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[Eshed]

When accompanying a singer (might be yourself) with a box, what do you do?
Do you play the melody?
Do you play a second voice?
Do you play chords/arpeggios?
Do you just mime and hope no one notices?

I mostly ask about the case when the box is the only instrument playing, but if you have interesting insights about other cases, feel free to share!

[Lester]

Do you play the melody?
Do you play a second voice?
Do you play chords/arpeggios?
Do you just mime and hope no one notices?

All of those 

[playandteach]

I've never done this on melodeon, but in piano terms, I often support with a clear intro, but then back off. I try not to play the melody, but infiltrate at the ends of phrases, or play a harmony line. If the singer is inexperienced, I am on the ready to jump off the harmony to the tune if I'm pulling their pitch away. Again if they aren't particularly experienced I would keep the rhythm of my harmony line to match the tune rhythm.

[george garside]

I tend to differentiate between playing for a single singer or duet and playing for a larger group,choir or whatever.  For single singer I normally play treble only fairly quietly and without ornememtation and in particular follow rather than lead the singer (follow so close any audience cant detect it.  I watch the singers mouth, face or neck muscle so  as to play tho their phrasing.

For a larger group of singers   I chuck in  some fairly light right hand chords  with perhaps occasional use of  bass

george

[Anahata]

Like Lester said , all of the above.

When playing the melody, though, I'll sometimes simplify it a bit to avoid a bellows change so a chord can be sustained.
Also I do quite a lot of song accompaniment on a 1 row instruments and make a lot of use of RH harmonies.
Intros and bits between the verses are all part of it. Sometimes repeating the melody of the last line, sometimes inventing something.

A few examples...
On Hohner C/F Club:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUgPqxQIHSA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MnHprNdWbk

On 1-row in C:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_XVgolJg8I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBxa4_qBgWE

On a Saltarelle D/G I don't have any more, with single reed on treble and thirds and low bass out on the bass end:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c27pOIbxYZE

(with apologies for poor sound quality and melodeon face especially on the earlier ones)

[Peadar]

What would I do?

To accompany myself, I would play the melody, possibly with just 1 stop open.

Context: Small Hall or house ceilidh. The song is in Gaelic, amplfication is unheard of and unaccompanied singing is traditional.

[Chris Ryall]

Almost never melody, either for myself or another. It would be a variation, and even then at the mercy of the singer swinging a note …  leaving my melody awkwardly "out".

I lay a pavement of right hand chords, in a key suited to the voice, and then leaven that using arpeggios, chord substitutions, extends, whatever, trying to remain sensitive to the song. The singer is totally boss, if she swings the tune I'll square what I am going up, highlight her technique. Anahata is a genius at that.

Play some silence too? Hold a chord or base while the song continues? Simple = good

Solo … by arrangement. Finish … quietly. That applause isn't for me.

I do the same on the few occasions I get to play for Lancs clog dance. There it's "watch the feet"!

[John MacKenzie (Cugiok)]

I accompany myself, and basically, I play the tune, but when it's a song with a chorus, I tend to play the tune on the treble end only, and chuck in the bass for the chorus. There are other things I do, but I can't quantify them, it's just doing what suits me, or the song, and I throw things in or leave them out as I see fit.
Ray Pagett plays the tune through on his concertina, then sings the song unaccompanied, it's an effective variation.

Sir John

[Chris Ryall]

Ray Pagett plays the tune through on his concertina, then sings the song unaccompanied, it's an effective variation. Sir John

Ray is a great singer (friend of several decades) but I beg to differ as to whether the above in any way improves that … nor is it “accompaniment”?

[Sebastian]

Thank you, Anahata, for the instructive (& lovely) examples!

[Eshed]

Thank you all except Lester for your wisdom.
Thank you Lester for making me laugh 

I suspect I'll just have to record something and submit it here for critique!

[playandteach]

Thank you, Anahata, for the instructive (& lovely) examples!

Particularly like the Cuckoo.

[Gary P Chapin]

Like Lester said , all of the above.
,,,
On 1-row in C:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_XVgolJg8I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBxa4_qBgWE

All of these are great, Anahata, but these one row are really inspiring to me. I'd always heard "never play the melody" and then my first teacher, when he sings, completely plays the melody along with his singing and is fantastic. I do "a little bit of everything," as Lester says (still making a project out of right hand chords and counter-melodies), and it's all easier if I'm playing for someone else, rather than myself. To be able to concentrate on the accompaniment without actually singing is kind of a treat.

[Winston Smith]

Hello, ignorant Edward here!

Just a quick little side-step here for a minute: I often see the words "counter-melodies" used on Melnet, and just wondered if this is another way of describing a harmony line, i.e. bass, tenor or a mix-up of several harmonising lines?

[Eshed]

Just a quick little side-step here for a minute: I often see the words "counter-melodies" used on Melnet, and just wondered if this is another way of describing a harmony line, i.e. bass, tenor or a mix-up of several harmonising lines?

It's a line of notes which is melodious in nature (not a bashing of chords, you can hum it), isn't the main melody of the tune and is played in parallel to the main melody.

[Winston Smith]

Thanks, Eshed. So the answer is really a "yes"?

[Eshed]

Thanks, Eshed. So the answer is really a "yes"?

Not exactly, where harmony is there to emphasize the main melody, a counter-melody complements it, going up and down independently, having a different rhythm etc.

Disclaimer: I'm giving you the day-to-day meaning that I know, people with greater knowledge might give you other answers.

[Anahata]

I'd always heard "never play the melody" and then my first teacher, when he sings, completely plays the melody along with his singing and is fantastic.

Mary and I were in a song arrangements workshop at Chippenham Folk festival this year, along with Tom and Barbara Brown. We discussed this briefly and Tom and Barbara certainly agreed that there's nothing wrong with playing the melody along with the song. I'm not sure it's best policy if you're playing a single note instrument like a wind instrument, but if you're playing an instrument that can play other notes at the same time, whether it's melodeon basses, chords or RH harmonies, I think including the melody is fine, at least some of the time.

I do like to switch between song melody and harmony from one verse to another for variety, and if the resulting change in texture somehow reflects the narrative of the song, so much the better. There are some examples in those videos - certainly in If I was a Blackbird and The Cuckoo and the Nightingale I switch around between two harmony parts and the song melody between verses.

it's all easier if I'm playing for someone else, rather than myself. To be able to concentrate on the accompaniment without actually singing is kind of a treat.

Yes it certainly is, though when you're playing for someone else, you may need more rehearsal to get the timing right, if the song's not going to a metronomic rhythm.
I have occasionally sung a harmony line in a song chorus while playing the tune on concertina. It take a little more learning, but I know it can be done.

[Winston Smith]

Not exactly?

That's fine Eshed, your explanation is near enough for me.

[Chris Ryall]

A lot of “counterpoint” is actually arpeggio’d, broken or other form of “chord of the moment”, or its extension. you need to vary it, and keep it sparse. Flat chords have their place, but can feel heavy. It’s so easy to eg gently roll them, or bring in one note slightly late, or early. Trust your ears, and gut

In selecting “which” bit of chord, favour the colour notes, eg 3rd and 7th. Tonic does very little beyond resolving everything. 5th is a harmonic of tonic, with similar effect?

Exception is rt handing tonic + 5, the so called Power chord. Usage? The clue is in the name