Notes on Ornamentation

collected from the Concertina.net Forum by George (Geo) Salley, June 2003

Whilst perusing the Forum a while back, I was struck by the really good information that appears, bu only fleetingly. So to save some of it I have embarked on a project, with the coniveance of your editor Ken Coles, to collect and edit certain threads, beginning with the one regarding triplets.

Please note that the posts have been edited, generally by deletion. So if I have left something out that the contributors consider essential, I apologize!

A further note regarding the subject of ornamentation: My own primitive style of playing is limited to "grace Notes", but then only if I recover from pressing the wrong button very quickly.

Daniel Bradbury

I suspect that many times we hear single note triplets they are not single note at all. By very lightly tapping a cran after a particular note will provide two staccato sounds that can be resolved back to the original note, producing an aural illusion of a note followed by a triplet.

I am using cran to describe a multi gracenote embellishment. I was thinking along the line of playing the D note on the left hand C row followed by VERY crisply tapping the D on the right hand C row with the middle finger followed by the B with the index finger then returning to the D on the left hand side. The cran being the two right hand grace notes. When trying for the triplet effect, these are not played so as to "hear" the notes being played, but rather to create a staccatto sound. If you listen carefully to Nial Vallely, or Noel Hil, I believe you will hear examples of this type of "Triplet"

Jim Lucas

Crans and rolls are ways to get a triplet effect, but they sound distinctly different from actual staccato triplets.

Steve Maurice

Concertina players don't have to mimic the button accordion triplets by repeating the same note on the same button or of the alternate reed as in "A" or "G." I simply play an ornamental grace note between the same note and give it the same value making it a triplet. Right hand G row, first finger "G" to second finger "B." Left hand C row, first finger "A" to first finger right hand "B." just a few examples.

Jim Lucas

While triplet repeats of the same note aren't the only way to get a "triplet effect", they are one of several types of ornaments which can be used, and a discerning ear can tell the difference.

Steve Maurice

My preference is to not hear or play the same note repeated. I do have a few songs that I use the same button different fingers triplet but I prefer to play it sparingly. To my ear the repeated triplet becomes a little redundant. That is just my reaction to it.

David Barnert

Same button, different finger.

Jack Woehr

I do things like 3-2-1, 3-2-1, 3-2-1, 3-2-1

Jim Swope

Three methods I know for playing triplets of the same note.
Move one finger very fast.
Same button, different finger. (Noel Hill says he does not do this. A lot of other players do) When possible different buttons with the same note. G and A are about the only notes where there are two buttons in the same bellows direction and this works.

Jim Lucas

Another technique is to press the button (that's the first note), then rap the (opposite) end of the instrument with the fingers (with the button still depressed, the sudden pressure surge sounds like starting a new note), then strike the button again (that's the "third" note).

As I recall, the person who tried to teach me this technique used the same finger, but I see no reason why a different finger couldn't be used for the second strike. Needless to say, it doesn't sound precisely the same as striking the button(s) three separate times, but it does sound like a quick triplet.

Clive Thorne

I use the different finger technique on a melodeon when I have too,either alternating fingers one and two (which can go on indefinitely) or using 3,2,1 (which I can only manage once at a time). THis is relatively easy on a melodeon since the buttons are wider and wider apart, so the fingers can slide across the button one after the other.

BUT, try as I may I cannot get either of these to work on a concertina with the buttons being narrower and closer together.

Jim Lucas

Sliding the fingers "across the button" works poorly on a concertina... at least the English-made sort. The proper technique is to strike downward onto the button with each finger in succession. The speed advantage you get over striking repeatedly with one finger comes from being able to strike downward with the next finger at the same time you're pulling away the preceding one. Of course, the downward angle has to be close to -- but not quite -- vertical, and the strokes have to be timed so that the fingers don't run into each other. But it's not necessary to lift one completely before starting downward with the next, especially since they will have to come from slightly different angles. I would think that this would also be the preferred technique for doing it on accordions, since it should be possible to repeat the triplet sequence indefinitely.

Clive Thorne

When using two fingers on a melodeon I do exactly as you suggest,ie up and down rather than sliding. If using 3 fingers then I sort of roll/slide them acros the button. As I say I can only do the three fingers once at a time since they obviously end up in the wrong place to do any more.

My prefered method, if the tune allows is to use one finger going up and down quickly. This has the distinct advantage of leaving other fingers free to do other things, even playing triplets on two notes simultaneously. As I hinted in my earlier post I only use the clever techniques when I have to.

On the concertina I have tried the two finger method, up and down as you say, but I just find there isn't enough room for the fingers to get past each other (at any speed) and the 'target' is very small on the concertina compared with a melodeon.

Jim Lucas

By the way, on the English I occasionally use quick bellows reversals to do triplets. Not quite the same on the anglo, though, because there the note changes.

Geoff Wright

Whizzos I have spoken to who do use the three finger trick, tell me that bone buttons make all the difference.