Melodeon.net Forums

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Welcome to the new melodeon.net forum

Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: "DG Music" on a BC  (Read 3969 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Prestidigitator

  • Respected Sage
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 448
  • Saltarelle, Hohner, Oakwood Baffetti
"DG Music" on a BC
« on: May 06, 2009, 04:41:50 PM »

I've been offered a BC box which is a beauty and suits me well, but I can't see any way of playing my normal repertoire which is English music of various sorts on it. The treble side is odd but OK, and I think it could be played with a fair bit of cross-rowing.

However, the basses are another story, and despite a fair bit of fiddling about, I can't make them sound anything but dreadful against the treble line.

Much as I like Irish music I don't really want to play it, so I'm not about to change the music to suit the instrument.

I'd appreciate some fairly basic advice as to whether I have any reasonably easy way or chance of using this box to play English diatonic music.
Logged

Theo

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 13727
  • Hohner Club Too
    • The Box Place
Re: "DG Music" on a BC
« Reply #1 on: May 06, 2009, 04:46:01 PM »

Is an older Hohner B/C by any chance?  Until very recently they were made with basses for playing in B or C.   If you look in the keyboards section you will find several different B/C layouts including the old Hohner system.
Logged
Theo Gibb - Gateshead UK

Proprietor of The Box Place for melodeon and concertina sales and service.
Follow me on Twitter and Facebook for stock updates.

Prestidigitator

  • Respected Sage
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 448
  • Saltarelle, Hohner, Oakwood Baffetti
Re: "DG Music" on a BC
« Reply #2 on: May 06, 2009, 04:59:06 PM »

Theo, I'm afraid not - it's a Castagnari with the "modern bass layout" i.e. DF instead of CF.
Logged

TomB-R

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 590
Re: "DG Music" on a BC
« Reply #3 on: May 06, 2009, 05:35:40 PM »

Can't remember the source but it's often said that it's harder to play "English" music on a B/C than Irish on a D/G. (Mally originally, and quoted by Hobgoblin?)
A friend of mine put a lot of effort into playing for morris on his B/C but finally gave up and changed to D/G.

Depends on the sort of English music you most want to play, of course. Morris tunes and session polkas with oom-pah basses, probably quite hard. Playford-ish melodies, mostly single line, no prob. Andy Cutting-ish with lots of harmony, prob hard depending on your basses.  Northumbrian smallpipes tunes, prob ok?

Are you playing with other people?  If not, or it's not a big issue, play up and down one of your rows C#/D style?
Logged

Prestidigitator

  • Respected Sage
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 448
  • Saltarelle, Hohner, Oakwood Baffetti
Re: "DG Music" on a BC
« Reply #4 on: May 06, 2009, 05:55:52 PM »

Quite often playing with other people but not with this box, I think!

I play quite a lot of different stuff, but a fair bit is morris. The bass side is therefore pretty important. Some others, less so. I've no problem with up and down row playing for anything that suits it, but I've tried a couple of tunes where normally I'd play along the G row with the occasional poke into D for a lowish note. At first shot that doesn't work too well. I could perhaps live with that and adjust the play list, but it still all seems to come apart at the bass end.

DG is my preferred habitat, and I have "a sufficiency" of boxes. I don't especially want to make a rod for my back by trying to do something which theoretically is possible but practically is very difficult and not much fun.
Logged

george garside

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5401
Re: "DG Music" on a BC
« Reply #5 on: May 06, 2009, 09:14:35 PM »

  there is absolutely no problem to playing in keys of D or G on a BC box  the bulk of the scale being on the C row and just picking up F# & C# from the B row as required.     This is ok if you are happy just playing the melody ( as do many other instruments) as the bass are fairly useless either at providing  half decent harmony or at driving a rhythm.

The only way to get both ends of a BC working to full capacity is to change to a trixitica or mini stradella bass layout or as  ha been done on a hohner double ray de lux, graft the left hand side of a 48 bass accordion on. You would then have fairly easy right hand access to keys of FCGDAE  & bass to match.

george
Logged
author of DG tutor book "DG Melodeon a Crash Course for Beginners".

HallelujahAl

  • Guest
Re: "DG Music" on a BC
« Reply #6 on: May 06, 2009, 10:17:59 PM »

There's one key in particular that I have absolutely no problem with on my BCC# box which I always struggle with on my D/G - namely C major! Come to think of it the keys of B & C# are pretty easy as well!
 :D
Logged

Ebor_fiddler

  • Chris
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2340
  • Hohner 1040 C One-Row, Sandpiper D/G, Liliput C/F
    • Ebor Morris
Re: "DG Music" on a BC
« Reply #7 on: May 06, 2009, 11:08:40 PM »

You need a Hohner one-row in "C"?  ;D

Logged
I'm a Yorkie!
My other melodeon's a fiddle, but one of my Hohners has six strings! I also play a very red Hawkins Bazaar in C and a generic Klingenthaler spoon bass in F.!! My other pets (played) are gobirons - Hohner Marine Band in C, Hohner Tremolo in D and a Chinese Thingy Tremolo in G.

Prestidigitator

  • Respected Sage
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 448
  • Saltarelle, Hohner, Oakwood Baffetti
Re: "DG Music" on a BC
« Reply #8 on: May 07, 2009, 07:16:57 AM »

  there is absolutely no problem to playing in keys of D or G on a BC box  the bulk of the scale being on the C row and just picking up F# & C# from the B row as required.     This is ok if you are happy just playing the melody ( as do many other instruments) as the bass are fairly useless either at providing  half decent harmony or at driving a rhythm.

The only way to get both ends of a BC working to full capacity is to change to a trixitica or mini stradella bass layout or as  ha been done on a hohner double ray de lux, graft the left hand side of a 48 bass accordion on. You would then have fairly easy right hand access to keys of FCGDAE  & bass to match.

george

George-Thanks for that. I think that I can probably adapt to playing on the treble end, and so far I've managed
a few straightforward melodies; but as you point out, the basses and chords are not a lot of use. I keep getting the feeling that something is missing - which of course it is.
As far as transplant surgery is concerned, this box is not a suitable patient. So perhaps I won't pursue this notion any further.
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up
 


Melodeon.net - (c) Theo Gibb; Clive Williams 2010. The access and use of this website and forum featuring these terms and conditions constitutes your acceptance of these terms and conditions.
SimplePortal 2.3.5 © 2008-2012, SimplePortal