Melodeon.net Forums
Discussions => Other Free Reed Instruments => Topic started by: Sandy Flett on May 04, 2013, 10:59:04 PM
-
Trying to look at posts on accordionforum.co.uk just gets a "Closed" notice. The recent ruckus regarding re-focusing has sunk it.
-
I would like to thank Al and his fellow administrators for running a forum that I got a lot out of. It built up a lot of enthusiasm quickly and filled a gap for a lot of people. I can appreciate what a massive effort it must have been. Thank you.
-
and I will second that! Thanks Al, Sandy and Bill.
george
-
That's a real shame; I enjoyed my visits with my CBA head on. Thank you Al and team.
-
A truly sad outcome of all this. I genuinely enjoyed the nearly FOUR DAYS I was logged in there! Thanks to those who made it work so well for its too-short time.
Bob
-
Trying to look at posts on accordionforum.co.uk just gets a "Closed" notice. The recent ruckus regarding re-focusing has sunk it.
I must have missed all this: I've been in hospital. What a pity. Would melodeon.net be able to continue to guide us to the available websites for the various interests?
-
Knobby has started a new Accordion forum - all music genres welcome, Theo may like to add the link somewhere . it`s gaining ground fast and there`s a nice friendly atmosphere (like Melnet in fact)
http://www.accordionists.co.uk/index.php
And the BCC# system to be honest is well covered here, they`re basically melodeons anyway, some even have Melodeon basses .. Melnet has covered the B/C, C/C#, C#/D etc systems beautifully over the years and BCC# is merely an extension of that
-
Yes we will certianly post a link here when the new forum is established. Even better would be if the owner of the accordionforum.co.uk would release the domain name and allow a new owner to use it.
-
Ruckus about refocusing?! I had no idea. It's really a terrible shame. There were any number of serious discussion about all manner of free-reed geekdom.
Many thanks to Al, Sandy & Bill, and everyone else who put in effort to make this work. :'(
PS Can anyone send me a pm with the contact info of the guy in Colorado who was trying to give away a Pigini CBA for US$100?
BW
-
Bill, the direct email address for the Pagini inquiry is : danerson(at)gmail(dot)com
I sent him a message yesterday and as of yet no reply
Good Luck
-
Knobby has started a new Accordion forum - all music genres welcome, Theo may like to add the link somewhere .
There is a new sticky topic here with a link, and the accordion forum link on the home page now goes direct to the new forum.
-
Thanks Theo
-
Eh? What happened?
EDIT: Just read your post on the other thread. Shame :(
-
Hello Bill,
RE: PS Can anyone send me a pm with the contact info of the guy in Colorado who was trying to give away a Pigini CBA for US$100?
BW
Went to a new home today.
Dan
Hello Don,
RE: Bill, the direct email address for the Pagini inquiry is : danerson(at)gmail(dot)com
I sent him a message yesterday and as of yet no reply
I didn't receive your email.
Perhaps, because my email has all "e's" - danersen
Went to its new home today.
Dan
Anyone have suggestions where to post the Cavagnolo CBA, now?
-
Hi Dan,
I hate to suggest Ebay, but it's an option. Glad to hear the little Pigini is settled! I wish there were an archive of the AF so we could see what all the ruckus was about.
Cheers,
Bill
-
Dan, I was actually interested in the Cavagnola, not the Pigini.
could you send me some photos
Thanks
Don
-
Hello Don,
Requested photos sent this morning.
Thanks,
Dan
-
Eh? What happened?
EDIT: Just read your post on the other thread. Shame :(
Link to "other thread", for those of us still none the wiser?
-
http://forum.melodeon.net/index.php/topic,12266.msg151001.html#msg151001
:(
-
This is just my personal understanding of what happened.
A week or so ago the accordion forum owner, Al, posted that he was re-focusing the forum back to its original emphasis of accordions and “folk music of the British Isles”, as he felt there was too much encroachment of accordion players interested in quite different styles/genres. There was a lengthy debate on the forum, possibly mostly from those Al’s action was aimed at. As the week went on, Al was taking more and more flack and on Saturday morning I noticed he had put a sentence in the Welcome box to say the forum was shutting down, and it was closed when I looked in the late evening.
It is a pity members did not get some notice so they could have extracted what they wanted of the substantial amounts of information the site had built up.
This is all that was in "the other thread".
-
Thanks. Yes, very sad.
-
Oh dear. It never ceases to amaze me when someone who runs a forum for nothing and even funds it's existence from their own pocket gets abuse from members who don't like the way that it's run. It often leads to this kind of "sod it" moment.
I mean - do they think these forums are some kind of right for them to enjoy for free? Unbelievable!
It was a similar event mixed with lack of time that led me to hand melnet over to Theo ... who has been one of the most patient and diligent forum curators I've ever seen ... I really hope no-one ever grinds him down in a similar way as has apparently happened to Al.
-
Oh dear. It never ceases to amaze me when someone who runs a forum for nothing and even funds it's existence from their own pocket gets abuse from members who don't like the way that it's run. It often leads to this kind of "sod it" moment.
I mean - do they think these forums are some kind of right for them to enjoy for free? Unbelievable!
