Melodeon.net Forums
Discussions => General Discussion => Topic started by: arty on November 02, 2014, 05:04:31 PM
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As someone who (I think) has left the beginner's stage and could now be thought of as an intermediate player, I find that I am thinking more and more about the kind of music I want to play and my ambitions for my playing.
In order to find out more about the different routes one can take with melodeon music, may I ask: "What are your interests and ambitions for your music and what kind of music would you like to be playing in years to come?"
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Phew arty, as well as utterly thought provoking it's the $64,000 question I think we'd all like to answer!
I think I'd honestly say I don't know which direction, but hope my overall playing improves.
I always stated that ' I'm an English player, and enjoy our traditional tunes'.
I now realise on top of what I'd call an English repertoire, I also have tunes from France, Estonia, Belgium, Quebecois; Texas and would like to venture into the odd Norwegian, if I knew where to start (:)
I keep hearing a tune and getting an earworm and feeling it's something I have to learn. I suppose my narrow minded approach has broadened into something more along the lines of ' English predominantly, but also anything else that catches my ear '
...... but whatever they are, I hope they will be played better ;)
Q
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the answer to the question probably lies within the head already as whats in there is what you like and would enjoy playing.
Types of music that you are not interested in tend not to be stored in the long term memory!
george ;)
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would like to venture into the odd Norwegian, if I knew where to start (:)
:o
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? but would the odd Norwegian enjoy being ventured into - the mind boggles!
george ;)
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OY!
Ollie and George - you bad lads ;D
For once I was thinking about tunes...... But I take your points, well made 8)
Q feeling hot and flustered!
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would like to venture into the odd Norwegian, if I knew where to start (:)
Nothing risque in that at all ...
http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-definition-of/norwegian
(:)
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Well, I live and learn.....thank you nigelr.....
of course, that's what I meant all along, keep up chaps ::)
Q now wriggling out of a hole.....
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Well, that's my serious question hijacked.....ha ha! :D
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Im going in, and out. Alot. :||:
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Well I'm now exploring what different scales I can play in, on my D/G two and a half row. In theory, I can play in A/C/D/F & G
I also have a C/G that I am thinking I might learn some French tunes on. One day.
John
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Well, that's my serious question hijacked.....ha ha! :D
Sorry Arty :-[
Back to the serious point, I would very much like to be good enough to play for dance in the future (I've still got a long way to go). To me, music is a social thing to be shared and enjoyed with others. N
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Very interesting question! I’d love to know your thoughts, arty?
My ambitions are less to do with repertoire and more to do with style/technique etc. These may well change, but at the moment I’d like to learn how to:
- Create more interesting and varied arrangements
- Pick up tunes quicker in sessions and workshops
- Be able to put the sort of nuanced dynamics into my playing that I naturally hear when I’m 'listening' to a tune in my head
- Create the sort of space and lightness in my playing that people like Naragonia and Sophie Cavez are able to achieve
- Try to think of the melodeon less as melody and chords, and more as different combinations of melody, harmony line, chords and bass line.
(Yes, I like to aim high ;))
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backwards...but in a good way...
(:) (:)
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Hoping to just keep improving and make better use of opportunities that come up. Have had encouragement from several people when they have noticed an improvement in my playing, which keeps me going. I have noticed being able to find notes more easily on the instrument, take less time to pick up a tune both from notation and by ear and have even managed a bit of sight reading!
Melodeon playing in a ceilidh gig is not far away, I fear. French tunes may be attempted soon, too.
Hope to still enjoy it as well. (:)
Mike
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Like everyone I'm looking to improve all the time - but the question of how is always a moot point. At the moment I've got to grips with my new(ish) 3 row D/G/+ with stradella bass box - and I am spending most of my creative practice with it by playing simple tunes in very unusual keys ... on top of that I am looking at technically demanding music outside my usual trad English repertoire and learning it by rote ...
at present I'm trying to master Entry of the Gladiators by Fucik, The Black & White Rag and Les Triolets by Emile Vacher on my Hohner - they're all a bit cheesy for my tastes - but by Christ are they brilliant as exercises! I'm not on top of them yet - but they are proving very informative studies!
