G
Ganza
Guest
Check out this guys other clips as well, hes brilliant:
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Was the accordion hidden somewhere? lol
G
Ganza
Guest
JerryPH said:
hahaha thanks Jerry - Ive just updated it (see above) !!!! It was the wrong link ;-)
M
maugein96
Guest
Hi Ganza,
Brilliant stuff, although I prefer him when there's no vocalist. I always enjoy Brazilian accordion and the players (usually) seem to get a nice tone out of those big PAs.
Finally got the Hal Leonard piano book you recommended. I'll need to go through it a stage at a time instead of trying to play the whole tunes straight through without practising the exercises first.
When you see and hear guys like this playing you begin to realise that it's not just going to be a case of learning the tunes. Things they do naturally probably cannot really be learnt if you've spent a lot of time playing other styles beforehand. I'll be happy if I can nail the basic melodies down and play them at what sounds like Brazilian tempo. I'm starting to hear a Brazilian "sound" or ambience amongst the players I've listened to, regardless of what they're playing, and I don't know if I could ever reproduce that. I think you would need to play Brazilian music from a young age so that it was natural, if you know what I mean. The fact that your girlfriend is Brazilian and you've visited the country will no doubt help you. I was of the opinion that the authors of the Hal Leonard book were telling us that people trying to play the tunes will never replicate the authentic sound of Brazilian music, and if I've got it right I'd be inclined to agree with them.
Whether that is the case or not I really enjoyed the clip, and I've already heard the player doing other great stuff on You Tube. I think I've maybe reached an age where I have to be realistic about how many new tricks an old dog can learn, and am quite content to listen to the great playing from Brazil, in the knowledge that I'll probably never really be able to play it very well.
Thanks Ganza. Great post!
Brilliant stuff, although I prefer him when there's no vocalist. I always enjoy Brazilian accordion and the players (usually) seem to get a nice tone out of those big PAs.
Finally got the Hal Leonard piano book you recommended. I'll need to go through it a stage at a time instead of trying to play the whole tunes straight through without practising the exercises first.
When you see and hear guys like this playing you begin to realise that it's not just going to be a case of learning the tunes. Things they do naturally probably cannot really be learnt if you've spent a lot of time playing other styles beforehand. I'll be happy if I can nail the basic melodies down and play them at what sounds like Brazilian tempo. I'm starting to hear a Brazilian "sound" or ambience amongst the players I've listened to, regardless of what they're playing, and I don't know if I could ever reproduce that. I think you would need to play Brazilian music from a young age so that it was natural, if you know what I mean. The fact that your girlfriend is Brazilian and you've visited the country will no doubt help you. I was of the opinion that the authors of the Hal Leonard book were telling us that people trying to play the tunes will never replicate the authentic sound of Brazilian music, and if I've got it right I'd be inclined to agree with them.
Whether that is the case or not I really enjoyed the clip, and I've already heard the player doing other great stuff on You Tube. I think I've maybe reached an age where I have to be realistic about how many new tricks an old dog can learn, and am quite content to listen to the great playing from Brazil, in the knowledge that I'll probably never really be able to play it very well.
Thanks Ganza. Great post!
G
Ganza
Guest
Hi Maugein,
So glad you enjoyed it Yes, Isaac do Acordeon is a legend! The girl singing with him is just ok, but he's great.
You know, I've been pondering it and I think the key about Brazilian accordion playing (and perhaps Brazilian music in general) is:
1) the "extended" chords used
2) the "passing" chords used
3) the way they smoothly transition between playing very rhythmic segments to long flowing chords
4) the way they seem to hear a background beat, whether they are playing rhythmically or not at any given time, even if they are playing alone.
The only equivalent I can think of in Anglo music, in terms of the way Brazilian musicians just cycle through chords/extended chords/passing chords is jazz or gospel (e.g. Gospel organ). No surprises they're also Afro-American musics.
I think sometimes we don't realise how much African rhythms have influenced not only the rhythms themselves, but the WAY the chords of particular songs/styles are played. This is only clear in (to me at least) SOME American music, but Brazilian music it seems omni-present.
