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Author Topic: B/C Melodeon  (Read 10761 times)

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Graham Wood

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B/C Melodeon
« on: January 05, 2020, 02:38:19 PM »

Hi there. I've just joined the forum because I want to learn to play the Melodeon. I took delivery of my very first box yesterday which is a B/C Hohner Morgane. I'm absolutely loving it but want to start making some inroads into learning Celtic music. I've never played a Melodeon (or anything similar) before so I'm going to needs some tutorial books.

The ones that caught my eye on Amazon were:
The Box by David C Hanrahan
The Irish Accordion Tutor Vol 1 by Damien Connolly

The second one appears to be aimed at intermediate to advanced players so I'm sort of hoping the first book will lead into the second.

I was wondering if anyone familiar with these books would be kind enough to comment as to whether my choice is a good one or not. The one thing that did worry me a bit was whether the bass layouts in these books would be the same as what is on my box. I've read that there can be different layouts.

I have actually started trying to work out 'Captain Pugwash' (don't laugh) on it and it seems the ideal instrument for me with a sound that I like. It seems to be a tune that you can get straight into working both hands together. I'm totally un-coordinated at the moment so I just keep plugging at it for a couple of hours at a time.

Many thanks

Graham
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Hohner Morgane B/C,   Junior Martin 1 Row in 'D' with knobs on top,   Acadian 1 Row in 'C' with more knobs on top.

richard.fleming

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Re: B/C Melodeon
« Reply #1 on: January 05, 2020, 02:50:23 PM »

Listen to Capt. Pugwash or whatever on Youtube so that you get the right key. Try to play in that key. This will mean that you can't just play up and down the row like a harmonica. Play the tune on the inside (C) row and you will find you need the odd note from the other row. It may seem a bit less counter-intuitive than a GD box where you just play up and down the rows but trust me (and the Irish in general) - it is a miles better system. For a start in means you can play in any key, which you can't on the DG. Good luck!
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Stiamh

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Re: B/C Melodeon
« Reply #2 on: January 05, 2020, 02:52:42 PM »

Hello Graham. I have both books and would recommend that you skip The Box and go straight to Damien Connolly's tutor.

george garside

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Re: B/C Melodeon
« Reply #3 on: January 05, 2020, 03:41:49 PM »

I agree with Roger  re the tutor books.   My advice would be not to learn to play 'on the row'   but to start by learning the scale of Gmaj  and when thatcan be done without conscious thougth  do the same with the scale of D maj.  ( other scales can be added later)…  Once the g and d scales can be played tunes, preferably slowish ones to begin with should follow fairly easily.   Don't worry about the bass  at this stage on an 8 bass BC!

You don't  give your whereabouts on your profile  and simple info eg country, county , city or town may enable players near to you to offer advice/ help or whatever. If you are withi range of Southport (Merseyside) I can offer BC tuition.

george
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Ken McAlack

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Re: B/C Melodeon
« Reply #4 on: January 05, 2020, 04:16:14 PM »

Hi Graham,
I also recommend going straight to Connolly's tutor. It includes a lot of beginner tips.
Another source I highly recommend is the Online Academy of Irish Music. ( oaim.ie ). The B/C basics course with Derek Hickey is excellent for the beginner. They have 4 or 5 free tutorials which include scales and proper fingering. Tuition is reasonable beyond that.
The Bass side on B/C isn't essential in the beginning. The Bass accompaniment is very different from a fourth apart system. ie G/C, D/G etc...In my opinion those systems should incorporate the Bass side from the very beginning.
John Williams (of Solas) also has a fine beginner B/C DVD Tutorial.
Lots of Irish players to watch on YT. Some of which use the C#/D system. But that's another conversation.

Ken
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Gromit

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Re: B/C Melodeon
« Reply #5 on: January 05, 2020, 04:17:26 PM »

I also have both books - started with the Box (when it was all that was available) and agree that Damien Connolly's tutor is better, there is also a DVD that comes with it.

Captain Pugwash or any tune that you know and can hum is in my opinion a good idea and starts you learning to play by ear.
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Graham Wood

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Re: B/C Melodeon
« Reply #6 on: January 05, 2020, 07:04:20 PM »

Many thanks to everyone for taking the time to reply.

Very useful information. 'The Box' is dropped from my shopping list and I will start practicing G and D major scales. I have also noted the additional tutorial aids that were mentioned. I will still carry on with Capt Pugwash because it amuses my wife, but I definitely understand the concept of not playing along one row for a tune but to use both rows to play in keys other than c and b. I'm not entirely sure that I understand the concept of initially ignoring the bass side on a B/C instrument. I know it won't work so well if I play in keys of G and D but I would have thought that getting muscle memory to kick in so at least I could get some co-ordination together would have been a good thing. I should imagine that learning a melody is fairly straight forward but without bass accompaniment would be rather bland if playing alone. I did watch a fellow on youtube called Melodeonman52 playing some Scottish jigs and I would love to be able to do the same because they were great. He used the bass all the time and it was a B/C box. But I guess it's all about taking one step at a time. I've added my location to my profile. Ipswich in Suffolk.

