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Poll

Before you took up the melodeon did you play another instrument(s)?

Yes
- 121 (89%)
No
- 15 (11%)

Total Members Voted: 130


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Author Topic: Before you took up the melodeon did you play another instrument(s)?  (Read 33490 times)

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Susanne

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Re: Before you took up the melodeon did you play another instrument(s)?
« Reply #60 on: March 31, 2010, 09:51:01 AM »

Yes, too many. Mandolin is actually my main instrument, then I've been playing around with fiddle, guitar, bouzouki and tin whistle. Started learning some English concertina before the strap screws broke, got an anglo that I started learning, but never got past that "started".
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Theo

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Re: Before you took up the melodeon did you play another instrument(s)?
« Reply #61 on: March 31, 2010, 10:10:36 AM »

I've since started fiddle in an attempt to do some of the things that don't work on a box.  Learning fiddle is so hard compared with melodeon.

Agreed - I've been playing the fiddle for about 13 years & am convinced that it was invented by someone as a joke, as trying to master it seems suspiciously like trying to find the mythical pot at the end of the rainbow!!

I've always wondered how the fiddle came to be invented, because it is so hard to play that any sensible inventor who made the first one would have quickly concluded it was impossible to play, and scrapped it.  Thank goodness (s)he didn't scarp it.

I have the same sort of puzzled awe over the invention of a dance like the polska. 
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juker

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Re: Before you took up the melodeon did you play another instrument(s)?
« Reply #62 on: March 31, 2010, 11:16:50 AM »

I've since started fiddle in an attempt to do some of the things that don't work on a box.  Learning fiddle is so hard compared with melodeon.

Agreed - I've been playing the fiddle for about 13 years & am convinced that it was invented by someone as a joke, as trying to master it seems suspiciously like trying to find the mythical pot at the end of the rainbow!!

I've always wondered how the fiddle came to be invented, because it is so hard to play that any sensible inventor who made the first one would have quickly concluded it was impossible to play, and scrapped it.  Thank goodness (s)he didn't scarp it.

I have the same sort of puzzled awe over the invention of a dance like the polska. 

Dances like the polka are a natural response to being unco-ordinated and tripping over while trying to keep up with one's partner - necessity being the mother of invention, as it were  >:E
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I don't get 'jigs'

Chris Ryall

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Re: Before you took up the melodeon did you play another instrument(s)?
« Reply #63 on: March 31, 2010, 02:13:40 PM »

I have the same sort of puzzled awe over the invention of a dance like the polska.

Long ago a Swedish dance instructor told me - the Waltz swept Europe in the 19th century but took almost 50 years to finally reach Sweden. They knew it was a 3/4 dance but had no tunes. Polkas were adapted. I still fing this slightly far fetched and  suspect Suzi or Jan might have further info ...
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Stiamh

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Re: Before you took up the melodeon did you play another instrument(s)?
« Reply #64 on: March 31, 2010, 02:45:44 PM »

Tunes for the Swedish polska, with an S, are in 3/4. I'm sure you know that Chris, but you wrote polkas. They don't sound like waltzes, having emphasis on beats 1 and 3, but the fact that they are in 3/4 makes the idea of their being morphed into waltzes more plausible than adapting what we think of as polkas.

Also, Juker, I recall (from my c. 1980 visit to Gothenburg with a folk-dance and Morris team from Towersey, takes me back) that the polska is considerably more confusing to dance than a polka.

Polonaise would probably be the closest English (haha) equivalent of polska.

Earbrass

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Re: Before you took up the melodeon did you play another instrument(s)?
« Reply #65 on: March 31, 2010, 02:56:12 PM »

Melodeon is my 5th instrument:

Piano / keys   (since about 1965 - mostly jazz/blues, but I did up to Grade VI many years ago)
Guitar       (since 1971 - but I don't play much)
Bass guitar   (since 1977 - currently my main instrument, as I play it in a trippy 'pagan' space-rock band)
Piano Accordion     (since Mar 2009)
D/G Melodeon   (since Nov 2009)

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Susanne

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Re: Before you took up the melodeon did you play another instrument(s)?
« Reply #67 on: March 31, 2010, 03:07:13 PM »

It's perfectly obvious that the fiddle is almost impossible to play.
Even Maxim Vengerov has to practise for 8 hours a day.
 (:)
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juker

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Re: Before you took up the melodeon did you play another instrument(s)?
« Reply #68 on: March 31, 2010, 05:39:24 PM »

"Polka has NOTHING to do with polska whatsoever."

