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Different Stradella type Gizmos?

Mike t.

Mike t.

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Was just curious, a lady at last nights jam session was playing an auto harp, it look as if the buttons were close to having the same stradella layout (not as many buttons). Has anyone here ever tried strumming or playing one? How many, if any, other music gizmos use this system layout?
 
I have an autoharp that I play quite a lot. I'm not too proficient at strings but I'm good at buttons, so the autoharp is very convenient. For anyone curious, the layout is a little like a stradella system, but while the buttons are arranged in a circle of fifths with C in the middle, they are in rows of major, seventh and minor, and the rows are staggered to allow the most useful chords to have space. Several buttons at the ends are substituted for other chords as well, which might not be of the same type as the rest of the row. Bear in mind that autoharps - at least, the Oscar Schmidt ones - are designed so the layout of the chord buttons can be altered by the owner, if the factory layout doesn't suit them. Attached is a picture of mine, which I assume has the factory layout. At least, it's the layout that it had when I found it in a record and comic shop (???) a couple of months ago.
 

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Ventura said:
Hammond Chord Organ back in the 1950's 60's had an
accordion type section for the left hand
Click to expand...
The Hammond chord organ is a strange beast indeed. The later ones were laid out like the Italian organs littering second hand shops and auction sites, with a stradella bass left hand. The early ones, however, had a much more complex layout with more chord options than the stradella system. Steve Christie from Vintage Keys Studio did an excellent video on the Hammond S6, and I also found an old owner's manual on the Internet Archive.

archive.org

Hammond Chord Organ Playing Instructions : Hammond Organ Co. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Series of instructional booklets provided to Hammond Chord Organ owners in the 1950's. Includes: First Half-Hour's Instruction at the Hammond Chord Organ,...
archive.org
 
Stradella layout seems to share the circle of fifths pattern with many instruments. A fairly loose connection could be to the violin that's strung: G, D, A, E or cello that's strung C, G, D, A. However, a virtually inseparable connection to Stradella would be the Quint free bass system accordion that's layout is literally a by-product of releasing the "stradella chords" to individual notes. Without the Stradella bass mechanism the Quint free bass system would cease to exist. Of course there are different interpretations of Stradella too such as the 3+3 French Stradella bass. An alternative circle of fifths "styling" is clearly evident in some concertinas like the Hayden-Duet system.​
 
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I am not sure this counts as a "Stradella-like" gizmo, but here goes:_DSC8021.jpg
 
here is one of the pedestal models from back in the day

www.ebay.com

Baldoni Pianaccord Piano Accordion Console Organ | eBay

It took a little research but I did find a few out there, but didn’t see any Baldoni specifically so I really have no reference comparison to quality and desirability. So, I bought this several years ago at an estate sale because I thought it was that coolest thing and never saw one before.
www.ebay.com
 
nikola said:
The array mbira -- https://www.arraymbira.com/ -- seems to use a similar circle of fifths arrangement of adjacent notes, and actually vaguely resembles a quint freebass system with how it handles octaves.
Click to expand...

Array mbira is basically a rotated Wicki-Hayden. If you „untangle” Stradella alternating fifths into two rows, you also get Wicki-Hayden. Just the last few days I was conteplating how easy would it be to rebuild the bass machine in the box I’m restoring to a three octave Wicki-Hayden. I’m surprised, that the „quint bass” isn’t exactly that.
 
(You'all likely know this, but I'll point it out anyways.) Popular Western music is rife with "three-chord songs". (I mean "songs", not pieces.) The chords in these songs are a fifth apart, e.g., F, C, G(7). The stradella (and similar layouts) are designed to place the sets of three chords next to each other. I have always marveled that this is possible in a linear arrangement with 20 slots.

I think the accordion was designed to crank-out these three-chord songs. I did a lot of cranking out when I got my first accordion at 9 yo, or so. It was wonderful. Jazz accordion and the free-bass are mis-applications, or corruptions, of the original design :cool:
 
xocd said:
(You'all likely know this, but I'll point it out anyways.) Popular Western music is rife with "three-chord songs". (I mean "songs", not pieces.) The chords in these songs are a fifth apart, e.g., F, C, G(7). The stradella (and similar layouts) are designed to place the sets of three chords next to each other. I have always marveled that this is possible in a linear arrangement with 20 slots.

I think the accordion was designed to crank-out these three-chord songs. I did a lot of cranking out when I got my first accordion at 9 yo, or so. It was wonderful. Jazz accordion and the free-bass are mis-applications, or corruptions, of the original design :cool:
Click to expand...
Thanks for pointing that out, I had never really thought about the layout of the bass fitting so well with the old timey tunes I play, I still like some of those tunes that a walking bass fits into and gives it a different feel though.
 
xocd said:
The stradella (and similar layouts) are designed to place the sets of three chords next to each other. I have always marveled that this is possible in a linear arrangement with 20 slots.

