Pleading for advice from seasoned professional accordionists

[jjj333]

Progress Report 2022 Jan:
As mentioned, I'm totally devoted and committed to practicing my new Janko Kbd. Daily, I practice at least one hour, and every time I self-observe my progress. Lately, I noticed the best way is to go about is not only practicing certain songs but also enjoying just any melody for as long my fingers search and follow the notes I have in mind. That helps me to create that elusive "Janko memory mapping".
I'm still far from it, but I feel that I'm progressing. I also noticed that I shouldn't only practice one and the same songs because I get bogged down on the same fingering patterns and that gets pretty boring. That's why I introduced melody variations. It's more exciting. My Tyros offers me lots of exciting rhythms which create new challenges. They actually drive (almost force me) comply...
Well, I'll keep you informed about my progress, - After some notable progress might even record some melodies for your evaluation. Yet, at the moment I'm still ashamed of showing off my 40% mistakes...

 

[jjj333]

Progress Report 2022 Marz
I now discovered an alternative way of advancing my dexterity and memory mapping:
I just practice 3 melodies /songs ...until they roll perfectly and effortlessly from my hand. It's really hard work and can get quite boring, yet it's vital to progress dexterity and memory mapping.
Result: It pays off, for it gets noticeably easier and easier. - To help overcome boredom I practice these melodies in different Yamaha accompaniment styles. Previously I practiced various melodies. All of them contained lots of mistakes and wondered if ever I will progress at all? Whereas now I experience progress. I never imagined it to be that tedious and slow!

 

[Tom]

Progress Report 2022 Marz
I now discovered an alternative way of advancing my dexterity and memory mapping:
I just practice 3 melodies /songs ...until they roll perfectly and effortlessly from my hand. It's really hard work and can get quite boring, yet it's vital to progress dexterity and memory mapping.
Result: It pays off, for it gets noticeably easier and easier. - To help overcome boredom I practice these melodies in different Yamaha accompaniment styles. Previously I practiced various melodies. All of them contained lots of mistakes and wondered if ever I will progress at all? Whereas now I experience progress. I never imagined it to be that tedious and slow!

Glad to hear you're making progress jj! Tedious and slow is my middle name, if I knew it was going to be this hard I would have picked something easier like rocket science.

 

[TomBR]

Sounds almost as much fun as Hanon....

 

[JerryPH]

Sounds almost as much fun as Hanon....

Hanon is boring as hell, but I've had all kinds of people, from virtuoso pianists, to conservatory instructors to Cory Pesaturo extole the virtues of Hanon exercises. I cannot argue the advantages they gave me, they have great value, especially when played in all keys... but HORRIBLY boring!

I'm glad that jjj333 is advancing, and more importantly, enjoying his journey!

 

[jjj333]

Progress Report March 2022
More and more I realize it all boils down to keep teaching my fingers to obey my mind. Hence, whatever way I go about it, it always comes back to how advanced my memory mapping is. So I just continue to make my fingers search for the notes on the Kbd.
It's no point to plan any fingering etc. instead I just search for the notes of any melody which comes to my mind and do that while partly thinking of other thoughts because finding the desired notes has to become "the least problem". - Until such time my fingers are still unable to master that part it's no point going any further with anything.
I can see that all great keyboard players never mistake the notes, thanks to their high level of memory mapping skills. Their fingers know exactly where they are on the Kbd. and how to reach any note/ notes. - Gaining this high level of memory mapping skills requires (maybe?) years of practice. Yet, I won't ever give up! To cut down on boredom I change the rhythms and instruments on my Tyros Kbd.

 

[Tom]

I believe that no one "never mistakes a note." The masters you speak of have "simply" perfected the art of making it seem that way. Anyway, your approach seems sound, and the memory mapping will come in time. Congrats and good luck!

 

[JeffJetton]

Among the many great observations in Tom Heany's book First Learn to Practice (which I'm always recommending to people) is that "you know it when your hands know it" and that your head learns far more quickly than your hands.

