choosing your preferred accordion sound

[wirralaccordion]

If you search Harmonika szerviz
on Youtube it would seem that this accordion shop owner in Hungary plays the same sequence of short tunes on different accordions with different registrations.
I suppose it helps that the owner is an ex-champion.

 

[dunlustin]

Closer to home try
Accordions South West on youtube
although not repeating the same tune.
(no connection)

 

[maugein96]

If you search Harmonika szerviz
on Youtube it would seem that this accordion shop owner in Hungary plays the same sequence of short tunes on different accordions with different registrations.
I suppose it helps that the owner is an ex-champion.

Hi Phil,

Very interesting link, thanks, and the clip of the 6 row dugmetara Serbian accordion was especially interesting for me, as it explained some of the register combinations.

Andras Dudas is one of the very few accordion repairers in Hungary, and he even does Roland diagnostics and replacement, as well as acoustic repairs. 

There was an accordion shop years ago in the Scottish Borders, where the staff were all PA players. However, they were all expected to be able to play at least one tune on CBA for demonstration purposes in case a customer called to buy one. Looks like Domino fits the bill here, as he plays the tune on both B and C system CBAs as well as PA. I thought CBAs were only really found in Hungary near the Serbian border, but your link shows otherwise, as Andras appears to be based in Keszthely, which is by Lake Balaton, nowhere near the Serbian border. 

That reminds me. Nearly time to sow the Kalocsai paprika and Kecskemeti tomato seeds! 

Thanks again.

 

[wirralaccordion]

Closer to home try
Accordions South West on youtube
although not repeating the same tune.
(no connection)

I'm already a keen follower of Basil's. In fact, when I saw a PA on Youtube that the seller claimed had been tuned by him 2 years ago I finished up buying it for this reason, after checking the veracity of the statement with Basil, even though I didn't need another PA. My personal favorites are La Varenne and Caravan. 
P.S. Would you be the noble Richard of Roland renown?

 

[debra]

Very helpful site indeed!
But watch carefully whether the mentioned accordion is indeed the one being played.
The video that says it is an Atlantic IV N is actually an Atlantic IV (not N, so it has the "jalousie" which the N lacks).

 

[wirralaccordion]

If you search Harmonika szerviz
on Youtube it would seem that this accordion shop owner in Hungary plays the same sequence of short tunes on different accordions with different registrations.
I suppose it helps that the owner is an ex-champion.

Hi Phil,

Very interesting link, thanks, and the clip of the 6 row dugmetara Serbian accordion was especially interesting for me, as it explained some of the register combinations.

Andras Dudas is one of the very few accordion repairers in Hungary, and he even does Roland diagnostics and replacement, as well as acoustic repairs. 

There was an accordion shop years ago in the Scottish Borders, where the staff were all PA players. However, they were all expected to be able to play at least one tune on CBA for demonstration purposes in case a customer called to buy one. Looks like Domino fits the bill here, as he plays the tune on both B and C system CBAs as well as PA. I thought CBAs were only really found in Hungary near the Serbian border, but your link shows otherwise, as Andras appears to be based in Keszthely, which is by Lake Balaton, nowhere near the Serbian border. 

That reminds me. Nearly time to sow the Kalocsai paprika and Kecskemeti tomato seeds! 

Thanks again.

Hi John,
So which accordion do you like the sound of the best ( and the least )?
Phil

 

[maugein96]

If you search Harmonika szerviz
on Youtube it would seem that this accordion shop owner in Hungary plays the same sequence of short tunes on different accordions with different registrations.
I suppose it helps that the owner is an ex-champion.

Hi Phil,

Very interesting link, thanks, and the clip of the 6 row dugmetara Serbian accordion was especially interesting for me, as it explained some of the register combinations.

Andras Dudas is one of the very few accordion repairers in Hungary, and he even does Roland diagnostics and replacement, as well as acoustic repairs. 

There was an accordion shop years ago in the Scottish Borders, where the staff were all PA players. However, they were all expected to be able to play at least one tune on CBA for demonstration purposes in case a customer called to buy one. Looks like Domino fits the bill here, as he plays the tune on both B and C system CBAs as well as PA. I thought CBAs were only really found in Hungary near the Serbian border, but your link shows otherwise, as Andras appears to be based in Keszthely, which is by Lake Balaton, nowhere near the Serbian border. 

That reminds me. Nearly time to sow the Kalocsai paprika and Kecskemeti tomato seeds! 

