Discussions > Teaching and Learning
Playing melodies on the basses
Jesse Smith:
On John Kirkpatrick's melodeon instruction DVDs, he points out that you have all but one of the notes in the G major scale on the basses of a D/G melodeon and proceeds to demonstrate playing Shepherd's Hey and Cock of the North on the basses. This seems like a fun "party piece" or crowd pleaser akin to the doppler effect trick with the concertina being swung in circles, but has anyone used this to good effect in the course of a regular tune?
I do quite like the sound of a concertina being played in octaves, and I suppose something similar could be done on the melodeon - playing in unison on the left and right hands. Although the basses are so loud and fuzzy it seems it would be more effective to just learn to play in octaves on the treble side.
But anyway, has anyone done much with melodic basses beyond simple bass runs?
Steve_freereeder:
I think it was Tim van Eyken one year at 'Melodeons at Witney' who taught a workshop on using basses and chords imaginatively. One of his demonstrations was playing the children's round 'Frere Jacques' in 2 parts, with the 2nd part on the LH basses 2 bars behind the treble. I never mastered this, but haven't attempted to do so for a few years. Perhaps I should try again.
Another year at 'Melodeons at Witney' the great Dutch player Geert oude Weerninck got four of us playing a Pavane: 'Mille Regretz' by Tielman Susato in a 4-part ensemble. The bass (4th) line was played entirely on the bass buttons. See attachment for the dots and a (not entirely successful) multi-tracked version which I made some time afterwards is here:
https://soundcloud.com/steve_freereeder/pavane-mille-regretz-tielman-susato-1551
Winston Smith:
"(not entirely successful)"
To my untrained ear, it sounded lovely; somewhat like a church organ. How many tracks are there?
Martin P:
On my Salterelle Connemara II I have the luxury of additional F and F# bass notes, so I could do that party trick in two keys, but I don’t. But I can do intro to “Smoke on the Water”.
Thrupenny Bit:
I've an 8 bass standard 2 row. I don't play complete tunes on it, which is what I think you're asking, but I do use the basses to emphasise part of a tune.
If a tune runs down - say - C,B,A or any little chromatic run of notes then I might play those basses to emphasise that part, so long as they fall on my 8 basses.
We all play differently and like different things, I enjoy using the basses or perhaps bass + chord in little runs when the tune allows it. I'm definitely not an up- pah only player.
Q
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