Possible to only read music in C/A when playing on CBA?

[Jim2010]

The most famous person to only play in one key (F#) was Irving Berlin, who used a transposing piano.

Irving Berlin - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Irving Berlin's Transposing Upright Piano

This transposing upright piano was made by Weser Brothers in New York, New York in 1940. According to the inscription on the case, it was made “expressly for Irving Berlin.” The transposing mechanism moves the action and keyboard so that the player can play in any key. Irving Berlin was a...

music.si.edu

Diatonic harmonica players have a different harmonica for each key. Different sizes (in different pitches) of recorders and viols use identical fingering. Guitarists use capos. Lutes of differing sizes (and pitches) use the same kinds of tablature. The idea of playing everything in the same key (fingering-wise) and using some mechanical method of having that fingering result in sounds in different keys has been around for centuries. The right hand 5-row CBA keyboard is ideal for this.

While not the same concept, Bb instruments (tenor saxophones, clarinets, trumpets, etc.) and Eb instruments (alto clarinet, alto and baritone saxaphone, etc.) play from written music the notes of which (on the printed page) are different than the notes that come out of the instruments. So if you want to hear a trumpet (for example) play the note C, you write the note D. Don't ask my why they do it that way. I am just the messenger.

 

[JerryPH]

Don't know if my method is different but it works for me.
I read music reasonably well although I need to practice the left hand more, and am also ok on theory.
When I play a tune, I first look at the key, to find out how many sharps or flats, then the time signature.
From then on I just play the notes, or, if it is a new tune I will use right hand only ,or even "play "it in my head to get an idea of the tune.
I'm not concerned with what key it is in as I know where the notes are on the (cba) accordion and just play them, SLOWLY at first then gradually increase speed as I get familiar with the tune.

That's cool, so you basically just read the notation and don't bother with the sharps or flats... but I bet you need to keep an eye for the odd accidentals. I never thought about the CBA in that way.

I often said that if I was starting out accordion today, it would definitely be CBA.

Ps. I'm 83 and don't even consider my age being a problem.
I'm forever taking up new hobbys and, being on my own now I can do whatever I like.
I would dearly love to get a motorbike again but I know I couldn't get insurance, so, unfortunately that won't happen.

New hobbies are awesome, but bikes are a bit more than dangerous, not because of the bikers for the most part, but because of others. My own motorcycle bears the scars of needing to make a choice between a car or sidewalk on it's side... and my own Jiu-Jitsu instructor had to delay the opening of the new school... he lost a good portion of his right leg rom the knee down, again, not his fault.

I love my bike, but really prefer sports cars now... still can get that sense of speed but a lot safer, and easier to drive in the rain or when its colder... lol

 

[dak]

Standard notation favors the diatonical arrangement of keys on a piano. It is written in black and white key thinking. As a singer or violin player, you ultimately get to map this to what you are doing. But those are monophonic instruments. Wind instruments often have "keys" in the form of flaps and levers on them that make them "think" in a particular diatonic scale, and where this differs from C or A, this is often written in transposing notation. Guitars have natural (rather than diatonic) spacing on them, and many amateurs prefer playing the fingering-centric use of tablatures to score sheets, especially when having to navigate polyphonic music.

There is no instrument-specific tablature for CBA that has become somewhat common. So it means biting the bullet. Now the advantage is that the CBA maps more directly to actual intervals than a piano keyboard, meaning that it is the better instrument for playing by ear. It is also somewhat friendly to spontaneous transposition. But you should really be doing yourself the favor of learning the three essential scales/fingerings: that way there will always be reserve rows for awkward chord fingerings (like F major in root position on C system) or for runs or trills that just won't come together smoothly after practising them over and over and that untangle if partially mapped to the nether rows.