Piano or cromatic accordion?

[lucaluigi72]

I would like to revive this thread because it is now 1 year that I play, as a self taught, my Exceldior C cromatic accordion. I am satisfied and I like klezmer and balkanic music very much.
For this reason in november I decided to begin taking lessons from a macedonian musician: Jovica Jovic.
The problem is that he uses B cromatic accordion (russian finghering I think) and he has convinced me to change accordion and to learn his way of playing.
He says that it is very important to use B system for this music because it is a lot easyer to play when you add voices to the melody. He said me that I'm good but I have a lot of unnecessary trouble playing C accordion

 

[maugein96]

Hi,

What your teacher is telling you is that if you wish to specialise in Balkan music, then you'll need to change over to B system so that he can teach you the techniques that he knows.

Sounds like you are in Italy, as I believe Mr Jovic is based in the Milan area. A lot of Italian players might try and discourage you from playing an instrument that isn't popular in your home country, but if you want to go Balkan then a C system is not going to work with a B system teacher.

He may be willing to teach you the basics on a standard 5 row B system CBA, but most Balkan CBA players eventually end up with a 6 row B system Dugmetara flat treble keyboard with 140 Stradella type bass. Those instruments are very expensive indeed, and probably not widely available for sale in Italy, even although most of them are actually made there.

If your mind is made up then there is only one way to go, and you have in fact "wasted" a year on the wrong system. It is still possible to play general Balkan music on a C system (some of it is also played very well by PA players), but for advanced techniques you'll need to swap over as your teacher suggests.

If you're still unsure on how to proceed, then give yourself a bit more time, but don't leave it too long, as it will get harder to make that switch if you do decide to go for it.

 

[debra]

What your teacher is telling you is that if you wish to specialise in Balkan music, then youll need to change over to B system so that he can teach you the techniques that he knows.

Sounds like you are in Italy, as I believe Mr Jovic is based in the Milan area. A lot of Italian players might try and discourage you from playing an instrument that isnt popular in your home country, but if you want to go Balkan then a C system is not going to work with a B system teacher.
...

Good comments indeed.
The teacher only knows how to teach you Balkan music when you play a B system, and probably a Balkan one (6 row treble side, flat keyboard, 140 bass). It does not mean that this music cannot be played on a C system accordion. Of course it can and it can even be played on a piano accordion.

The switch from C to B system is harder than it looks. A friend of mine made the switch a long time ago (just because he could get a good accordion which was C system and he wanted to get away from his old B system Morino). The switch was very hard. But after about 10 years its fine again.

Balkan instruments can be found... but the selection is small. Bugari for instance makes many different accordions (sizes, number of notes/basses, cassotto or not, 96, 120, 140 bass, convertor or not...) but they make just one (1) Balkan accordion.
Its hard to choose between a system and a teacher because thats essentially what it boils down to.

 

[lucaluigi72]

Im quite sure to change! I think I have decided to change.
At the beginning I was worried and my idea was to change only the bass part.
But Jovica said me that one of his students has an accordion as he wants and he has to sell it.
For this reason he lent me this accordion to try it during the holidays and to decide to buy pr not.
The accordion seems good and I feel it will not be very difficult to change system.

I also think that it is an important choice and to be honest I think it is an almost obligatory choice: I would really disappoint him a lot to stay with the C system!

 

[maugein96]

Never realised you had access to a "proper" Serbian type accordion.

That being the case then the best decision is probably to make the switch now, but make sure that you are 100% committed to Balkan before you do it. That 84 bass looks like an ideal instrument to begin on, and you have about 45 or 46 treble notes there, depending on whether there are any dummy buttons.

In time you'll probably want a bigger instrument, but it has everything you need to get up and running.

Good luck with it.