Bad Habits

[Waldo]

Much is said about developing bad habits early on and the difficulty of correcting them. However, exactly how those bad habits manifest is rarely detailed. Most texts teach the proper way to hold the instrument, wrist & elbow angle, etc., but never what not to do. When one lacks an instructor to observe these errors, what to do? The accumulated experiences of the forum members may serve future accordionists well with a thread detailing what NOT to do.

I'll start out with this one:
Don't suffer "fly away fingers". From the start, work to maintain fingers "almost in contact" with the keys. Keeping the finger tips close to the keys improves both precision and speed.

Press on....
Waldo

 

[jozz]

I just picked up my first diatonic melodeon and I'm completely winging it. So I don't think I'm currently qualified to answer this

However, something I should NOT do (but have done before):
- disregard proper fingering and just start to work through a new piece
- looking down at your fingers

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Thank goodness this thread is just about bad habits on the accordion.

I probably do have bad habits, but I'm not all that worried about them. As long as the tune I am playing sounds okay, and I am not contorting myself into grotesque positions, I guess that will do.

Tot Homines ........ Quot Senteniae. (So Many Men ...... So Many Minds)

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

 

[JEBrown]

Thank goodness this thread is just about bad habits on the accordion.

:lol:

 

[debra]

Well, bad habits on the accordion may not all be different from those on other instruments.
As a child I first started learning the piano andy things said here apply just the same there:
- keep finger close to the keys, no "fly away fingers"
- do not look down at your fingers (the keyboard does stay put, you do not need to look to see where keys have moved to)
- don't just "wing" the fingering, and especially (referring to another post with video from yesterday) consider the flow of the whole piece: when you figure out how to play a short fragment, consider how you get to the fragment and what comes next when deciding on the fingering for the fragment.
There are of course differences, in the fingering (yes, between piano and PA) and in the use of the little finger (which requires much more force on the piano than on a PA).
What is a bad habit on the accordion (transferred learning from piano) is to use more force on the keys when playing louder and less force when playing softly. (Pressing harder of course has no effect on the accordion.)
But the worst habits that I have encountered have to do with posture. I see many people who keep the accordion between a 45 and 60 degree angle which may be learned initially when starting on an accordion that was too large to keep upright.
Also bad is to position the accordion too far to your right, which forces you to have a steep angle on your wrist.
I could keep going on...

 

[JerryPH]

Sitting with a curved back and head looking down. Proper position is back straight, head looking ahead when playing.

Get that elbow UP! If your wrist is bent more than 10-20 degrees, it is detrimental to your playing effectiveness and contributes to wrist damage.

Watch facial expressions, looking like you are in pain, tongue sticking out, mouth open and possibly even drooling (actually saw that one... yeah, not pretty... lol).

Body tension... if you get all tensed up when playing, you cannot play very effectively. RELAX.

Sometimes I find overly expressive (via body movements) very distracting. Wildly shaking heads and big body movements just look weird and add nothing to the music.

Not using all the fingers on the right hand... sure sign of a self-taught player.

Bad bellows control... sure sign of a self-taught player.

That's good for a start.

 

[jozz]

I see many people who keep the accordion between a 45 and 60 degree angle which may be learned initially when starting on an accordion that was too large to keep upright.

since when is looking cool a bad habit?

 

[george garside]

rather than list 'bad' habits I prefer to talk about the need to learn 'good' habits early on . This will of couse also apply to those who have not learned them - it is never too late!

In no particular order.

- spend some time adjusting the straps. tight strap longer than left strap so the keyboard is approximately underneath the chin. once the right left setting is achieved adjust both straps by equal amounts so that the top of the box is roughly a stretched handswidth below the chin when standing looking straight ahead and with back straight.

- limit bellows opening to about 18 inches max and work with the top more open than the bottom i.e. fan shaped
-
- don't squeeze too hard! the bellows are the very soul of the instrument ( like the bow is to a fiddler) and not a bloody great air pump. practice varying volume from a whisper to a shout by simply varying the pressure on the bellows , remember the dynamics ( variations in volume) in a tune are entirely governed by bellows pressure and that the keys are in essence just on/off switches.

- get into the habit of touching the bass lightly , as if red hot. there is nothing worse than 'turgid' bass playing. Of course there are places where long drawn out bass notes are required but use the 'red hot' technique as the default method

- Don't try to play faster than you can! work on the manual dexterity required to play fast by lots of regular scale practice building up speed gradually whislt maintain accuracy. Choose tunes that are well within you comfortable speed and dexterity range. this should increase with experience.

others may wish to add to this list ( or disagree with it!)

george

 

[Geronimo]

- dont squeeze too hard! the bellows are the very soul of the instrument ( like the bow is to a fiddler) and not a bloody great air pump. practice varying volume from a whisper to a shout by simply varying the pressure on the bellows , remember the dynamics ( variations in volume) in a tune are entirely governed by bellows pressure and that the keys are in essence just on/off switches.

Ah, but they arent. It may not matter how hard you hit them (apart from side noise) but they certainly are responsive to the depth of travel. That may be less useful on a PA than on a CBA on the treble side, but well-controlled starvation of bass notes is seminal to get a pluck-like (rather than kill-switch like) quasi-percussive sound while continuing unperturbed on the treble side.

Thats more of a hot potato release than a red hot release. Otherwise the release stands out as prominent as the attack and thats not musical.