That is interesting Susi and Steve, though polska (which I though just meant Polish, not the name of a dance as well) is obviously what the original post was referring to. Learnt something new today (:)
« Last Edit: March 31, 2010, 05:43:17 PM by juker »
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I don't get 'jigs'

Susanne

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Re: Before you took up the melodeon did you play another instrument(s)?
« Reply #69 on: March 31, 2010, 11:09:11 PM »

It actually DOES mean Polish. Just that it's also become the name of a dance. I don't think we translate the name of the dance into other languages, we just say "polska dance". Guess it's to not confuse it with other Polish stuff.
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Bob Ellis

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Re: Before you took up the melodeon did you play another instrument(s)?
« Reply #70 on: March 31, 2010, 11:37:37 PM »

I envy the vast majority of you who seem to have played several instruments before the melodeon, often from an early age. For me, music was a spectator sport until I reached the age of 50. I didn't even get my hands on any musical instruments when I was in school.  :(  The melodeon was my first instrument and is still my main one, although I now dabble a bit with the pipe and tabor.
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Ebor_fiddler

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Re: Before you took up the melodeon did you play another instrument(s)?
« Reply #71 on: March 31, 2010, 11:45:56 PM »

Quote from: jonm link=topic=3729.msg46492#msg46492 date=1269982
Oh, yes - the harmonium has just moved into the garage to make space for the PhD - does anyone want one? PM me...

[/quote

I thought selling degrees was illegal in this country!!  >:E
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I'm a Yorkie!
My other melodeon's a fiddle, but one of my Hohners has six strings! I also play a very red Hawkins Bazaar in C and a generic Klingenthaler spoon bass in F.!! My other pets (played) are gobirons - Hohner Marine Band in C, Hohner Tremolo in D and a Chinese Thingy Tremolo in G.

Lizwardo

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Re: Before you took up the melodeon did you play another instrument(s)?
« Reply #72 on: April 01, 2010, 03:46:42 PM »

Fiddle for 16 and a half years (I was 10 when I started) and oboe for 12 and a half.  I'm much better at playing the oboe than I am at the fiddle!

In the past I have also played piano, recorder, baritone horn, euphonium, cornet (I rather miss my brass band days!) and tin whistle.  I also own a guitar and a mandolin but can't get the hang of either of those at all!

Pete Dunk

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Re: Before you took up the melodeon did you play another instrument(s)?
« Reply #73 on: April 01, 2010, 07:49:25 PM »

I also own a guitar and a mandolin but can't get the hang of either of those at all!

I thought mandolin was tuned the same as a fiddle? Mind you that doesn't help much when it comes to learning how to use a flat pick! I do envy you the oboe, such a lovely instrument with a beautiful haunting voice.
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zubz

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Re: Before you took up the melodeon did you play another instrument(s)?
« Reply #74 on: April 02, 2010, 05:31:35 PM »

I envy the vast majority of you who seem to have played several instruments before the melodeon, often from an early age. For me, music was a spectator sport until I reached the age of 50. I didn't even get my hands on any musical instruments when I was in school.  :(  The melodeon was my first instrument and is still my main one, although I now dabble a bit with the pipe and tabor.

Well more power to you and your like, Bob.  :|glug I feel it's such a shame when "youths" (teenagers plus, usually) give up playing an instrument. It's often because they're playing stuff that's "not right for them". How often do you hear people say "oh, yeah, I used to play [piano etc] at school, but gave up ... and really regret it." Could this be a curse of the "grading" system? (Hmmm ... another thread topic p'haps.)

That in itself is such a shame, but even moreso is the "really regret" mindset. Why regret? Just start (again)! Life's too short for regrets!