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This may seem a bit OCD, but I do a self-review every three months. I review as honestly as I can how much progress I have made in achieving the goals I set three months ago and then I set myself new targets for the next three months. Before I began this self-review system, I found that I made less progress because I didn't have a clear idea of where I wanted to go or how to get there. I would merely think, "Oh, that's a nice tune. I'll learn that one."
Now, I have a coherent plan against which to measure my progress. If this seems a bit clinical, joyless and lacking in spontaneity, nothing could be further from the truth. I get increased pleasure from focusing on specific areas I want to develop in my playing, while the spontaneity is catered for by allowing myself sufficient flexibility to modify the targets when I feel the urge to do so. My targets for the last three months were (1) to improve my proficiency in the keys of Dm and Gm; (2) to learn ten new French tunes I needed for our spot at the Festival des Panards last month; (3) to develop some more inventive bass lines (4) to play for enjoyment (this is on every list of goals I make to guard against them becoming a chore). In my last review session, I concluded that I had made significant progress with (1); I had learnt all but one of the tunes in (2) (the exception being La Sansonnette in Dm, which I still find very difficult); I had made some progress with (3) but could have made more if I had given it a higher priority; and I had 100% success with (4)! ;)
My next set of goals are (1) to carry forward my inventive bass line target from the previous three months and give it a higher priority, (2) to work on the tunes and techniques for Melodeons at Witney (3) to explore the possibilities of my new Clément Guais box (which arrives on Tuesday ;D) and (4) to continue playing for enjoyment. As I said before, it may seem rather OCD, but it works for me.
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Im going in, and out. Alot. :||:
A bit like the Southwold tide then... ;)
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retirement (though was offered another job yesterday :-\) is intended to give me time for fullfillment of the true purpose of working … which is the playing of nice melodeons. I used to be a " cover all useful keys in 2 boxes" man, but my 2-year old C#DG van der Aa has been such a success that I don't seem to use anything else!
So right now my aim is to tame the raucous nature intrinsic to melodeons and get back into folk singing properly. It was my fiirst musical love (I was once abused by the Wilsons for moving on) ::) Stéph Milleret has offered a week at his house with coaching - but I didn't get in to year 1 of his mentoring scheme. We'll see.
Seems I am a rather deeper baritone than in my salad days, and it looks that Bb is often the sweet spot. Strangely vdAa's C# row eats that key on pull, with the odd help from its neighbours, and "English style" sus based harmonies just … fall under the fingers. Theo turning over a Grenoble layout chord plate to make Eb a pull has helped massively in this. Eb as a key is proving more of a challenge, but attacked from a Cm perspective there is progress. My current earworm is Armstrong's "row between the cages", a song I heard on my first date with a (now ex)-wife.
To this end I've joined in with the current fad for Bb/Eb sessions, though mainly chording as that's the way my brain works. Bit disappointed that much of the "Flat Tendency" repertoire has been "same tunes, different key", but there have been some quite glorious exceptions to that! Frankly if I carried a Bb/Eb around, I'd exploring D blues (which is the "built in" blues key on that 2-row). That incidentally ties in with Bob's sansonnet scottiche, which used the augmented G# in common with D blues scale. [noodle … noodle: yes, first phrase just lies there, you'll always need accidentals though]
I'm slowly recoding Melodeon Explorer, a web page designed to fine such strange scales in unexpected places and hope to have it online by Christmas. No everyone shares my eccletic approach to tunes, but it does promise to find all chords, on any box. And that includes Nick's refurbished Sally Army concertina.
Oh yes … and I set up my first ever pilgrimage to Québec with daughter Dolly last night ::) I understand they have melodeons there too …
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While not as self-disciplined as Bob Ellis I do set myself targets for certain time periods, currently as we are in the morris practice season and out of season for festivals my goals are oriented around getting me to where I would like to be by next May Day when the season rolls round again:
1) To continue my journey to the land beyond oom-pah - learning more complex basslines and beginning to craft my own.
