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Author Topic: "The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is..."  (Read 19342 times)

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Ollie

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"The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is..."
« on: November 30, 2012, 01:17:30 AM »

Overheard tonight before The Albion Band's gig in Sheffield...

"The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is that the bellows come out further"

Quite possibly the weirdest explanation I've ever heard! Anyone else got anything similarly bizarre?
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rees

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Re: "The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is..."
« Reply #1 on: November 30, 2012, 01:22:36 AM »

Nope, that just about sums it up for me  :|glug
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Mike Hirst

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Re: "The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is..."
« Reply #2 on: November 30, 2012, 02:17:06 AM »

Playing a street gig in Leeds, some years back, a little lad stood in front of me, staring for several minutes. finally he blurted out, in an accusatory tone, "Yor cheatin' mister, yor pressin' the buttons - on both ends !!".  ???
« Last Edit: November 30, 2012, 02:18:40 AM by Mike Hirst »
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Chris Ryall

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Re: "The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is..."
« Reply #3 on: November 30, 2012, 08:10:40 AM »

The differences in international nomenclature have been discussed to death here, and we won't sort them in another little thread. I assume Ollie's referring (if cryptically) to description of the standard diatonic 2-3 row box, with different notes each way?

"The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is that the bellows come out further"

If so, then I agree with whoever said that. Rhetoric is a funny thing, but a bit of humour or paradox can often bring out hidden truths - eg "Iain McLeod was the best Conservative Prime minister Britain never had" etc etc

I've just counted up the notes available on my Oakwood and there are 8 different on push but 11 on pull (lacks Ab). A simpler experiment is to look along any single main row - 3 notes push, 4 pull. There's simply more on the pull.

Translated into play - 2 effects - one is that you can generally cross-row further on pull scales.  The 6 notes of Em dorian or aeolian  ;) available to a D/G is a classic example. 

The other is more subtle. Relative to say a main row key 'D' chord those 3 push notes all lie 'in' the chord - whereas the 4 pull ones are 'out'.  My experience has been that as one progresses in the instrument and increasingly extend/ arrange/ improvises melodies you tend to use these more and more.  A parallel thread about substituting Em pull for G push when stuck is a nice example of this in action - it also frees up more melodic possibilities.

If you "really" let go and play very 'out' - the more notes to hand the better! But again that's nearly always on the pull. 

What I'm lumbering round to is my own philosophy - that the melodeon/accordion division lies fundamentally in the mind of the player.  :|glug




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Nick Collis Bird

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Re: "The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is..."
« Reply #4 on: November 30, 2012, 08:30:27 AM »

Overheard tonight before The Albion Band's gig in Sheffield...

"The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is that the bellows come out further"

Quite possibly the weirdest explanation I've ever heard! Anyone else got anything similarly bizarre?

At a Folk Club in Leeds I was on with Mr. Gladstones Bag.
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Andrew Wigglesworth

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Re: "The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is..."
« Reply #5 on: November 30, 2012, 09:51:45 AM »

With an accordion you have to remember to put your teeth in first.   ;D

ladydetemps

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Re: "The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is..."
« Reply #6 on: November 30, 2012, 10:00:56 AM »

Well IMO
Accordion = has piano keys and/or lots of CHORDS e.g. if it has stradella basses
Melodeon = buttons both ends, limited chords Vs MELODY

george garside

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Re: "The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is..."
« Reply #7 on: November 30, 2012, 11:08:24 AM »

to me all melodeons are accordions  -but not all accordions are melodeons

george
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Lester

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Re: "The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is..."
« Reply #8 on: November 30, 2012, 11:44:05 AM »

Overheard tonight before The Albion Band's gig in Sheffield...

"The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is that the bellows come out further"

Quite possibly the weirdest explanation I've ever heard! Anyone else got anything similarly bizarre?

Is it not said that accordions are played by gentlemen and melodeons are played by English men? ;) :|||:   

Unless they are being played in E Minor in which case it is more likely to be an English Woman  :|||:
« Last Edit: November 30, 2012, 11:53:12 AM by Lester »
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Graham Spencer

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Re: "The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is..."
« Reply #9 on: November 30, 2012, 11:58:04 AM »

to me all melodeons are accordions  -but not all accordions are melodeons

george

I agree - and a 2-or-more-row cannot be a diatonic accordion because, by definition, it includes notes outside the diatonic scale based on any one row. Actually, a 1-row with even one "accidental" button cannot be diatonic, either.......

