Tuesday, August 4, 2009

good things come to those who wait!



well, I still really wanted a nice small piano accordion to play around with as a secondary instrument - also for my kids - one of whom, I'm sure will take to the PA like a duck to water.

I made an ebay saved search and a couple weeks ago saw an auction for a nice 48 bass PA. I stealthly watched it until the very last hour and at the last minute submitted a strong bid.

I won the auction for $76 - the item was shipping from Illinois, so I felt fairly confident that it would make it to me safely.

Yesterday it arrived - it is in very good condition - all of the keys and basses work fine, the valves might need a little work and it is pretty well broken in, but that's good.

Best thing is it's light.

I need to get some straps for it.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

learning the basses

This summer I've been making some progress with starting to use the basses on my button accordion.

I would have to say my brief foray into the PA probably helped me the most in getting started with coordination needed for playing both sides.

On the PA, I began with the first Palmer Hughes book which starts you out right away using the bass buttons. Playing simple tunes, this really helped me get the independence between left and right.

What helped me most on the button box was sitting down and learning the locations of the notes - playing a simple scale with the basses - then memorizing where those notes were. It's not that different than learning the notes on the treble side when just beginning. You just need to learn D on pull E on push ect ect --

more later...

Saturday, July 25, 2009

been busy...

Hi Everyone -
Sorry I haven't been in touch recently.

I had a great opportunity last weekend - unexpectedly, I met one of my favorite youtube people at an Irish dance feis - Ryan Duns, SJ -

Not only is Ryan a great whistle player, he is also a very good piano accordion player. I have learned a lot of tunes from playing along with Ryan -- here's a tune I learned and posted a reply to Ryan's version of the tune - check it out!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Monday, June 15, 2009

June news


Well it's been a while since Accordion World has been updated... sorry to my many readers.

What began with great expectations has diminished to a guttering flame near extinction.

My long awaited purchase from Bulgaria has either been lost at sea or from the begining I was duped. Interpol is investigating the situation and I hope to gain satisfaction eventually. But for now, my interest in the PA has dwindled.

Instead, I have redoubled my efforts on the l'accordéon diatonique, système si/do - aka - l'accordeon Irlandais - a propos de l'Irish Button Box.

What I have come to appreciate is, that is is very difficult to attain a high level on both instruments -- the time required to practice and increase in ability on one instrument makes it very difficult to do the likewise on the other instrument.

Specifically -- I have made strides in my l'accordéon diatonique abilities in the past couple months - but have not been able to give time to the piano accordion my friend has so graceously given me the use of.

So... for now, I believe I will continue to do that which is of my first love, playing la'musique d'Irlandais because I have invested so much time to gather the abilities I currently have.

I realize that it would be very difficult to transfer the skills I have gained on the l'accordéon diatonique over to the piano accordion. Someday I would like to try to learn and play the PA but now is not the time.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

One of the best accordion players in the world

Listen to this great story on Esteban Jordan on NPR!

National Public Radio All Things Considered June 2, 2009

Link to story here

Saturday, May 30, 2009

While waiting...

While waiting for my Weilmeister to arrive from Bulgaria, I've been working on getting my reels up to 113. This vid is far from perfect, but I'm playing the reels a lot faster than ever before. Just took a lot of practice.



Tomorrow night I'll play this reel set with Chenille accompanying on the piano and the girls dancing at a nursing home gig. Hopefully I'll get a vid.

Friday, May 29, 2009

purchasing from overseas

well, my experience with purchasing on ebay from overseas is not working out so well.

I purchased back on 4/23 and I have not seen my item yet.

Paypal provides purchase protection for 60 days, so until 6/15 I can file a paypal claim and hopefully get my money refunded.

Lessons learned: don't buy an item without a postal tracking code. If you can't track it you'll never know if you are going to receive your item.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

PSYCH!

ha!
the tracking code I received was for something else -- not an accordion... the weight (4.2 K)should have tipped me off...

it's almost here!!!