2) To become Queen of the accidentals - improve flexibility and confidence when reaching for those buttons.
3) Develop playing for Cotswold morris. I usually dance Cotswold and play for border but playing for Cotswold is an aspiration.
4) To go to as many sessions as possible and take an active part - six months ago sessions used to terrify me, now I love 'em ;)
5) To support, encourage and assist those coming along the journey behind me, because I know how important this type of support is to me.
6) To stay away from ebay.de.
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Helena, commandment No. 6. my nemesis! 😳
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I started to feel like I was getting the hang of this instrument around the start of this year, and it rapidly turned into being my first real passion. I don't have any real musical background, so I'm trying to catch up as fast as possible. I've got one simple goal; to be the best! >:E
I'm not really sure that's possible, and I feel like I'm lacking 10 years that others have had from learning at a younger age, but nothing drives me on better than a challenge. I want to be able to play in a wide range of styles for a wide range of music, and I want to be playing gigs when I'm in my thirties. I'm practicing a lot in the hope of achieving that, but I want to do more.
This next year I'm concentrating on getting out and playing with other people more, as I'm definitely finding it helpful and it's great fun. I'd really like to get more involved in the folk scene and meet/play with new people, as I feel a bit out of the loop in Cardiff. I might finally get around to organising a session here unless someone else beats me to it.
If anyone fancies a part-time apprentice or roadie for a tour then I'm game (and make a great cup of tea) ;D
Im going in, and out. Alot. :||:
A bit like the Southwold tide then... ;)
And Tony Hall even has a song about that! With an entertaining sleeve note:
The Enigma of the Southwold Tide
I was brought up a few miles from Southwold, on Suffolk's coast, famous for its beauty AND Adnams bitter! I wrote this a few years ago after a good session on the latter. I believe it's the most boring song ever written.
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This may seem a bit OCD, but I do a self-review every three months...
Now, I have a coherent plan against which to measure my progress. If this seems a bit clinical, joyless and lacking in spontaneity, nothing could be further from the truth.
Thanks for that Bob, and, to echo Helena, I don't think this is taking it too far. I realize after reading your post that I have set other targets and kept to them, one of the main ones being to be brave enough to book for M@W. In booking workshops I chose the minor keys workshop as I knew it was something I had been avoiding!
Alas the no. 6 commandment on Helena's list came too late for me and I am awaiting the fettling of a vintage Hohner I went for, to be G/C/acc. ::) I think I will try to emulate the target idea over 2015. Plenty of food for thought.
Mike
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Its good to hear individual plans for developing playing and some some of 'plan' can really help to move things along. But beware of taking it too seriarsly as that can result in removal of the all important 'fun factor' . It may well be ok for piano box players but which undermine the natural spontaneity of suck and blow playing!
My personal development plan is to never forget that getting the hang of the box is a life long learning process that journeys back and forth up blind alleys , makes wonderful discoveries, finds new friends and most importantly is immensely enjoyable
george ;D :||: :|glug
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Nowt wrong wi' Bb Chris. It's also my favourite key to sing in. However, I cheat on guitar, by playing G shapes, with a capo on the third fret.
Mind you, since I caught melodeoning, my guitaring has been severely curtailed ;)
John
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The reason I asked the question in the first place, is because I feel a bit lost to be honest.
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love playing and, frankly, can't wait to get home after work to practice every evening. I feel, because of the progress I have made in the last two and a half years, that I want to have more of a sense of direction, musically that is.
If I may say a little about my background, it may help. I come from a small Island called Jersey, which is British but not part of the UK. It is situated just 14 miles from the north coast of France. I was born into a very musical family, all of whom played musical instruments and some to a very high standard.It was all Classical music of course and there was a kind of snobbery in the house regarding any other kind of music. I learnt and played the oboe (not very well) from the age of 11 until I was 42, when I gave it up through lack of practice time because of having my own business. The guitar followed but didn't feel right for me. Then the melodeon found me....OH! what fun, more fun than I have ever found in music before! I love it!
