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Tune Of The Month For October, 2013: Xotis Romanes


Jim Besser

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Yes, very well done...

 

 

Here is a recording from this week end in the wild "Auvergne". I had no score, no internet but the melody in the head... Very free interpretation, perhaps off topic!... Tango arrangement at start and then three times waltz arrangement!... fake-smile.gif

 

http://snd.sc/1ger3lU

 

 

 

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Thanks, all, for the encouragement (and for not commenting on my "concertina face" :blink:).

Here is a recording from this week end in the wild "Auvergne".

Wow. I assume this is your "Dipper custom duet." Your rhythm is so well-regulated that at first I thought I was listening to a midi machine. But it is no machine, One can hear the human touch. I await "Xotis Romanes 2."

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I've taken up the challenge and learned the duet arrangement on a duet concertina. And because in a previous TOTM exercise I admitted to occasionally using sound editing software to "clean up" a performance, I submit this month's effort as a video (the inauguration of my presence on youtube: user name - Dr. Sleep). Both hands visible and no edits. You have my word that all the audio and video here is a single unedited (except to remove extraneous stuff from before the beginning and after the end) take. Although certainly not the first take.
I am playing a 46-key Hayden, but not my usual Wheatstone. Because of it's rustic sound, I decided to do this one on my old clunker, the accordion-reeded Bastari. My right hand is playing the melody while my left hand plays the countermelody (in the lower octave) plus a few extra notes to keep the rhythm moving. In the last bar of the tune, the right hand plays both the A of the melody and the C of the countermelody leaving the left hand to provide the final two rhythmic notes.

 

 

Very impressive demonstration of why they're called 'duets'! Well done. Nice concertina face, too. I have a pic of the pickup band at the Squeeze In, circa 1998, with a bandstand full of concertina faces. Looked sort of like a free reed zombie movie.

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Yes, very well done...

 

 

Here is a recording from this week end in the wild "Auvergne". I had no score, no internet but the melody in the head... Very free interpretation, perhaps off topic!... Tango arrangement at start and then three times waltz arrangement!... fake-smile.gif

 

http://snd.sc/1ger3lU

 

 

 

 

Wow. A totally different feel from the others, and superbly executed.

Edited by Jim Besser
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Great contributions here, I've enjoyed every piece all the way from the top of the thread. A deceptive tune this one, not something I would tackle off the cuff because the style is so far removed from my comfort zone but it's great to listen to.

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Here is a recording from this week end in the wild "Auvergne".

Wow. I assume this is your "Dipper custom duet." Your rhythm is so well-regulated that at first I thought I was listening to a midi machine. But it is no machine, One can hear the human touch. I await "Xotis Romanes 2."

I liked your recording a lot David, but I'm kind of in awe of Tona's.

 

I don't play for dancers - or with other musicians much - and find maintaining an even tempo quite challenging. When playing on my own, stretching the timing occaisionally is part of being expressive, but when playing with others (or multi-tracking) I have to be far more regimented. I found that adding a 'timing track' or digital metronome greatly helped me get the timing even-ish for my recording - and it can be muted when exporting the recording.

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Oh my goodness. Such renditions of this tune. I am in awe, not to mention a little envious (once again), of the amazing things you duet players can do. Such fun to listen again and again. Why didn't I spend more time trying out those amazing things at NESI???

 

David -- it was wonderful to be able to practice along with your youtube version -- one part at a time of course. Don't know if you intended (or mind) this, but it really helped me get a handle on how the two parts wind through one another.

 

When it came to recording my beginner EC version, however, my inspiration turned to frustration.

I have a Mac computer so thought I'd record the accompaniment first with Quick Time audio, then play that while recording the melody, putting the the two parts together in a second quick time file. It works technically (the computer can play the first recording and record both it and me in the second), but I find it hard to get the timing right, and even when I do manage to match myself, measure for measure, it sounds hollow and tinny. I'm sure it is all more about my timing than the computer's poor sound quality, but someone told me that, barring a friend to play with or a duet concertina, it is easier to record the two parts individually and then combine them somehow. True? And if so, how? Or is figuring out recording equipment just a way to gobble up time better spent actually playing with a metronome in my ear? Maybe I've just answered my own question.

 

As for Concertina Face -- I'm thrilled to know that it is a 'thing.' Apparently I look like I'm am chewing on celery with peanut butter when I play. This worried me quite a bit until someone suggested I keep a plate of such snacks beside me if/when I play in public to mitigate the impression made by my dour, masticating visage. I may have to try it!