Re. me understanding the music haha, in some ways I do, but then just the other day, I picked up the cavaquinho (Brazilian ukulele, that drives the heartbeat of samba) after hearing a YouTube clip and realised, wow I can STILL improve my samba rhythm, after 4 years of playing it...
With the Hal Leonard book, I think it's a matter of learning the rhythms first and then applying them to any particular Brazilian piece (as long as it's in the same style as the rhythm). But as I said above, that's easier said than done... Haha
Would be great to one day do a Brazilian music/accordion tour, all over the country!
So glad you enjoyed it Yes, Isaac do Acordeon is a legend! The girl singing with him is just ok, but he's great.
You know, I've been pondering it and I think the key about Brazilian accordion playing (and perhaps Brazilian music in general) is:
1) the "extended" chords used
2) the "passing" chords used
3) the way they smoothly transition between playing very rhythmic segments to long flowing chords
4) the way they seem to hear a background beat, whether they are playing rhythmically or not at any given time, even if they are playing alone.
The only equivalent I can think of in Anglo music, in terms of the way Brazilian musicians just cycle through chords/extended chords/passing chords is jazz or gospel (e.g. Gospel organ). No surprises they're also Afro-American musics.
I think sometimes we don't realise how much African rhythms have influenced not only the rhythms themselves, but the WAY the chords of particular songs/styles are played. This is only clear in (to me at least) SOME American music, but Brazilian music it seems omni-present.
Re. me understanding the music haha, in some ways I do, but then just the other day, I picked up the cavaquinho (Brazilian ukulele, that drives the heartbeat of samba) after hearing a YouTube clip and realised, wow I can STILL improve my samba rhythm, after 4 years of playing it...
With the Hal Leonard book, I think it's a matter of learning the rhythms first and then applying them to any particular Brazilian piece (as long as it's in the same style as the rhythm). But as I said above, that's easier said than done... Haha
Would be great to one day do a Brazilian music/accordion tour, all over the country!
M
maugein96
Guest
With European stuff it's a bit easier to play to a decent standard, but it is no easy matter trying to sell French onions to the French.
I have occasionally "performed" in front of small groups of French people from Bailleul and the surrounding area of France. Bailleul is the twin town of Hawick where I now live. First question they always ask is why do foreigners always make an association between French people and the accordion? That takes a bit of getting used to and tends to set you back a bit when you are just about to play. After I had hammered out a few of the old standards I was asked if I never knew any of the more modern accordion tunes, as the stuff I was playing was very old-fashioned. This came to light when a wag from Ghyvelde began to whistle in the manner they used to at the old guinguettes when I was playing "Aubade d'Oiseaux", an admittedly very old musette tune. They complimented me on my gallant efforts, saying that I wasn't too bad for a foreign player, but why had I taken all that trouble to bother learning music that even they found a bit stale? Just an observation, but it did strike a "chord" with me.
Going back to Brazilian music, I think you have got all the requirements just about spot on. No doubt there are players out there who could assimilate all of the necessary nuances to convince Brazilian listeners that they had what it takes. Getting it all together would be a fairly tall order for me at least in view of the experiences I have described above. However, we could all have a lot of fun trying it out!
I have occasionally "performed" in front of small groups of French people from Bailleul and the surrounding area of France. Bailleul is the twin town of Hawick where I now live. First question they always ask is why do foreigners always make an association between French people and the accordion? That takes a bit of getting used to and tends to set you back a bit when you are just about to play. After I had hammered out a few of the old standards I was asked if I never knew any of the more modern accordion tunes, as the stuff I was playing was very old-fashioned. This came to light when a wag from Ghyvelde began to whistle in the manner they used to at the old guinguettes when I was playing "Aubade d'Oiseaux", an admittedly very old musette tune. They complimented me on my gallant efforts, saying that I wasn't too bad for a foreign player, but why had I taken all that trouble to bother learning music that even they found a bit stale? Just an observation, but it did strike a "chord" with me.
Going back to Brazilian music, I think you have got all the requirements just about spot on. No doubt there are players out there who could assimilate all of the necessary nuances to convince Brazilian listeners that they had what it takes. Getting it all together would be a fairly tall order for me at least in view of the experiences I have described above. However, we could all have a lot of fun trying it out!
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