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Author Topic: Benefit of low notes?  (Read 9463 times)

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AlexCJones

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Re: Benefit of low notes?
« Reply #40 on: January 04, 2014, 04:57:04 PM »

The OP did mention jigs, reels etc, so I naturally didn't assume that you were thinking about Spanish and Portuguese music. On the terminology question, you live and learn. I immediately wondered then what is the correct general term for the seventh note of an eight-note scale - apparently it's the 'subtonic', which is logical enough.
Cheers
Steve
Alright, I'll admit that starting off the list of tune types with the words "Jigs, reels", might suggest that I am thinking about music from the British Isles, but to break that pattern, I also did mention . . .
OP also mentions waltzes and rags.
Waltzes are found all over the place, including music of Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking people.  There are even Rom (Gypsy) and Klezmer Waltzes. I guess originating from Poland gave Waltzes a chance find there way all over the place.  Rags are something I consider more of Yankee origin (especially from my home city of St. Louis) and often including accidentals.  There are Jigs and reels originating in the US and often our fiddlers in the US have tendencies to put accidentals in their original tunes.

Back at my favorite tune search tool (Why can't they ALL be this easy?) on http://thesession.org/ , I can find an example of an A minor jig, An Grianan, and an A minor reel, Ballyhaunis, using leading tones.  They seem to have Celtic names, but they could have arisen from any part of the Celtic diaspora located anywhere.

Hello, old topic!!

Just to say that in improvising circles both note 6 and 7 get changed more or less at will*. If you can fit in both in some way it is all very flexible, 4th button start with accidentals is a very good way to do this, but this might not apply to OP's renovated box. I love it.

* the young fiddler leading the 'swing' session at "Fire in the Mountains" festival last year described Am as having ... 3rd "C natural"; notes 6 and 7 whatever feels right at the time"  ;)
Maybe I have heard that same fiddler speaking on U. S. radio, or maybe that quote has had time to propagate to my city, because that is exactly what I have been told too.

As for the D/A box, I decided not to have it customized at all.  It is a vintage box, and the repair guy wrote:
Quote
Keep in mind that this is a brass-reeded instrument that is around 100 years old. Even fixed up it will not have the volume or response of a more modern instrument. You will need to handle it (and play it) gently.

So, this will be a special vintage box, a piece of history, with its special sound.  One must love it for what it is.  It would be great if I can find tunes that the original owners were most likely to have played on it, and play those on it.  The repair guy included the price of tuning it to A=440 in the estimate, but maybe I should ask him to leave it as A=435.

If I need an A/D 2-row with accidentals, I should just get a Hohner HA-2815 Pokerwork in A/D.
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