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Author Topic: The Melodeon & 1st or 2nd class citizen?  (Read 25587 times)

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Falseknight

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Re: The Melodeon & 1st or 2nd class citizen?
« Reply #20 on: August 12, 2008, 12:56:35 AM »

Ah, the anti-modernists.  They are the ones that scowled at the folk club door when you turned up with a guitar.

Music crosses from culture to culture.  The "art" dances of the squire and the manor become the peasant dances of the serf - and vice versa.  Bowsabella made a good living playing appropriate music on inappropriate (or incongruous) instruments - yet sounded resolutely traditional.  Until Percy Grainger arrived with his wax cylinders, the tradition lasted only as long as it took to forget your grandfather wheezing the old songs in his peculiar style.  It can be argued the collectors preserved that which was on the edge of living memory rather than the vibrant tradition which was extant, but corrupted.  Who best preserves the tradition now -  Waterson/Carthy, Bellowhead or the Coppers?  I am currently working on a retrospective - tentatively titled "And Five Walked Out...  From the tale, How many folk musicians does it take to change a light bulb? - 10! 1 to change the bulb, 4 to sing, in harmony, about how good the old bulb was, and 5 to walk out because it was electric!

The music lives independent of the instrument.  We are all now preserving folk music by making art music.  When we give up our hand built, highly expensive melodeons, our aerospace aluminium "D" whistles, our custom (or American vintage) banjos and our ultra-responsive custom guitars for the tat of common availability then we might become acceptable to the next generation of folk collectors, particularly if we shed our technique as well  but even that is open to question.

Meanwhile the music will survive, even thrive as we, first tier, second tier, traditional or revival play what resonates with us - and long may it continue - on whatever comes to hand.
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Nick Hudis

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Re: The Melodeon & 1st or 2nd class citizen?
« Reply #21 on: August 12, 2008, 10:04:15 AM »

This whole thread and several others on the forum make me realise what a strange phenomenon the "session" is:  random collections of people who may or may not know each other playing music that was created to be danced to, in a sort of mass "come all ye".  It stands to reason that the lowest common denominator will often prevail, whethher that is an out of tune fiddle, muddy melodeon, or massed ranks of bodhrans.

Strange, that we play the tunes but there is no dancing.

Strange, the idea that everyone joins in regardless of ability.  From what I've read of research done in Suffolk, which was probably typical of country music in England as a whole (but maybe not Ireland Scotland, Wales), you get the impression that in a "tune up" musicians played individually, or in small groups who knew each other's playing well through familiarity.  It might in fact have been considered an honour to be invited to play.  Village bands too would have had a fairly fixed personnel who would have learned to listen to each other and fit together.

As a inexperienced box player I've been wondering about visiting some sessions because it would be nice to meet people and playing with  others would undoubtedly improve my playing.  Bit I find myself put off by the prospect of a muddle of instruments playing tunes too fast and without any musicality.  And perhaps I am most put off by finding myself ruining other people's fun by being yet another crappy melodeon player.  In other words the lowest common denominator.

Nick
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Nick

rees

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Re: The Melodeon & 1st or 2nd class citizen?
« Reply #22 on: August 12, 2008, 10:27:34 AM »

This thread puts me in mind of a bumper sticker I once saw on my travels in Arizona.
It read "Play the accordion - go to jail".
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Rees Wesson (accordion builder and mechanic)
Gungrog, Welshpool, Wales, UK
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joe

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Re: The Melodeon & 1st or 2nd class citizen?
« Reply #23 on: August 12, 2008, 11:00:16 AM »

Suffolkboy - the only way to find out is to go!

Sessions are very odd, the same one can vary week in week out, depending on the individuals present. Some are bad, some are good. Some can be the best one week, crap the next! Go to several, chat to people and see what you enjoy. Dont just go to a session, sit there stony faced, join in with one tune and sneak off! People will just look at you strangely!

The ideal session for beginners would be a small session with some good musicians who are willing to help you. I was lucky to go to a session which was a bit like this for several months.

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Ptarmigan

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Re: The Melodeon & 1st or 2nd class citizen?
« Reply #24 on: August 12, 2008, 11:39:57 AM »

"Play the accordion - go to jail" ~ So tell us Rees, did you?  ;D

Yes Joe, I agree !00% with that idea. You just have to get out there & play.

I've known a few people over the years who just sat at home, playing & they don't come to sessions because they say they're waiting until they're good enough to be able to join in.
The fact is, they were their own worst critics & they are still sitting at home today, playing with themselves, { if you know what I mean  ;) }.
The fact is they're probably never ever going to get good enough, in their own minds, because they have this crazy idea that everyone who plays in sessions is a wonderful & faultless player !!!!! ....... Now come on guys, how crazy is that notion?

