Melodeon.net Forums
Discussions => Teaching and Learning => Topic started by: Andy in Vermont on March 29, 2012, 04:16:07 PM
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Here is "La Valse du Coq" -- a simple and sweet melody. Again, this is one of the early tunes on the Denis Pepin album.
http://melodeonminutes.blogspot.com/2012/03/waltz-for-beginning-one-row-players.html (http://melodeonminutes.blogspot.com/2012/03/waltz-for-beginning-one-row-players.html)
A note about basses/chords. If you are at the point where it is tricky to add bass/chords, learn the tune first on the right hand only. Work on bellows technique -- pulse the bellows on the three beats of the waltz rhythm. When you add the bass/chords, play "bass-chord-chord" -- match each push of a left-hand button with one of the bellows pulses. Take it slow. Breathe.
Cheers,
Andy
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indeed! The technique of pulsing the rhythm using the bellows works well on all boaxes from 1 row to 120 bass. It adds another layer of rhythm and is not to be confused with the , to me, dubious technique of 'bellows shaking' that some piano accordionists indulge in.
george
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Andy,
The second part of that tune sounds interchangeable with nearly all the mazurkas played in Donegal...
Coincidentally this slightly different version (http://youtu.be/I_JGUNhlTDM) was posted two days ago by one of my correspondents here in QC.
BTW His Youtube handle is something that learners of Québec music should understand before they visit here to pick the brains of local musicians:
* A minoune is an "old banger" or "jalopy", most often a big old-fashioned American gas-guzzler.
* Not to be confused with a pitoune, which is either a big log of timber floating down the river or on the back of a truck, or most often a girl or woman, sometimes uncomplimentary but usually affectionate term. ("Pauvre p'tite pitoune!")
* Nounoune means a dim-witted female, again often used affectionately, and frequently in the first person. "Ah que je suis nounoune!"
* Then there is les gougounes, meaning a sandal of the flip-flop or thong type.
And a number of other similar terms. Compiling a proper list is something I want to achieve at some point before dementia sets in.
I forgot one very important one: les foufounes is interchangeable with les fesses. There is or was an iconic music venue at the seedy end of downtown Montréal called Les Foufounes électriques !