May 28, 2009 6:34 AM
On FedEx vehicle for delivery
SHAKOPEE, MN
May 28, 2009 4:28 AM
At local FedEx facility
SHAKOPEE, MN
May 27, 2009 7:47 AM
Departed FedEx location
LENEXA, KS
May 27, 2009 5:15 AM
Arrived at FedEx location
LENEXA, KS
May 26, 2009 10:13 PM
Left FedEx origin facility
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK
May 26, 2009 9:00 PM
Arrived at FedEx location
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK
May 26, 2009 5:44 PM
Picked up
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK
May 26, 2009 3:18 PM
Shipment information sent to FedEx

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Where's a guy find an accordion around here?

It can be frustrating when researching accordions on the web these days. There are very few retailers of new accordions.

A lot of search results when you search for accordions on google are for shops in the UK -

Ebay is always an option, buying locally on craigslist is an option... probably the best option is purchasing from someone you know locally.

I purchased my Irish Dancemaster from a friend here in the Twin Cities. I posted a message on the yahoo Irish button box group and ended up purchasing it from a friend I hadn't seen in a few years - small world!

Internet friends and connections are often times the best way to to. Yahoo has an accordion group through which I've connected with some really nice accordion enthusiasts here in the Twin Cities.

There are a few big retail web sites such as musiciansfriend that carry some weltmester and hohner accordions... but beyond that you have to make a connection with an individual seller.

The Twin Cities area is fortunate to have 2 very nice accordion shops - Accordion Heaven and Castle Accordion - both have a very nice selection of new and used accordions. Groth Music in Richfield also as a decent number of accordions to look at --

Monday, April 27, 2009

Accordions Galore!

Check out this remarkable collection! From La Crosse Wisconsin --

Friday, April 24, 2009

Old High Reel

Here is one of my favorite reels - I've been working on it all week -- almost up to performance tempo --



I first heard it on John Whelan's cd Celtic Roots. Comhaltas has a fantatic version of this tune on youtube.com as well -- I just love the joy he brings to the music! My goal in life is to learn to add the left hand accompanyment to tunes as he does --

Accordions and brain development

Parents! Want smarter kids? Sign them up for accordion lessons!

As with many artistic pursuits, learning to play an instrument has beneficial effects on mental and character development. The accordion or other keyboard instruments are additionally helpful because they help develop multiple coordination.

The accordion is especially helpful in coordination devleopment because it combines three distinct mental/physical tasks -
  • first the body coordination of physically playing the instrument: diatonic accordions are especially physical instruments because each note is a push or a pull
  • next the coordination between the left and right hands - right hand playing the melody on the treble keys, left hand accompanying on the basses - this could count as two isolated tasks -
  • throw in singing or dancing and WOW! you have a lot going on!

So when thinking about instruments for your child, consider the accordion and the benefits of the mental/physical coordination the accordion teaches.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Button Accordions and their basses

My Irish Dancemaster B/C button accordion

I play a 2 row B/C button accordion by Irish Dancemaster -- it's a great box -- I love its dry tuning... but the basses on diatonic button accordions give you one note on the push and another note on the pull. This makes bass accompaniment somewhat difficult.

There are a lot of players out there who use the left hand and sound great. The left hand accompaniment can be done, I'm just saying it isn't especially intuitive or easy.

In the C/F or D/G button accordion world the bass layout doesn't seem to pose as much of a problem. I'm not sure why this is, but I have a friend who plays Scandinavian music on two row button accordions and he sounds great with his bass accompaniment.

In Irish traditional music, the left hand basses often times left out because of the nature of Irish trad -- the bass accompaniment can overpower or cover up other voices. So for this reason, a lot of Irish button box players just don't bother to use the basses.

When playing solo, however, it is desirable to have the ability to add the bass accompaniment. I recently came across a type of button accordion which uses the stradella bass layout found on piano accordions. People refer to it as the British chromatic, Scottish chromatic or Hibernian chromatic button accordion.

Scottish musician, Jimmy Shand, used it and it is still widely used in Scottish traditional music.

I would love to get my hands on one of these just to give it a try and see if I could add the bass accompaniment to the tunes I know. As one poster on thesession.org said, "Anyway this stradella bass (unisonoric) with a bisonoric (push/pull) treble gives kind of best of both worlds I think."

