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 [2] 3   Go Down

Author Topic: Where do you practice at full volume  (Read 5114 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Mike Hirst

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1322
  • Primatona IV D/D#, Black Dot B/C, One Row in D
Re: Where do you practice at full volume
« Reply #20 on: July 14, 2019, 09:01:08 PM »

I'm told that it is repetition, not volume that causes annoyance.

I grew up in a household where music was the norm. My father played concertinas, mouth organ and guitar, my mother plays the piano, my sister played guitar and I play melodeon. There was always music in the house. When my uncle, who plays church organ, visited at Christmas, we would all whistle and step dance while washing up in the kitchen.

Growing up, my daughter played tenor horn, piano, drums and guitar. Without any intended pun, this was 'music' to my ear.

My partner does not have this grounding. Practice is torture for her. As a compromise I have taken to using a keyboard with headphones in the evening. We now have a situation where the gentle rattle of the silent keys is sufficient to prevent her from sleeping.

My father is now entering the later stages of Dementia. He has recently had a short stay in a rest home. I know that he he is happy because he has been heard singing in his room and on the way to breakfast.

I say let the music be heard.
« Last Edit: July 14, 2019, 09:03:51 PM by Mike Hirst »
Logged
"Slip like Freudian, your first and last step to playing yourself like an Accordion" - MF DOOM - Madvillain

Thrupenny Bit

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 6830
  • happily squeezing away in Devon
Re: Where do you practice at full volume
« Reply #21 on: July 14, 2019, 09:02:01 PM »

I totally agree, I've met people who play flat out at sessions and I too hate it.
Perhaps once or twice at my session someone will kick off a glorious tune that will build and build, the brass joining in .... and it is great to give it some welly.
Likewise at home, just sometimes I let rip if I'm away with the fairies, really enjoying the tune and at that moment in time know it's all going well.
For obvious reasons it's not often  ;D
Q
Logged
Thrupenny Bit

I think I'm starting to get most of the notes in roughly the right order...... sometimes!

Hugh Taylor

  • Respected Sage
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 401
    • Band web site: http://www.tumblingtom.co.uk
Re: Where do you practice at full volume
« Reply #22 on: July 14, 2019, 09:37:03 PM »

I too don't get this 'playing at full volume' business. One reason many musicians don't like melodeons is that they're often played too loud. Playing a tune in a session as though one were in the street playing for a dance side can be quite offensive to other people in the session. Perhaps practicing playing at a much lower volume would be beneficial to other musicians in a session?
Logged
Castagnari Mory D/G, Castagnari Tommy D/G, Saltarelle C/F, Hohner Erika A/D
Tumbling Tom Band

Tone Dumb Greg

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4929
    • Dartmoor Border Morris
Re: Where do you practice at full volume
« Reply #23 on: July 14, 2019, 09:42:41 PM »

Surely practicing dynamics involves playing at a range of volumes from the quietest at which your reeds will voice to the loudest volume they can produce. At least part of a practice session must be at full volume.
Logged
Greg Smith
DG/GC Pokerwork, DG 2.4 Saltarelle, pre-war CF Hohner, Hohner 1040 Vienna style, old  BbEb Hohner that needs a lot of work.

ACCORDION, n. An instrument in harmony with the sentiments of an assassin. Ambrose Bierce

malcolmbebb

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2609
  • In dampest Dorset, on the soggy south coast.
Re: Where do you practice at full volume
« Reply #24 on: July 14, 2019, 09:57:29 PM »

I too don't get this 'playing at full volume' business. One reason many musicians don't like melodeons is that they're often played too loud. Playing a tune in a session as though one were in the street playing for a dance side can be quite offensive to other people in the session. Perhaps practicing playing at a much lower volume would be beneficial to other musicians in a session?
As you point out, for playing in the street it is often necesary to play at full volume. And I find it is very different from playing at "normal" volumes, so the practice definitely has value.
As for sessions I wouldn't want to be in a session where playing at full volume is necessary, so agree there.
Logged
Dino BPII.
"Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire."

george garside

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5401
Re: Where do you practice at full volume
« Reply #25 on: July 14, 2019, 11:23:27 PM »

most melodeons are capable of making loud noises if you push ad pull hard.  They are also loud in comparison with some other instruments particularly If a heavy turgid ?? rhythm is  thumped out on the bass throughout the proceedings.  When played in this way rhythm, dynamics and phrasing usually come well down on the agenda and that includes when if playing outdoors for morris.

To me,  the sensible way to get the best out of a box is to play the bulk of a tune at around half a particular boxes maximum volume so that you can add feeling dynamics, phrasing etc etc  as there is always scope to go louder or quieter  to get the best out of a tune.

