Print

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

[Little Eggy]

I’ve been playing for about four years and still struggle, when learning new tunes, with matching the dots with the keys.  To speed things up I’ve attached little strips of paper to the keyboard, with the notes aligned to each key.  This has worked very well, especially when switching between my 3rd button start and 4th button start boxes.   Please don’t howl in protest or derision.  I know all the reasons why this is a “bad thing” to do. 

I was wondering if any boxes are made with the notes printed beside the keys, or even on the keys of boxes with larger buttons?   

[Rob2Hook]

One can justify this by giving the example of a Bandonion, they have their own kind of "tab" - a symbol from an alphabet all their own which is impressed into the board alongside each button.  Mind you, if you've ever taken a look at the layout of a bandonion, you can understand why such labelling is needed for at least the first decade of learning it...

I've never seen a melodeon with the buttons labelled apart from efforts by their owners.  Surely there is a complication in that each button has to be labelled for both push and pull?  I did see one which had the actual buttons labeled with marker pen, which has the advantage that they will eventually wear off.  Otherwise your paper labelling if done in full length strips and computer printed could at least be done quite neatly, just needs to be affixed with Pritt stick to avoid damaging the finish.

Rob.

[Julian S]

I do wonder whether it would be useful to have a few strategic buttons with braille type surfaces to help in navigation  - I remember having a B/C with the middle button on the B row hatched. Not that it helped me !

J

[Tone Dumb Greg]

I’ve been playing for about four years and still struggle, when learning new tunes, with matching the dots with the keys.  To speed things up I’ve attached little strips of paper to the keyboard, with the notes aligned to each key.  This has worked very well, especially when switching between my 3rd button start and 4th button start boxes.   Please don’t howl in protest or derision.  I know all the reasons why this is a “bad thing” to do. 

I was wondering if any boxes are made with the notes printed beside the keys, or even on the keys of boxes with larger buttons?

You could apply something like these, maybe...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/STICKY-ALPHABET-LETTERS-ADHESIVE-STICKERS/dp/B017KSSXK8

[Anahata]

I do wonder whether it would be useful to have a few strategic buttons with braille type surfaces to help in navigation  - I remember having a B/C with the middle button on the B row hatched. Not that it helped me !

My Hohner Club II has the gleichton hatched, and stradella basses usually have a dimple on the C button (and sometimes a couple of other markings.)
It is useful for getting your hand in the right place to start without making any spurious sounds, but not the same thing at all as marking all the buttons to show you what notes they play.

[Winston Smith]

Perhaps some maker could follow the examples of the old concertina manufacturers who marked the button ends of their student concertinas with the note?

[xgx]

When I started learning BC from scratch I used Roger Watson's Tutor book system, I wrote the button number under each note on the sheet music.
The advantage is that you're always looking at the note on the page, it's only a matter of time before you don't need the numbers cos it finally sinks in which button is which, suck or blaw  .
(and there's no tatty paper bits sticking out like sore thumbs  )

If you need to find the 3rd button quickly mark the side of it with a small red or black dot, visible as you look down with the box strapped on    Do the same for the 4th button box.

[Paul Levett]

Most stationary shops stock small brightly coloured self adhesive dots. I've used them to mark the start button and seventh button on my GCF and its been very helpful for quickly identifying my position on the keyboard.

[george garside]

the ability to play the scales ,fast without conscious thought, that your particular box is capable of  should eliminate any need for button marking.   

As far as I am aware scale practice is a compulsory part of the learning process for most instruments but seems to be unfashionable amongst 4th apart melodeon players, but less so amongst semitone players.??
george

[Little Eggy]

Thanks for the responses folks.  As I thought. No makers add note labels. Thanks Rob for your suggestions.
And thanks for suggestions re attaching stickies alongside D and G buttons. I'm trying that.
Thanks George for your comments. I love your book.  But I'll pass on scales.  Spent too long having the joy
of music cruelly sucked out of me and my daughters labouring through scales and arpeggios.
I vowed to myself 40 years ago NEVER to play a scale again. 
Anyway I'm nearly 70; life is too short; I don't wish to be Andy Cutting;
I only want to join in at sessions and play lovely tunes to myself.

[Tone Dumb Greg]

life is too short; I don't wish to be Andy Cutting;
I only want to join in at sessions and play lovely tunes to myself.

fwiw I don't think Andy Cutting plays scales. I don't think he reads music, either.

[Julian S]

life is too short; I don't wish to be Andy Cutting;
I only want to join in at sessions and play lovely tunes to myself.

fwiw I don't think Andy Cutting plays scales. I don't think he reads music, either.

I don't know whether Andy spends much time playing scales, but I know he does spend ages on working through and practicing different ways of playing each phrase of a tune. I just wish I had that kind of concentration.
I have been playing scales as part of my learning process on my G/C - I've still got a chart on my desk showing the layout (the accidental row and bass is rather confusing) - but I think I've learned more from playing a selected few tunes, in different keys, where the fingers have to jump around the keyboard. And it's just more enjoyable !

J

[Tone Dumb Greg]

..I have been playing scales as part of my learning process on my G/C - I've still got a chart on my desk showing the layout (the accidental row and bass is rather confusing) ...

I think there is a difference between getting to know your instrument, where the notes can be found and what it is capable of, and the rote playing of scales, which, to me, is the death of musical pleasure.

[baz parkes]

life is too short; I don't wish to be Andy Cutting;
I only want to join in at sessions and play lovely tunes to myself.

fwiw I don't think Andy Cutting plays scales. I don't think he reads music, either.

See also Pete Coe...

[Mr Squeeze]

How can you see the fingerboard whilst playing? 

[baz parkes]

I do wonder whether it would be useful to have a few strategic buttons with braille type surfaces to help in navigation  - I remember having a B/C with the middle button on the B row hatched. Not that it helped me !

My Hohner Club II has the gleichton hatched, and stradella basses usually have a dimple on the C button (and sometimes a couple of other markings.)

I thought this was standard practice for gleichtons ?

[Little Eggy]

How can you see the fingerboard whilst playing? 

No - of course not! I was just suggesting it might help when learning a new tune from the dots.

[Gena Crisman]

When I was young, I put small stickers on the keys of the music keyboard my parents gave me, and wrote what each note was. When I need to remember which note is which on a piano now, I still think of that keyboard with those stickers on. In a way though, the act of having done it helped me, rather than the actual result of having done so.

Idk what approach would work for you - perhaps it is stickers. Personally nowadays, I think I'd just opt for like, writing some flash cards and just trying to learn a bit of the layout every day until I just knew it off by heart. Perhaps it's try drawing a layout diagram of your instrument a few times.

I think it's helpful to know, or be able to work out, what your notes are. I think it's worth it to put time in to specifically learn them, without assuming you'll just pick it up as you go - same is true for notes on a score, or any thing you're struggling with.

[baz parkes]

I know what the notes "say" on the stave.

I know which buttons play which note on the melodeon.

It's putting the two together I have a problem with.

[Winston Smith]

"In a way though, the act of having done it helped me, rather than the actual result of having done so."

Yes! When my brain worked better than it does now, I used to write down a telephone number so that I could use it in the future. But I could then throw it away, as the act of writing it somehow embedded it in the memory, strange!