NAMING/REPRESENTATION OF THE REGISTERS - Help needed

[Pinu]

Dear The Accordionists Forum’s members,

I’m Giovanni Volpatti, an engineer with the (weird – at least according to my wife) hobby of making research about the instrument I love, by means of applying my engineering knowledge to the study of the accordion.

I have already finished and published some papers and give a presentation at the ASA (Acoustical Society of American). Here few links for who is interested.
Beyond the Bellows: A Critical Review of Free Reed Instrument Research, Gaps, and Future Innovations (American Journal of Arts and Human Science)
Materials in Accordion Construction: A Comprehensive Review of Traditional and Modern Approaches (Journal of Innovative Research)
Comparative study of higher modes of vibration in cantilever beams: Exact analytical analysis versus FEM analysis for accordion free reed acoustics (The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America)

I’m actually preparing a new paper treating, among others, the topic of “NAMING/REPRESENTATION OF THE REGISTERS”.

I’m actually writing in this forum to ask your support in gathering experiences and feedback from all over the world. I prepared few questions that would help my research:

1-In your accordion, the pre-selected register are named how? Through Text and/or Numbers, and/or Symbol? Which kind of Text/Numbers/Symbol you have? Please mention eventually the brand and model.

2-In the case of Text, in which language is written (Italian, English, French, …)?

3-How are the various types of musette classified (mainly in the case of accordion having 3 set of reeds MMM)?

4-How are named these “classic” pre-set registers (please fill only the one you have/know)?
L, M, H, LM, L M M+, L M M- M+, L M M-, L M- M+, M M+, M M- M+, M M-, M- M+, L M H, M H, M M+ H, M M- M+ H, M- M+ H, M M- H, L M M- M+ H

What I suggest you is to copy-paste my question and embed you answers directly within it.

Thanks a lot in advance for your kind help.

 

[Pinu]

In order to help you guys, I’m posting here an example of an answer based on actually what I’m use to experience myself.

1-In your accordion, the pre-selected register are named how? Through Text and/or Numbers, and/or Symbol? Which kind of Text/Numbers/Symbol you have? Please mention eventually the brand and model. : One accordion has only symbol (bullet points within a circle and 2 lines), second accordion has both symbol (same as the one before) and text.

2-In the case of Text, in which language is written (Italian, English, French, …)? : Italian

3-How are the various types of musette classified (mainly in the case of accordion having 3 set of reeds MMM)? : My 2+2, L M M+ H, is having the names, so I do not have a lot of “musette” registers. M M+ is called “Tremolo”. M M+ H is called “Musette”

4-How are named these “classic” pre-set registers (please fill only the one you have/know)?
My 2+2, L M M+ H, is having the names, so I do not have all cases mentioned
L : Fagotto
M : Flauto
M+ : Clarinetto
H : Piccolo
LM : Bandoneon
L M M+ : Accordeon
L M M- M+ : N/A
L M M- : N/A
L M- M+ : N/A
M M+ : Violino
M M- M+ : N/A
M M- : N/A
M- M+ : N/A
L M H : Harmonium
M H : Oboe
M M+ H : Musette
M M- : N/A
M+ H : “Oboe”
M- M+ H : N/A
M M- H : N/A
L M M- M+ H : N/A
L M M+ H : Master
L M M- H : N/A
LH : Organo

 

[Ventura]

for your paper do you mean "Modern" or current commonly
followed naming and marking standards, or historical
and how they changed over the decades

(because there were no standards really until the late
20th century, so markings and names were whatever
someone wanted them to be

and also, as the factories changed and brands were taken
over, naming and markings would have little continuity
between decades for similar models

 

[murathan]

I think you better research at accordion shops. They have many models.

 

[debra]

The naming of registers has been discussed a number of times here already.
The (sad?) reality is that accordion manufacturers appear to have chosen names more or less randomly, and even when they were not using names but just the traditional circle with lines and dots the dots were sometimes chosen more for what looked nice than for what the register actually represented.
There is a bit of logic though, and that has to do with how names were chosen for an accordion with a specific reed configuration.
I have an accordion that's LMMM and then a single M is oboe, and in another accordion that's LMMH (with LM in cassotto) the single M is called clarinet and MH is called oboe. On all accordions the combination of all reeds is always called master, but on some that's LMMM, on others LMM, or LMMH or LMMMH...
Best of luck with your study of names... but don't forget that you are trying to bring order in a universe that's essentially in chaos.

 

[Pinu]

for your paper do you mean "Modern" or current commonly
followed naming and marking standards, or historical
and how they changed over the decades

(because there were no standards really until the late
20th century, so markings and names were whatever
someone wanted them to be

and also, as the factories changed and brands were taken
over, naming and markings would have little continuity
between decades for similar models

Indeed, what I am trying to make it is a picture of today's situation. No discussing or arguing with it, just making a picture.

 

[Pinu]

The naming of registers has been discussed a number of times here already.
The (sad?) reality is that accordion manufacturers appear to have chosen names more or less randomly, and even when they were not using names but just the traditional circle with lines and dots the dots were sometimes chosen more for what looked nice than for what the register actually represented.
There is a bit of logic though, and that has to do with how names were chosen for an accordion with a specific reed configuration.
I have an accordion that's LMMM and then a single M is oboe, and in another accordion that's LMMH (with LM in cassotto) the single M is called clarinet and MH is called oboe. On all accordions the combination of all reeds is always called master, but on some that's LMMM, on others LMM, or LMMH or LMMMH...
Best of luck with your study of names... but don't forget that you are trying to bring order in a universe that's essentially in chaos.

