Mind bending??

[Dingo40]

For the jazz player (à la mouth organ)?

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Hi Dingo,

I can only do that when I don't want to and when it doesn't fit in with the tune I am playing.

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

 

[jozz]

very cool if you can master that musically

 

[Dingo40]

Stephen,
Yes, it does sound rather like tuning needed, but there's always someone pushing the envelope!?
Jozz,
Thanks for commenting ??

 

[debra]

it's a nice technique when used properly and when it fits the music.
In this video (I only watched the first minute or so) it is used a lot:

 

[Cheshire Chris]

Interesting. Bending notes is a key (no pun intended ?) part of playing the diatonic harmonica (you can play a full chromatic scale by doing so) but I'd never seen it done on the accordion! Certainly not as dramatic an effect as on the harmonica, where you can take the draw notes down as much as 3 semitones, but noticeable nonetheless.

Chris

 

[TomBR]

Some people have tried modifications that make it easier/more reliable to pitch bend on accordion.

The strange thing about bending on harmonica is that apparently it's the "wrong" reed that's making the sound when you bend, the blow reed is speaking as you bend on the draw.

On accordion, I guess it's just starving the reed of air, and sounds like it!

 

[debra]

On the accordion it's indeed a matter of starving the reed of air, as the opposing reed cannot make any sound with its valve closed. The physics of what causes the bending isn't entirely clear to me. I know that what happens is that as you parly close the pallet while increasing the pressure the bit of air still going through the hole is going faster. It isn't clear to me whether the reed pitch actually changes significantly or whether the pressure/speed different in the air going through the hole versus once it is through (and slowing down) causes the changing pitch we hear through the doppler effect, or perhaps both.
The only time I heard a massive frequency drop (over half an octave) was just before a reed broke. (The reed was already "suddenly out of tune" which was the first sign it was going to break.)