Graham......in a pedantic mood today..... ;)
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Sage Herb

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Re: "The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is..."
« Reply #10 on: November 30, 2012, 01:40:22 PM »

When someone in the audience asks 'how do you know which button to press?', it's more likely to be a melodeon. Not only have I been asked this on several occasions, but was once also asked (by The Lord Mayor, as it happens) how I knew which hole of my mouth organs to blow down. In neither case was I able to formulate an effective reply (and I'm rarely lost for words) but next time I shall just say 'experience'. Unless, friends, you offer me wittier advice......
Steve
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Re: "The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is..."
« Reply #11 on: November 30, 2012, 01:50:05 PM »

I somehow knew when I'd pressed 'post' ... I'd addressed this far to seriously ....  ;D
 
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Helena Handcart

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Re: "The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is..."
« Reply #12 on: November 30, 2012, 02:23:50 PM »

Unless they are being played in E Minor in which case it is more likely to be an English Woman  :|||:
 
True...  :D
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Helena Handcart

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Re: "The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is..."
« Reply #13 on: November 30, 2012, 02:26:16 PM »

to me all melodeons are accordions  -but not all accordions are melodeons

That's how I see it, melodeons are a very special kind of accordion.  That said I do get unreasonably lumpy about people referring to one of my boxes as an accordion. ..but then I am an apprentice grumpy old woman these days.
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pikey

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Re: "The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is..."
« Reply #14 on: November 30, 2012, 02:35:58 PM »

Definition of a gentleman/woman/person:

One who CAN play the accordion, but DOESN'T  >:E
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Re: "The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is..."
« Reply #15 on: November 30, 2012, 02:36:22 PM »

Most conversations go
Person A - "What do you play?"
Me - "Melodeon"
Person A - *Blank look*
Me - "A squeezebox," *mimes playing*
Person A -"Oh," said in the I don't really get it tone of voice.
Me- "You know a piano accordion?"
Person A -"Yep"
Me- "Imagine that but with buttons down both sides"
Person A -"Ok"
Me - "That's sorta it." adding "but melodeon sounds nicer."

ladydetemps

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Re: "The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is..."
« Reply #16 on: November 30, 2012, 02:38:09 PM »

to me all melodeons are accordions  -but not all accordions are melodeons

That's how I see it, melodeons are a very special kind of accordion.  That said I do get unreasonably lumpy about people referring to one of my boxes as an accordion. ..but then I am an apprentice grumpy old woman these days.
I get uppity about the accordion label too...mainly because I think of accordion as short for piano accordion. Although its taken certain people several years to get that the square squeezy thing is a melodeon and the hexagonal squeezy thing is a concertina.

Adam-T

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Re: "The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is..."
« Reply #17 on: November 30, 2012, 02:43:12 PM »

I get uppity about the accordion label too...mainly because I think of accordion as short for piano accordion.

So do nearly all of the uneducated population . say "Accordion" and they`re thinking PA automatically , the slightly educated also think of stripey jerseys, Bicycles, Onions, dodgy moustaches and CBAs  as well ::)

You`d be suprised at how many think of anything buttonboxwise up to Corona size as a Concertina !
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Ollie

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Re: "The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is..."
« Reply #18 on: November 30, 2012, 02:43:42 PM »

Can I just point out that this thread wasn't intended to be a serious discussion about the differences between the two, not about 'what is a melodeon?', it was intended to be light hearted and not at all serious.

The guy seemed to genuinely believe that the bellows of accordions physically couldn't come out as far as the bellows of a melodeon. Just tickled me, that's all...
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Helena Handcart

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Re: "The difference between a melodeon and an accordion is..."
« Reply #19 on: November 30, 2012, 02:49:06 PM »

Most conversations go
Person A - "What do you play?"
Me - "Melodeon"
Person A - *Blank look*
Me - "A squeezebox," *mimes playing*
Person A -"Oh," said in the I don't really get it tone of voice.
Me- "You know a piano accordion?"
Person A -"Yep"
Me- "Imagine that but with buttons down both sides"
Person A -"Ok"
Me - "That's sorta it." adding "but melodeon sounds nicer."

Mine goes like this:

Person A:  "I didn't know you played one of those accordion thingies" (often accompanied by slightly pitying look)

Me: "It's actually a melodeon"

Person A:  "What's the difference?"

Me: "Erm... a melodeon has buttons instead of keys and erm... stuff"

Person A: "Oh"  *thinking "weirdo, I've heard she likes FOLK music too"*  ;)
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