Thanks again.

Hi John,
So which accordion do you like the sound of the best ( and the least )?
Phil

Phil,

I think there are about 30 recordings of different boxes on there with different tunings, so its a difficult choice. I liked the Ranco, Scandalli, and the Welty Supita (think they have hand made reeds in them). Worst was the Weltmeister Senola V, badly in need of slight adjustment with my 10lb hammer!

The big Hohners, much revered by many, have never really appealed to me, but I suppose I am biased towards French sounds. Some of those Hohners had a lot of metal in their construction, but Im not really sure what models are involved. 

Hohners were once very popular in Scotland, but Im not sure if that is still the case these days. 

To be fair on the accordions, I dont think the recording quality was that great. 

Hope thats been of some help.

 

[Glug]

Anybody know what tune he's playing ?
eg. on the Ranco or Scandali Brevetto video.

Quite interesting to hear the difference between violin and full musette, even if it's on different accordions.

 

[maugein96]

Anybody know what tune he's playing ?
eg. on the Ranco or Scandali Brevetto video.

Quite interesting to hear the difference between violin and full musette, even if it's on different accordions.

Tune is Domino, a French chanson/musette classic by the Italian PA player, Louis Ferrari, who moved to France and composed a lot of tunes there. His nephew was Tony Murena, one of the best known Italian/French accordionists in the musette world, although I appreciate hardly anybody these days will have heard of either of them.

 

[wirralaccordion]

Anybody know what tune he's playing ?
eg. on the Ranco or Scandali Brevetto video.

Quite interesting to hear the difference between violin and full musette, even if it's on different accordions.

Tune is Domino, a French chanson/musette classic by the Italian PA player, Louis Ferrari, who moved to France and composed a lot of tunes there. His nephew was Tony Murena, one of the best known Italian/French accordionists in the musette world, although I appreciate hardly anybody these days will have heard of either of them.

And with quite an extended single note bass line I think.

Don't know what the other two tunes are though, maybe made up by himself?

 

[Glug]

Cheers.

Domino is in Easy Accordion Solos page 72
Copyright 1950.

I'll put it in musescore and see how similar it is.

 

[maugein96]

Cheers.

Domino is in Easy Accordion Solos page 72
Copyright 1950.

I'll put it in musescore and see how similar it is.

Original tune was written in Em, but there have been countless variations on it over the years. 

It sort of fell into line with the "Romantic Paris chanson" style, that was popular with various American composers, and was probably the main reason why it became a big hit in its day. 

The smoother legato playing style of PA often suited such material, as Gershwin and other such composers were pianists. 

As big name French players began to tour North America as backing players for famous French vocalists in the first half of the 20th century, they came back with new ideas, and the "jazzy musette" was born. That phenomenon was a contributory factor to the demise of the old fashioned musette style, which some would say was for the better. 

Hope you get the tune down. It isn't really all that difficult, although there are one or two chord progressions in it that may be a bit unusual, depending on what you play already.

 

[wirralaccordion]

Cheers.

Domino is in Easy Accordion Solos page 72
Copyright 1950.

I'll put it in musescore and see how similar it is.

Original tune was written in Em, but there have been countless variations on it over the years. 

It sort of fell into line with the "Romantic Paris chanson" style, that was popular with various American composers, and was probably the main reason why it became a big hit in its day. 

The smoother legato playing style of PA often suited such material, as Gershwin and other such composers were pianists. 

As big name French players began to tour North America as backing players for famous French vocalists in the first half of the 20th century, they came back with new ideas, and the "jazzy musette" was born. That phenomenon was a contributory factor to the demise of the old fashioned musette style, which some would say was for the better. 

Hope you get the tune down. It isn't really all that difficult, although there are one or two chord progressions in it that may be a bit unusual, depending on what you play already.

"although there are one or two chord progressions in it that may be a bit unusual"

I assume you are refering to the second part of Domino which he doesn't actually play on the video clips - I agree with you on that, the second part of the tune doesn't "flow" in the way that the first part does.

 

[maugein96]

Original tune was written in Em, but there have been countless variations on it over the years. 

It sort of fell into line with the "Romantic Paris chanson" style, that was popular with various American composers, and was probably the main reason why it became a big hit in its day. 

The smoother legato playing style of PA often suited such material, as Gershwin and other such composers were pianists. 

