 

[Anyanka]

Hi & welcome, Jack. I expect you'll find it quite easy to translate your musical experience to the accordion! I've got the Merima Kljuco as well; I like the fact that the CD is good enough to play for enjoyment - not just for instruction. That makes it much easier to get to know the tunes well, and to get the feel for the rhythm.

 

[jarvo]

<HIGHLIGHT highlight="#ff40ff">[highlight=#ff40ff]The Mighty Accordion" looks like a waste of time[/highlight]</HIGHLIGHT>.

Curious to see that ...Why do you think so ?

I find it very useful for the bass side and for bass patterns ...

CJ

 

[Jack Campin]

It looks like it doesn't have anything in it that isn't either basic music theory or explained in a quarter the space by Graves. I haven't heard the CDs though.

Isn't the note at the very end, saying there is no way to get a sus4 chord with the bass buttons, just plain wrong? Why not just hold down the F, C and G fundamentals at once? Maybe not the most natural hand position but not all that difficult.

 

[Glenn]

Isnt the note at the very end, saying there is no way to get a sus4 chord with the bass buttons, just plain wrong? Why not just hold down the F, C and G fundamentals at once? Maybe not the most natural hand position but not all that difficult.

It doesnt sound very nice due to the voicing.
Such chords are often voiced otherwise. See Hans Palms page for some tips.

 

[BobM]

Isnt the note at the very end, saying there is no way to get a sus4 chord with the bass buttons, just plain wrong? Why not just hold down the F, C and G fundamentals at once? Maybe not the most natural hand position but not all that difficult.

Do you mean a chord made up from fundamental bass notes? Thats going to sound really turgid without a register change.

There a few chords made from a bass and 2 chords which don’t work for me, and pianists who I’ve checked with wouldn’t voice them like that anyway.

But, I think anyone who’s nailed everything in this book is doing pretty well, there’s a lot more right in it than wrong.

 

[Pietro]

Ian Lowthian's book by Schott is a great book containing some thought provoking left hand work which gets you away from the boring standard chords. (Just wish I could master them)

Pete

 

[jarvo]

Ian Lowthians book by Schott is a great book containing some thought provoking left hand work which gets you away from the boring standard chords. (Just wish I could master them)

Pete

In just wish I could master the boring standard chords............ :hb

CJ

 

[Anyanka]

Why would chords made up from fundamental notes sound 'turgid'? I imagine that on the right coupler setting they could be quite powerful - I often prefer the bass note sounds to the chords.

 

[Jack Campin]

I always thought sus4 chords were meant to sound doomy anyway.

I've known about Ian Lowthian for a long time - went to a mixed instrument workshop with him and Catriona Macdonald once, where he re-harmonized one of his own tunes on the fly quite differently from the way it appears in print; very good explainer. But he still lives in Duns, I think, which is too far to go for lessons.

 

[Buttons]

Hello from Edinburgh, to Hello from near Edinburgh. Hope you enjoy the forum.
Unfortunately I am way at the back of the Q for music knowledge, playing the PA or anything else for that matter, learning techniques, available scores, and .....but picking up bits and pieces slowly. Much of the academic stuff goes over my head. Soon perhaps.....or is that someday......... Anyway, best wishes.

 

[simonking]

I've got the Scottish tunes book too, and really like the basslines in there as it's much more interesting than the standard oom-pah and you'll quickly learn some of the possibilities of the bass system.

You can't get a pure sus4 chord but you can get a very similar sound and function in many cases by combining buttons. e.g C bass and Bb major will sound like a C7sus4 chord, that resolves nicely to F major.

I don't think there's much point in getting your old accordion out again if it also involves learning the Belgian bass layout as it's completely different and very uncommon, unless you like a pointless challenge!