You are right. Well, that is unforgivable. We don't need dummy keys. We need working ones!
Basso accordion
- Thread starter timg147
- Start date
Call me a lightweight and cheat, but I think I'd play this with my right hand as I'd be more likely to play the right notes!
I have played it on my bass accordion, but had to transpose it down to Eb so that I could reach the highest notes.
I've been meaning to do it once again on my bayan which of course has all the notes.
I played this on my bass accordion as it was a concert by an orchestra in which I play the bass accordion.
What hand do you think a bass accordion is played with?
Just the prelude or the entire suite?
Lovely playing!
Stan62
Member
Yes the C# and D are dummy keys as per attached photo. It seems common practice to use a keyboard longer than required in these bass accordions. Maybe at some point in time the manufacturers also made bigger instruments with more notes. The Scandalli also has dummy D and D# at the low end and F, F#, G at the high end.
Attachments
Well... the Bugari and Pigini bass accordions are low C to high D, no dummy keys. (The CBA Pigini goes up to high D#. It has additional dummy buttons though, to make the keyboard look bigger.) I saw a Giulietti bass accordion before, with the dummy low B, and going up to C without two more dummy keys. Bass accordions that are only going up to C have become less popular because more and more music asks for the bass going up to D.
Stan62
Member
That's interesting, modern requirements for instruments are always changing. I imagine it would not have been too difficult to add one extra note.
Maybe they made this accordion as a runner up model to the one without missing notes. It's still a fun accordion to play and sounds really cool
Interesting, because I play that prelude in the L register on the right side. Why M? Is it a question of upper range, or a question of avoiding the break after the "true" bass reed plates? LM on the treble would be more "cello-like" on my instrument (I think some accordions with named registers call LMH "Cello" instead of the more customary "Organ") regarding sustained note sounds, but the response of the single L reed feels more "instrument-like" to me.
On the right side with a regular bayan I would play the prelude in the L register of course. (The range is then E1 to G6.)
On the bass accordion I have the only single-reed register is L. The range is then C1 to D#4. The range used in the prelude (if I remember correctly) is C2 to G4. (The cello only goes down to C2). If the bass accordion had a single M register I could use it (without transposing) because its range would become C2 to D#5.
So on the Giulietti bass accordion with registers (L, M, LM) and a 37 note range starting at C the prelude can be played on the M register. But on my larger bass accordion with registers L, LM, LH and LMH and a 40 note range it cannot be played. That's sad.
You do remember correctly. But maybe then the typical role of a bass accordion is more that of a double bass. Admittedly the typical piano accordion does not deliver C2 on the treble side (if we are not talking beasts like the Hohner Imperator VS). But the more lyrical ranges of the cello tend to be mapped to third accordion in LM in accordion ensemble arrangements.
True, in an ensemble arrangement I also typically place the cello part in the last accordion voice (mostly 4rd voice in my arrangements), in the LM register, intended for instruments with LM in cassotto. Sometimes I even choose just L for an even more mellow sound, but that requires accordions with good L response times in the low notes.
When making arrangements I often have to juggle a bit to make it work with these "tiny" piano accordions that have only 41 notes... Arrangements are often a challenge because of the difference between the range of these accordions and the range of for instance the viola and the cello. The viola goes down to C3, so the accordions have to use L or LM to reach that far down. The cello goes down to C2, so on these small accordions the bass accordion or the accordion's melody bass (if available) has to come to the rescue to go down far enough. This just goes to show that even when you start out with a string quintet (2 violins, 1 viola, 1 cello, 1 double base) making an arrangement for accordion ensemble requires more than just copying and making all the accordion parts (not the bass) use the treble clef. And you also need to take into account the difference in range so that when a viola part or a violin part makes an octave jump because the viola or violin cannot go lower you can often make the arrangement sound nicer by going beyond the range of the string instruments.
If you listen to the start of that recording I posted of "Ave Cello" (which has most of the cello prelude in the bass part, you could almost hear a cello instead of the bass accordion playing just the L reeds. (This bass accordion does not have a cassotto, nor an "Umlenkstimmstock".)
Also, you can hear that at the end the cello melody switches over to accordions for the final run that requires going up beyond D4.
Stan62
Member
Wow, a three reed bass accordion, those low notes must sound powerful!! I guess that in order to get the "M" by itself
you could remove the grill and push the "L" lever shut with your finger
Why would the L reed bank even have register sliders when all registrations include L? A single slider reduces the possible opening area by half, a double slider (like in a Morino VIM) by a third. Granted, my own accordion cheats by closing the bass reed chambers with flaps:Wow, a three reed bass accordion, those low notes must sound powerful!! I guess that in order to get the "M" by itself
you could remove the grill and push the "L" lever shut with your finger
Stan62
Member
Oops, thanks Dak, I stand corrected! I didn't realize that the low reed bank was permanently open.Why would the L reed bank even have register sliders when all registrations include L? A single slider reduces the possible opening area by half, a double slider (like in a Morino VIM) by a third. Granted, my own accordion cheats by closing the bass reed chambers with flaps:
As that one picture (shown by Dak) illustrates a reed block for the L reeds without a register slider allows for the holes in the reed block to be larger and the walls between the notes to be narrower. Of course it is possible to come up with a different mechanism (which I have seen in a modified old Pigini Sirius) where the register slide moves in and out from the side. Sadly, in this bass accordion there is no room to let a register slider to move sideways.Wow, a three reed bass accordion, those low notes must sound powerful!! I guess that in order to get the "M" by itself
you could remove the grill and push the "L" lever shut with your finger
Well, that's the reason for the flaps in mine. But it probably makes reedblock construction too complicated to have made it beyond the prototype stage.