Thanks a lot. As mentioned above, I Indeed know there is a big chaos in this topic nowadays.
I agree with you that sometimes with the same name you have everything and the contrary of everything. I have seen accordion with the name musette on MM (without detuning) , MM+, MM+M-, MMH, MM+H. And that's just an extreme example.

I Indeed to not want to make order in this chaos (also because I'd not see the value of doing so...), but either I do want to make a picture of the status quo in this topic. Not necessarily taking a position, but just crystallising the actual (present and past...) situation.

In these sense, I am trying to collect the most input possible, to then try to consolidate in making a list of possible names for a given (physical) register.

Another bug topic here is the language: I am sure for direct experience that mostly names are in Italian (thanks to Castelfidardo) and English. On the other hand for sure I have seen names in french (only in France) and German (very rarely honestly...). An analysis in this sense would be also interesting.

The more input the better it is...

Thanks a lot guys for helping me

 

[Scuromondo]

Henry Doktorski has authored an essay that covers some of this subject.

Accordion Registrations - New Music USA

Pulling out all the stops in this accordion primer, complete with audio samples and notation hints.

newmusicusa.org

 

[Alan Sharkis]

I once had an accordion with a three reed (LMH) octave-tuned treble. It had seven register switches — all chromed with no markings. I figured out that from the top to the bottom in playing position they were L, M, H. LMH (master), LM, MH, LH. My present acoustic accordion is LMMM, with eleven switches and the markings are all circle-dot symbols.

 

[Pinu]

I once had an accordion with a three reed (LMH) octave-tuned treble. It had seven register switches — all chromed with no markings. I figured out that from the top to the bottom in playing position they were L, M, H. LMH (master), LM, MH, LH. My present acoustic accordion is LMMM, with eleven switches and the markings are all circle-dot symbols.

Thanks a lot Alan. Very clear description.

 

[PhiliGol]

Hi Pinu
A lot stated already and I think I can't contribute too much meaningful rather than second Paul.
Even within same brand (Hohner), same kind (cassotto PA) register labels can have different names for same reed-set setting.
On a 1960 Gola the "M" register is named Oboe while it is labeled "Clarinet" on a 80's Morino.
MH is named Clarinet on the Gola, Oboe on the Morino.
There's no Flute on either instrument.

 

[debra]

Indeed, what I am trying to make it is a picture of today's situation. No discussing or arguing with it, just making a picture.

Today's situation is pretty much that most accordion manufacturers just use dots, not (meaningless) names.
A somewhat common practice is to place the dots for the dry-tuned reeds in the center (L, M, H) and M- left and M+ left. Although some manufacturers will place M+ left on a 4-voice accordion that has no M-, and some place the M dots left and right and nothing in the center... it's a mess.
The old Morino VI M I have here uses the sensible notation with just dots.
The newer (but still over 25 years) also has names.
L - bassoon
LMMM - accord
LM - bandon
LMH - harmon
LH - organ
LMMMH - master
MMMH - musette
MMM - violin
MH - oboe
M - clarinet
H - piccolo
Note that these names have little meaning other than indicating higher or lower frequency and/or sharpness.
Bassoon does not sound like a bassoon, organ not lik an organ, violin not like a violin, oboe not like an oboe, clarinet not like a clarinet and piccolo not like a piccolo! Other manufacturers use these names also, but sometimes for different registers, and there too there is no actual resemblance of the name to the real instrument.
The newer Hohner Morino (Artiste X S) I have is 1) made in Italy and 2) does not allow selecting just two M reeds. You get 1 or 3, never 2. That's a Hohner thing...

 

[Rosie C]

What I suggest you is to copy-paste my question and embed you answers directly within it.

I counter-suggest a photo of my accordion register buttons for you to take what information you need
It's a Guerrini Ramona IV 72-bass. I'm unsure of the age.

 

[Pinu]

Today's situation is pretty much that most accordion manufacturers just use dots, not (meaningless) names.
A somewhat common practice is to place the dots for the dry-tuned reeds in the center (L, M, H) and M- left and M+ left. Although some manufacturers will place M+ left on a 4-voice accordion that has no M-, and some place the M dots left and right and nothing in the center... it's a mess.
The old Morino VI M I have here uses the sensible notation with just dots.
The newer (but still over 25 years) also has names.
L - bassoon
LMMM - accord
LM - bandon
LMH - harmon
LH - organ
LMMMH - master
MMMH - musette
MMM - violin
MH - oboe
M - clarinet
H - piccolo
Note that these names have little meaning other than indicating higher or lower frequency and/or sharpness.
Bassoon does not sound like a bassoon, organ not lik an organ, violin not like a violin, oboe not like an oboe, clarinet not like a clarinet and piccolo not like a piccolo! Other manufacturers use these names also, but sometimes for different registers, and there too there is no actual resemblance of the name to the real instrument.
The newer Hohner Morino (Artiste X S) I have is 1) made in Italy and 2) does not allow selecting just two M reeds. You get 1 or 3, never 2. That's a Hohner thing...

Thanks a lot. Interesting reference

 

[Pinu]

I counter-suggest a photo of my accordion register buttons for you to take what information you need
It's a Guerrini Ramona IV 72-bass. I'm unsure of the age.

Thanks a lot for he photo