Let me illustrate: here (as long as concentration lasts), the first bass note in the phrase is slowly starved (well, we dont want to drop that hot potato on the ground), the chord is taken more in a red hot style and the counterbass is somewhat gentler taken.
<YOUTUBE id=qCETpEHaBaI url=>[media]</YOUTUBE>

 

[Alan Sharkis]

Much is said about developing bad habits early on and the difficulty of correcting them. However, exactly how those bad habits manifest is rarely detailed. Most texts teach the proper way to hold the instrument, wrist & elbow angle, etc., but never what not to do. When one lacks an instructor to observe these errors, what to do? The accumulated experiences of the forum members may serve future accordionists well with a thread detailing what NOT to do.

Ill start out with this one:
Dont suffer fly away fingers. From the start, work to maintain fingers almost in contact with the keys. Keeping the finger tips close to the keys improves both precision and speed.

Press on....
Waldo

My first accordion teacher, and were going back 64 years here, didnt care about fingering at all. My second, going back only six or seven years, also didnt care about fingering. He said that fingering was an individual choice and used that as an excuse not to teach me anything about it. My third teacher, whos still my teacher now, took one look at what I was doing and insisted on correcting one bad habit at a time. Im grateful for that. Fly-away fingers was my middle name, and it was corrected by slowing way down and concentrating on feeling contact with the keys and bass buttons. I could most easily do that while doing Hanon exercises. It wasnt easy at first, because I had previously had carpal tunnel surgery and the nerves in my fingertips were not quite as sensitive as they could have been. But, to a great degree, Im now maintaining contact with the keyboard and I can see how it has improved my playing,

But there are two aspects to the fly-away finger problem that need to be recognized if someone wants to correct it. The first is that fly-away fingers seems to occur more often with fast passages, so the idea again is to slow down until the passage can be executed with all fingers in contact or near-contact with the keys. In general, its a bad idea to equate speed with skill. As my current teacher says, If you chase speed, it will turn around and bite you in the butt! So, practice slowly, and speed will take care of itself.

The second aspect is that videos of really proficient players can mislead the observer since what seems to be the player lifting fingers far off the keys is, indeed, an optical illusion.

Alan

 

[TomBR]

- get into the habit of touching the bass lightly , as if red hot. there is nothing worse than turgid bass playing. Of course there are places where long drawn out bass notes are required but use the red hot technique as the default method

Good list George though Id be keen not to take the red hot bass technique too far. I really dont like pippety pop bass playing. Im sure we can all agree that musicality is key.

 

[Happy girl]

Alan Sharkis wrote ….so the idea again is to slow down until the passage can be executed with all fingers in contact or near-contact with the keys. In general, it's a bad idea to equate speed with skill. As my current teacher says, "If you chase speed, it will turn around and bite you in the butt! So, practice slowly, and speed will take care of itself.

Alan, I like that philosophy very much; never heard it before but it will help me as I am always concerned with bringing a piece up to speed whilst at the same time observing all the other necessary skills.
So, thank you for sharing of this Jem of wisdom, it is much appreciated.

 

[JeffJetton]

Ah yes, playing/practicing too fast is probably the most common bad habit I see. It's especially insidious because it keeps you from improving and encourages so many related bad habits (poor fingering, sloppy articulation, generally letting mistakes go without addressing them, and so on).

Runners-up would include dragging the basses, changing bellows direction during held notes, and over-dependence on written scores.

 

[JeffJetton]

since when is looking cool a bad habit?

LOL! Love how hes also parked his accordion on his right thigh, for maximum banging the bass section into the left leg potential!

Then again, hes certainly not looking at the keys, and he knows enough to wear his watch on the right wrist. Maybe theres hope for him yet.

 

[george garside]

- get into the habit of touching the bass lightly , as if red hot. there is nothing worse than turgid bass playing. Of course there are places where long drawn out bass notes are required but use the red hot technique as the default method

Good list George though Id be keen not to take the red hot bass technique too far. I really dont like pippety pop bass playing. Im sure we can all agree that musicality is key.

Tom, I was thinking in terms of advice for relative beginners as many seem to have difficulty in tapping the bass lightly. I agree that musicality is the key and that once experience is gained at light tapping the whole range of bass techniques can be explored.

george

 

[Alan Sharkis]

Alan Sharkis wrote ….so the idea again is to slow down until the passage can be executed with all fingers in contact or near-contact with the keys. In general, its a bad idea to equate speed with skill. As my current teacher says, If you chase speed, it will turn around and bite you in the butt! So, practice slowly, and speed will take care of itself.

Alan, I like that philosophy very much; never heard it before but it will help me as I am always concerned with bringing a piece up to speed whilst at the same time observing all the other necessary skills.
So, thank you for sharing of this Jem of wisdom, it is much appreciated.

Youre very welcome. I can pass along a lot of my teachers philosophy, if its not too boring. Im lucky that he is one of the few of us who not only learned from his mistakes, but remembers the process and passes on what he learned.

Alan

 

[Happy girl]

Alan, it is never boring passing on good philosophy. Some of us don’t have the privilege of having a good teacher to help us along & are not able to meet with other accordionists to learn from.

I am like a blank sheet of blotting paper soaking up all the wisdom available; so thank you to all experienced members for your continual generosity in giving.

 

[losthobos]

Is it ok if I call my bad habits 'Style' <EMOJI seq="1f609">?</EMOJI>

 

[Happy girl]

Yes, a rose is just as sweet under any other name.

 

[Alan Sharkis]

Is it ok if I call my bad habits Style <EMOJI seq=1f609>?</EMOJI>

Its OK to call bad habits style ... as long as you continue to knock them down and dont convince yourself that your style will lead to success!