Gregor Markič Posted May 20, 2024 Posted May 20, 2024 Hello, dear friends. This year I'm turning 50 and I'm buying myself a birthday present. It must be an melodeon / accordeon / steierische harmonika as accompaniment to a standard CG concertina. I would like to play it like this: https://www.facebook.com/groups/tunesdaytuesdays/posts/1625853318156036/ What tuning of the accordeon do I need to purchase?
hjcjones Posted May 20, 2024 Posted May 20, 2024 (edited) That's not as straightforward as it sounds. It depends what keys you prefer to play in. The rows of a melodeon are a fourth apart, whereas anglos are a fifth apart, so they don't quite match up. Melodeons are commonly found in D/G, F/C and G/C, and less commonly in A/D and Bb/Eb. Other combinations are sometimes found (I'm not including the semi-tone apart boxes as these are a completely different style of playing). Club and steierische boxes have gleichtons, which play the same note in both directions which opens up some possibilities. Some, like the one in the clip, have an extra row which usually has accidentals and reversals, and also additional chord buttons. In that clip the tune is in G and she appears to be playing a D/G melodeon. That's also good for E min, A dorian and (less easily) B min. However that isn't so good for playing in C, as the two-row has only one F natural, and no F chord. A G/C covers both the anglo home keys, and is often used to play in A min, but isn't so good for playing in D. Think about what keys you play in most and then decide which melodeon configuration covers those the best. As well as the melody notes, you also need to thing about what chords are available. Note layouts for most of the common variants can be found on melodeon.net https://forum.melodeon.net/index.php/page,keyboard.html Edited May 20, 2024 by hjcjones
Little John Posted May 20, 2024 Posted May 20, 2024 1 hour ago, hjcjones said: ... a G/D melodeon. Pedants' corner: concertinas are G/D, melodeons are D/G. I'll hide now ... 1
hjcjones Posted May 20, 2024 Posted May 20, 2024 Whoops! I really do know better. Now edited, thanks for pointing it out.
Gregor Markič Posted May 22, 2024 Author Posted May 22, 2024 On 5/20/2024 at 2:56 PM, hjcjones said: That's not as straightforward as it sounds. It depends what keys you prefer to play in. The rows of a melodeon are a fourth apart, whereas anglos are a fifth apart, so they don't quite match up. Thank you very much. Luckily I don't have to make a final decision. I'm buying now this GCF accordeon from Germany https://www.musik-center.de/de/akkordeon/steirische-harmonika/hohner-corona-ii-g-c-f-3.html. They return money with no-questions-asked policy if you don't like your purchase. Then there is another solution- to buy a midi instrument. In my country there is a company (https://totter-midi.com/sl/) which does wonderful instruments, but they are pricey (5000€). Of course it is nice to have an instrument which plays in all possible tonalities, but on the other hand, midi systems' sound are no match to the sound of true reeds.
SIMON GABRIELOW Posted May 22, 2024 Posted May 22, 2024 I already have my late fathers two row melodeon accordion in C and C sharp. It is a sort of complimentary instrument for my little concertina - the accordion [ Hohner] with its bigger sound box, and basses also. It has its own best pieces to play on, but of course limitations also, in having only the one hand to play the melody notes upon, and is more bulky to sit with. But otherwise out it comes for its special musical session once every other month or so. My father played it very loudly and cheerfully for many years - whereas I choose a more lyrical technique.
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