Numbers Over The Notes

[joe0490]

Hi all

I am new at the concertina and need some help. I have downloaded some song and thay have numbers above the notes. Sometimes one sometimes more. I have a 20 button concertina and would like to know how thay apply to it, if at all.

Would someone have a website that could set me right.I know what note is on what button,but what do the numbers stand for.?

Thanks much for the help

 

Joe B

[Leo]

Hi all

I am new at the concertina and need some help. I have downloaded some song and thay have numbers above the notes. Sometimes one sometimes more. I have a 20 button concertina and would like to know how thay apply to it, if at all.

Would someone have a website that could set me right.I know what note is on what button,but what do the numbers stand for.?

Thanks much for the help

 

Joe B

Hi Joe

 

Without seeing the music it might be difficult to pin down. Just a guess is that it would be finger placement. One finger one note, two fingers two notes (chords). Depends on the origination of the music, piano maybe.

 

There is a nice discussion on the subject here: http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php...ic=6196&hl=

 

Hope I guessed correctly

 

Thanks

Leo

Edited August 14, 2007 by Leo

[Daniel Hersh]

Another possibility would be that the numbers refer to buttons, for readers who don't read music. The old German-made 20-button concertinas often had numbered buttons.

 

Daniel

Hi all

I am new at the concertina and need some help. I have downloaded some song and thay have numbers above the notes. Sometimes one sometimes more. I have a 20 button concertina and would like to know how thay apply to it, if at all.

Would someone have a website that could set me right.I know what note is on what button,but what do the numbers stand for.?

Thanks much for the help

 

Joe B

Hi Joe

 

Without seeing the music it might be difficult to pin down. Just a guess is that it would be finger placement. One finger one note, two fingers two notes (chords). Depends on the origination of the music, piano maybe.

 

There is a nice discussion on the subject here: http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php...ic=6196&hl=

 

Hope I guessed correctly

 

Thanks

Leo

[asdormire]

I also know that some of the old tutors, after explaining how to read music put the tunes, exercises and scales in standard notation with button number and direction above it, 1-5 for the C row, 6-10 for the G on each side, with a dot to indicate left hand.

 

Alan

[JimLucas]

I am new at the concertina and need some help. I have downloaded some song and thay have numbers above the notes. ... I have a 20 button concertina and would like to know how thay apply to it, if at all.

From where did you download the music? A site dedicated to concertinas? If not, you should ignore the numbers.

 

The numbers are almost certainly suggestions for what fingers to use to play the notes, but unless they were intended for a concertina player, trying to follow them will only twist your fingers into knots.

 

Sometimes one sometimes more.

A single note with more than one number above it? Hmm. Did you download these from a "concertina"-oriented website? If so, could it be a website for Chemnitzer concertinas? Though they have the same name, they're quite a different beast from the concertinas usually discussed here. They're popular in the north-central United States. I believe the standard notation for them uses such number designations, sometimes with slashes and other symbols, to indicate additional notes for chording. There is at least one expert on such concertinas among our members here: Theodore Kloba. If that is the music you're looking at, perhaps he could help you (and the rest of us) to understand the notation.

[Matt Girton]

Hi,

Where did you find the music? I'm trying to learn diatonic button accordion myself - specifically G/C/F (Hohner Panther) - more often than not referred to as Tex Mex accordion in this part of the world. This is quite a different beast from EC.

 

I have noticed that the button arrangement and bellows direction on at least the G and C rows closely matches the Anglo 20 button G/C concertina, in fact I have been able to use some of the notation in an anglo tutor.

 

As for the notation: numbers with an apostrophe indicate a draw note and those without indicate a press note, the number indicating which button (1 or 1'). More than one number could two note chords (on the button accordion here they like thirds and sixths) I still haven't broken the code that would indicate cross row playing.

 

Matt

Edited August 26, 2007 by Matt Girton