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.

Rediscovered the handwritten notes I’d written late last year while pondering what chromatic button accordions would be best for me. In the end it was upper end of that price range, to get an excellent built from scratch French one with great reeds. I went with a slightly tamer sound than the musette I’d pondered, for me who would be doing tons of repetitive basic exercises, and hitting wrong notes a lot! I was rather torn between musette and swing tunings, but swing was the right choice. And the default Rouge Passion Dauphin 60 bass was my choice of box, which is a *gorgeous* colour. On downside I had to wait 6 months for it to be made from scratch, and then slowly get to me in a post Brexit customs situation. But I absolutely adore it, and it is unexpectedly helping me recover more general right hand control I’d lost due to my progressive neurological disease. Absolutely worth every penny.

I have 6 big books of French musette accordion tunes, each with 110 tunes in it, so 660 total. It’s a treasure trove, but cumbersome to dig out specific tunes frequently, and especially a mix from multiple books. So yesterday I copied my favourites, the tunes I am currently keen to learn properly, and those that look intriguing. Just had a run through with my copies - which will be going into a proper dedicated music binder later today. Great fun, including my favourite “Paris Mon Accordeon” by Jo Privat, which I hadn’t dug out for years. I’m very soon getting my new chromatic button accordion from France, a totally different keyboard style. I hope that one day I will be able to play musette tunes on there too. Anyway much fun for now! I also practiced my arrangement of Disney’s Speechless from live action Aladdin.