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Author Topic: tutor book for BC melodeon?  (Read 7396 times)

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flipper

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tutor book for BC melodeon?
« on: July 22, 2008, 01:18:29 AM »

Hi
 I asked last year some time or maybe it was longer ago than that if there is a decent BC tutor book about and was told one of you clever people was writing one. Have you finished it yet and if so where can i get it from. I have been playing about with the BC for some time and can get a basic tune but would like some pointers on improving my style, alternative fingering and that sort of thing. I play DG and have done so for many years and have found it quite limiting at times so wanted something on which I could play more keys. (and of course wanting a new toy to play with had nothing to do with it). anyway any suggestions would be much appreciated.

sue
 
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Stiamh

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Re: tutor book for BC melodeon?
« Reply #1 on: July 22, 2008, 02:09:57 AM »

You must be referring to George Garside's tutor - not sure whether it's out yet.

Another new tutor for B/C has just come out, produced by Damien Connolly, a frighteningly talented young Irish player now living in NE USA.  It comprises a book and a DVD. The book includes quite a bit of introductory theory and a collection of tunes rendered in both conventional notation and a tablature of his own devising - a sort of souped-up ABC. Fingering, bellows direction and ornamentation is indicated on both. All the tunes are recorded on the DVD. Needless to say they are all from the Irish repertoire.

I got a copy of it from him last week. As soon as I find out how people can get a copy, I'll post more information. Meanwhile it would be great to hear where George's project stands.

Cheers
Steve

george garside

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Re: tutor book for BC melodeon?
« Reply #2 on: July 22, 2008, 11:16:16 AM »

You must be referring to George Garside's tutor - not sure whether it's out yet.

Another new tutor for B/C has just come out, produced by Damien Connolly, a frighteningly talented young Irish player now living in NE USA.  It comprises a book and a DVD. The book includes quite a bit of introductory theory and a collection of tunes rendered in both conventional notation and a tablature of his own devising - a sort of souped-up ABC. Fingering, bellows direction and ornamentation is indicated on both. All the tunes are recorded on the DVD. Needless to say they are all from the Irish repertoire.

I got a copy of it from him last week. As soon as I find out how people can get a copy, I'll post more information. Meanwhile it would be great to hear where George's project stands.

Cheers
Steve
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mikesamwild

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Re: tutor book for BC melodeon?
« Reply #3 on: July 22, 2008, 11:21:58 AM »

'The Box' by David Hanrahan, h has a CD too.
Also DVDs by John Williams and Peter Browne. Usually on eBay
Good luck
I chose C+/D after years on D/G
Mike
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george garside

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Re: tutor book for BC melodeon?
« Reply #4 on: July 22, 2008, 11:22:56 AM »

You must be referring to George Garside's tutor - not sure whether it's out yet.

Another new tutor for B/C has just come out, produced by Damien Connolly, a frighteningly talented young Irish player now living in NE USA.  It comprises a book and a DVD. The book includes quite a bit of introductory theory and a collection of tunes rendered in both conventional notation and a tablature of his own devising - a sort of souped-up ABC. Fingering, bellows direction and ornamentation is indicated on both. All the tunes are recorded on the DVD. Needless to say they are all from the Irish repertoire.

I got a copy of it from him last week. As soon as I find out how people can get a copy, I'll post more information. Meanwhile it would be great to hear where George's project stands.

Cheers
Steve


some delay  resulting from  it coming out a bit  more complicated than I intended . ( I have trialed the draft version with some new BC players) I am in process of rewriting/simplifying some sections  so that all being well it will be useful to abolute beginners without dot reading ability (as well as those who read dots)  It will also go to something like intermediate standard & include a 'conversion' section for BCC#. Hopefully later this year.  It will be on sale on ebay as a buy now item as is my DG tutor  "DG MElodeon - a Crash Course for Beginners"

george
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Stiamh

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Re: tutor book for BC melodeon?
« Reply #5 on: July 23, 2008, 02:09:10 PM »

While we wait for George's tutor to appear, Damien Connolly's Irish Accordion Tutor is available, for the moment only directly from him (a website is apparently under construction).

The simplest thing for anyone interested would be to contact Damien by email (at damienj NOSPACEHERE connolly ATSIGN hot NOSPACEHERE mail DOT com). The price for the book and DVD is US$45 and there may be an additional charge for postage. He is in Fairfield, Connecticut. You would need to send him a check in US$ drawn on a US bank or an international money order for the total.  (In case anyone is worried about sending off their hard-earned cash to an unknown individual, I have known Damien for a couple of years and he is as straight as a die.)

Edited to add website now up: http://www.damienconnolly.com/tutor.html

A bit more detail about the tutor: I've viewed the DVD and it's very well done. Each of the 29 tunes in the book is demonstrated slowly (first and second parts separately) using the fingering indicated in the book. The camera angle is such that you can see exactly what he is doing. He also demonstrates all the ornaments he explains in the introductory part of the book. Basses for 6 tunes are demonstrated separately.

The book is spiral bound - opens flat or on a table or music stand -  with a thick plastic protective cover.


The notation is very well thought out. As I said earlier, tunes are given in both conventional notation and a variant of ABC that Damien calls "BoxTab". (This is not tablature in the usual sense since it is the note names that are indicated, not the button numbers.) In both systems coloured highlighting is used to indicate bellows direction and certain specific ornaments. In addition there are red symbols - an arrow to indicate a finger slide (a technique that Damien uses copiously and to great effect) and an X to signal an unexpected shift. Fingering is indicated for each note, including graces.

All in all a very well thought-out project, based on the teaching system Damien has been developing over the past few years. It is home produced (printed in his basement, apparently!) and I have spotted a small number of typos in the text and one error in the bellows direction indicated in one of the tunes (Damien tells me he is aware of another one).

I'm not a B/C player but when I started C#/D I bought a few of the teaching aids for that system to get a few tips. I consider this new tutor by Damien Connolly to be far more thorough and useful than any I have seen so far. In a completely different league, in fact.  Highly recommended.

By the way, if you're already a confirmed devotee of the three-finger method, Damien's book will present you with interesting challenges. He uses all four fingers to great effect, with the little finger doing service not only for grace notes but melody too. It certainly works for him - he's a wonderful player with a fluent, richly ornamented and very personal style.

Steve
« Last Edit: May 21, 2009, 02:42:28 PM by Steve Jones »
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flipper

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Re: tutor book for BC melodeon?
« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2008, 12:37:01 AM »

Thanks everyone for your ideas I like the idea of Damians book and am looking into purchasing one and will be looking out for georges tutor as well can never have too much information. I found when learning the D/G that sometimes I understood the way one tutor explained something better than another. In the mean time am having fun working things out for myself and just like the sound of the box I have got and want to make it sing better.

Have fun all happy playing

Sue
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Dino Baffetti D/G, Weltmiester B/C
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