A Hohner 3 row B/C/C# Trichord or Gaelic IV

see the 3 row chromatic in action:

With a fine red three row on my knee
I'll rattle this house gaily
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29vHWKDvc9w

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Accordion players on Britain's Got Talent



Britain's Got Talent is getting more popular over here in the US than our own version - which only features pop singers.

Will the amazing Irish traditional music accordion talent over in Great Britain, wouldn't it be wonderful to see an accordionist on the show?

FOUND! 60 Bass Weltmeister




Each morning I scan the ebay listings for new accordions. This morning I saw a really good deal - For the price of shipping, a Weltmeister 60 bass accordion similar to the current 60 bass Rubin accordion.

I knew the price was very fair so I checked the sellers feedback - it looked good - the seller knows accordions and how to ship them.

So I decided to take a leap of faith and place a bid... and...

I Won!

Shipping from Bulgaria will take approximately 4 weeks. So for now the hunt for a starter accordion has finished and now I just need to be patient and wait for my classic Weltmeister to make its journey from Bulgaria to the US.

Stay tuned....

Saturday, April 18, 2009

latest youtube vid

I wanted to post this in response to a vid of this tune as played on a c#/d box. The C#/D is a completely different animal than the B/C - different fingerings - I believe, but I'm not sure, but I believe playing on a C#/D is more like playing on a one row - less cross over - so you get a bit different sound from the change in the push/pull pattern.

Take a listen to both and tell me if you can notice a difference...

C#/D version

My version on B/C

Monday, April 6, 2009

2 vids are up

I put both of these up over the weekend --
2 jigs
2 hornpipes

the jig set is a continuation of the Tobin's jig tune I put up a couple weeks ago - eventually I hope to do the full set as was posted in this interesting jig set:
3 jigs on the khene
The khene is an ancient instrument - probably from Biblical times - possibly references in the Scriptures to bag pipes or pipe organs are referring to this interesting instrument

The hornpipe set features 2 nice tunes I picked up from recordings - the 2nd tune is from a Natalie MacMaster track on her No Boundaries recording. There are a couple clinkers in there but you'll get a sense of the tune --

Friday, April 3, 2009

Not quite ready for youtube


I'd like to get this a bit more polished before putting up on youtube...

Click link to video:
Tobin's Favorite and Atoll Highlanders Jigset

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Something along these lines...

a first accordion

Right now I'm looking at 48 bass PA or chromatic button accordions -- but am also considering a larger accordion if the price is good -- I have my eye on an 60 bass Weltmeister right now....

I have played the less expensive starter accordions - priced around $300 - they are noticably different from the higher quality, more expensive instruments - they feel and sound chintzy.

I'll bide my time and hope a good quality Hohner or Weltmeister comes along -- otherwise, I'll probably buy a new Hohner...

We'll see....

the hunt is on

I'm looking for a 48 bass student accordion to learn PA on -- for both me and the girls -- I know they'll take to it really quickly with their solid piano background.

Here's a great link for info on the various bass layouts:

http://www.klezmusic.com/sbx-info/sbx-size.html

I'm looking for either a 4x12 48 bass or a 5x12 60 bass

Monday, March 30, 2009

Hello fellow free reeders!

Hello fellow free reeders -

Regarding learning the button box - I think the best thing to do is to just get the notes under your fingers and begin by learning tunes by ear -- Perhaps practicing C, G, D and E and the chromatic scale would be a good initial exercise -- just to train your ear and hands to hear the notes and get a feel for where the notes are -- you develop a sense for what notes are pull notes and what notes are push notes --
sing the notes along with what you are playing - ie: D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D - or chromatically - singing each of the notes as you ascend and descend by 1/2 steps.for the left hand, I think you have to develop an ear for the basses and when you can throw them in.

I always felt kind of guilty about not playing accompaniment but I have realized since starting to play the piano accordion, the basses on a button box are extremely limiting because we are constantly pressing/drawing and with the basses you really need to have a system like the stradella bass system on PAs

I'm just starting to kind of get the drone style of using the basses that John Williams talks about -- the illian pipes sound -- good enough for me -- with the button box, most of the time you'll be playing with other instruments and you'll want to blend in with the fiddle or a flute anyways, so you really won't need the basses, except very sparingly
Take care!
Ted