Hohner Club III m

[Elizabeth]

I have to tried to relocate the very kind person from San Diego i believe it was, who offered me his roland cba for the cost of shipping. That project got somewhat put aside and i have been trying to tind him again to express my sincerest thanks for his offer but that the project to learn a cba has gone on the back burner for now. Thank you, if you are reading this! I will keep trying to find you.

In the meantime, while i continue to contemplate what new small pa to trade my giant pa in for, a friend gave me his hohner club and asked if i could figure it out. So tonight i have been scouring the internet tor any teaching/learning materials and videos, and am happy that i have figured a little bit out!
Any comments, suggestings,hints, for tinding info and materials? Is it fun to play? I played some tunes on it that were scored for a bavarian button box by joe smiel.
Okay, what fun!

 

[Elizabeth]

Thank you very much!
I saw the keyboard layout there.
But am wondering about actual playing. Should one avoid doing a lot of ins and outs to play a tune, or try to play in different rows to avoid jerkiness, does that question even make sense….

 

[Elizabeth]

Im trying to understand what im reading about this club accordion and what i am hearing and seeing.
So it is a c/f.
So the c row plays arpeggiated C chord pushing in, and G7 chord on the pull out? Yet you can play the whole c scale going in and out up the c row like a harmonica?
And the f row plays f chord going in and C 7 chord pulling out?

I tried playing some bavarian easy waltzes written by Joe smiel on the f row. The pitches align correctly. But this little club requires more air than the big bb. Or more effort to get enough air.

A friend has one of these and her playing is always so jerky and choppy, i guess because shes always changing direction. I have never heard a legato passage…

 

[Dingo40]

She simply lacks experience. Many of our local folk musicians play various melodeons. The change of direction gives the music a certain distinctive rhythmic punchiness not replicable on other accordions: all good!

 

[TomBR]

The Club system is a bit different from a normal melodeon and so is a Club IIIm. I had one for a while. I would say it's best suited to a fairly specific style of northern European, ok Germanic, style of music where you play across the rows with not too many bellows direction changes. What you've been playing sounds ideal.

There's even a form of tablature notation used by Club players in this style. It looks like normal staff notation music but the note heads correspond to buttons, not notes.

For an immensely enthusiastic discussion of the Club system visit Jax Delaguerre's pages.
http://www.delaguerre.com/delaguerre/pedagogy/club/toc.html

Good luck,
Tom

 

[cat]

Hi - lucky you!

My first accordion was a club III - purchased in complete ignorance beyond knowing it was a type of melodeon, from a strings-type music store. That was some 15-years ago, and the club is still my preferred box. Of course it's not as versatile as CBA or PA. But of the melodeon-type boxes, it is among the most versatile (in that it is chromatic within its range). It is the preferred instrument for S American chamame, forro, cumbia, et al - as well as excellent for French folk, a bit of Irish/Scots, as well as the whole Bavarian scene - for which it was originally designed.

With a club, you get everything on the draw, making smooth, legato playing natural, as well as effective dynamic articulation. So song accompaniment is excellent. One of the first things I do when I pull it out is play La vie en Rose, Amelie, etc - very good with the III's lush voice.

And we can easily play in/out along the rows, jigs and hornpipes, holiday tunes, folk songs, etc, exploiting its "normal melodeon" characteristics.

Melodeons are very easy to play simply (the amount of rhythmic syncopation one can impart makes them very fun), and are intuitive for many - great for beginners, kids, harmonica players, etc .





"... But this little club requires more air than the big bb. Or more effort to get enough air.

A friend has one of these and her playing is always so jerky and choppy, i guess because shes always changing direction. I have never heard a legato passage…"

It's all in the air button - it does take a bit of time to develop its artful deployment. The air hole on a club is much larger than on 'normal' melodeons, enabling huge dumps/draws of air very quickly. This aids expression.

 

[Elizabeth]

Cat,
Thank you for your input, insight and those lovely videos.
The club reminds me of my Bavarian four row button box. You can play very simple tunes just going in and out only on the row. As the out tonality complements the in tonality. I tried playing the same tune on the F row of the Bavarian button box on the F row of the club. And it seem to make sense both times.

My next step is to try playing some tunes on the club where I go cross row. And to tackle the bases. I think I figured out what those tonalities are.

 

[John Doe]

Like most things practice is the answer. I sprang for a Liliput (25 button club system to noodle on while watching mind rot TV) simply because the Morino club system is too ungainly (medium PA weight/size) to play without fully engaging in playing it and I was just not putting in enough time to "touch type" as opposed to "hunt and peck" at the notes.

The Liliput solved that and I now make abhorent sounds -pleasing to me, the dog, and the cats if less so to other humans- on the Morino with relative ease.

I realize that this is a response to a pretty old post and you've probably either punted and relegated the III M to the "when I get around to it" collection or have fully mastered it but none the less I attach a 31 key (as in the III M De Luxe) button map. The available charts on line seemed to skip over the 31 button set up.

Best wishes-

Henry

PS Even in the world of trumpets, sax's, flutes et al where instruments of any number of materials are hawked their is wild disagreement on the effect if any of materials on the sound produced. Double blind tests cast grave doubts on the effects but a rule of thumb seems to be that, coincidentally; the more expensive the material the more exquisite the sound. Just ask the marketing departments... For many players there does seem to be a difference in feedback to the players- whether listeners can tell the difference is far more open to question. And for the players perception is very much influenced by expectation, making testimonials a bit murky. (all this in reference to your other thread on brass cassottos which I was reluctant to wade into- Milton Berle might dive in but yours truly- not so much)

 

[Elizabeth]

That was an old original post, which i had forgot about. Thanks for the chart too!
A friend gave me his club c/f box back then,and said make sense of this for me.
I gave it back to him after awhile and havent seen it in a year and a half.
Thanks also for your comments regarding brass cassotto. Always appreciate getting educated!

 

[John Doe]

I realize that this is a response to a pretty old post and you've probably either punted and relegated the III M to the "when I get around to it" collection or have fully mastered it but none the less I attach a 31 key (as in the III M De Luxe) button map. The available charts on line seemed to skip over the 31 button set up.

It would, of course have been slightly more helpful had I attached a diagram of a 31 key Club layout vice a non-existant 32 key set up. In my enthusiastic Paint editing I pasted in one helper key too many. So sue me! Correct layout attached;