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[Grape Ape]

Can't resist sharing this great duet. 21 boutons also play it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_1Ocm4agI0
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Wonderful, but sounds (deliciously) "dry" to me!

One of the mildly irritating things to me, is that whenever I play any tune to somebody on my melodeon, regardless on how non-French it is, they invariably comment on how it puts them in mind of a French cafe! This suggests to me that the average person can not hear beyond the "accordion stereotype."   

Man, if only that we're the stereotype where I live.  In my neck of the woods people invariably ask what polkas I know and are legitimately surprised to learn that the accordion is used for anything else!

[OldJack]

Man, if only that we're the stereotype where I live.  In my neck of the woods people invariably ask what polkas I know and are legitimately surprised to learn that the accordion is used for anything else!/quote]

You must be a neighbor. How far into the woods are you?

[Jono]

Hi Mike Hirst, I checked out partitions-accordeon.com, and I see you have to pay to be a full member. Do you have access to scores in notation (dots) after joining? Does it include traditional music, as well as new compositions?

Also, the site is in French. Do you know if the music available there would be free public domain music? Thanks for any advice.

[Mike Hirst]

Hi Mike Hirst, I checked out partitions-accordeon.com, and I see you have to pay to be a full member. Do you have access to scores in notation (dots) after joining? Does it include traditional music, as well as new compositions?

Also, the site is in French. Do you know if the music available there would be free public domain music? Thanks for any advice.

I joined last summer when membership was free. I've not visited the site since thae started charging. 15 euros is not a huge amount to pay, but I'm on a tight budget. As a full member you have  access to 5000-10,000 accordion compositions - popular songs, bal mussette, trad., etc.. Scores can be searched according to instrument (chromatique/diatonique) and by composer. Searching for trad. melodies arranged for accordeon diatonoque throws up several thousand hits. Title search is also available. Members are encouraged to share scores.

pdfs I have downloaded have been of varying quality. Many are scanned from original copies of Paris published sheet music from the inter war years. Others are derived from contemporary collections, including many freely available sources. I downloaded some Stephane Delicq scores, which I recognised as being from Italian collections which I know can be accessed without payment. It depends what you're looking for.

There is an active forum, through which members can request partitions (scores). There are also tutorials, and other useful sources of accordeon related info. This is very definitely a Francophone community and I must admit that my rudimentary French is not good enough for me to be an active participant. Nevertheless, I recommend this as a useful resource.

[Chris Ryall]

Thanks (as ever) for the detail, mon copain.  Most of my own French experience has been with the Embraud Chavannee group, who are super-Trad, and the Grenoble people who can border on anarchic jazz.

The 'real' Parisian cafe experience from between the Wars is a gap, though I did do 'Accordeonist' with Dolly May once. This forum sounds perfect, and as I've just been let home from hospital, I'll have the time ...

[rees]

What about Daniel Denechau? He plays proper French caff stuff. I saw him with his band at St Chartier some time ago - brilliant!

A couple of examples of his playing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZFdkVaDBzo

and:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ritedADqfsM&feature=endscreen

[AirTime]

Man, if only that we're the stereotype where I live.  In my neck of the woods people invariably ask what polkas I know and are legitimately surprised to learn that the accordion is used for anything else!

Hey, tell me about it! In Canada there's no escaping the dominant influence of the Schmenge brothers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SbJIlEd6jA

[Grape Ape]

Man, if only that we're the stereotype where I live.  In my neck of the woods people invariably ask what polkas I know and are legitimately surprised to learn that the accordion is used for anything else!/quote]

You must be a neighbor. How far into the woods are you?

Ohio. More specifically about halfway between Cleveland and Akron..... Literally in the woods...

[OldJack]

Oops. A couple of thousand miles is a bit far for a neighbor. I'm halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento perched on the edge of the great Suisun marsh. No one around here squeezes anything but a piano accordion -- and then not to draw attention.

[Gerard374]

A few suggestions for playing french tunes on the two row:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhgkH24vn8g
sheetmusic:
http://www.ggms.nl/GC/pdf/Valse%20de%20Melanie.pdf

or this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdC2ofh6U3Q
sheetmusic:
http://www.ggms.nl/CF/pdf/Pour%20Emmely.pdf

And the last one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgNNP-mCeuI
sheetmusic:
http://www.ggms.nl/AD/pdf/sous%20les%20toits%20ad.pdf

[Jono]

Great French and German/Austrian music and videos Gerard. Thanks! I will explore your website and youtube channel. I especially appreciate your sheet music. Here in Australia I feel starved of such music which I enjoy so much.

[playandteach]

18 months ago i took up the piano accordion and bought one for my brother in law too. But as he didn't have a background in music I decided to set up a youtube channel for him so that I could teach him the tunes I was learning. This developed into a general channel for me uploading tunes. But the point is that I also created sheet music for those tunes, and a lot of them are French.
Here's the link to all the music on a blog site:
http://playandteach.posterous.com

Each tune does have a 'tutorial' for piano accordion just in case you wanted to check how the tunes go. Please understand these were never a showcase for skills - it was a little like Daddy Long Les's learning Melodeon idea - but for piano accordion. Here's a link to that channel - all pieces have a direct link to their sheet music in the description.
http://www.youtube.com/user/playandteach?feature=mhee
Also note I am not trying to convert anyone away from the melodeon.

[Gerard374]

Some good thoughts you had 18 months ago! And nice that we can follow this channel and blog too.
Great music, but I think not easy for a starter. I hope your brother is still playing 
Thanks for posting.