Thanks again

Graham
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Helena Handcart

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Re: B/C Melodeon
« Reply #7 on: January 05, 2020, 07:29:57 PM »

"Captain Pugwash" as you call it is a legit folk tune - proper name "The Trumpet Hornpipe".

Well do I remember my amusement when shortly after I started playing I was perusing a book of trad English tunes and trying to pick them out on the box and I found this one, picked out the first few notes and realised what it was - but then I am a child of the '70s.
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Peadar

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Re: B/C Melodeon
« Reply #8 on: January 05, 2020, 08:30:26 PM »

Captain Pugwash!!!!

Most of us mere mortals start with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Another book (available for the price of printing the pdf is) Wyper's Tutorial for 19 key melodeon here:

http://forum.melodeon.net/index.php/page,catalogues.html

It gives a good West of Scotland selection  of tunes c.1900.  Though it was written for the 19key C/C#  the fingerings given will work for your Hohner Morgane at correct pitch if you just use the tunes that are marked (I) for inner row - all the tunes with sharps in  key (G, D, A) . This is because the Wyper method was to play in these keys as though the instrument was a BC.



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Pearse Rossa

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Re: B/C Melodeon
« Reply #9 on: January 06, 2020, 12:50:59 AM »

... I did watch a fellow on youtube called Melodeonman52 playing some Scottish jigs and I would love to be able to do the same because they were great. He used the bass all the time and it was a B/C box.

I have listened to him as well, and he is a very neat player.
You will need to keep in mind though, that he is playing an old model Hohner with what is now
considered an obsolete bass set-up.
Your Morgane will be different on the bass end.
Have a look at this page to see what his bass layout is.
Compare that to this layout which should be what you have on the Morgane.
Watch this video of him and you can see that he is mainly playing the outside (B) row.
It's a lovely technique, but not ideal if you want to play tunes in the keys of D and G.
Most B/C players will play from the inside (C) row. It's how the system works.
Of course, there is nothing to stop you playing those tunes on the Morgane, but my advice is to learn them playing the inside row. Your bass fingering will be different from what he is doing.
The keys will also be different of course.

P.S. You may have a different bass layout. There are a number of different preferences.
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Steve_freereeder

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Re: B/C Melodeon
« Reply #10 on: January 06, 2020, 02:04:27 AM »

...I've added my location to my profile. Ipswich in Suffolk.

Ah - I expect I will get into trouble for suggesting it but I suspect you won't find many B/C players in your part of the world.  ;)
Perhaps you don't know it yet but you are right in the middle of a very fine location of East Anglian traditional song, stepdancing and music, including melodeon players.

The East Anglian Traditonal Music Trust (EATMT) is centred around Stowmarket, although there is a lot going on all over Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire. It was very active in promoting the local traditions up until a couple of years ago when it suffered a hiatus due to a change in management/directorship of the Trust (which I won't go into now, although there are threads on this forum which might give an insight). The Trust is now gradually re-building itself; a melodeon and concertina day of workshops was held in Stowmarket back in September and more events are planned in 2020 and 2021, including a revival of the hugely popular 'Melodeons and More' event.

It's always beneficial to learn the melodeon when you can get support from other players. Although formerly, many of the old players used to play in the key of C, most East Anglian players these days will play the D/G box. There are many tunes traditional to the region, some of which can be found in 'Before the Night Was Out' which was compiled largely from field recordings of traditional musicians. It's available from EATMT here.

You might also be interested in 'Melodeons on Sea' - a new weekend for melodeon players which will be held in Harwich on 18th/19th April 2020. It will be led by Katie Howson, a brilliant one-row player and former director of EATMT, and Simon Care, a well-known and superb melodeon player on the traditional English scene.   
« Last Edit: January 06, 2020, 10:19:35 AM by Steve_freereeder »
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playandteach

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Re: B/C Melodeon
« Reply #11 on: January 06, 2020, 09:23:02 AM »

Steve, I'm sure that I could be in the same boat for playing GC in a DG environment, and perhaps that's one reason why I don't get out much. But it looks clear enough that Graham already has a box, and that it is a reasonable choice for BC for the music he is inspired by. And of course the internet, and this forum will be the supportive environment that we could only dream of a generation ago. Of course the internet is a cure and a curse for live music, and local traditions.
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Theo

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Re: B/C Melodeon
« Reply #12 on: January 06, 2020, 09:55:18 AM »

John and Katie Howson,  who built up the Easy Anglian Traditional Music Trust, also have strong links with Irish music and Irish Musicians.  If you can’t find contact details for them please email me and I’ll put you in touch.