It was a similar event mixed with lack of time that led me to hand melnet over to Theo ... who has been one of the most patient and diligent forum curators I've ever seen ... I really hope no-one ever grinds him down in a similar way as has apparently happened to Al.
;D ;D
99.99% of the time it is a very rewarding forum to be looking after.
Now, if I could just think of a diplomatic way to stopping those bl**** limericks! ;D ;D
-
Oh dear. It never ceases to amaze me when someone who runs a forum for nothing and even funds it's existence from their own pocket gets abuse from members who don't like the way that it's run. It often leads to this kind of "sod it" moment.
I mean - do they think these forums are some kind of right for them to enjoy for free? Unbelievable!
It was a similar event mixed with lack of time that led me to hand melnet over to Theo ... who has been one of the most patient and diligent forum curators I've ever seen ... I really hope no-one ever grinds him down in a similar way as has apparently happened to Al.
Spot on, John.
-
Totally agree. There are are always people who winge and moan and never think about putting in the time and effort themselves.It is a shame people also can't be more tollerant to others.My gran used to say to me as a child people are good at dishing out the flack but seldom give praise and a little praise goes a long way. It is a shame Al has felt he had to close a very good forum and I should like to thank him for all his time and efforts in the past . I certainly benefitted from it.
Jill
-
It was getting off the ground very well but was in my opinion hijacked by a small number of extremely prolific and somewhat derisory posters who despite the clearly set out aims of the forum were absolutely determined to move it in a different direction, That inundation from a minority faction increased as Al tried to reaffirm the aims of the forum leaving him with no real alternative other than to close it down. Thanks Al for all your efforts.
geroge
-
What a pity, and quite a shock. I wish I had known, but I was focused on discussions about playing reels & jigs on the CBA and PA. That forum really met a need in attracting players of British & Irish trad on all sorts of accordions. Previously the only site I've found that was as consistently useful has been this forum. I know there's concern in MelNet to maintain a firm focus on bisonoric button accordions, and I respect that and acknowledge that it plays a key role in avoiding the sort of dilution that sank the accordion forum. But I can't overstate how helpful it's been to have this wee corner to gather in. Most of the other "accordion" forums are all about playing jazz or classical or pop standards or TexMex, while many of the Irish trad forums are either moribund or full of misinformation and overheated opinion (imho). Maybe the new accordionist forum will be different. I've registered and will check it out,though discussions about playing Chopin have limited appeal. Thanks to Theo and the membership for making this space available.
-
Chopin board!
george >:E ;)
-
I think one of the things that melnet and the melodeon have going for them is that the intrinsic benefits and limitations of the instrument's design has a major influence on the styles of the music that gets played on it and, generally speaking, if you enjoy playing melodeon (in your own choice of style, genre, or whatever) then there is good chance you will enjoy and appreciate a great deal of what is played in other styles/genres/etc. One of the great joys for me when I got into melnet some years ago was discovering all the wonderful "other stuff" that people were playing on melodeons - French, Scandinavian, North American (various), etc.
This is not the case with the accordion, as its diversity and flexibility lends itself to all sorts of styles, genres, etc, many of which folk accordionists like myself do not have any interest in, other than possibly occasionally enjoying seeing our instrument played really well by a top player in whatever genre.
So the problem for us folk accordionists who were looking for Al's forum to be "melnet-like music focus but played on accordion" is what do we do now?
-
The only thing I can think of would be a forum similar to the late lamented one but perhaps with the headline of '' focusing EXCLUSIVELY on the traditional /folk music of the British Isles and similar western traditons '' . Or ''forum for those playing or interested in playing folk and traditional music on accordions''
Perhaps called simply and unambiguously 'folk and traditional accordion forum'
The problem of course is who would be prepared to undertake such a task, particulary in view of whats recently happened!
george
-
There must be much accordion discussion that would be applicable to any genre, repairs for example, how to choose an instrument, getting started, teaching(at least the first steps) that there will be value in having a single forum. And by having sub-forums for different genres you can have the best of everything. Forum software these days lets you devolve responsibility to enthusiasts for each genre, allowing everyone to have their own space, but to come together for common themes. It would require some very active moderation to begin with to move topics into the relevant place and establish the demarcation lines, but after that it should be a workable method.
If you think this is something you would like to see then the best way to endear your self to a forum moderator is to make the suggestion and volunteer to do the work.
-
As my social work staff constantly remind me ...
"No good deed goes unpunished!"
-
what a bummer it was great to get tips and advice on accordion related things iwasnt a member very long but i realy appreciated it being there sadly missed
-
I think one of the things that melnet and the melodeon have going for them is that the intrinsic benefits and limitations of the instrument's design has a major influence on the styles of the music that gets played on it and, generally speaking, if you enjoy playing melodeon (in your own choice of style, genre, or whatever) then there is good chance you will enjoy and appreciate a great deal of what is played in other styles/genres/etc. One of the great joys for me when I got into melnet some years ago was discovering all the wonderful "other stuff" that people were playing on melodeons - French, Scandinavian, North American (various), etc.
