Musette tune progress

[vivdunstan]

I told my Mum I'd learn a brand new accordion tune for her on my wee French chromatic button accordion, and play it for her when I see her around her birthday time. One I haven't learned before on any accordion. I picked a French musette standard, and when I told her on the phone which one I'd picked she sang the start of the tune to me. So well that was a good choice! Anyway had my second good go at it today. I picked a rather ambitious arrangement, that would be a challenge even on a piano accordion I've played for approaching 50 years. Never mind a chromatic button accordion (where a button grid replaces the piano keyboard portion) that I've only been learning for 7 months. But I can build it up slowly. And already on go two I am playing most of it pretty much through, at speed. Including the gorgeous middle run sequence of 3-note harmonies on the right side. I am still learning where the notes are on that right hand mass of anonymous black buttons. Especially on the upper octaves. But learning another tune like this is a good challenge for me. I am managing to find the right buttons ok and just working out on the fly the fingers to use. Unlike some beginning chromatic button accordionists I don't want to write down the fingers I use for each note on the sheet music, and prefer to feel my way through. Anyway going good! And I have a couple of months to polish it. I will not be uploading any recording of it anywhere before I've played it for Mum in person.

Comments

[vivdunstan]

I'm doing much better than I expected picking up CBA. There's still a lot to learn, but I didn't expect to be moving around the button grid this smoothly so quickly, or intuitively figuring out fingering so easily. I do know another long-term piano accordionist who took up CBA (and got extremely competent on it) and if he ever looked down at the right side while playing had a huge panic attack, seeing a mass of buttons and not a piano keyboard! I'm fine with that least. It's just a differently shaped keyboard for me ;)

I haven't found the concertina nearly so natural though, especially the anglo. Different notes on push/pull is very unfamiliar for me, and I haven't picked up what notes are where, though I can muddle through some tunes. Then again I haven't put lots of time in.

Wishing you all the best relearning the Anglo, and hope you love your new instrument when it arrives later this year..

[watervole]

I'd never tried a push/pull instrument until I got the Anglo, and had intended to buy an English concertina for this very reason.
But I fell in love with the sound when trying out instruments and changed my mind!
Fortunately, it was a lot easier to learn than I'd expected.
and, of course, you get twice as many notes for the size of instrument.