I think the accordion was designed to crank-out these three-chord songs.
Click to expand...
Very interesting analysis. Seems to me the accordion was initially developed to perform "lighter" music with both a melodic element (usually treble) and harmonic and rhythmic (usually bass/chord) accompaniment.

The "three chord" song is a common example of the harmonic function of stradella bass/chords in relation to a given melody.

However, there is a fascinating and very significant link between these two most fundamental arrangements of notes: the chromatic 12 note scale and the circle of fifths. The arrangement of notes in a circle of fifths has been of great importance for centuries now, but here's a short video about the mathematics of why 5 is the magic number...



xocd said:
Jazz accordion and the free-bass are mis-applications, or corruptions, of the original design
Click to expand...
I take your point here... but maybe I would call them "developments" instead. :)

To me, having a free bass accordion with 3 or more octaves of single notes on the left side (usually arranged chromatically/minor 3rds or in fifths), allows the musician more polyphonic options than the single octave of stradella bass/chords. It lets the accordionist explore keyboard music beyond the usual stradella bass repertoire.

To me the difference between the stradella bass accordion and the free bass instrument is that the stradella accordion is a very versatile musical instrument, whereas the free bass accordion (converter or MIII etc) is "pound for pound" the most complete musical instrument in the world.
 
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Walker said:
Very interesting analysis. Seems to me the accordion was initially developed to perform "lighter" music with both a melodic element (usually treble) and harmonic and rhythmic (usually bass/chord) accompaniment.

The "three chord" song is a common example of the harmonic function of stradella bass/chords in relation to a given melody.

However, there is a fascinating and very significant link between these two most fundamental arrangements of notes: the chromatic 12 note scale and the circle of fifths. The arrangement of notes in a circle of fifths has been of great importance for centuries now, but here's a short video about the mathematics of why 5 is the magic number...




I take your point here... but maybe I would call them "developments" instead. :)

To me, having a free bass accordion with 3 or more octaves of single notes on the left side (usually arranged chromatically/minor 3rds or in fifths), allows the musician more polyphonic options than the single octave of stradella bass/chords. It lets the accordionist explore keyboard music beyond the usual stradella bass repertoire.

To me the difference between the stradella bass accordion and the free bass instrument is that the stradella accordion is a very versatile musical instrument, whereas the free bass accordion (converter or MIII etc) is "pound for pound" the most complete musical instrument in the world.
Click to expand...

I got a brain spasm just watching that video! I remember some math teacher 48 years ago saying “Mike, don’t ask why trigonometry works, just use the formula”. A beginner asked me once how important is learning the circle of fifths? I said in the beginning it wouldn’t help him find where the D button is between C and E but will start to make sense later! It is an amazing layout that has made me lazy about learning the chord progression by names, instead I view the progression as patterns for different bass type runs, because the pattern works anywhere on the bass for different keys.
 
Mike t. said:
I got a brain spasm just watching that video!
Click to expand...
:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

To me it unveils the wonder that the chromatic 12 tone progression and the circle of fifths progression are the two great progressions that create an infinite circle of repeating sequences for all 12 semitones. Also, it's super cool to see the 2 hexagonal shapes depicting the two whole-tone scales, the 3 squares depicting the 3 minor third patterns that characterise the design of many button accordions etc.

The thing is @Mike t. some of the marvels of the circle of fifths and the layout of bass notes in fifths can represent so much more than only the common chord progressions. There are several great free bass accordionists in Italy using the free bass design (in system of fifths) and they are often specialising in baroque or renaissance music. Why could that be?

There is an argument that the circle of fifths is integral to baroque and renaissance music, and forms much of the structure of counterpoint etc.

Here's a final video about the circle of fifths as applied to baroque improvisation...

 
There are overlays for piano/digital keys that convert them to a button-type layout. I'm not terribly familiar with the variations, but if you search for "isomorphic" or "janko" keyboard overlay, you can find the info. I dont think they would be considered a serious solution - they seem to simply sit on top of the keys in a temporary fashion.
 
Quint (system of fifths) converter over 8 rows:

In stradella bass/chord mode:
Innermost 4 rows provide 2 octaves of single notes
Outer four rows provide major, minor, 7th and diminished chords.

In free bass mode:
Rows 1 & 2 gives the "pedal" notes C1 to B1
Rows 3 & 4 gives C2 to B2
Rows 5 & 6 gives C3 to B3
Rows 7 & 8 gives C4 to B4

As you will notice, each pairing of two rows (counter & fundamental basses) contains 40 buttons, thus 1 octave of notes (12 semitones) applied on 40 buttons (two rows) means every single note occurs at least 3 times, in different positions.

A little excerpt (or two) of Bach on the left hand by the terrific Luigi Vincenzo Luca:


 
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