I think of the brain as being the smart kid in the classroom who sits in the front row and always raises its hand. The fingers are the slackers in the back who hope they don't get called on. As a teacher--and when we practice we are all teachers of ourselves--you can't be satisfied with just the kid in the front row understanding the lesson. You have take the time and patiently teach the whole classroom, so that even those dodo fingers in the back "get it" too. They require a lot more time/repetition, and you can't depend on them to just "get the gist"--they need precise details.

The brain will be bored and doodling in its notebook while you're doing this. That's normal.

 

[jjj333]

I believe that no one "never mistakes a note." The masters you speak of have "simply" perfected the art of making it seem that way. Anyway, your approach seems sound, and the memory mapping will come in time. Congrats and good luck!

Thank you TOM & JeffJetton for the encouragement. My idol has been (and always will be) Klaus Wunderlich that late German accordion player and organist. His technical and musical talents are just mind-boggling. I often asked myself: "How can a person achieve so much in 66 years as he did?" - He's the one who "drives me" - even if the going gets toughest! For, it's just a matter of training my mind-finger coordination.
On YouTube are many KW's recordings. - Sadly, the Hammond Co. never showed interest in his talents... could be they mistook him for Hitler's son?

 

[Tom]

Hmm, don't see youtube accordion videos, but I checked out his organ playing. Very nice! Please remember, the goal is musical connection, not perfection......

 

[jjj333]

Hmm, don't see youtube accordion videos, but I checked out his organ playing. Very nice! Please remember, the goal is musical connection, not perfection......

Before Klaus Wunderlich played the organ, he was a pianist and an accordion player. It's his musical talent that drives me and of course, it is his dexterity that allows him to create his unique emotional realism. If I need more musical satisfaction I can resort to my whistling, which this great master (KW) praised. Many years ago, when I discovered my whistling to music ability, I sent Klaus W. a letter with two audio cassettes of his music and my whistling to it. - The great man responded to it in detail, by confirming my whistling technique, good hearing, and musical feelings. He even went as far as saying: "As you know, I'm also a little musical..." etc. At that time his invaluable comments encouraged me to further my newly discovered unique ability and are still effective in my Kbd.. playing.

 

[Tom]

Before Klaus Wunderlich played the organ, he was a pianist and an accordion player. It's his musical talent that drives me and of course, it is his dexterity that allows him to create his unique emotional realism. If I need more musical satisfaction I can resort to my whistling, which this great master (KW) praised. Many years ago, when I discovered my whistling to music ability, I sent Klaus W. a letter with two audio cassettes of his music and my whistling to it. - The great man responded to it in detail, by confirming my whistling technique, good hearing, and musical feelings. He even went as far as saying: "As you know, I'm also a little musical..." etc. At that time his invaluable comments encouraged me to further my newly discovered unique ability and are still effective in my Kbd.. playing.

Thanks JJ, cool story!

 

[jjj333]

Breaking news...
I don't know what happened, but today I felt I'm really advancing, for I played a fast Yamaha style and that forced me to find the notes faster and that surprised me that most of the time I found the notes I was looking at for albeit I usually close my eyes. That made me realize that I'm really advancing. Well, that's quite encouraging, because most of the time I thought I stay put, get nowhere... and feared my practice method is flawed. When I play fast rhythms my fingers are forced to search for the right keys/ notes faster. This might accelerate the note searching process and progress my keyboard memory mapping skills? - Faster rhythms offer me more repetitions and practice in a shorter time span, whereas slower rhythms offer me fewer repetitions and practice within the same time span, - Right?

 

[jjj333]

Breaking news...
I don't know what happened, but today I felt I'm really advancing, for I played a fast Yamaha style and that forced me to find the notes faster and that surprised me that most of the time I found the notes I was looking at for albeit I usually close my eyes. That made me realize that I'm really advancing. Well, that's quite encouraging, because most of the time I thought I stay put, get nowhere... and feared my practice method is flawed. When I play fast rhythms my fingers are forced to search for the right keys/ notes faster. This might accelerate the note searching process and progress my keyboard memory mapping skills? - Faster rhythms offer me more repetitions and practice in a shorter time span, whereas slower rhythms offer me fewer repetitions and practice within the same time span, - Right?