As big name French players began to tour North America as backing players for famous French vocalists in the first half of the 20th century, they came back with new ideas, and the "jazzy musette" was born. That phenomenon was a contributory factor to the demise of the old fashioned musette style, which some would say was for the better. 

Hope you get the tune down. It isn't really all that difficult, although there are one or two chord progressions in it that may be a bit unusual, depending on what you play already.
"although there are one or two chord progressions in it that may be a bit unusual"

I assume you are refering to the second part of Domino which he doesn't actually play on the video clips - I agree with you on that, the second part of the tune doesn't "flow" in the way that the first part does.

Phil,


I can't remember what the shifts are off the top of my head but I think the first one goes from Em to D Major. 

Most purely instrumental accordion pieces in French accordion of the day followed a handful of "easy" chord progressions that were easy (too easy) to commit to memory. Ferrari favoured playing his basses high up on the bass keyboard, which was relatively unusual compared to the norm. 

When "swing" valses were introduced, the tendency was to utilise downward "jumps", e.g. from G to Eb, but I believe that the French bass arrangement of 3+3 made some "cheats" possible. I've never played many 3+3 bass accordions, so haven't really looked into it much. I've just had to learn to use the big jumps on the standard 4+2 system, which is now becoming more common, even in France. I've owned about 6 French made accordions, and they've all had what they call 2+4 bass arrangement. It was no great shakes for them to make them like that, as the Swiss market in the French speaking part of that country often called for the same "international type" arrangement.


Basque players in France who use CBA are wizards on the classic "guitar" type Spanish style chord progressions, like Am, G, F, and E, something that most accordionists would take a little time to get used to (I think).

 

[wirralaccordion]

Cheers.

Domino is in Easy Accordion Solos page 72
Copyright 1950.

I'll put it in musescore and see how similar it is.

Original tune was written in Em, but there have been countless variations on it over the years. 

It sort of fell into line with the "Romantic Paris chanson" style, that was popular with various American composers, and was probably the main reason why it became a big hit in its day. 

The smoother legato playing style of PA often suited such material, as Gershwin and other such composers were pianists. 

As big name French players began to tour North America as backing players for famous French vocalists in the first half of the 20th century, they came back with new ideas, and the "jazzy musette" was born. That phenomenon was a contributory factor to the demise of the old fashioned musette style, which some would say was for the better. 

Hope you get the tune down. It isn't really all that difficult, although there are one or two chord progressions in it that may be a bit unusual, depending on what you play already.

"Hope you get the tune down. It isn't really all that difficult"

It's almost a carbon copy of the Shostakovitch Waltz as far as the chords are concerned. In fact, you can easily start off playing one of these two tunes and somewhere in the middle you find that you're playing the other!!

 

[maugein96]

Cheers.

Domino is in Easy Accordion Solos page 72
Copyright 1950.

I'll put it in musescore and see how similar it is.

Original tune was written in Em, but there have been countless variations on it over the years. 

It sort of fell into line with the "Romantic Paris chanson" style, that was popular with various American composers, and was probably the main reason why it became a big hit in its day. 

The smoother legato playing style of PA often suited such material, as Gershwin and other such composers were pianists. 

As big name French players began to tour North America as backing players for famous French vocalists in the first half of the 20th century, they came back with new ideas, and the "jazzy musette" was born. That phenomenon was a contributory factor to the demise of the old fashioned musette style, which some would say was for the better. 

Hope you get the tune down. It isn't really all that difficult, although there are one or two chord progressions in it that may be a bit unusual, depending on what you play already.

"Hope you get the tune down. It isn't really all that difficult"

It's almost a carbon copy of the Shostakovitch Waltz as far as the chords are concerned. In fact, you can easily start off playing one of these two tunes and somewhere in the middle you find that you're playing the other!!

Phil,

Jo Privat must have been influenced by the classics, as some of his compositions contain passages that appear to have been lifted straight out of Bach's work. 

Some musette tunes are so similar I often get them all mixed up, and I rarely play from the scores, as my sight reading is only any good for working the difficult bits out. Anything with more than two or three flats or sharps usually gets the go by, as these days no tune is a "must play". That's the best thing about being a listener. Nothing is too difficult to hear, even although it is a b*****d to play!

 

[Glug]

Here's the Easy Accordion Solos version (complete with 4/3 bass fingering ideas

PDF:  
Musescore:

 

[Tom]

Thanks Glug!