Early attempt at playing CBA

[dan]

I got my first chromatic button accordion (a Hagstrom) in June and am loving it. This is one of my favorite pieces from the Galliano method book. Coordinating RH and LH was a real challenge. Smiling at the same time and not flaring my nostrils has proved impossible.
The thread on Bad Habits motivated me to post this. Are my bass lines turgid? Are my bellows changes sloppy? Never having worked with a teacher, Im not quite sure. Id appreciate some pointers. If I have any good habits, I wouldnt mind hearing that too.

 

[george garside]

Dan , I would say that you are making very good progress is you have only been playing for 4 months. There is always room for improvement even after years of playing but you have nothing to worry about .

george

 

[Panya37]

Bravo - good work for just four months. If you are seeking constructive feedback I would only repeat the comment made in the 'bad habits' thread about not playing faster than you are able to play the tune correctly. You have a little stumble in a couple of places, but if you slowed down just a teeny bit I bet you could play it faultlessly. Once you can consistently repeat that, then is the time to gradually and effortlessly speed up. You haven't been playing long enough to develop entrenched bad habits yet; if you get the slowing down habit in place now it will be a good habit that really bears rewarding fruits.

 

[dan]

Thanks for the encouragement!

Bravo - good work for just four months. If you are seeking constructive feedback I would only repeat the comment made in the bad habits thread about not playing faster than you are able to play the tune correctly.

Good advice. Unfortunately, playing slowly gives me time to think about my fingers and make mistakes I wouldnt make when playing a 2-4 measure chunk at speed. Guess I should do more hands together slow practice to work out the coordination issues.

You havent been playing long enough to develop entrenched bad habits yet

Well, I played piano accordion for 5 years so plenty of time to develop bad habits. But the setback involved in learning a new RH manual has been a good excuse to revisit my posture, practice routine, etc.

 

[debra]

Quick progress indeed (as others already said).
From what I can see what you are struggling with the most is not the fingering but the bellows control.
Try to not change the bellows direction between two fast notes but always after a longer note.

 

[Anyanka]

Really rather good!

 

[dan]

From what I can see what you are struggling with the most is not the fingering but the bellows control.
Try to not change the bellows direction between two fast notes but always after a longer note.

Thanks, Paul! I hadnt noticed it before, but I do tend to switch bellows direction when I get uncomfortable and not when it makes sense musically.
I went back to some easier exercises and am trying to follow the bellows directions in my method book but am finding it difficult. If the four bars IN are louder than the four bars OUT or have a longer bass run, I sometimes run out of air and lose a note or two, which sounds even worse than sloppy phrasing. Would it be a good idea to start a piece with bellows slightly open so I have a margin of error?

 

[Glenn]

Starting slightly open is not unusual, especially with some introductions to pieces which when they get going are rather regular.