Irish button accordion: alternatives to 5-note rolls on the offbeat

[@seanoregan998]

I'm just starting out and this is a FABULOUS LESSON!!! THANK YOU!!

[@JohnzzzView]

Very helpful and insightful instructional video. Thanks for breaking down the techniques for doing rolls on the button box. Thank You very much.

[@Stiamh]

Thanks for the comment. I'm really glad you found the vid useful.

[@Dragonkin7]

Thank you for the video! I’ve been having a bit of trouble understanding the 5 note roll and how to really use it, this is a really useful and informative video and I really appreciate you publishing it on KZbin!

[@shad0wrunner69]

Thank you for the great and thorough instruction on how to do rolls and substitutional ornamentations. I'll start off practicing all these techniques right away :)

[@Stiamh]

You are most welcome. Keep it playful...

[@debbiemurphy9498]

Another great video. Thanks😀

[@vtownpaddy517]

Thank goodness for this video!-VTown Paddy Patrick

[@anbocmor]

Brilliant advice and techniques

[@srmjo]

Thanks for taking the trouble to leave a comment, Seán! I'm happy if you found the video useful.

[@jakehagelberg5201]

Thank you for publishing these videos. Although I play the BC, it’s always very useful to hear a more experienced player’s approach to the box. Love your videos! 👍

[@FMeister94]

Thanks for the instructions, I am a very by-ear and I have been away from playing the accordion for so long and I wanna get back into it. So it really helps.

[@Stiamh]

Good to know you're planning to get back into it, Fionn. The world needs more box players, right?

[@FMeister94]

Yeah my black dot is quite unappreciated these days. Need to get back using it again. Yes indeed. :)

[@Clyens]

Thanks, ton of useful tips here. Now I only have to put them into practice!!

[@commisaro]

Wow this was an extremely helpful video -- thanks!

[@Stiamh]

Glad to hear it Nicholas, thanks for the comment.

[@bouzoukiboy]

Wonderful info for a newbie on the box

[@giuseppedicello7256]

Salve! Sarebbe bello anche sentire come giocano anche i bassi gli accordi in questa suonata.grazie!

[@IVANBRASIL77]

I enjoy your video and it helps me a lot, despide the speed speech

[@Stiamh]

Thanks for your comment. For the speech, you could try using the subtitles. For this video I haven't uploaded subtitles, so you'll have to go with the automatic ones provided by KZbin, which get lots of things wrong. I will try to find time to do proper subtitles.

[@Huh560]

Thank you very much for the great videos. Very motivating! (BC player ;))

[@Stiamh]

+Danny van Geloven Glad to hear it, Danny. B/C is a great system!

[@owlbear7265]

Really fantastic video, thank you for the lesson

[@Rustygulley-r3r]

Thanks for another great video, Stiamh. Have you thought of publishing a tutor for the C#D box?

[@Stiamh]

You're welcome John. Have I? Yes but not for more than 2 minutes. :)

[@efdiyi]

Thanks a lot for the video! Very well explained!

[@Stiamh]

Thank you Fernando!

[@salvatorerotondo1068]

Excellent lesson. Thank you so much!

[@barrieglenn8353]

Getting a bc box, played fiddle and whistle but never a button box, looking forward to the challenge, not sure if I have 12 years left though. Good vid very informative, thanks.

[@Stiamh]

You won't need 12 years to get up to speed, Barrie, especially with the experience of other instruments behind you. Just put the time in. I was playing jigs and waltzes with my ceili band within a year. Reels took a bit longer but within 5 years I was able to lead the band. So take heart and enjoy the journey. But... you will need to put the time in. Good luck.

[@shawnedwards5369]

Okay, who've you ever seen actually "gag" with an F-natural in the roll? I'd actually love to see that pub session video. 🤣

[@Stiamh]

I was too busy wiping up the mess to shoot a video. Sorry about that.

[@dia-to]

Thanks for your videos! Funny that you should refer to accordion as a non-traditional instrument (compared to fiddle or pipes), although "younger", I would tend to see the accordion as a fully traditional instrument, either now or then.

[@Stiamh]

I suppose I mean that, historically anyway, Irish music accordion players have had to develop a style of playing that fitted in with the esthetics of a tradition developed on other instruments for maybe 100 years before the accordion gained a foothold. This is certainly the case regarding the development of "5-note" rolls. Which sound so much better on a fiddle, a flute, or the pipes! :)

[@dia-to]

Stiamh Ionas Agreed, it's a very interesting thing about accordion, how it tries to imitate earlier instruments (and not just in Irish music). On this subject, there was a PhD thesis (history of accordion in Irish music), don't know if you came across, I'll search the reference, just in case.

[@dia-to]

Got it: Máire Ní Chaoimh (dir. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin), Journey into tradition : a social history of the Irish button accordion, University of Limerick, 2010. The PDF ought to be available online somewhere.

[@Stiamh]

In too many traditions I think the accordion a) changed the music and b) supplanted older instruments. I have had conversations with a Greek piano accordionist and a québécois box player, both of whom regretted aspects of the accordion's dominance in their own tradition. And in the Irish tradition, the accordion's equal-tempered tuning and its inability to bend notes are serious shortcomings!

[@Stiamh]

I have it already, thanks!

[@dmacseain]

thx Steve

[@DanielMooreDJ]

Great to see playing trad in Co.Fermanagh is becoming cool

[@rogerreygadas-fabela9312]

Don’t they use this type of accordion in merengue tipico from the Dominican Republic?

[@Stiamh]

I'm not familiar with the genre but looking around on KZbin it seems that yes, they use this make of accordion and this and similar models. But they wouldn't be tuned the same way. In the Irish systems, the two rows are tuned a semitone apart - B/C or C#/D, mainly - whereas in the rest of the world they are mostly tuned a fourth apart, e.g. G/C, A/D, F/Bb, etc.

[@Pauetika]

Merengue típico accordionists use the Hohner Erica, two rows tuned a fourth apart, mainly Bb/Eb, but also G/C and to a lesser extent A/D. Besides, they retune the two voices of the instrument to obtain a sound with a medium voice and a piccolo voice (8' - 4'), a register called "oboe". I hope this will aid!

[@croescarlino]

13:14 de negra que bella esta!

[@thomasmckenna5372]

I Had no idea the button aasordion was Irish

[@bohemian46]

It isn't.

[@bonenfant96]

Stiamh je suis d'accord avec tout ce que tu enseigne ............sauf ça. Les rolls sont l’essence de la musique Irlandaise. Il faut les faire.

[@Stiamh]

Ben fais-les donc! Attention, je ne dis pas qu'il ne faut pas les faire. Moi, je m'en sers beaucoup au violon et à la flûte. À l'accordéon, je dirais qu'il faut savoir les faire. Puis à ce moment-là on a le choix de s'en servir - un peu, beacoup, ou pas du tout! :-) Salut mon ami.

[@barrypotter3813]

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