German Melodeon Library - Elementary School for Diatonic Accordions

[Miklos Nemeth]

Two very interesting melodeon tutor books (in German) came with the Hohner Liliput I bought off ebay Germany.
(1) "Deutsche Hadharmonika-Bibliothek Elementarschule für diatonische Handharmonika nach dem System Köppl" a 24-page tutor book for the Club (gleichton) system 2.5-row melodeons. The booklet was published in 1936 and used the regular music notation, no Griffschrift. This book is an no-Griffschrift alternative to the Alfons Holzschuh tutor book, which uses Griffschrift. I have scanned this booklet and I'd like to upload this 31 Mb PDF to a website where it is publicly available (maybe melodeon.net) for those who are interested in Club-model accordions, can handle an easy German text and prefer avoiding Griffschrift.
(2) The other is The German Accordion School (Die Deutsche Harmonika Schule) by Erhard Kutschenreuter for 2.5-row Club-model accordions. This 48-page tutor book was published in 1936 and used regular music notation, too; no Griffschrift.
I was wondering why Griffschrift was needed when in 1936 Club-system tutor books used regular music notation   Anyhow, good to know for Club-system fans that there are tutor books without Griffschrift.

[Mike Averill]

It would be interesting to see those books. I have a Club X on its way from germany with a couple more in the box.

[Bill Young]

I have scanned this booklet and I'd like to upload this 31 Mb PDF to a website where it is publicly available (maybe melodeon.net) for those who are interested in Club-model accordions, can handle an easy German text and prefer avoiding Griffschrift.

The Yahoo Group for Diatonic Accordions has a files section, but only 100MB total and a limit of 5MB per file. 31MB seems very large for a 24-page booklet. Can you scan it at a smaller file size? I have a 48-page tuition book PDF at <7MB, and the 66-page Roland instruction manual PDF for the FR3 V-accordion is also 7MB.

[Miklos Nemeth]

Can you scan it at a smaller file size?

I did, and the new size is 7MB.
Miki

[Bill Young]

Can you scan it at a smaller file size?

I did, and the new size is 7MB.
Miki

That's good. Now it's time to find out whether melodeon.net is able to provide space for storing files like this. Theo/Clive?

[Anahata]

I did, and the new size is 7MB.
Miki

That's good. Now it's time to find out whether melodeon.net is able to provide space for storing files like this. Theo/Clive?

If there's any problem or likelihood of delay, email it to me and I'll host it now (i.e. this afternoon). I've got a reseller web hosting account with loads of space and quite happy to host a file or two for melnet. I'd be very interested to see this book anyway. I'll post a link here...

[michik]

It would be interesting to see those books. I have a Club X on its way from germany with a couple more in the box.

I see, you are new owner of that box   
I also watched this item on ebay .. but didn't bid for it - I already have a Club X of the same type.
I also have got some old german melodion tutor books with my Hohner Cluh IV some months ago.

[Sebastian]

I’m very interested in the two booklets. Are they already online? If not, I would love to put them on the web.

[Theo]

There is no problem hosting them on melodeon.net,  but nobody has asked me yet to do it!

[Anahata]

They are here:
http://www.treewind.co.uk/melnet/DHB-Elementarschule.pdf
http://www.treewind.co.uk/melnet/DHS-Kutschenreuter.pdf

(But if Theo wants to copy them and host them on melodeon.net that's fine with me!)

Anahata

[Sebastian]

Thank you!

[Theo]

I'll put a link to them over on the "main" website.

[Miklos Nemeth]

I had a chance (thank you Michael) to have a look at the pages of possibly the first edition of the Club-system melodeon tutor book written by A.Holzschuh, also published in 1936. 1936 was the golden era for accordions and a competition (war) between the diatonic accordion notation systems. In this book the Griffschrift word was not used; instead, it was called Claudeschrift; possibly not coincidentally - the book's publisher was Claude-Paoso.

[Theo]

There is another system used in 1930s tutors the Helbing System.  This uses a 10 line stave and the direction of the note tails indicates press or draw.

[Matthew B]

Another system I seem to recall has the dots on the notes either filled in or left open to indicate press and draw.  What all of the tab systems have in common is that once you've moved beyond the basic scales, they take about as much effort to learn as regular music notation, but they lack the versatility and general availability of regular notation.  Still, if it's what you know, I suppose it's useful.  

[Miklos Nemeth]

What all of the tab systems have in common is taht once you've moved beyond the basic scales, they take about as much effort to learn as regular music notation, but they lack the versatility and general availability of regular notation. 

That was one of the reasons, I posted my original message: the two German Club-system tutor booklets I received do not use any TAB notation; instead, they apply the regular well-known music notation with some optional extra symbols or comments. The German Accordion School (Die Deutsche Harmonika Schule) by Erhard Kutschenreuter is quite similar to the notation of Dave Mallinson's tutor book. The German book uses C and F as the "standard" keys, while Mallinson presents the tunes in D and G.

[Matthew B]

Its quite extraordinary how much effort has been put into the business of making clubs, making alternative tab systems for clubs, making tutors for clubs, forming club orchestras, and more recently converting clubs into more popular tuning systems . . . some people even play them!

[Miklos Nemeth]

some people even play them!

Just received another Club accordion tutor book in German: The 1 x 1 of Melodeon by Curt Mahr (Das 1 x 1 der Handharmonika). This one is from 1937 and uses the same Griffschrift notation as in the Holzschuh books. In this book, however, it is called Seifert Notation (after the publisher Oskar Seifert).

[Anahata]

Just received another Club accordion tutor book in German: The 1 x 1 of Melodeon by Curt Mahr (Das 1 x 1 der Handharmonika). This one is from 1937 and uses the same Griffschrift notation as in the Holzschuh books. In this book, however, it is called Seifert Notation (after the publisher Oskar Seifert).

Uploading to http://www.treewind.co.uk/melnet/1x1-Handharmonika.pdf as I type...

[Rob2Hook]

Well actually I was sitting with the telly muted, playing a few tunes on my clubs (C/F and Bb/Eb) when the phone rang.  Whilst discussing hammered dulcimers on the phone, I clicked onto melnet and found this thread...

Rob.