Writing music with aid of free Reed instruments.

[SIMON GABRIELOW]

For hundreds of years people have written music with the  aid of keyboard instruments; like piano,  or before that harpsichord, perhaps..

I have myself written music for ( soloist) mainly, with aid of my concertina, which I find in range an ideal solution for my own needs; with its compactness, and range of notes being more than adequate to compose upon.

It gives one a different and alternative way of hearing that first few bars, or the emergence of a new melody, a different feel than might normally be heard, on say piano, or guitar even. In this way I mean I write neutrally, intended for any solo instrument other than that it is first composed upon.

How many others here, on this site, I wonder, also find it liberating to write, or perform their music, firstly on our free Reed family of instruments?

 

[Anglo-Irishman]

In another thread, mention has been made of the harmonium, or reed organ. This is a free-reed instrument, of course, but it also has the keyboard of the historical keyoard instruments. I reckon, if I had a piano and a harmonium in the house, I'd prefer to work up arrangements on the harmonium. It gives me the capability to sound a combination of notes, and then alter one or two of them while the rest are still sounding. Or I can pause on a melody note for as long as it takes to find the best supporting chord. And because the harmonium's "natural/accidental" keyboard suits the "natural/accidental" style of standard notation, I imagine it would be easier to write a harmonium  arrangement down than, say, a duet concertina arrangement.

 

As for me, my instrument for finding melodies is my voice, and the most convenient way of finding the matching harmonies is the Autoharp. After that, I can usually work out arrangements for other instruments (e.g. Anglo or banjo) quite easily.

Cheers,

John