Miscellany from Bologna

[maugein96]

Hi folks,

Heres two guys from Bologna that I hope youll enjoy.

Andrea Scala on his little Stocco PA 3 voice musette with no treble couplers and no basses at all. What a sound though! Stoccos are made in Stradella in Lombardy but not in great numbers. Their musette accordions are phenomenal.



He is joined on the second clip by Tiziano Ghinazzi, who also plays a fair bit of classical music on an Internazionale type CBA. The sistema francese hes playing here was made by Ropa in Bologna, who seem to have stopped production of accordions, but still carry out repairs.



Heres another great one-handed player, Davide Salvi, from the same area, this time with a red Ropa. Sorry they are all waltzes, but that genre seems to prevail in the area.

 

[morenito]

Ghinazzi and Scala are accordeonistes of my country and i like to see appreciated also in America. Thank you..

 

[Glenn]

What a great little instrument. Thanks for the links.

 

[Deleted member 48]

The Stocco PA no basses seems to be a special order made. Cant find this specific no bass model in the online catalogue.

Stocco is based in Stradella.
http://www.fisarmonichestocco.it/

 

[landro]

Nice musette sound indeed and such a small box , but it`s really only half an accordion . I cringe when I see accordion players play with one hand only. Thankfully and obviously someone is filling in with the bass either a guitar or the other accordion.

 

[Matt Butcher]

Interesting comment landro, do you think the sound is lacking with one hand, or letting the instrument down by not using it's potential? I never thought about it.

 

[morenito]

And this? Isnt also very nice ?


:tup:

Little instruments are great for typical performances !

 

[Matt Butcher]

And this? Isnt also very nice?

Yes, very, at least to my ears.

 

[landro]

And this? Isnt also very nice ?


:tup:

Little instruments are great for typical performances !

Very nice musette and keyboard work , but someone else is playing the bass . That`s at least 2 people doing what one should have been doing.

 

[landro]

Interesting comment landro, do you think the sound is lacking with one hand, or letting the instrument down by not using its potential? I never thought about it.

See my comment to Morenito below.

 

[Deleted member 48]

I love the black Fratelli Crosio CBA without the basses, that Passarini is playing ! Charming tune ! I have some Carlo Venturi waltzes in my collection.


Im looking for this kind of mini lightweight ones.
Morenito, do you know an accordion maker that has these in the catalogue? Or someone in the Bologna region or Castelfidardo who can make these?

If you have any information on the exact netto weight in kilogram, Im very interested.

 

[dak]

Very nice musette and keyboard work , but someone else is playing the bass . That`s at least 2 people doing what one should have been doing.

should? Nah, could. If that was a criterion, wed be hearing little but organ music these days. Preferably with the organ player also singing.

A Styrian harmonica has a very nice bass. It still does not beat a double bass when available. For me, a rather tangible threshold is when recordings become involved. In that case, I think it a more elegant solution to revert to the bass section of the accordion one is playing anyway. Its similar when employing the services of an arranger keyboard or rhythm computer (either of which then dictates the pacing), and sort-of similar when working with a looper. A V-accordion with orchestral sounds and percussion is different again since it does not bring its own pacing and notes into it. Its sort of the equivalent of players hooked up to dozens of instruments in some more or less comic mechanical contraption. Come to think of it, one sees less of those than one might have at one time. Once you start using any electronic instrument, it seems to defeat the whole premise.

One sees violinists, singers, even an occasional guitar player with playback. You dont see an instrumentalist with a playback singer, a drummer with a playback orchestra, or an accordionist or organist with any playback. Thats what feels like cheating to people. But several players specializing on the respective best parts of their instrument an creating a common performance? Nothing wrong with that in my book.

 

[landro]

My apologies if I offended anyone. It`s a personal thing with me , my opinion only. I really didn`t expect a lot of support.
I`m not too keen with those who play Tex mex, Tejano , Cojunto style music (southern US) with their bass reeds removed from their accordion and hanging at waist level by one strap either. Can you tell that I`m old ? I guess I should be happy that they are at least perpetuating the accordion , something that has all but died here in the states.

 

[JerryPH]

Well, it a half-way manner I am with you on that, I don't like to see an accordionist playing with one hand, however, I am totally accepting of it when the accordionist is part of a group and the functions that the bass does is taken over by another band member, and the kind of accordion makes little difference.

When I was in a band, I actually found it annoying to play with one hand so thanks to the Elka, I turned off the bass mics and turned off all electrical voices on the bass and then I would not conflict with the keyboardist that played the bass line of the music. My bass was loud enough for me to hear but easily drowned out by the other band members, that way everyone was happy.

An accordion alone with only one hand played throughout an entire song is like a ham sandwich without the bread. It can be done and still tastes good like ham, but something is missing... lol

 

[dak]

I`m not too keen with those who play Tex mex, Tejano , Cojunto style music (southern US) with their bass reeds removed from their accordion and hanging at waist level by one strap either. Can you tell that I`m old ? I guess I should be happy that they are at least perpetuating the accordion , something that has all but died here in the states.

Thats not really fair since those are playing diatonic harmonicas with a small number of rows. Their bass side when not cleared out contains only a very basic set of bass notes and chords anyway, and they depend on being able to change bellows direction all the time without accentuation because otherwise they cannot reach all notes. They need to be able to do this with the speed of a fiddler, and a bow is still lighter than the bass side of such a box. Have you actually held such a box in your hand once? They feel like toys. And they need to be like that. In a band setting, there just isnt anything useful you could be doing with the bass side anyway.

 

[dak]

An accordion alone with only one hand played throughout an entire song is like a ham sandwich without the bread. It can be done and still tastes good like ham, but something is missing... lol

The customers in your deli might ask why their egg&ham contains occasional traces of relish.

In other words, you are interfering with the rhythm sections privilege of harmonizing the melody differently from your hardwired left hand, even assuming that the focus and air you put into your left side is not interfering with the expression of your right side.

And make no mistake: a compelling left hand play needs focus, and often more focus than a typical accordion player is extending to it. If you record left and right side completely separately, either recording needs to sound intentional and interesting in every note. It helps to practice them occasionally alone, but at least with exclusive focus. Playing only one hand does give you more freedom to work out its character.

Of course, the situations of band play and of some informal gettogether are different: if you are playing in group settings just once in a blue moon, there is little point in preparing to make the best of specifically this situation.

 

[morenito]

Stephen,
A Castelfidardo there are undoubtedly of guarantees made ​​in italy exceptional for mini fise . It 'to provide contact phone numbers. hello to hear from you soon .
But isn't economics....

 

[morenito]

Mini polka, accordeon mini,mini sax and the piano player, and the great accordionist Massimo Tagliata



Isnt precious ?
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[Matt Butcher]

Yep, fine playing no matter how small the instruments are.

 

[JerryPH]

Proof once again... that size doesn't matter... LOL