I’ve been messing around with a Hohner 2-stop 1-row melodeon I bought for $350 out of the newspaper here in Newfoundland. Been having much fun overall, though realizing that box(es) of another key might suit my playing better.
What is the best key for a one-row box playing Irish Trad? I’d assumed it would be a D box, so you could play the E Dorian Minor (with the C#) as well as the Bm and A Myxolydian.
However, the session musicians here in Newfoundland tell me that G is just as useful as D, maybe more so, with A following that and C least useful. Is this G-centricity specific to the Maritime Provinces, or did the sessions I used to go to in Seattle and Austin just have a fetish for D and E?
On a D box, besides the keys you mentioned, you can also play a lot of Irish tunes that are in G or A minor but are missing a C-natural. There are simply loads of this kind of tune - probably composed by flute and whistle players who preferred to avoid playing C naturals.
Common examples nominally in G: Sally Gardens reel, Willie Coleman’s jig, Christmas Eve, and there are bucketloads of others.
Examples in A: Lilting Banshee, Mug of Brown Ale. Reels such as Sligo Maid, Down the Broom and Knotted Cord can also easily be played without using any C notes.
There are other tunes that are usually played in G and have no Fs, but are not uncommonly heard in A too. You can get these on a D box - Redhaired boy, Foxhunter’s reel, and so on.
The other thing to remember is that on G and A one-rows tunes will come out an octave lower than everyone else is playing them.
Who told you that? I don’t think Frank Maher bothered to get out anything but his D at both of the sessions I saw him at last summer. I was under the impression Dave Penny played primarily D in sessions as well. Vince Collins played a D one-row and some sort of two-row, I’m not sure what its keys were. I don’t recall seeing any other one-row players around.
I’ll admit that they do play a decent number of songs in Gmaj at the sessions here, which felt a little odd to me. I don’t recall playing much Gmaj at all in Seattle or Austin, so maybe it’s a regional thing here. These were “Irish” sessions too, not Newfoundland-style sessions. If I can find/trade for a box in another key before I leave here, might need to do that. With a C box I can accompany my singing or mess with Cajun music, so I’ll check around for one of those. A D would be ideal though.
Ah – were you told this by actual one-row box players, or just normal session musicians pointing out that there are about equal numbers of tunes in D and G? Because sure, there are plenty of G tunes out there, both Irish and Newfoundland. But the standard choice for a one-row session instrument seems to be D.
To use Frank Maher as an example again – he’s got one-rows in D, G, and C at the very least, and he uses all of them when the Mahers Bahers perform in concert. I know I had romantic notions of him switching accordions as appropriate in a session. But in practice, I saw him play the D and nothing else. (And this was before he got his pretty new D this winter.)
Seriously, if you can possibly get to the Tuesday afternoon session at Auntie Crae’s, do it. There are probably more one-row session players who regularly attend that session than are out there reading this forum. There is a decent chance that is the hottest session in the world for one-row playing of Irish tunes, and almost certainly it is for Newfoundland tunes.
Ah – were you told this by actual one-row box players, or just normal session musicians pointing out that there are about equal numbers of tunes in D and G?
The concertina player at the session, and a buttonbox player at a shop, both said that about the G. I believe the concertinist had a C/G, so maybe he was projecting.
Is Auntie Crae’s still doing Tuesday sessions? I thought the only Celtic sessions were Erins/O’Riley’s/Malloy’s on Fri/Sat/Sun.
I was warned at the music shop “don’t listen to whatever rubish guys in pubs have to say about 'boxes”. Sure enough, in my first day out playing the box I had a guitarist tell me that I was robbed for spending $350 on a “beat up off-brand squeezebox”. It’s a pre-'65 steel-corner Hohner melodeon in great shape, tuned and tightened by O’Brien’s just last year. Evidently the guitarist had never even heard of Hohner.[/quote]
Auntie Crae’s was still an active session in early August (you can find photos of it on the web) and I haven’t seen anything about it shutting down since then. It might be too much of a Newfoundland tunes session to be trendy with the in-crowd, but there have been a ton of great old players there every time I’ve visited.
I would certainly trust O’Brien’s about the quality and cost of a box. Your price certainly seems in line with the prices I’ve seen over the years on eBay.
Speaking as a concertina player; ignore what concertina players have to say about melodeons. Speaking as a B/C box player, ignore what accordion players have to say about melodeons.
The melodeon is a very cool, but too seldom played instrument in Trad Music (Though it was pretty common in parts of Ireland before WWII). The few people who can really play it though shows that Irish Music is about working with the limitations of your instrument .
Anyway, as someone who started on B/C accordion, and had thought about getting a Melodeon, I can tell you this. The D Melodeon seems to be the most common choice. It also has had a strong influence on button accordion music and is in large part responsible for the current popularity of the C#/D instrument (Where the ideal is to emulate the melodeon style). When I was doing research, I found the following article to be helpful (http://www.iol.ie/~ronolan/melodeon.html).