The reason I mentioned Jersey, where I come from, is that we don't really have our own musical culture. It is a real mish mash, some English, Irish as well but also a lot of French influence, particularly Normandy, because of our proximity to France. There is a Morris side here but it is not taken very seriously by the locals, sadly, a bit of a joke really, (not to the dancers and musicians who take part though).
So this is where I am at.
1. In my learning process so far, I have learnt to play quite a few Morris tunes and I have really enjoyed doing so but I don't want to continue with it to the exclusion of every other type of music, because it doesn't sustain me. It is fun but that's as far as it goes. I have played in my local session a few times and would like to continue, simply because of the fun element and the joy of sharing music with other people but I could never take it too seriously.
2. I really enjoy listening to the sort of music played by people such as this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQkhEuYdp-Y and this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDVB-K1CH1s
It is their approach to the music, which I find particularly interesting. It is traditional music but has a formal, 'classical feel' to it, which i find very appealing and probably fits very well with my background... Does that make sense?
3. I also love Naragonia, Andy Cutting and many, many others of that ilk, simply because their music sounds more, well, 'musical' than simply bashing out Princess Royal for the umpteenth time, even though I do enjoy the fun of doing that from time to time. French music is often very tuneful and heavenly to my ears, as is Italian. But I think traditional Breton music is awful and that's after having lived there for 4 years! I suspect, because of Olav Bergflodt and Ukebert, I have become aware of the wonderful Norwegian music, (please...no jokes!) which is inspiring. But so is Swedish and Finnish music!
So, as you can probably see, my mind is all over the place. I feel I have reached a stage in my learning, where I want to focus. Then I start questioning things like, do I have the right instrument to go in the more formal music direction that I like. I have a Hascy D/G which I adore but would I be better off sometime in the future having more basses and maybe a third row? I wouldn't want to change now but is it something I should consider in the future? Would I be better off with a G/C? I have a very good ear and the sound of the instrument is very important to me. Much as I love my Hascy, it is not the sound that I want if I go towards the sort of music I enjoy listening to. It seems unbalanced, in that the basses are very strong in comparison to the treble. Having said that, there is a lot that I love about the Hascy and much for it to teach me before I would consider changing.
I do have a pre Pokerwork in C/F and I have just ordered another one from Mike Rowbotham but this time in D/G. These I will use in the local session and for playing more light hearted tunes - that is, just for the fun of it and those old Pokerworks do make a great sound.
Sorry for the length of this post but I hope you will see my confusion. Any ideas, thoughts and advice would be really good. I think I might need a psychoanalyst! :-\
Might I leave you with this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvGXKfT8keg&list=FLgmtRlQtNZvMIEgqi2QN4Yg&index=167
Wow, Wow, Wow!!!
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It sounds like we're in vaguely the same place at the moment arty; there are so many different styles I want to learn and I'm starting to get an idea of which way I want to go. I definitely want more basses and at least 2 1/2 rows in the future, but as I don't have a spare £3-5k to splash on a Mory or a Handry I've decided to wait for a few years and try to improve my technique on the boxes I have first (though my Pokerwork might get swapped for an earlier Hohner at some point). I figure it's better not to get too distracted by the equipment and concentrate on getting the very most out of the instruments I already own. Also I'd end up poor and unable to go to lots of festivals if I spend all my money on another box ;D
I'm not sure if it's possible due to the construction of the Hascy, but you might be able to get another stop added to allow you to remove the low bass reed. I have that option on the Lilium and play without those reeds a lot of the time, especially if I'm playing in the upper octave (as it's a bit overpowering). Though that makes me want a Mory/Handry even more for the more convenient auto switches, rather than having to get someone else to whack the stop in halfway through a tune (like my friend Steve did on the third time through on Sweetness of Mary (https://soundcloud.com/robotmay/the-sweetness-of-mary-1)) >:E
There's definitely a sweeter tone for continental music on a G/C, but you can learn them on a D/G in the same upper-octave fingering and you'll be well prepared for if you expand your collection in future.
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Nowt wrong wi' Bb Chris. It's also my favourite key to sing in. However, I cheat on guitar, by playing G shapes, with a capo on the third fret.
