Hello and greetings from southern Wisconsin

[eoconnor999]

Hello all. I'm pretty new on this forum. I took lessons while in elementary school and just started up again within the past year. I'm taking some Irish sessions classes and would appreciate any guidance on how to play faster with accuracy. The class I'm taking is multi-instrument and the instructors don't play accordion. I love the songs but the class plays them very fast . I look forward to benefitting from everyone's expertise.

 

[JerryPH]

Hi there and welcome! I think you are going to get a healthy welcome from another Wisconsonian quite soon.

I have some good and bad news for you.

Bad news... there is NO magic recipe to get faster easily, it is all going to depend on how much time you put in to practicing. The good news? To get fast is easy, all it takes is a lot of concerted focused practice.

 

[Tom]

Hello all. I'm pretty new on this forum. I took lessons while in elementary school and just started up again within the past year. I'm taking some Irish sessions classes and would appreciate any guidance on how to play faster with accuracy. The class I'm taking is multi-instrument and the instructors don't play accordion. I love the songs but the class plays them very fast . I look forward to benefitting from everyone's expertise.

Jerry is right! And he is so gracious that if you ask him, he will tell you exactly what you need to do. Involves repetitive exercises (many people recommend Hanon) done at a speed you can accomplish accurately, slowly speeding up to lightening fast. The songs I like to play don’t require speed, so I stick with other challenges.

And……warmest greetings from another cheesehead, from Packerland!

 

[eoconnor999]

Jerry is right! And he is so gracious that if you ask him, he will tell you exactly what you need to do. Involves repetitive exercises (many people recommend Hanon) done at a speed you can accomplish accurately, slowly speeding up to lightening fast. The songs I like to play don’t require speed, so I stick with other challenges.

And……warmest greetings from another cheesehead, from Packerland!

Thanks for the welcome, Tom! Can you tell me more about Hanon?

 

[eoconnor999]

Hi there and welcome! I think you are going to get a healthy welcome from another Wisconsonian quite soon.

I have some good and bad news for you.

Bad news... there is NO magic recipe to get faster easily, it is all going to depend on how much time you put in to practicing. The good news? To get fast is easy, all it takes is a lot of concerted focused practice.

Thanks, Jerry!

 

[Tom]

Thanks for the welcome, Tom! Can you tell me more about Hanon?

Hi E,

The “Hanon” are a series of exercises (I imagine by a Mr. Hanon) that were written for piano players to gain speed, strength and accuracy. They have been arranged for accordion players and have stood the test of time. Being recommended on here over and over for people looking to improve technically. You can order a book of them, and I am sure find them online somewhere.

For a good introduction, check out this YouTube. This guy, Terry Lee, demonstrates them, and also has a series of other exercises. I am not an expert on these, but if you have questions, JerryPH is your man.




Terry Lee says,

“If you want to become a superior accordionst you must practice finger exercises daily. The secret of success is daily repetition. These Hanon exercises will lead to mastery of keybloard technique. Once these 15 exercises are learned it will take 11 mintues to play them.
This is a quote from Charles-Louis Hanon in regards to musicianship "beautiful, clear, clean, pearling execution....." Hanon also said "after diligent practice, your fingers will attain astonishing facility of execution."
To become a complete muisician/accordionist you must practice several exercies daily. Hanon, Scales, Arpeggios, etc, chord inversions. I will be adding more exercies in the future.
Professional athletes exercise daily - so must champion accordionsts.
If you would like a PDF copy of these Hanon for Accordion exercises please email me at: accordionteacherterry@gmail.com

1- Learn the exercises then play with me daily or use your metronone.
1. Play one exercise Legato ( smooth and connected)
3. Play the next exercise staccato. (tap the key like it is red hot)
4. Don't look at your hands. Visualize the keyboard in your mind.

Good Luck.”

 

[JerryPH]

The one thing that I learned is something very obvious... start with the easy things, the things that if you are building your house of music represent the foundations of this house. Build a good foundation, you build a better stronger house.

For someone right at the beginning, that means as a minimum knowing where the notes are on your right and left hands. I am a big proponent of learning to read music. You cannot truly understand a language if you can mispronouce a few words, but if you can read, the best books in that language suddenly become available to you... so though its not a priority for everyone, it is something that I strongly suggest you do at the start, that way even if there are no teachers in your area, you can reference a book and work on the foundations from there.

As one progresses, add the skills of proper practicing techniques, good form, memorization and yes, even add playing by ear.

Have no illusions, playing well is a challenge, it is not a week or month thing, it is a lifetime thing, but YOU decide how far you want to take it. If you want to stop after mastering "Mary Had a Little Lamb", thats cool and everything in between, up to and including if you want to become the world's next accordion sensation.

Keep it fun, becuase the most important thing I can ask is... if it's not fun, and you are not having a good time, why are you doing it?

 

[JerryPH]

Thanks for the welcome, Tom! Can you tell me more about Hanon?

I'll see if I can maybe find a few seconds today to make a super fast video about what it is and what the goals are.

 

[colinm]

Hello all. I'm pretty new on this forum. I took lessons while in elementary school and just started up again within the past year. I'm taking some Irish sessions classes and would appreciate any guidance on how to play faster with accuracy. The class I'm taking is multi-instrument and the instructors don't play accordion. I love the songs but the class plays them very fast . I look forward to benefitting from everyone's expertis

Before you play any tune you need to get the fingering sorted and use the same fingering each time you play it ( For example the fingering is shown all Hanon exercises)