The motivation I got, when I first took my 3 tunes to a session was absolutely incredible. Yes I messed up & of course I made a fool of myself, but you know what .... it was fun, & you can bet your bottom dollar I came back the next week & boysadear did I have a much better handle on those tunes. You also get so much encouragement from other players & perhaps even more importantly, helpful criticism, that your playing ability just races on from the plod, plod, plod pace of sitting at home, alone.

I ran a beginners session here for about 10 years & believe me, it was a lot of fun watching new players come in & take their first fumbling steps, only to see them come back week after week with bigger & bigger grins on their faces as they grew in confidence.

Incidentally, one of them was an aspiring Box player & he never really was was able to learn a tune correctly at home, until he started coming to our session. At home he would end up missing bits out &/or even adding whole bars to the tune, but of course it all sounded fine to his ears .... until he tried to play them with other people! 

So go for it Nick, you won't regret it ... & do come back & tell us how you got on.

Cheers
Ptarmi
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Falseknight

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Re: The Melodeon & 1st or 2nd class citizen?
« Reply #25 on: August 12, 2008, 12:15:26 PM »

This thread puts me in mind of a bumper sticker I once saw on my travels in Arizona.
It read "Play the accordion - go to jail".

I've got the tee shirt ;D - one of Earnie Ball's from the 80s.
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rees

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Re: The Melodeon & 1st or 2nd class citizen?
« Reply #26 on: August 12, 2008, 08:43:39 PM »

I occasionally get folks coming to my workshops who will play a well known tune with a whole bar missing. These are the stay at home players and the advice I always give them is "Get thee to a session forthwith now immediatement subito!!!"

Music is like sex, it's usually better with someone else................ can be just as messy though  :-*
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Rees Wesson (accordion builder and mechanic)
Gungrog, Welshpool, Wales, UK
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Ellie

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Re: The Melodeon & 1st or 2nd class citizen?
« Reply #27 on: August 12, 2008, 09:03:00 PM »

Quote from: Ptarmigan
The motivation I got, when I first took my 3 tunes to a session was absolutely incredible. Yes I messed up & of course I made a fool of myself, but you know what .... it was fun, & you can bet your bottom dollar I came back the next week & boysadear did I have a much better handle on those tunes. You also get so much encouragement from other players & perhaps even more importantly, helpful criticism, that your playing ability just races on from the plod, plod, plod pace of sitting at home, alone.

Having just been to my second ever session, I can totally agree with this - I struggle to join in even on the things I do know, but each time gives me more things to work on, and the incentive to do so, to be that little bit better next time is a great help when it comes to having an aim as you're practising, rather than just aimlessly playing tunes you can already play. And the feeling when you finally manage to join in a tune a properly - wonderful! (and totally addictive I reckon :D)

Rees - only usually?!  ;D

mikesamwild

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Re: The Melodeon & 1st or 2nd class citizen?
« Reply #28 on: August 14, 2008, 10:50:15 AM »

Just a matter of getting the local etiquette really. 'Hear all,see all say nowt' as we say in Yorkshire, until you've got it. Then you can 'play all, sup all, pay nowt' if you're lucky with the landlord.
No seriously, too many people dive in without finding out what the local situation is, which is why many old sessions had a respected  chairperson who knew when to bring in shy or inexperienced people, when to calm down the egotists and when to let the old hands be in pole position. That was to respect the non playing regulars ( who are more than an 'audience' )who keep the pub in business
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Mike in Sheffield

If music be the food of love -who finds the time?

Rob2Hook

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Re: The Melodeon & 1st or 2nd class citizen?
« Reply #29 on: August 14, 2008, 04:52:33 PM »

Sadly nowadays when we get a session going, it's more business than the pub's seen in a month!  No wonder we don't get free beer anymore.
Rob.
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Re: The Melodeon & 1st or 2nd class citizen?
« Reply #30 on: August 15, 2008, 08:18:29 AM »

I used to like it in Doolin pubs when a punt would be set down by the musicians empty glass if the session was going well. A nice gesture! Do they still do it with Euros or is the price of a drink too exorbitant?
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Mike in Sheffield

If music be the food of love -who finds the time?

Randal Scott

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Re: The Melodeon & 1st or 2nd class citizen?
« Reply #31 on: August 15, 2008, 01:31:26 PM »

Quote from: Waltham
The reputation of the melodeon as an easy instrument to learn

What reputation is this?

Glancing at a book I just acquired--The Art of Playing Hohner Diatonic Accordians--it says on page 5: "There is nothing very difficult in the art of playing a diatonic accordian."

Well, there it is!.. :D
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Ellie

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Re: The Melodeon & 1st or 2nd class citizen?
« Reply #32 on: August 15, 2008, 04:11:27 PM »

I suppose the difficulty is in playing it well  ::) Still, it's a bit like saying the piano is easy to play isn't it, just because you can hit a correct note straight away?