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I'm really enjoying this month's renditions too and the duet versions in particular have been amazing. As an beginner English concertina player, I know that I can't aspire to that level of complexity (even if I had the talent!), but I'm very interested in exploring double-stops, light chords and perhaps a bit of basic counterpoint rather than just playing the simple melody. Listening to talented players on this site and elsewhere, (Danny Chapman, Rob Harbron, etc.) I know that this is possible on the EC, but I was wondering if anyone had an EC version of Xotis Romanes that shows such elements without recording two tracks? I've been working away on this tune for a while now and managing a few embellishments but a bit more inspiration would be really useful.

Thanks in advance,

Dean

PS The "concertina face" thing is intriguing - I'm assuming it's just a concentration issue. In addition to gurning while playing, I also have an embarrassing tendency to drool... Maybe need to buy a bib.

Edited by Defra
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I'm really enjoying this month's renditions too and the duet versions in particular have been amazing. As an beginner English concertina player, I know that I can't aspire to that level of complexity (even if I had the talent!), but I'm very interested in exploring double-stops, light chords and perhaps a bit of basic counterpoint rather than just playing the simple melody. Listening to talented players on this site and elsewhere, (Danny Chapman, Rob Harbron, etc.) I know that this is possible on the EC, but I was wondering if anyone had an EC version of Xotis Romanes that shows such elements without recording two tracks? I've been working away on this tune for a while now and managing a few embellishments but a bit more inspiration would be really useful.

Thanks in advance,

Dean

Dean,

I have worked up a version that fits your criteria . I am just a bit 'pushed for time' at the moment but I will see if I can either record something or write an arrangement of what I am doing that might suit the EC...

 

Geoff.

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I'm really enjoying this month's renditions too and the duet versions in particular have been amazing. As an beginner English concertina player, I know that I can't aspire to that level of complexity (even if I had the talent!), but I'm very interested in exploring double-stops, light chords and perhaps a bit of basic counterpoint rather than just playing the simple melody. Listening to talented players on this site and elsewhere, (Danny Chapman, Rob Harbron, etc.) I know that this is possible on the EC, but I was wondering if anyone had an EC version of Xotis Romanes that shows such elements without recording two tracks? I've been working away on this tune for a while now and managing a few embellishments but a bit more inspiration would be really useful.

Thanks in advance,

Dean

Dean,

I have worked up a version that fits your criteria . I am just a bit 'pushed for time' at the moment but I will see if I can either record something or write an arrangement of what I am doing that might suit the EC...

 

Geoff.

 

Very kind, Geoff, no rush but I'll be looking forward to it.

Many thanks,

Dean

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Of course one could try a simple method of playing more than one note at a time by taking the score that has been given and finding harmonising notes by looking at the Chord markings over each bar.

 

Find a chart that gives each of the notes that make up a chord.... on-line there are quite a few but try

 

www.michael-thomas.com

 

From a chart like the one given on that website it is a simple thing to choose one or two notes to harmonise with the melody.

 

With the score for this month's piece most of the chords given are fine, though I'm not sure about that F chord marking for the penultimate Bar. Last month's piece is fine too, although different harmonies could be used.

 

I think both of these tunes are very sutable for playing on the English with two or more voices going together.

 

I find that when I check what I have 'invented' in the way of an arrangement it usually agrees with the chords given on a score... that I am making up a version , by ear, but naturally I'm sticking to a reasonably conventional approach.

 

Geoff.

Edited by Geoff Wooff
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David -- it was wonderful to be able to practice along with your youtube version -- one part at a time of course. Don't know if you intended (or mind) this, but it really helped me get a handle on how the two parts wind through one another.

Hello, Sarah. You've changed your "name." I like it better this way. To answer your question, it was not intentional, but I certainly don't mind. Even if I did, I'd have no right to object.

 

As for Concertina Face -- I'm thrilled to know that it is a 'thing.' Apparently I look like I'm am chewing on celery with peanut butter when I play. This worried me quite a bit until someone suggested I keep a plate of such snacks beside me if/when I play in public to mitigate the impression made by my dour, masticating visage. I may have to try it!

Oh, it's definitely a "thing." One year at the squeeze-in, Doug Creighton was taking the group picture and just before he pressed the shutter he said "OK, everyone put on your best concertina face" and screwed his mouth into the celery-chewing visage you describe. Mike Agranoff actually describes a theory of why it happens as part of his act (folk singer/guitarist/concertina player). Something to do with not being physically able to see the fingers of both hands at the same time. I have my doubts (why is there no "Guitar Face"?).

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Of course one could try a simple method of playing more than one note at a time by taking the score that has been given and finding harmonising notes by looking at the Chord markings over each bar.

 

Find a chart that gives each of the notes that make up a chord.... on-line there are quite a few but try

 

www.michael-thomas.com

 

From a chart like the one given on that website it is a simple thing to choose one or two notes to harmonise with the melody.

