Ketil Thorgersen's research blog

Ok – I’ve decided. After having struggled to get to grips with the accordion by myself again today, I have decided to go for “simple”. Actually – Drömmen om Elin. I even found a note even if I do not believe I will use it. Tip for finding notes is to use googles “filetype:pdf” option (add that to whatever search term and find just pdf files).

The problem is of course to combine the two hands… There is a reason why I never became a good pianist, and there I can at least see both hands at once. I believe I will overcome that fairly quicly though. One thing I don’t understand is how they navigate through the bass notes. I understand that they are organised according to the circle of fifths, but how can I feel where in the system I am? It might dawn on me eventually. Now I have to liste through the notes to figure it out in relation to the right hand C (chich I can identify visually).

I hope to be able to master Drömmen om Elin fairly well within two weeks by practicing half an hour each day (except the weekends). If that works out, I’ll try to learn a christmas song.

I finally got around to buying a Hagström accordion. A Granesso – probably from the late 40s/early fifties:

It sounds good – I am not sure if it is completely airtight but fairly close at least. And pretty much in tune as well. Impressive form such an old mechanical instrument!

Yesterday I was trying out the accordion without anything besides my logic. I knew that the left hand was the bass side and that it was chords organized accordion to the circle of fifth. I figured out that there where different kinds of the same chord outside of each other. The right hand side is easier in a way, since it is supposed to play melodies primarily, and the colour of the knobs are like on the piano – white for c-major, black for sharps/flats. So I managed to figure out the children’s song “Lille Katt” with chord yesterday. I thought I played it in C, but it was in G I discovered today when I checked out Hans Palm’s webpages about the bass and melody side.

So now I am thinking which song I should try to learn: Should I choose a traditional Swedish accordion song like Flottarkärlek oI try to learn an “easy” Christmas song like Jingle bells or just jump onto a song which I actually would like to play like Nordnorsk julesalme. I’ll have to sleep on it! Some songs can be found on wikifonia or elsewhere which might be an advantage for me since I usually lean onto sheets, but I would like to train my ear playing on the accordion so I really do not know!