I now started to enjoy the challenge to venture into more complex melodies. This mode is new to me because only a week ago I didn't feel this kind of urge. This seems to confirm that I must be seriously advancing or must be doing something right.
It's Interesting to observe this progress and I wished one of you accomplished players would narrate the timeline of your progress from 0 to 100%. This would help me to upfront know where I'm heading to...

 

[Tom]

Great to hear jj! I think you are definitely improving at a good rate. You make a good point about the repititions at a faster pace.

You don't want to hear about my progression because I did pretty much everything wrong that is possible. I went 10 years of stumbling around before hitting a wall and determining to apply a more scientific, deliberate approach which includes really listening, practicing with intention and studying the basics.

I would recommend you video and watch yourself if you haven't. It's very enlightening and will document your progress as you desire.

 

[jjj333]

Great to hear jj! I think you are definitely improving at a good rate. You make a good point about the repititions at a faster pace.

You don't want to hear about my progression because I did pretty much everything wrong that is possible. I went 10 years of stumbling around before hitting a wall and determining to apply a more scientific, deliberate approach which includes really listening, practicing with intention and studying the basics.

I would recommend you video and watch yourself if you haven't. It's very enlightening and will document your progress as you desire.

Yea, good idea to film it. That would give even "losers" (like me) hope that they too can make it. Every player has his long story. - Yet, I think describing the progress in detail is equally helpful and that's what I'm doing already.

 

[Tom]

Yea, good idea to film it. That would give even "losers" (like me) hope that they too can make it. Every player has his long story. - Yet, I think describing the progress in detail is equally helpful and that's what I'm doing already.

Good point. You can do it! I'm trying to break through the progress wall by approaching some fundamentals and other actions:

1. Practicing scales, arpeggios, inversions, Hanon a minimum of 1 hour per day. Having a mentor.

2. Practicing with a metronome.

3. Limiting my repertoire to songs in my ability and playing slowly enough to never make a mistake.

4. Learning new tunes in "chunks," with the metronome, directly to memory.

5. Considering adding singing for more connection with the audience.

6. Adding a (software) arranger for interactive backing tracks.

7. Trying to meet additional musicians by forming an accordion club, checking out Jamulus and local live jams.

8. Seeking performance opportunities beyond the "community" spaces, although the people there deserve music as much as anyone and I won't totally forget them.

 

[jjj333]

Since my equipment consists of Yamaha Tyros, a 120-button Stradela accordion bass system, I only play the JANKO Kbd. with the right hand. I play both, the accompaniment and the Kbd. by ear (i.e. without notation).
1) Initially I just searched for the notes for simple melodies for about 2 months.
2) I then kept repeating a number of songs for a few weeks.
3) Then I discovered that by choosing faster Yamaha styles I'm forced to change chords and notes more often, which considerably accelerates the learning process. That will keep me going until I truly make great progress.
4) I now add an Android Pad holder to my setup, which helps me to learn new songs. I found a cost-free, non-distorted effect App on GooglePlay, which helps me to slow down complicated fingerings. - I used to do that when I was young. That way I was able to follow fast accordion fingerings from the great Italian accordion player Pino Piacentino.
I have no idea how to practice arpeggios and with timing, I have no problems, for I'm musical enough to know how the song should sound. Scale or Key change problems only befall "zebra piano keyboard" and don't apply to JANKO keyboards. Thus, I'm already ahead!
I guess, by progressing my dexterity I'll come across all the requirements, that different melodies deliver and practice these. My musical taste is quite demanding, so I'll be forced, prepared, and willing to submit to all "Kbd. tortures" and just brave all challenges!

 

[Tom]

Just keep going, very good! I use "Audacity" on windows to slow down the music without changing key (or to change for that matter). It's not real time, though. There is probably software to slow down (without changing key) in real time but I don't know it. Pino Piacentino sounds good, I didn't know him.

 

[JerryPH]

Reaper has the ability to do a LOT in terms of automation, not only speed but echo, volume, plugins, pitch correct and more. You are now in the world of advanced levels of knowledge if you are for example creating backing tracks for yourself at home as a lone musician, and people who create tracks at that level have for sure spent years of practice and time getting to where they are.