My wife now teaches piano to quite a few adults who just want to start learning ... the more people who act like that the better!
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Martin Duffy

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Re: Before you took up the melodeon did you play another instrument(s)?
« Reply #75 on: April 03, 2010, 12:17:09 AM »

I feel it's such a shame when "youths" (teenagers plus, usually) give up playing an instrument. It's often because they're playing stuff that's "not right for them". How often do you hear people say "oh, yeah, I used to play [piano etc] at school, but gave up ... and really regret it." Could this be a curse of the "grading" system? (Hmmm ... another thread topic p'haps.)

I think another problem is the number of people (who normally don't play anything) who think it's just hilarious to criticise the noise you make when learning.  I had a little of it when I first started the violin, you know the type, "your playing sounds like a cat screeching...ha ha ha...", and it puts you off wanting to practice.  Thankfully my partner has never been like this, but I've known plenty of people whose progress was stifled through wanting to avoid being poked fun at.

Although I have classical lessons, I told my teacher I never wanted to do grade exams, although I was happy to learn the scales etc I just didn't want to be "examined" (bad turn of phrase I know!).  However, she encouraged me to bring along music I wanted to play as well, so although the lesson starts with classical music, we always end the lesson with a folk piece!
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zubz

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Re: Before you took up the melodeon did you play another instrument(s)?
« Reply #76 on: April 03, 2010, 08:06:29 AM »

Although I have classical lessons, I told my teacher I never wanted to do grade exams, although I was happy to learn the scales etc I just didn't want to be "examined" (bad turn of phrase I know!).  However, she encouraged me to bring along music I wanted to play as well, so although the lesson starts with classical music, we always end the lesson with a folk piece!
Brilliant! If people learn music they enjoy, they'll enjoy learning the instrument more.
And then there's more chance of longevity.
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Theo

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Re: Before you took up the melodeon did you play another instrument(s)?
« Reply #77 on: April 03, 2010, 07:23:03 PM »

Although I have classical lessons, I told my teacher I never wanted to do grade exams, although I was happy to learn the scales etc I just didn't want to be "examined" (bad turn of phrase I know!).  However, she encouraged me to bring along music I wanted to play as well, so although the lesson starts with classical music, we always end the lesson with a folk piece!
Brilliant! If people learn music they enjoy, they'll enjoy learning the instrument more.
And then there's more chance of longevity.

I am occasionally saddened by some of the uses of music exams (please note I'm not trying to make a blanket condemnation)  because teachers and learners loose sight of the fact that of all the things that children learn at school music is unique in that it is something that is almost always done entirely for its own sake.  If you do not get pleasure from playing music then it becomes pointless.   Every other human endeavour that has to be learned is to some extent a means to an end, though of course that does not exclude the possibility of enjoying maths, science, languages, engineering etc, but the pleasure of these things is rarely the prime reason for doing them.
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Theo Gibb - Gateshead UK

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Rob2Hook

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Re: Before you took up the melodeon did you play another instrument(s)?
« Reply #78 on: April 03, 2010, 08:27:28 PM »

I just voted, but to be truthful I can't really claim to have played as much as the number of instruments I have played with.  My parents sent me for piano lessons, I played guitar in folk clubs (Paul Simon and Ralph McTell, mostly), started fiddle at college until my landlady pleaded with me to stop - she was a violin teacher, mandolin and mandola, electric guitar to annoy the neighbours, English concertina that was once my gran's and anglo.  I just can't get anything out of the Konzertina, though (forerunner of the Bandonion).  To reach the buttons my little hands are through the straps up to the wrists and then I can't reach the air button.

The useful parts of all this?  I have a vague understanding of why the fiddle player hates playing in C and why Anglo is better for dance music than English.  I still think in terms of a piano keyboard when trying to work things out, which is handy as the Mozart transcription programme is based on the keyboard.

Rob.
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Stiamh

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Re: Before you took up the melodeon did you play another instrument(s)?
« Reply #79 on: April 03, 2010, 09:11:32 PM »

I have a vague understanding of why the fiddle player hates playing in C...

Because he/she isn't a very good fiddle player, perhaps? C is hardly a challenging key, even for folkies - after all, the fingering is exactly the same as G, only one string over...
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