I'm sorry, Geoff, I have to disagree.

 

A harmony line made up of random notes that happen to be part of the "right" chord is not likely to be interesting (or, therefore, satisfying). A harmony line should be, first and foremost, a line. It should make musical sense and tell its own story. It should have stress points and releases that complement the stresses and releases in the melody line. The harmony line given for this tune is a perfect example. It stands by itself as a coherent musical line, but juxtaposed with the melody, the two add up to more than their sum. In many places the harmony line moves when the melody has held notes and stands still when the melody moves. In other places it dances with the melody in parallel thirds, alternating between major and minor thirds.

 

Think horizontally (where is the line going?) rather than vertically (how do all the notes playing at a particular moment sound together?). I'd chose dissonance and a good line every time over consonance and a line where each note is unrelated to the next.

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Of course one could try a simple method of playing more than one note at a time by taking the score that has been given and finding harmonising notes by looking at the Chord markings over each bar.

 

Find a chart that gives each of the notes that make up a chord.... on-line there are quite a few but try

 

www.michael-thomas.com

 

From a chart like the one given on that website it is a simple thing to choose one or two notes to harmonise with the melody.

I'm sorry, Geoff, I have to disagree.

 

A harmony line made up of random notes that happen to be part of the "right" chord is not likely to be interesting (or, therefore, satisfying). A harmony line should be, first and foremost, a line. It should make musical sense and tell its own story. It should have stress points and releases that complement the stresses and releases in the melody line. The harmony line given for this tune is a perfect example. It stands by itself as a coherent musical line, but juxtaposed with the melody, the two add up to more than their sum. In many places the harmony line moves when the melody has held notes and stands still when the melody moves. In other places it dances with the melody in parallel thirds, alternating between major and minor thirds.

 

Think horizontally (where is the line going?) rather than vertically (how do all the notes playing at a particular moment sound together?). I'd chose dissonance and a good line every time over consonance and a line where each note is unrelated to the next.

 

Oh ,I am in agreement with you David,

but I am trying to suggest a simple starting mechanism for playing more than two notes at one time on an instrument where someone might have problems playing the two Voices given for Xotis Romanes such as on the EC.

 

So, I should clarify that I am suggesting to make up one's own harmonies for the Melody line (top line of the score) that will fit with reasonable comfort on the EC keyboard.

 

I'd guess I'm not thinking about this as playing 'Harmony Lines' although the result is somewhat similar.... more trying to open a way to commence doing something that many people find tricky at the beginning. :)

Edited by Geoff Wooff
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That sums up exactly what I'm trying to do on the EC, Geoff, thanks a lot. Coming from other instruments with which I just played the melody line, I lack a basic knowledge of chords and accompaniment, but that's a big attraction for me in the concertina. I dithered a lot between learning duet and EC at first but am now glad I opted for the latter as I'm quite happier with a bit sparser accompaniment/chording. I've just been trying to learn by "pecking and hunting", which works some of the time and I'm sure that practice will make it more automatic, but hearing other musicians' efforts helps a lot. The chord chart on the website you referenced will also be a big help.

Cheers again,

Dean

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Of course one could try a simple method of playing more than one note at a time by taking the score that has been given and finding harmonising notes by looking at the Chord markings over each bar.

 

Find a chart that gives each of the notes that make up a chord.... on-line there are quite a few but try

 

www.michael-thomas.com

 

From a chart like the one given on that website it is a simple thing to choose one or two notes to harmonise with the melody.

I'm sorry, Geoff, I have to disagree.

 

A harmony line made up of random notes that happen to be part of the "right" chord is not likely to be interesting (or, therefore, satisfying). A harmony line should be, first and foremost, a line. It should make musical sense and tell its own story. It should have stress points and releases that complement the stresses and releases in the melody line. The harmony line given for this tune is a perfect example. It stands by itself as a coherent musical line, but juxtaposed with the melody, the two add up to more than their sum. In many places the harmony line moves when the melody has held notes and stands still when the melody moves. In other places it dances with the melody in parallel thirds, alternating between major and minor thirds.

 

Think horizontally (where is the line going?) rather than vertically (how do all the notes playing at a particular moment sound together?). I'd chose dissonance and a good line every time over consonance and a line where each note is unrelated to the next.

 

this may be (likely is) OT, but I can't help but pitch in a recommendation for a remarkable book on music theory I've come across recently:

 

www.howmusicreallyworks.com

 

The book addresses (among many other things) the issues you bring up from a biological/evolutionary angle (along the lines of why and how humans developed a musical sense in the first place, how humans experience sound, music and harmony and how to instrumentalize this as a practitioning musician). It's the book I'd been waiting for for 30+ years, answering a lot o questions I didn't even know I had,. Highly recommended!

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