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Author Topic: Strigulino's Squeezebox Diary (Was "Essex beginner")  (Read 27565 times)

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Strigulino

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Re: Essex beginner
« Reply #20 on: October 21, 2011, 02:37:48 PM »

I now have a shiny Morgane. :) Happy squeezer.
Currently travelling London with a gig bag looking like a proper muso.
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The Strig

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ladydetemps

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Re: Essex beginner
« Reply #21 on: October 21, 2011, 02:41:53 PM »

I now have a shiny Morgane. :) Happy squeezer.
Currently travelling London with a gig bag looking like a proper muso.
Congratulations.
I found having melodeon in backpack quite good for blocking people getting past you on the underground. lol

Bobtheboat

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Re: Essex beginner
« Reply #22 on: October 21, 2011, 05:34:32 PM »

Well done Strig! I hope you'll be very happy together! Bob.
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Re: Essex beginner
« Reply #23 on: October 21, 2011, 10:08:02 PM »

So.... did you go for a DG or BC in the end?
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Strigulino

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Re: Essex beginner
« Reply #24 on: October 21, 2011, 10:54:15 PM »

D/G. And trying to do oompah basses with a melody is like trying to pat your head and rub your belly. Possible, but my brain is having difficulty with the concept that a change of note may involve moving a button of the right hand, moving a buttin on the left hand, changing bellows direction, or any combination of the three. The Sloe is now the Incredilbly Sloe. I'm having to learn it by rote. Hopefully once my hands get the idea they can oompah by themselves in future.
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The Strig

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Re: Essex beginner
« Reply #25 on: October 21, 2011, 11:35:06 PM »

I now have a shiny Morgane. :)
Excellent! Congratulations!  (:)
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Strigulino

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Re: Essex beginner
« Reply #26 on: October 22, 2011, 12:08:32 AM »

Not sure of my grip yet. I'm holding the bass end like I'm trying to stop it getting away. Need to relax.
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The Strig

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Pets:  Two cats, one husband, a D/G Hohner Morgane, a C/F Liliput, a dark and mysterious anglo concertina, a Streb, a Giordy...

Pete Dunk

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Re: Essex beginner
« Reply #27 on: October 22, 2011, 10:46:48 PM »

It's a fairly steep learning curve Strig, lots of unnatural movements and challenging coordination issues. Back to basics, play at a snail's pace, one hand at a time if needs be. When you put it all together it will probably collapse the first time around which only highlights the need to slow things down to a point where you can't get it wrong then work from there. You'll get it. I, like many others, was greatly impressed with your iPhone playing. This is just a beast with very different rules.  :D

Pete.
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Strigulino

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Re: Essex beginner
« Reply #28 on: October 22, 2011, 11:52:47 PM »

I am a transcriptionist by trade and was about 65-70 wpm last time I was tested; now when I think back to the days of my youth trying to touch type home key phrases like "dad had a fag" without looking, when I knew I could type it faster with two fingers, I think learning melodeon is going to be like that. You eventually get to a point where you're fast enough to actually use it for day-to-day work, and then there's no stopping you. Now I type faster than I handwrite, so if I can possibly type something instead of scribbling it, I will. 

Hopefully melodeon is the same, in that once you can play well enough to join in at a session, you sudddenly get lots of practice.
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The Strig

"World-famous poker player. Give her a good poker and she'll play any tune you like." - The Goon Show
Pets:  Two cats, one husband, a D/G Hohner Morgane, a C/F Liliput, a dark and mysterious anglo concertina, a Streb, a Giordy...

Alison Scott

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Re: Essex beginner
« Reply #29 on: October 24, 2011, 11:24:14 AM »

I am a transcriptionist by trade and was about 65-70 wpm last time I was tested;

I remember Huw Williams on learning the melodeon "I wasn't musical at all, but luckily I knew how to type. You just type like this (plays a scale on the D row). And if you hit shift, it sounds like this (plays a scale on the G row)."

Martyn

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Re: Essex beginner
« Reply #30 on: October 24, 2011, 11:42:38 AM »

I have often wondered why there has never been an accordion made with a simplified qwerty keyboard. In theory any one who could type would be able to play it. Music could then just be written out as groups of letters.  ???

Martyn
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Ebor_fiddler

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Re: Essex beginner
« Reply #31 on: October 24, 2011, 11:44:40 AM »

On each side?  >:E
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Martyn

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Re: Essex beginner
« Reply #32 on: October 24, 2011, 12:02:21 PM »

On each side?  >:E

Could use the numbers for the left hand I suppose.

Martyn
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george garside

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Re: Essex beginner
« Reply #33 on: October 24, 2011, 12:16:51 PM »

learning to touch type on an old underwood manual machine is exellent for developing finger strength , particularly the little finger. It also sorts fingers out for staccato playing. I'm not sure whether touch tyuping on a modern computor keyboard would have the same benefits but it  would no doubt help to a lesser degree.

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Strigulino

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Re: Essex beginner
« Reply #34 on: October 24, 2011, 12:24:08 PM »

I've been just practicing a few tunes before I go to work and a few when I get home.  It's getting better.  My left hand is getting the idea that it's supposed to pull and push, and press two buttons alternately.  I'm beginning to notice that they're getting a better idea of when making a note lower or higher requires a change of bellows direction.  Working out how to hold it so I don't get cramp too.  

I have found myself occasionally playing the bass again so I'm sort of going oom, oom, oom pah but it sounds okay so something to work on later.

My Very Sloe sounds a bit "fairy footsteps" at the moment though.  "La.........laaaa, la la, la...........(very long pause).................LAAAAA, la la".