Lesters comment about playing loud to test the efficacy of the reeds  is of course quite right but as he said it is only for test purposes

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

Anahata

  • This mind intentionally left blank
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 6357
  • Oakwood D/G, C/F Club, 1-rows in C,D,G
    • Treewind Music
Re: Where do you practice at full volume
« Reply #26 on: July 15, 2019, 12:01:02 AM »

I'm told that it is repetition, not volume that causes annoyance.

Timing too. I believe a similar question came up on Melnet before, and somebody said they negotiated with the neighbours to find out what was a good time to play (when neighbours would be out) and that worked well for them.

I just wanted to come back also to say that I also found the "maximum volume" part of the original question strange. I don't deliberately play loud when I'm practising, only when I'm outside playing for a dance team, where loudness hopefully (at melodeon levels) isn't a problem.
Logged
I'm a melodeon player. What's your excuse?
Music recording and web hosting: www.treewind.co.uk
Mary Humphreys and Anahata: www.maryanahata.co.uk
Ceilidh band: www.barleycoteband.co.uk

playandteach

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3521
  • Currently a music teacher in a high school.
Re: Where do you practice at full volume
« Reply #27 on: July 15, 2019, 12:18:57 AM »

If I play in the front room, I disturb my wife. If I play in the piano room, I disturb my son. If I play in the dining room, I disturb my daughter. If I play in the hall, I disturb them all. I never disturb the neighbours.
This reminds me of Marisa Robles (harpist) who played the Mozart Flute and Harp concerto. She was asked how she tunes for different flute players: "If I'm playing with Jimmy (Galway) I tune a bit sharp. If I'm playing with WIB (William Bennett) I tune a bit flat. If I'm playing with my husband I don't tune at all."
Actually my son makes enough noise on the piano for me to play anywhere in the house up to bedtime. But his bedtime is way past midnight.
When I was a clarinetist, I have practised in loos in trains, in the car (when camping), and in fields when abroad. A few years ago I played the melodeon on a derelict French village green. Several abandoned houses, no residents. Within minutes, two cars had stopped, joints were lit and passed round (not for me) and these French locals thought I must have been the last man standing in the village. I was terrified of being heard and had picked the most remote spot possible only for them to think I was a relic of their history.
Logged
Serafini R2D2 GC, Serafini GC accs 18 bass

Winston Smith

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3769
  • AKA Edward Jennings
    • "Our Luxor B&B" Luxor life, slice by slice.
Re: Where do you practice at full volume
« Reply #28 on: July 15, 2019, 12:26:46 AM »

Perhaps you should have brushed your hair, P&T?
Logged
At last, broken and resigned to accept conformity.
Oh, how I LOVE Big Brother!

Eshed

  • Respected Sage
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 447
Re: Where do you practice at full volume
« Reply #29 on: July 15, 2019, 08:29:31 AM »

When I was a clarinetist, I have practised in loos in trains, in the car (when camping), and in fields when abroad. A few years ago I played the melodeon on a derelict French village green. Several abandoned houses, no residents. Within minutes, two cars had stopped, joints were lit and passed round (not for me) and these French locals thought I must have been the last man standing in the village. I was terrified of being heard and had picked the most remote spot possible only for them to think I was a relic of their history.
Somehow people cannot sense whether you want to be heard or not.
When I took my Preciosa with me over public transport, I've found myself a few times playing on the end of the platform and waiting for the train to come. Usually no one cared, but I think once someone came deliberately and inquired.
I've also played on the top of Mam Tor in the UK, but there's no chance anyone could hear anything due to the wind.
Logged
Do you have a Hohner from 1934-1945 with a serial number on?
Send me a private message or comment on the German Accordion Problem spreadsheet to improve the statistics of the project and get an estimate of the production date of the box if it is not known.

george garside

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5401
Re: Where do you practice at full volume
« Reply #30 on: July 15, 2019, 12:20:45 PM »

and i've played half way up a French Alp - but so what

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

Rob Lands

  • Regular debater
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 197
Re: Where do you practice at full volume
« Reply #31 on: July 15, 2019, 12:44:01 PM »

I read this as a list of possible tune titles.  Who wrote "Full Volume", " On Mam Tor" "If I disturb my daughter"? Well maybe not the last one.
 
Logged

Stiamh

  • Old grey C#/D pest
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3538
    • Packie Manus Byrne
Re: Where do you practice at full volume
« Reply #32 on: July 15, 2019, 03:55:16 PM »

In Québec it seems that almost everyone has a grandfather, an uncle or an aunt who played accordion - usually meaning a one-row. This can work to your advantage.