One final thought, you might try tracking down the email addresses (if they have them) of some Melodeon players. They might be happy to give you advice on what the best instrument choices might be.
Can we ignore what B/C box players say about C#/D accordions too?
Edited to explain: Maybe I’m touchy about the subject, but I often feel that B/C players want to pigeonhole the C#/D box - e.g. saying it’s good for polkas and slides (implying that it’s not so good for the rest of the repertoire), or, in this case, saying the ideal is to play melodeon style.
I would agree with you Liam that the melodeon style has had a big influence on C#/D players - many C#/D players like to use “melodeon touches” in their playing (after all, they can ). But there are lots of others who make no attempt to do so.
So IMO to say the ideal in playing any style of box is this or that, esp. when it’s not the system you play yourself, is a difficult claim to defend.
I think it is a shame that some people do try to pigeon hole the C#/D. I will say this, I think it is particularly good for the Kerry style of playing which does emphasize slides and polkas and less well suited to the Galway style of playing where the music tends to be more flowing and less punchy. That being said, I would say that the C#/D should excel in any regional style and type of tune where the Melodeon was popular. Since that includes Mayo and Conemmara, it would certainly be well suited to those styles of playing and as far as I know, those parts of the West of Ireland play plenty of jigs and reels. So I would say the instrument’s limitation is more about the regional style and less about the particular type of tune. If I want to play like Jackie Daley, then a C#/D makes sense, if I want to play like Billy McComiskey, then a B/C makes sense.
Of course, what do I know, I am just a B/C player… though I do spend most of my time with concertina these days.
While I’ve got the melodeon players here: is there any good intermediate book on melodeon technique, especially for Irish music?
I’ve got a decent folk background on strings, so I have no trouble picking out melodies and figuring basic chords on the melodeon, but I’m not quite sure how to do ornaments, common back-up methods, or how to use the bass/chord spoons.
If I get a book/CD for the 1-row 4-stop Cajun box, and then apply those techniques to Irish, will it sound interesting or ungodly?
Or should I just get some CDs of good melodeon players and listen sharp?
Yes! Much better to hear something and then try to figure out how to do it than to read about something and try to do it without knowing what it’s supposed to sound like. Even better to see it done. Don’t know of any books myself.
Here’s a page listing Irish box players, their instrument of choice and their recorded output, with quite a few links to online samples.
I have and have played 2 row 2 1./2 row and 3 row as well as Annglo concertina
Concertina..30 button Anglo concertinas in C/G as used by Irish players.. favor this sytem as the accidentals on the outside row give you the c#'s for key of D…
forget what they say about melodeons unless they are melodeon players as well
If you are playing Irish music key of D forst then C then anything else is waaaaay down on the list
Quebec.. Key of D.. then C or possibly A for Montmarquette tunes and style
Key of G.. hmmm owned one and offed it… novelty status or for slow airs..
Bb, my favorite key but all but useless except for brass, Zydeco and Cajun
Speaking of Cajun…
A one row 10 buton bisonoric diatonic accordion is NOT a Cajun accordion..
A one row 10 button (sometimes 9 and sometimes more or less than 4 stops) bisonoric diatonic accordion made by a Cajun is a Cajun accordeon
And to further pick the fly specs out of the pepper…
Most Cajun accordeons are “just” tuned , most commonly dry tuned though wet tuning is coming into favor…
Most other 1 row accordeons are TET (equal tempered) tuning
Agreeing with colomon: saw Frank Maher at the Auntie Crae’s session last Tues, and he played his D box the whole time. He sat out on a few tunes, like “Music for a Found Harmonium” that are clearly unsuitable for a one-row. Stan Pickett had a two-row, I believe D/D# or D/C#, and another gent also had a two-row, not sure what key.
I brough my little Schylling toy accordion which Mike at Irish Dancemaster re-reeded with Hohner reeds in D. Really surprised the folks at the session, as they assumed it’d be a warbly little piece of junk in C. The new reeds (single voice) made a world of difference: it’s in tune, it’s in D, it’s pretty dang loud for its size, and the single reeds use so little air that the tiny bellows are plenty.
It’s still not a Saltarelle, but it fits in a glovebox, plays in tune in D, and cost me $75 worth of reeds. I’m pretty thrilled at this point.
I filmed a video review for YouTube, but won’t be able to get to a broadband connection and post it until next week or so.
I brough my little Schylling toy accordion which Mike at Irish Dancemaster re-reeded with Hohner reeds in D. Really surprised the folks at the session, as they assumed it’d be a warbly little piece of junk in C. The new reeds (single voice) made a world of difference: it’s in tune, it’s in D, it’s pretty dang loud for its size, and the single reeds use so little air that the tiny bellows are plenty.
It’s still not a Saltarelle, but it fits in a glovebox, plays in tune in D, and cost me $75 worth of reeds. I’m pretty thrilled at this point.
Okay, that’s officially awesome. How much did he charge to do it?
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). But there are lots of others who make no attempt to do so.