Organetto 2 bassi, il du'botte

[Deleted member 48]

Amazing organetto player, Enzo Scacchia, developer of the 5 finger technique on the Italian organetto



Last week, my girlfriend and me made a 5 days roadtrip in a rental car from Rome to Pescara, coast to coast, crossing beautiful natural parks in the Lazio and Abruzzo regions. We were lucky to have lots of sunshine on the road. What a beautiful country Italy is.
Only my second time in Italy, after a visit in the centre of Rome.
Ill be going back for a holiday in Italy in the future, maybe the Tuscany region or the more southern parts. 

I didnt plan to buy already an organetto on this specific trip, but the last day of the trip, I saw a couple of nice organetti in a music shop close to Pescara.
And so I went back home with another small box, a Della Noce mod.2 Pennese organetto with 2 basses, so called a dubotte (two bass buttons). Its a 2 voice tremolo, smallsize, with the typical 9+3 layout of the buttons, in the key of G :
https://www.dellanoce.com/organetti-2-bassi/

Its a bit different than this one, but here is an impression:


Last saturday afternoon I already spent a couple of hours discovering this little lightweight box.
Some 3 years ago, I started longing for a dubotte. The layout of the buttons is interesting. You have a one row melodeon + a second mini row with 3 extra diatonic buttons.

Here is the layout of the notes or the tastiere :
https://www.organetto.it/Pagine/tasti2b.html

The low octave is one row melodeon, the high octave has a second mini row. So the player can play very fast runs in the top octave without having to change the bellows too frequently.
(More recent organetti like the De Angelis ones, have a complete second row of inversed diatonics, for both the low and top octave)

Ill be playing lots of traditional Italian tunes on this Della Noce, and also just improvising or fooling around. 
But I also plan to play Irish trad one row melodeon tunes, and maybe traditional Russian saratovskaya garmonika (the one row accordion from the Saratov region in Russia) folk tunes.

 

[tony2000]

I have a alparizio palma in D was made in Pescara i bought it new in 2001 4 bass ,but the one you have is the most comon one and very expensive

 

[Deleted member 48]

Hi, 

The Della Noce model 2 Pennese is a standard model, for starters or advanced players. 
It was not so expensive. New price was 450 euro. 
I got a 75 reduction and a free bag. I bought it in the shop for 375 euro, and it's new. 
Have the certificato di garanzia for 2 years, with the stamp. 
The reeds are Voci Armoniche Antonelli e Salpa. 
The shop was in Penne, close to Pescara. 
The Fabbrica Della Noce is in Teramo, not far from Pescara. 

Prices on the internet for this model range from 450 to 580 euro. 

I'm very pleased with this organetto. 
I intend to 'fake' organetto playing at friends' dinner evenings. 
Next year I might even try a simple liscio or diatonic musette waltz with this tiny box.

 

[Tom]

Complimenti Stephen!

I've got the Della Noce 4 bass version in G.  I love it but don't play it much.  Following up on another post, I think I posted a Christmas song last year.  But one of the first tunes I learned on the organetto was the most popular Italian Christmas tune, Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle (You Came Down From the Stars), we always called Oh Bambino and it's an easy tne you can do with the two basses you have.

Good luck and have fun!!!

 

[tony2000]

Organetto are very nice instruments and very much loved around the world

 

[Deleted member 48]

Thanks,

I already have the feeling my 2 bass organetto is a keeper.
Being very lightweight, it's going to be a serious candidate to take place number 2 in the ranking of my favorite music instruments. The Wicki Hayden duet concertina will have to share the second place with my organetto.

My favorit number 1 will always remain my 60 bass CBA.


I wanted to start with the most basic organetto, a du'botte with only 2 basses and the 9+3 buttons layout. It's a no brainer.
With 4 basses you have some more possibilities, and you can also play tunes in minor keys.

If I also want to play tunes in minor, I'll just play without the basses, or another option: only use the bass root note button (without the chord). Irish trad players often use the same technique when playing in minor on one row melodeons.
Or I could block the major third from sounding in the chord, by blocking the air stream reaching the major third free reed.
But for the moment, I'm not going to touch the inside of my new box.
We will see in a couple of years where I land with this organetto.

The article 2 model Pennese I have is a darker wood one, natural wood, looks very traditional.

 

[Tom]

You can play in "cross key" minor.  For example, if your organetto is in G, play in E minor, with "Do" being E rather than G.  Good luck.