How To Play Accompaniments

[CaryK]

I'm looking at a the notes for a tune where left hand accompaniment is played with right hand melody. The time signature is 6/8. In the first bar (and other bars as well):

 

The right hand plays a quarter note push, eighth note pull, and a triplet of eighth notes that go push, pull, push. The left hand plays a quarter note push, eighth note pull, a quarter note push, an eighth note pull.

 

The first quarter notes are in the same directionfor both hands. The second eighth notes are in the same direction for both hands. No problem so far.

 

But, while the next quarter note on the left is being pushed, the right hand is going push, pull (first two notes of the triplet). That's the problem. How can I hold a left hand push note for two beats, while the right hand is going push, pull at one beat each. I've seen this assymetric left-right notation in other pieces as well. Would appreciate any advice as to how to handle this. Thanks.

[JimLucas]

But, while the next quarter note on the left is being pushed, the right hand is going push, pull (first two notes of the triplet). That's the problem.

I would say that is not the problem. The problem is what you think you "have to" do. Instead of playing quarter note followed by eighth note in the left hand, try 8th note/8th rest/8th note. I.e., don't hold the first note for a full quarter-note length. This is often a good thing to do even when you don't run into conflicts with bellows direction, as it helps keep the left hand accompaniment from overpowering the right hand melody.

 

I've seen this assymetric left-right notation in other pieces as well.

I'm curious as to where you see this. It seems unlikely to me that these arrangemts would have been written that way if they were intended for anglo. It's rare that an arrangement intended for one instrument can be played on a different instrument with no alteration at all.

[CaryK]

I've seen this assymetric left-right notation in other pieces as well.

I'm curious as to where you see this. It seems unlikely to me that these arrangemts would have been written that way if they were intended for anglo. It's rare that an arrangement intended for one instrument can be played on a different instrument with no alteration at all.

 

Jim, thank you for the suggestion about ignoring the notation and using the rest. It sounds like a good solution that will also improve the tune. The "assymetric" right left hand arrangements are from a couple of tunes in Bertram Levy's anglo tutor. May be they are just typos that escaped editing. Though still a concertina novice, I'm pretty sure its not possible to play with the bellows going in and out simultaneously.

[Samantha]

... The "assymetric" right left hand arrangements are from a couple of tunes in Bertram Levy's anglo tutor. May be they are just typos that escaped editing. Though still a concertina novice, I'm pretty sure its not possible to play with the bellows going in and out simultaneously.

 

Does Bertram's tutor specifically state that all of the tune notes are to be played in the right hand? Could it be that there is a duplicate of the second note of the "push-pull" sequence that is available "on the pull" (so to speak ) on the left hand?

Edited July 15, 2006 by Samantha

[CaryK]

Does Bertram's tutor specifically state that all of the tune notes are to be played in the right hand? Could it be that there is a duplicate of the second note of the "push-pull" sequence that is available "on the pull" (so to speak ) on the left hand?

 

 

No quite the opposite. He takes a student through tunes (at least up to the point in the tutor where I am) where the melody specifically moves from right to left hand and back again to show how an accompaniment can be fit in to work in these situations.

[JimLucas]

Does Bertram's tutor specifically state that all of the tune notes are to be played in the right hand? Could it be that there is a duplicate of the second note of the "push-pull" sequence that is available "on the pull" (so to speak ) on the left hand?

No quite the opposite. He takes a student through tunes (at least up to the point in the tutor where I am) where the melody specifically moves from right to left hand and back again to show how an accompaniment can be fit in to work in these situations.

Cary, I've just taken a look into my copy of Bertram's book, and I assume you're talking about his p.29 arrangement of "Constant Billy".

 

Just looking at the notes, Samantha is right, since in the melody the first-measure D could be played on the push in the left-hand G row, and the second-measure C as a push in the left-hand G row. But given what Bertram has taught up to that point, and the fact that he drops out the left-hand accompaniment in those parts of measure 3 & 4 (and similarly at the end) where the melody moves over into the left hand, that's clearly not his intent. He also mentions, with respect to applying the same technique to other tunes, "played in the key of C and will be confined to row II [the C row]." More evidence that he doesn't expect you to be putting the odd melody note into the left-hand G row at that stage of the game.

 

So I'm sure that my suggestion about converting the quarter-notes to 8th-notes followed by 8th-rests is what he intended, and the quarter-notes written are a lazy notational convenience. (His notations are hand-drawn, not computer generated, so that saves some calligraphic work.) It also gives a "more appropriate" feel to the tune for Morris dancing.

 

For "Janell's Favorite" (p. 41) he does explicitly write in such rests, because he has to indicate the contrast between them and the other notes that he really does want you to hold. But in both "Indian Reel" (p. 49) and "Swedish Tune" (p. 56) you'll again find some places where you'll have to release the left-hand note "early" because of a bellows change, and it really makes sense to keep that feel all (or at least most) of the way through. (Note also that in the p. 56 transcription, he has forgotten to write in most of the C#'s that are shown in the melody on p. 54. Page 54 is correct, and p. 56 should be corrected.)

[CaryK]

Cary, I've just taken a look into my copy of Bertram's book, and I assume you're talking about his p.29 arrangement of "Constant Billy".

 

Jim, yes "Constant Billy" on p. 29 and the version stressing the bass line on p. 34. I was trying to follow the notation literally using the fingering positions covered to that point and of course I found it impossible to do. I didn't fully understand Samantha's answer and hadn't thought about alternate fingering to accomplish the same thing with the bellows in sync. Thanks for your help and suggestion about the rests. I am learning not to be a complete slave to notation if there is a better way (to my ear) to interpret a tune, but I have to admit I was still a thrall to Mr. Levy.