Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Caroline]

I’d like to give a shout out for this website run by Gavin Atkin, well known to many of us here.
There is a wealth of tunes, many with links to YouTube videos, played at speed to dance and also slowly.  Definitely worth a look and share with other musicians, not just melodeon players.
Having fumbled through Harlequin Air in sessions for many years I decided it is really time to learn it properly from his video.  I am very grateful to Gavin for clarifying  a couple of points and for sharing his knowledge today.

https://www.singdanceandplay.net/free-traditional-music-classes-at-the-gun-and-spitroast-horsmonden/

Caroline

[gmatkin]

Thanks May!

I try to help where I can. May hasn't been in touch about playing before, but today she was working on one of my instructional YouTubes and asked how and why I was pulling a note on the G row while playing Harlequin Air in D. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd9MYjQUAMM

It occurs to me that some other folks, particularly beginners and improvers might be interested in the same question. 

In the A music there's a A note. One could play it on the push on the D row - but that's dull and a bit shapeless... So here I pull the A on the G row, which enables me to play it against the A chord.

I suggest that when you play the 5th note in the scale, consider whether it should be against the key chord (D, in D) or it's 5th chord (A in D). Ditto in G: should the D be against the G chord or a D chord? Being able to do this is a key benefit of the two row compared to a one row.

It's really not an obvious thing and there are a great many folks happily playing two row melodeons as if they were two one rows in a single box. But it's a nice thing to be able to do, and obviously something you're more likely to spot if like me you come from a more chordy instrument, such as guitar or duet concertina!

I hope that helps, Gavin