And an exciting time it has been, too.
The other week Tiina asked me to find my copy of the Palmer-Hughes accordion book Melodic Adventures in Bassland. I was not at all sure that I could find it – I’m not at all sure I can find anything, and I arrive at this uncertainty empirically – but up it popped like a cork in the middle of the all the musical detritus. Here I am! it said.
The other week Tiina asked me to find my copy of the Palmer-Hughes accordion book Melodic Adventures in Bassland. I was not at all sure that I could find it – I’m not at all sure I can find anything, and I arrive at this uncertainty empirically – but up it popped like a cork in the middle of the all the musical detritus. Here I am! it said.
My feelings were not unmixed.
It’s an excellent book, it’s not that. It just brings up a few little issues that I would prefer to keep subterranean. For instance: a secret dyslexia that makes me confuse F and G in the bass clef. I’ve always had this problem but it has just now occurred to me to call it dyslexia. It makes it sound more clinical and less stupid.
There is also the shaming fact that I still haven’t learned all the counterbasses. So far I have been approaching these on a need-to-know basis, like secret military installations. What, after all, are they doing up there, the little dickenses? Hanging around like a row of shifty characters in an alleyway, popping up every now and again to perform a dirty deed, then sauntering off whistling with unconcern, a toothpick between their teeth. They’re clearly up to no good.
The counterbasses are the row of bass keys just above the usual suspects. They are, confusingly enough, a major third above the row of keys below them. So that if you were to follow the diagonal column of keys from middle C, you would find, going in one direction, the C major chord; C minor; C dominant 7th; C diminished 7th. Makes sense, right? But if you decided to take a stroll in the opposite direction, there for some reason you would come across ... E.
This has caused me no end of trouble, and some part of my mind still stubbornly rejects it. I had just got around to accepting that the bass keys in their rows don’t follow each other chromatically but follow a pattern of fifths instead. Adding in this whole other row of whimsical counterbasses adds insult to injury and really puts a strain on my relationship with whoever invented the accordion. What were they thinking?
It’s an excellent book, it’s not that. It just brings up a few little issues that I would prefer to keep subterranean. For instance: a secret dyslexia that makes me confuse F and G in the bass clef. I’ve always had this problem but it has just now occurred to me to call it dyslexia. It makes it sound more clinical and less stupid.
There is also the shaming fact that I still haven’t learned all the counterbasses. So far I have been approaching these on a need-to-know basis, like secret military installations. What, after all, are they doing up there, the little dickenses? Hanging around like a row of shifty characters in an alleyway, popping up every now and again to perform a dirty deed, then sauntering off whistling with unconcern, a toothpick between their teeth. They’re clearly up to no good.
The counterbasses are the row of bass keys just above the usual suspects. They are, confusingly enough, a major third above the row of keys below them. So that if you were to follow the diagonal column of keys from middle C, you would find, going in one direction, the C major chord; C minor; C dominant 7th; C diminished 7th. Makes sense, right? But if you decided to take a stroll in the opposite direction, there for some reason you would come across ... E.
This has caused me no end of trouble, and some part of my mind still stubbornly rejects it. I had just got around to accepting that the bass keys in their rows don’t follow each other chromatically but follow a pattern of fifths instead. Adding in this whole other row of whimsical counterbasses adds insult to injury and really puts a strain on my relationship with whoever invented the accordion. What were they thinking?
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Splendid post. Whimsical indeed. I notice the accordion makers in Castelfidardo have never made an effort to change the name from the competing village Stradella. Like they're happy to keep a bit of distance.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bruce! Hope all is well with CFRO and Accordion Noir.
ReplyDeleteYIKES!! I came to your blog thinking (hoping) I would read more about your tango dancing & there's a picture of the "Bassland" book! :) My nemesis.
ReplyDeleteI've learned the basses on a "need to know" basis like you & lately it seems the accordion club is playing lots of music in flats so I'm working on the lower end of the buttons. It's functional playing, no?
Fun post ~ Thanks for sharing! Tam
It is TOTALLY functional, thank you for that! Well, except for when it's dysfunctional. I'm sorry (actually, glad -- misery loves company) to hear that Adventures in Bassland is your nemesis too. At my last class we switched to some of the boogie at the end of the book, and that helped lighten the mood a bit.
ReplyDeleteThe tango dancing is over for the summer, alas. We will spend the next few months forgetting everything we know and come back in the fall tabula rasa.
Those flats, why so many? What's wrong with C major? Composing for > 3 is just passive aggressive IMO.