Different accordion "tunings"
eromlignod
I recently posted an inquiry about learning the concertina, but I have
come to the conclusion that, for Bal Musette music, I'm better off
biting the financial bullet and getting a chromatic button accordion
instead.
My first question is about "tunings". I hear about "wet" and "dry"
tunings and about number and type of reeds.
I assume the reeds depend on manufacturer/model. But do the tunings?
For example, if I buy an accordion that is touted to have a "wet" or
"musette" tuning, is that an inherrent property of that instrument, or
could I "dry it out" by manually adjusting the reeds?
Also, are there any advantages to playing Musette with a B vs. C
system?
Thanks for any help.
Don
Kansas City
David Kastrup
> I recently posted an inquiry about learning the concertina, but I have
> come to the conclusion that, for Bal Musette music, I'm better off
> biting the financial bullet and getting a chromatic button accordion
> instead.
>
> My first question is about "tunings". I hear about "wet" and "dry"
> tunings and about number and type of reeds.
>
> I assume the reeds depend on manufacturer/model. But do the tunings?
Yes.
> For example, if I buy an accordion that is touted to have a "wet" or
> "musette" tuning, is that an inherrent property of that instrument, or
> could I "dry it out" by manually adjusting the reeds?
Both. It is an inherent property of the instrument but can be tweaked
by damaging the reeds in the right manner: accordion tuning is a
destructive process. The more you change the tuning, the more original
reed material is removed.
If you want a really wet tuning, there is really no sensible way around
a musette accordion (which works with three reeds at the nominal pitch,
a true, a flat and a sharp reed). Using just two reeds does not give
good results since you then likely have
a) one true and one sharp reed. That means that the overall frequency
is sharp, making it problematic to play with other reeds or other
instruments. Also the sharpness has to decrease in percentage when
moving to the higher reeds, so the sharp reed block does not have true
intervals. Chords sound improperly. For a comparatively dry tuning,
this is not much of a problem. For a really wet one, it is.
b) one flat and one sharp reed. While this is theoretically possible,
I've never seen an accordion that had just those, and no true reed. It
also means that you can't play in true pitch with just one reed.
Also, with three reeds, the central pitch is perceived more dominantly
than with two reeds, which makes it possible to make the tuning even
wetter without falling apart into something sounding just untuned.
The urban Parisian musette tuning is rather wet. The sound is so
dominant that it does not actually make so very much sense to build
five-reeds with such a wet tuning, or even four reeds: you'll likely not
use the musette reed blocks together with the low reed.
> Also, are there any advantages to playing Musette with a B vs. C
> system?
If you have technically challenging musette music written for (rather
than against) the accordion, chances are that it will fit the C system
better. The C system is supposedly a bit nicer for diatonically based
scales, the B system for stuff with chromatic runs.
Blues "smears", dragging a tone up a semitone, are supposedly better
accommodated on the B system since you move outwards for moving a
semitone up.
If your main concern is musette and you have no predisposition, I'd pick
C. Should also significantly improve your chances of getting a used
instrument with the wet Parisian musette tuning.
--
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum
Winslow Yerxa
Two things:
C system is the native system for musette. Whatever the claimed or
perceived advantages and drawbacks of B and C systems, all the great
musette and post-musette players were/are C system players. To emulate
the results, why not use the tools?
Degree of wetness varies greatly among French players. Listen to a
variety of players, both modern and historical, and form your ideas
after letting the various styles sink in. For instance, even in the
1930s, forward-thinking players like Gus Viseur and Tony Murena were
playing relatively dry-sounding instruments, while more old-fashioned
players like Emile Vacher and Medard Ferrero were playing much wetter
sounding instruments. Modern players like Richard Galliano almost
never use the musette sound, preferring either a single-reed clarient
or bassoon reed sound or an octave sound reminiscent of the
bandoneon.
Some good historical and modern anthologies:
Historical:
http://www.lalibrairiesonore.com/catalogue/chanson-francaise/accordeon-volume-3.html
Modern:
In trying to arrive at a fingering system and a degree of wetness that
suits you, the Roland FR- series of reedless (i.e., synth) accordions
are intriguing: you get to dial in the number of "reeds" and the
degree of wetness, as well as several varieties of B or C layout on
the right hand, and several types of both bass-and-chord Stradella and
chordless free bass in the left hand. Even if you ultimately decide
that a real, reeded accordion is what you want, you have the
opportunity to try out several possibilities before settling on the
one that best suits you.
Ventura
>
> In trying to arrive at a fingering system and a degree of wetness that
> suits you, the Roland FR- series of reedless (i.e., synth) accordions
> are intriguing: you get to dial in the number of "reeds" and the
> degree of wetness, as well as several varieties of B or C layout on
> the right hand, and several types of both bass-and-chord Stradella and
> chordless free bass in the left hand. Even if you ultimately decide
> that a real, reeded accordion is what you want, you have the
> opportunity to try out several possibilities before settling on the
> one that best suits you.
>
yes, i feel for students the FR-3 model is a very good choice...
especially since here in the DC area prices on the FR-3 models
have fallen into the mid $2k's, and they keep most models in stock
other advantage is that the tuning is actually accurate,
and on a limited budget, getting a used Acoustic that
is well tuned isn't so easy... a student is better served
with an accurately tuned instrument... the headphone feature
doesn't hurt either (lol)
sell it in a few years and buy an expensive French
Acoustic once you know what you really want
as an opinion, the French virtual reedset (there are 10
sets in the FR-3 model) is tonally excellent and reasonably
true in flavor
and yes, it is a true 3 reed musette on the second
push of the 6th shift
ciao
Ventura
whatsanike
"eromlignod" <eroml...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:8eb71828-1c1e-42ef...@79g2000hsk.googlegroups.com...
The tuning is set by the tuner, usually at the factory and accordions can
only be tuned by filing the reeds. Thisis not a job for an amateur. You are
better off getting a tuning that is not too "wet". High tremolo is not good
for all kinds of music, but slow tremolo like 2 to 4 beats pers econd, with
one set tuned very slightly flat, the other set supplying the tremolo, is
good enough for nearly every kind of music, including French waltzes.