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richard.fleming

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Re: B/C Melodeon
« Reply #13 on: January 06, 2020, 10:31:41 AM »

Steve, I'm sure that I could be in the same boat for playing GC in a DG environment, and perhaps that's one reason why I don't get out much.

It isn't like that if you play BC. You learn to play the instrument at home or with a teacher; when you go out to a session you just play tunes. The advantage of a semitone box like a BC is that you can play in any key; you don't have to worry about what sort of box other players are using.  If you go to Irish sessions in England or Wales there won't be many box players anyway, fiddles being the dominant instrument. You don't need to be in a 'BC environment', especially since YouTube.
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Steve_freereeder

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Re: B/C Melodeon
« Reply #14 on: January 06, 2020, 10:33:58 AM »

John and Katie Howson,  who built up the Easy Anglian Traditional Music Trust, also have strong links with Irish music and Irish Musicians.  If you can’t find contact details for them please email me and I’ll put you in touch.

Katie has her own website now, including contact details:
https://katiehowson.co.uk/
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Tiposx

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Re: B/C Melodeon
« Reply #15 on: January 06, 2020, 12:11:27 PM »

I agree with Richard Fleming. There are quite a few semitone box players around, but they don't seem to show up on this forum.  My circle of acquaintances play itm on c#/d ,b/c, d/g/accidental and single row boxes.
« Last Edit: January 06, 2020, 01:07:52 PM by Tiposx »
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Steve_freereeder

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Re: B/C Melodeon
« Reply #16 on: January 06, 2020, 12:46:46 PM »

Steve, I'm sure that I could be in the same boat for playing GC in a DG environment, and perhaps that's one reason why I don't get out much.

It isn't like that if you play BC. You learn to play the instrument at home or with a teacher; when you go out to a session you just play tunes. The advantage of a semitone box like a BC is that you can play in any key; you don't have to worry about what sort of box other players are using.  If you go to Irish sessions in England or Wales there won't be many box players anyway, fiddles being the dominant instrument. You don't need to be in a 'BC environment', especially since YouTube.

I agree with Richard too, in the sense that it doesn't matter what instrument you play in a session - it's the tune which counts.
The converse of not being in a 'BC environment' holds good for English music sessions too. For example - at a typical English session say, at Whitby folk week, the free-reed instruments will include D/G melodeons, one-row melodeons, anglo concertinas in both C/G and G/D, English and Duet concertinas; and yes - I've even encountered the occasional B/C and B/C/C# box players too.
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Re: B/C Melodeon
« Reply #17 on: January 06, 2020, 12:47:23 PM »

I wonder how many 3 row semitone (BCC#) players  are on the forum?

george  (DG, BC, BCC#  1 row G  and assorted mouthies)
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Stiamh

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Re: B/C Melodeon
« Reply #18 on: January 06, 2020, 02:16:52 PM »

Of course the B/C is meant to be played across the rows and learning the G and D scales and tunes in those keys makes perfect sense. I would add though that learning to play on the row (e.g. tunes in C and Dm) is a very useful skill to learn.

Two incidents have led me to believe that beginner B/C players completely ignore playing on the row. The first is a situation described some years by a friend who can knock out a small repertoire of tunes on the B/C box (mainly polkas and jigs), but it's not her main instrument or even her second instrument. Walking in the Plateau Mont-Royal she came across people playing boxes on the front step, stopped to listen, said that she played accordion, and ended up spending a very pleasant half-hour with them. When they asked her to play a tune for them on one of their boxes, she couldn't. Not one. She was embarassed and I felt sorry for her on hearing the story.

About a decade ago I joined Damien Connolly's intermediate B/C class at a summer school just to see how the other half (or rather the other 90%) of Irish box players live. At one point he taught a simple waltz in the key of C and several of the participants were completely lost - they couldn't find the next note in the scale and kept looking on the outside row!

Many top Irish B/C players are also brilliant one-row players of course. I think that from the point of view of mastering the instrument, it makes sense not to ignore playing on the row (the inside row anyway!) even in the early stages. You will need the key of C at some point and as far as Irish music is concerned, there are plenty of great tunes in D minor (dorian) which can be played up and down the row.

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Re: B/C Melodeon
« Reply #19 on: January 06, 2020, 03:13:53 PM »

This may be thread drift but............. On a D G box I have recently started playing the scales up and down along the row - all the way up to the dusty end and back. Is it worth me now starting to play the scales on a D G box across the rows ? Do other D G players do this ?
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