John
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On that basis I suppose the BCC# 3 row could be seen as a 2 row with a capo as the fingering and bellowing for Bb is in effect A played on the inside rows, Eb is D, Gb is A, F is E etc.
george ;D
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The reason I mentioned Jersey, where I come from, is that we don't really have our own musical culture. It is a real mish mash, some English, Irish as well but also a lot of French influence, particularly Normandy, because of our proximity to France. There is a Morris side here but it is not taken very seriously by the locals, sadly, a bit of a joke really, (not to the dancers and musicians who take part though).
This could also be true about much of England!
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To this end I've joined in with the current fad for Bb/Eb sessions, though mainly chording as that's the way my brain works. Bit disappointed that much of the "Flat Tendency" repertoire has been "same tunes, different key", but there have been some quite glorious exceptions to that! Frankly if I carried a Bb/Eb around, I'd exploring D blues (which is the "built in" blues key on that 2-row).
Chris, as I have explained before, the reason no one is playing D blues at the flat sessions is the same reason you don't get people playing F# blues at a regular DG English session... people don't have an interest in playing blues! Flat sessions are there to give people with flat boxes the chance to play together, and to give those who play flat brass instruments the opportunity to play without having to finger some difficult keys. Playing tunes is different keys gives them a completely different feel, which is another reason for the sessions. Now please, stop bringing up D blues every time flat boxes are mentioned, it's getting quite tiresome. We've heard you, and that's fine if that's what you want to do, but we'd rather just get on and play music that we enjoy playing.
In terms of my personal plan, like everyone else, I just want to keep improving. I'm well aware that my playing is still not as consistent as it should be, so I need to work on that. I'd like to explore Québécois repertoire more than I already have, as well as some pieces from the classical cannon. I really want to get my teeth stuck into another musical project, but I've not found one yet, so we'll see what happens. Some more gigs would be nice, too!
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The reason I mentioned Jersey, where I come from, is that we don't really have our own musical culture. It is a real mish mash, some English, Irish as well but also a lot of French influence, particularly Normandy, because of our proximity to France. There is a Morris side here but it is not taken very seriously by the locals, sadly, a bit of a joke really, (not to the dancers and musicians who take part though).
This could also be true about much of England!
And Wales! It's really hit and miss as to where we'll get any interest when we dance out. Tourist areas of Cardiff are great, small pubs up in the valleys not so much (especially as if you do anything extravagant in the valleys on a Sunday you're at risk of waking up the locals ;))
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Learn Tune of the month, EVERY month, come to terms with illogical air buttons....I like to keep life simple....
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After 10 years at the box I'm still trying to catch up, and this will no doubt be true when I squeeze my last breath or box.
Trying to catch up with who[m]*? That varies... myself mainly (trying to catch up with the way I hear the tunes in my head, and others that I quail to tackle). Most of the players I admire I'll never catch up with so competition doesn't really enter into it.
For those who are a bit lost: did you take up the melodeon because you loved the instrument, or did you take it up in order to play a particular style of music? I don't think many of us in the latter category are likely to feel lost. Just musing.
* Pedantry prevention (:)
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I wish I knew where I was going!
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I wish I knew where I was going!
If I knew where I was heading, there is a danger that one day I may get there.
Once the destination is reached the journey is ended.
In the words of the ill fated Shaun Brogan:
If I knew where I was going to die, I wouldn't feckin' go there.
My personal journey has been a never ending arbitrary and ill directed ramble which has lead me both physically and emotionally through the traditions, culture and passions of, Northern England, the East coast, Louisiana, Dartmoor, Columbia, Dominican Republic, West Africa, Brittany, Haute Provence, Marche, Lucania and many other places besides.
After 10 years playing the melodeon I consciously chose a path that I have followed for the past 25+ years. I love music; I love culture; I love people. The only honest statement I can make is to play the music that comes from my heart. I play 'Mike Hirst music' - a ragged and ever changing amalgam of of all the musics I have ever heard, played and studied. informed by a desire to command the moment; to make a statement both new and succinct, whose resonance is only as vibrant as it's importance may be in the possible futures to come.