Randal Scott

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Re: The Melodeon & 1st or 2nd class citizen?
« Reply #33 on: August 15, 2008, 04:30:56 PM »

Well, yes...but then you could say playing violin is easy--all you have to do is draw a bow across a single string ;D.  Mechanically, the technique of producing a good-sounding note on the piano is easy.  It seems the DBA was designed for ease, and it's easier than most instruments to sound good playing simple music with limited technique.  After all, it produces "automatic" chords and is tuned diatonically.  Seems to combine the ease of facility of a keybaord and autoharp or similar "automatic" chording system.
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TomB-R

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Re: The Melodeon & 1st or 2nd class citizen?
« Reply #34 on: August 15, 2008, 05:35:34 PM »

I'd humbly suggest that melodeon is easy to learn, and that's one of the great things about it. It lets the player get on with playing music rather than getting bogged down in endless technical struggle.

On the other hand, it probably depends... (As so often!)

While melodeon is great, and "easy" for those who naturally take to playing by ear, this isn't everyone, and there are loads of tremendous musicians who just don't work like that!  It may not be a good instrument for natural "readers" who might well be better off with one of the "same both ways" family, piano or chromatic accordion, or English concertina.
Tom
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Waltham

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Re: The Melodeon & 1st or 2nd class citizen?
« Reply #35 on: August 15, 2008, 10:16:01 PM »

There is, however, an understanding throughout the English folk scene that the average D/G melodeon player is not necessarily the sharpest knife in the drawer.
So, this has been posted for five days without a word of dissent.  I'm therefore elevating it to the status of Waltham's Principle or WP for short. 
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Randal Scott

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Re: The Melodeon & 1st or 2nd class citizen?
« Reply #36 on: August 15, 2008, 11:56:58 PM »

It is a matter of reference.  Being also a player of banjos (not to be confused with banjo player :P), I'm quite familiar with the well known axiom in the U.S.: that the BANJO PLAYER (:P) is among the lowest of feeders in the musical sea.  So, while I'm not qualified to say that players of melodeons are not 'twits, it would be hard for me to imagine a more philistine and lampooned occupation than that of the lowly banjo player :PSurely the melodeon player, and perhaps even the D/G melodeon player, is a rocket scientist next to the banjo player :P.
« Last Edit: August 16, 2008, 12:18:27 AM by catty »
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butterfingers

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Re: The Melodeon & 1st or 2nd class citizen?
« Reply #37 on: August 16, 2008, 03:33:26 AM »

 This is a very odd dialogue, from what I've read..I'm a fiddler and a guitar player, I will probably never be as good on the single row or double row accordion as I am on those instruments, nevertheless I love playing the box these days, and hesitate to inflict my limited skills on any listener ...but maybe I will at some point [when I feel comfortable to take the stage or play along]...every instrument, I don't care what it is, requires a certain level of devotion and musicality...excellence, danceability doesn't depend on the instrument, it depends on the individual and what they can bring to the moment...perhaps the ease with which one can make musical sounds on instruments like the cordene or the bodhran leads to a bit of bad musicianship...still and all, I wouldn't class the melodeon as a 2nd. class citizen....
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Nick Hudis

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Re: The Melodeon & 1st or 2nd class citizen?
« Reply #38 on: August 16, 2008, 11:02:09 AM »

Well you folks have convinced me to get to a few sessions but I have a couple of questions:

Anybody know where sessions take place in the Tyneside area, I am not native to these parts and only recently moved here.

Secondly, the tunes I've fiddled with so far are not really "standard" repetoire, but represent my likings :  Playford, hebredian tunes, a few East Anglian waltzes and step dances.  So could anyone suggest a half dozen or so tunes that it might be useful to have in hand for a English style session?  I could probably dig out of deep subconcious a few real old chestnuts of the Soldier's Joy, Winster Gallop, Four Hand Reel variety.

Nick
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Ptarmigan

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Re: The Melodeon & 1st or 2nd class citizen?
« Reply #39 on: August 16, 2008, 11:30:33 AM »

Well Nick, remember that a session is so much more than just sitting playing tunes, it's more like being part of a family, so if I were you, I'd do my best to get the preparation right first.

1: Find the nearest sessions.

2: Go check them all out & see which one:

a: ~ has the friendliest & most welcoming atmosphere
b: ~ plays lots of tunes you actually recognize
&
c: ~ plays their music at a nice relaxed, sensible speed, preferably with lots of variety.

3: Then I'd spend a few weeks:

a: getting to know the musicians
b: listening to their music
c: soaking up the atmosphere
&
d: taping some of your favourite tunes from their repertoire

That way, when you do finally pluck up the courage to take your box in & start joining in, you will know you have learned tunes that they play & you will already feel really comfortable in the setting & so much more likely to do yourself justice, play well & really enjoy the experience.

Good Luck

Cheers
Ptarmi



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