I should imagine typing helps with staccato definitely.  For example, for a capital letter at the start of the sentence you want to hold down Shift only for the first letter you type.  And if you're typing 70 or 80 wpm by definition you're averaging more than one letter a second so you therefore are holding down Shift for a fraction of a second.  Melodeons, however, do not have Auto Correct so I'm going to have to be a bit sharper - perhaps melodeon will improve my typing accuracy too.  ;D
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The Strig

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Pets:  Two cats, one husband, a D/G Hohner Morgane, a C/F Liliput, a dark and mysterious anglo concertina, a Streb, a Giordy...

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Re: Essex beginner
« Reply #35 on: October 24, 2011, 12:38:32 PM »

I touch type too and don't think that it really helps much with playing the melodeon.
With typing everything is accessed from the home keys (so you're not shifting hand position) and generally each letter is operated by a particular finger. Also, you tend to press only one key at a time (I'm discounting holding shift down because this is normally done with the hand not typing the letter).
Moreover, the whole support and orientation of your hand is different.
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Rob2Hook

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Re: Essex beginner
« Reply #36 on: October 24, 2011, 01:55:15 PM »

I don't claim to touch type, but I learnt to operate a code desk - a simplified qwerty keyboard for encoding enveloppes.  I still find that I wake up in a sweat having typed out my nightmares!  Melodeon playing is far more relaxing.

Rob.

P.S. Tyed one-handed as my cat is sleeping on the left one!
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Strigulino

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Re: Essex beginner
« Reply #37 on: October 24, 2011, 01:58:44 PM »

I had come to similar conclusions, actually - that was half the problem I was having at first, in that my fingers were convinced they had to move to a different key to get a different "letter".  However, I think it does help that your fingers will be somewhat trained to make accurate movements quickly.  

Re support/orientation - agreed - I have been trying to think with my "elbows at 45 degrees, wrists straight" head on, but it doesn't exactly follow.  I think you probably have to just hold it however works for you.  I'd tried resting my thumb on the keyboard edge on the right but that made me arch my fingers far too much so I've got my thumb round the back.  I did have a bit of fun on the right in as much as I tried to get my little finger on the bottom bass key and if I held my hand in that position for any length of time I got pins and needles in my last two fingers.  Now found a comfortable hold with wrist in the strap and using my first two fingers for all the bass buttons (I have seen other people on TOTM videos with similar playing style; I think it might have been McGrooger).  Bit more of a reach but much more comfortable for me.

I think I might be subconsciously trying to get my hands into a typewriter position but sideways.  So I'm striking the keys in a similar way.  But I'm using the same adage for melodeon as I am for typewriter - "if it hurts, change position".

So yeah, a bit like the old word piano but with two letters on each key.  I think the shift key analogy does work - yes, if you're typing capital P you use the right hand to type the P and the left to do the shift, but to carry the analogy to melodeon, you're using your right hand to press a button and your left hand to "shift" between the two possible notes on that button by either pushing or pulling.  

And I find for melodeon there are still home keys as such, in that you pick the four keys for your fingers that are most likely to be used, and move around the keyboard from there.  In one tune you may start on the third, in another you may start on the fourth, in a third tune you might be on the G row, but once you are on those "home" keys you work from there.  

I do know people who have "relearned" touch typing to use a Dvorak keyboard, or court stenographer's keyboard, for example.  It can be done.  Presumably similar to learning a D/G and then a B/C.

The upshot of it all is that some degree of manual dexterity is required - those who have proven manual dexterity will find it a boon that they know they have the ability, and may be able to carry over some theory and good posture from their other skill, but they may have things they have to "unlearn" for playing music.  

So we're both right.  :D
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The Strig

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Anahata

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Re: Essex beginner
« Reply #38 on: October 24, 2011, 02:41:57 PM »

I hate to break it to you guys, but a melodeon is not a typewriter.   ;)
About the only thing you can carry from one to the other, possibly, is a general aptitude for co-ordinated movement of fingers, and the knowledge from experience that learning these things needs patience and takes time. Also perhaps the experience of avoiding  physical postures that become painful.

Analogies such as those between bellows direction and shift keys are fine if they help, but really can't be stretched too far!

Strigulino (I finally found out what your name means, by the way, and learned something about Esperanto) - delighted to hear you've finally got a real box to play, and of course we are all looking forward to hearing it, especially after your promising iPhone start!
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Strigulino

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Re: Essex beginner
« Reply #39 on: October 24, 2011, 03:46:17 PM »

I've just realised it's 90 degrees, not 45.  Silly me.

I just spent the weekend at the Language Show in Olympia at the Esperanto Association's stall doing a bit of PR.  It's good fun, actually.  People have some really odd misconceptions about Esperanto so it's good to actually explain it to people.

My online Esperanto name, Noktema Strigulino, is basically a really detailed way of saying Night Owl.  Nokt is the root for night, and strig is the root for owl.  O is a noun, a is an adjective.  So Nokta Strigo would be "night owl", but your actual owl in the night.  Em is a suffix meaning a tendency or inclination to something, ul is a suffix for a person with that quality, and in is the suffix meaning female.  So Noktema Strigulino actually means a night-loving female owl person thing.  It's like Lego.  You take the basic "brick" for what you want and add bits until you get exactly what you mean.  

I could talk about Esperanto all day (I talked about it all Saturday and Sunday) but this is a melodeon forum of course; if anyone's really keen either ask me by PM or have a look at lernu.net.  I am now the third Esperantist melodeon player I know of.  ;D
« Last Edit: October 24, 2011, 03:49:45 PM by Strigulino »
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The Strig

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Pets:  Two cats, one husband, a D/G Hohner Morgane, a C/F Liliput, a dark and mysterious anglo concertina, a Streb, a Giordy...
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