Sometimes I succeed.
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Im going in, and out. Alot. :||:
A bit like the Southwold tide then... ;)
And Tony Hall even has a song about that! With an entertaining sleeve note:
The Enigma of the Southwold Tide
I was brought up a few miles from Southwold, on Suffolk's coast, famous for its beauty AND Adnams bitter! I wrote this a few years ago after a good session on the latter. I believe it's the most boring song ever written.
Yes! Someone has recognised my quote! (:)
Actually, I love the Southwold Tide song - it's funny and I don't think it's boring.
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Haha, it's one of my favourites on that album too. It really threw me the first time I listened through the CD; now it always puts a smile on my face ;D
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I wish I knew where I was going!
The recording studio? :||:
Steve
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To the dogs
John :neigh:
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if I carried a Bb/Eb around, I'd be exploring D blues (which is the "built in" blues key on that 2-row).
Chris, as I have explained before, the reason no one is playing D blues at the flat sessions is the same reason you don't get people playing F# blues at a regular DG English session... people don't have an interest in playing blues! Flat sessions are there to give people with flat boxes the chance to play together, and to give those who play flat brass instruments the opportunity to play without having to finger some difficult keys. Playing tunes is different keys gives them a completely different feel, which is another reason for the sessions. Now please, stop bringing up D blues every time flat boxes are mentioned, it's getting quite tiresome. We've heard you, and that's fine if that's what you want to do, but we'd rather just get on and play music that we enjoy playing.
Thanks for the Correction. But for the record .. think this has "come up" (quick Google ..) once in total You don't like it .. NP (:) but my own post was partly a response to Bob's exploration, and more "about" my own direction than any campaign you might perceive.
Actually, thinking about it, I know several melnet parishioners well capable of flicking some F# blues into a trad tune (typically on an A chord), and learned the technique myself from Rees, back in 1987 or so. (I am still grateful for the fun he's given me) :D I thought it was only the Navigator Guild in "Dune" who could "travel without moving"? ::)
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Ermm..... if I may interject, but still on this sideline of the thread...
One possibility - and it's only that - is to have a go on some boxes with other keys.
I do like the Bb/Eb sound that Ollie uses on his cd. To my knowledge it's the first time I've heard one played ( I live a sheltered life! ) and the mellow sound I find particularly attractive. Not sure if it's the choice of key or the 'old Hohner' sound, but I do like it.
( Were the old Hohners Bb/Eb key choice to enable playing with German Brass Bands?)
It would cause a few mangled notes and the odd frustrated moan at my local session though, D/G country and firmly ensconced!
Exploration of other keys might be 'where I'm going' in the future, which brings it miraculously Back on Thread....
Phew!
Q
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I too like the sound of the flat keys for many tunes more usually played in sharp keys. That's why I like the unmentionable box that does both sharp and flat keys for the same learning !
george ;)
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I do like the Bb/Eb sound that Ollie uses on his cd. To my knowledge it's the first time I've heard one played ( I live a sheltered life! ) and the mellow sound I find particularly attractive. Not sure if it's the choice of key or the 'old Hohner' sound, but I do like it.
( Were the old Hohners Bb/Eb key choice to enable playing with German Brass Bands?)
Almost certainly, and Steirische Harmonikas are often in flat keys for the same reason, e.g. X'elch'ten (http://xelchten.com/) whose box player Karin Seyringer plays an instrument in all flat keys (B♭/E♭/A♭/D♭ I believe)
I've heard Ollie playing a Hohner B♭/E♭ for morris (probably the same box) and it is indeed a glorious sound.
I'm not sure how exploration of other keys makes a melodeon career decision though, unless you go from D/G to a radically different box like G/C where you are playing in a higher octave almost all the time, everything feels different and you are probably playing a different repertoire (e.g. French). And maybe playing with Hurdy Gurdy and bagpipe players. Now that would be a new direction, and one that I occasionally consider for myself, as I play regularly in a ceilidh band whose fiddle player is also very good at playing French music on the HG.