I often sit out and play (quietly) on our back balcony. Until a couple of years ago the house next door was occupied by two elderly sisters. The younger of the two (the one who wasn't deaf!) used to tell me how much she loved hearing the sound of my box because it reminded her of her youth when her father (or was it her uncle?) would play.

My wife has been working away from home for the past year and every Thursday night I pick her up from the coach stop just off the highway, at a service station. I usually throw a box in the car and try to arrive 30 or 40 minutes early to have some private practice time in the car. Last week a man came over and knocked on the window. Incredulous, and excited, he said:

- Excuse me, but my daughter said there's a man in that car over there playing the accordion!
- Yes....
- Are you any good?
- Well (seeing no reason for false modesty in front of people who would interrupt my private practice) I'm not too shabby.

He insisted on a demonstration, his teenage daughter giggling in the background. He was not going to leave until he had one. I duly launched into a few bars of a local reel. Oh yes, you're good, he said, and they went away highly amused and apparently satisfied.

playandteach

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3521
  • Currently a music teacher in a high school.
Re: Where do you practice at full volume
« Reply #33 on: July 15, 2019, 05:26:15 PM »

Perhaps you should have brushed your hair, P&T?
I don't even own a brush, or comb.
Actually, I like finding places where I can play quietly. I still want more responsive reeds, not so that I can play loudly, but so that I can drop the volume even more.
Logged
Serafini R2D2 GC, Serafini GC accs 18 bass

Gena Crisman

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1041
  • 🇬🇧
Re: Where do you practice at full volume
« Reply #34 on: July 15, 2019, 08:37:15 PM »

I do find it important to find opportunities to play at volumes that would feel uncomfortable even to me if I were at home. Tunes which require that you take measures to account for air consumption specifically - at home, maybe 3 bars all on the pull is fine, but when using more volume and thus more air, it's possible to get yourself in trouble when playing out and about.

However, usually I develop my strategies and practice them quietly at home, and then implement them at the appropriate time later.
Logged

malcolmbebb

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2609
  • In dampest Dorset, on the soggy south coast.
Re: Where do you practice at full volume
« Reply #35 on: July 15, 2019, 08:44:11 PM »

Perhaps you should have brushed your hair, P&T?
I don't even own a brush, or comb.
And I don't own a great deal of hair...
Logged
Dino BPII.
"Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire."

playandteach

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3521
  • Currently a music teacher in a high school.
Re: Where do you practice at full volume
« Reply #36 on: July 15, 2019, 11:02:44 PM »

I do find it important to find opportunities to play at volumes that would feel uncomfortable even to me if I were at home.
Still can't imagine when I would play anywhere but home (not fishing for compliments). Still taking a break from playing, but feeling the urge to pick it up again. With some students I'm accompanying on piano, I find it really important to drive their playing which is no good for balance but is good for developing their playing. But in general I'm looking more and more to be heard less and less.
Logged
Serafini R2D2 GC, Serafini GC accs 18 bass

NickF

  • Regular debater
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 177
Re: Where do you practice at full volume
« Reply #37 on: July 16, 2019, 06:12:20 AM »

And I don't own a great deal of hair...
Oh you still own it - it's just not in the same geographical location as the rest of you...
Logged
Serenellini 233, Streb, D/G Pokerwork, D/G Liliput, Bb/Eb Liliput, Bb/Eb Comedy Wardrobe (Hohner Model X), Bb/Eb Accidental Erika

If you can smile when things are going wrong, you must have someone else in mind to blame

Stockaryd

  • Regular debater
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 245
Re: Where do you practice at full volume
« Reply #38 on: July 16, 2019, 10:03:48 AM »


In the forest. Merry Swedish players in the forest at Hårderupfestival.

http://www.ystadsallehanda.se/sjobo/det-svanger-i-skogen-nar-hultivalen-gar-av-stapeln/

Logged
Hohner Corso, Hohner Erica, Emmanuel Pariselle, Gessner,   Koch,   Mariotti,    "China  NoName",   4 Toy,     -and now some more

deltasalmon

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 991
Re: Where do you practice at full volume
« Reply #39 on: July 16, 2019, 12:04:53 PM »

My wife has been working away from home for the past year and every Thursday night I pick her up from the coach stop just off the highway, at a service station. I usually throw a box in the car and try to arrive 30 or 40 minutes early to have some private practice time in the car.

I keep a cheap tin whistle in my glove box for situations like this.
Logged
Sean McGinnis
Bordentown City, NJ, USA

Castagnari Benny ADG
Pages: 1 [2] 3   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