This is not the case with the accordion, as its diversity and flexibility lends itself to all sorts of styles, genres, etc, many of which folk accordionists like myself do not have any interest in, other than possibly occasionally enjoying seeing our instrument played really well by a top player in whatever genre.
Sandy makes a key point here. I guess I always knew that subconcsiously, but it's good to spell it out. That's exactly what this forum has going for it--the idiomatic relation between the push-pull box and the muscial genres that have mde it there own. I wish I could get the hang of it, but after three attempts, i have to accept I'm just not a bisonoric kind of guy. Still, I agree 100% that what draws me to free reeds in the first place is rhthmic punch and growly tone of the melodeons. It's what in my head when I play CBA or PA.
Theo's suggestion about trying to set up a folk-accordion subforum in one of the accordion boards is a good one. Maybe we can get something going on the new accordionists forum.
Bill
-
But what about those accordionists of us who would much rather mix with the melodeon players than all these "other" accordion genres? How about a sub-forum on melnet "Melodeon music/influences for accordion", scoped something along the lines of:
For established folk accordion players, who enjoy melodeon music and who want to incorporate more of the melodeon repertoire and expressiveness into their accordion playing.
Have sub-forum TOTM and ThOTM (doing same as main forum)
Discuss ways to get better expression (like melodeon)
Discuss accordion systems for this sort of music (piano accordion (PA), Continental Button Accordion (CBA), and the BCC# British Chromatic Accordion)
Discuss Makes and Models of accordion for this sort of music
Tunes:
Melodeon tunes to try
Tunes to try on melodeon (to look for influences)
Members recordings ....
Etc
-
But what about those accordionists of us who would much rather mix with the melodeon players
It's here, you are using it. (:)
-
And very much appreciated too!
-
Discuss accordion systems for this sort of music (piano accordion (PA), Continental Button Accordion (CBA), and the BCC# British Chromatic Accordion)
I thought the BCC# was a fully paid up member of the melodeon family - it being just aa one row in C with two rows of accidentals!
george ;D
-
I always thought that BCC# was more at home here than on an Accordion Forum (which I see as a Unisonoric only kinda place) , both in the music and the way the box plays - I like George`s analogy, another it that it`s a B/C or a C/C# with an extra row and often Stradella bass ....
Maybe a Chromatic subforum could be setup here Theo ? (Two rows as well as BCC#, they`re heavily connected as I`m sure Jimmy Shand would have agreed) - I`m still slowly learning this chromatic 3 row thing . I didn`t post much on Al's forum in the last 6 months or so but most of it was BCC# related
-
chromatic diatonic players seem to fit in absolutely fine here without the need for a special section. If we had a BC etc section then logic would also dictate that we would need one for DG, another for CF etc etc. With all the 2 rows the similarities are far greater than the differences.
As to my analogy of the BCC# it is not an analogy - it is merely the truth!! Visualising it as o one row in C with 2 rows of accs naturally leads to the idea of treating the C row as 'white' notes and t'other 2 as 'black' notes. The same visualisation also works well on the BC and CC# boxes i.e. one row of white notes but alas only one row of black notes!
george ;D
-
I always thought that BCC# was more at home here than on an Accordion Forum
Maybe a Chromatic subforum could be setup here Theo ? (Two rows as well as BCC#, they`re heavily connected as I`m sure Jimmy Shand would have agreed) - I`m still slowly learning this chromatic 3 row thing . I didn`t post much on Al's forum in the last 6 months or so but most of it was BCC# related
I also should like to see this, as I am learning B/C and B/C/C#. Those with C#D etc need a home also. Of course I am speaking from a purely selfish point of view, but I believe there to be sufficient demand and need.
-
Well there are already people posting here about semitone systems so just dive in. No need for a separate section.
-
Well there are already people posting here about semitone systems so just dive in. No need for a separate section.
My only thought for a separate section was that I seem to be confused as to the meaning of chromatic in this context and the term melodeon as previously discussed often and the chromatic subforum might help. However, I am obviously happy and grateful to access the general forum.
-
Just tried to log into accordion forum and found it has closed down which is a great shame. Now if the person running and funding the site doesn't like the way it is going, that's fine, but surely any forum is only as successful as the members who use and comment on it.
Now you might not like the direction it is going, but surely out of courtesy to all the members who regularly used the forum, could it not have been offered to someone else to take it over, and I am sure there would have been someone more than willing to do it, rather than loss it. It is a very selfish and childish act just to pull the plug and only giving members a few hours notice. Members have spent a lot of time and effort uploading large amounts of information that you will never get anywhere else, and now it is all gone.
Very poor show
-
Others with more detailed knowledge than me might comment, but Al, who I believe was the main driver of the site, is anything but childish and selfish. Very much the opposite.
So I suspect there is/was more going on than meets the eye.
-
(...)I am sure there would have been someone more than willing to do it
this deserves only one comment: put up or shut up
-
Anyone who just closes a popular and very active forum, and takes all the information that members have taken the time to post, without first offering it up to someone to take over is being selfish. No matter what's going on.
I know you will not agree, but that's what it looks like to me.
-
and?
-
There is nothing to be gained by speculation about how things might have been different. This topic seems to have run it's course.