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Thanks for confirming about flat keys.
Yes, I too have listened to, and I think might have danced to his flat box, and it is a great sound.
Is it they key choice that gives that sound or the 'Old Hohner'
I am sure it's a combination of both, but something must be predominant.
As you say, it's not really a directional choice, more a parallel line.
I suppose such a minor diversion is all I contemplate as I don't really feel like straying from the 'mainly English' with a few other good tunes bunged into the mix!
....just 'better'
Q
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I do like the Bb/Eb sound that Ollie uses on his cd. To my knowledge it's the first time I've heard one played ( I live a sheltered life! ) and the mellow sound I find particularly attractive. Not sure if it's the choice of key or the 'old Hohner' sound, but I do like it.
Q
I think it's probably both...and Ollie's playing helps... ;)
I bought a Bb/Eb some 18 months ago just because I wanted one and in spite of being told "it's only a fashion..." Bavarian Pete just happened to have two...It's rarely used in sessions (and chances of sneaking it into the band seem slim...) but it's the box I reach for if I fancy a tune at home. Unless it's the A 1 row...or the pressedwood DG...or...where am I going...MAD i suppose...(it's been said before, but it's true...)
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Wow! Everytime I go to post my two cents on where I am going there are ten new posts to read, most of which now seem off topic.
For me, the goal has always been the French Classics and musette pieces. That had to change when I realized that in order to play the likes of "Indifference" and "Sous le Ciel..." "Mefiance" etc etc etc that I would have to start with easier tunes and work my way up to the those. That has led me to French traditional and pretty much anything else I hear on youtube that I like. I still try to keep it mostly French though, with the thinking that the day I finally do pull off Indifference, I will have a few other tunes to play with it. One unexpected turn is my love for more contempory French music such as Duo Absynthe, Bruno Le Tron, and Nargaonia (yes I know they are Belgian). That has had an effect more on HOW I play as opposed to WHAT, and the effect is, I think, rather positive. Why does some guy in Ohio want to play French music? Well now that is another story altogether...
I have no set routine for achieving this goal except that I try to practice 5+ hours a week. Wish I could devote more time, and often I do, but I work crazy hours and lots of them. Don't really care when I get there as long as it is before I die. Sometimes I don't practice at all but just spend hours playing whatever is my head that night. Those are always the best times I have playing and the ones that remind me that this thing is WAY more about fun than work, or goals, or set plans with timetables or discipline etc. i get more than enough of that sort of tediousness at my day (and night) job.
Frank
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One row, and American (Scots, Irish) fiddle tunes/old time , a bit of Quebec, a smattering of Irish Trad and now concentrating on Rockabilly and early rock and roll into the early 60's.
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"What are your interests and ambitions for your music and what kind of music would you like to be playing in years to come?"
Ambitions: None - full stop! I enjoy making noise. I've had enough of ambitious music teachers for years and years and years.
What kind of music: 1. North-east german dances (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPmoR8r-cNY), 2. German hit songs of the 1910s-1940s (foxtrots (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iu-v1FJN98) and the like (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1x_ljwnAc4)). For the latter I occasionally need a Club accordion (enriched harmonies) but otherwise prefer the two-row melodeon.
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I think it's probably both...and Ollie's playing helps... ;)
Very much so. While "key" has a mysterious interaction with the human ear/brain,
the dynamics achieved by a good player are so important ::)
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yes, of course the person playing matters and as Ollie knows, I'm a huge fan of his playing.
As baz implies, it's not a lot of use in sessions unless you access the Flat Sessions previously mentioned, and Sheffield's a long way for a tune!
Down here it would cause a lot of confusion! Therefore it's really a thing of beauty for just you I suppose.....
Q
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Just entering this discussion...
I wasn't specifically interested in playing French music when I got my first melodeon, but I find it more and more appealing. I do very much want to play music from the north of Spain.
Also, where I live there's a need for players to accompany English Country Dancing sessions, and it happens there are some really good musicians involved, so I'm all for that.