Okay, so we all spend a lot of time in D & G, rather less in A etc.
Given the "theoretical" possibilities of the half-step box I'm just interested in what other keys people have strayed into, whether or not playing ITM. C, up and down the row, is obvious for B/C players, and F is the same pattern as C#/D players use for G. E falls into a nice pattern across the rows on B/C. Bb is doable, if hardly friendly.
Not saying you should, not sure why you would, but just interested to hear if you have!
Interesting too to hear what the Anglo players have wandered into.
(For convenience leaving modes out of it, so using D to mean all modes played on that two sharps pattern etc.)
Re: Box players - have you gone beyond the main keys?
I have a 2 1/2-row D/G box but practise very little these days so haven't mastered any new keys outside the D, G, A lot. I use the half row for accidentals, especially when attempting more exotic music than ITM - G#, F natural and sometimes the flats. What I could do with but haven't got - and I'm not going to try and get it now - is middle C.
Going on my attempts to play the *scales* of unusual keys, on whichever buttons/rows, they've struck me as quite difficult: I haven't stuck at it. Nobody's fault but mine - younger and more enthusiastic players bat them out with ease on melodeons such as mine.
Re: Box players - have you gone beyond the main keys?
I play C#/D. I learn a few tunes in E major but that is only B/C fingering for D major so no big deal.
The main difficulty with slightly remote keys is that the "magic notes" are often not useable, nor the 7th which you can take in the same draw as the 6th (C# and B on my box). So in those keys you end up with a lot more pushing and pulling.
For example Dminor and G minor (or rather dorian) are moderate finger twisters on C#/D - but you can do anything if you practise enough. One has to tackle Dm reels at some point - the Tempest is a good one to start with, and the Ewe Reel is an easy G sort-of-dorian one to tackle too.
I enjoy playing slower tunes and airs in Gm, often true Gm (with two flats, not just one). Neither of these keys is any kind of problem on a B/C box, of course.
When you get into really remote keys you start to get different combinations that ease off the constant push-pulling, but they come in weird places! Try playing a D tune in Eb on C#/D for example. My current workhorse for this is Rambling Pitchfork. In fact occasionally I try to play that tune in all the different major keys. You learn interesting things. But then you forget them immediately.
Re: Box players - have you gone beyond the main keys?
Keys like Bb,Eb and Gminor are like going to the gym for us box players (I think I hear snickers from the PA crowd... ). They definitely feel like a workout. They help you master your instrument, no doubt about it. I often play Tommy's Tarbukas aka Sparky in Gminor to limber up and everything else afterwards seems like a piece of cake. But fun? not really. Billy McComiskey wrote the Palm Tree in Bb and The Flowers of Brooklyn in Eb in response to a challenge from a PA player, but unless you play like Billy himself,they'll feel like you're crunching abs all the way through.
Re: Box players - have you gone beyond the main keys?
I play a C/G anglo and I've been learning tunes in Gm and F lately. I also play a few tunes in F#m. (similar to the key of A) I know players who have concertinas in flat keys and such that expand the key possibilities without changing the standard fingering.
Re: Box players - have you gone beyond the main keys?
Like nicholas, I have the 2 1/2 row. I play B/C. However, I am just getting to be somewhat competent (I hope my teacher is not reading this!) in C, D, G and recently better with A. Actually, I find A much easier than C despite C being a traditional learners key on the B/C.
On several occasions working with our Church liturgi-nazis, I have had to play in Bflat a bit and F on some faux-Irish made-for-church stuff for the high Holy Day in March.
Box players - have you gone beyond the main keys?
Box players - have you gone beyond the main keys?
Okay, so we all spend a lot of time in D & G, rather less in A etc.
Given the "theoretical" possibilities of the half-step box I'm just interested in what other keys people have strayed into, whether or not playing ITM. C, up and down the row, is obvious for B/C players, and F is the same pattern as C#/D players use for G. E falls into a nice pattern across the rows on B/C. Bb is doable, if hardly friendly.
Not saying you should, not sure why you would, but just interested to hear if you have!
Interesting too to hear what the Anglo players have wandered into.
(For convenience leaving modes out of it, so using D to mean all modes played on that two sharps pattern etc.)
# Posted on June 26th 2008 by TomB-R
Re: Box players - have you gone beyond the main keys?
I have a 2 1/2-row D/G box but practise very little these days so haven't mastered any new keys outside the D, G, A lot. I use the half row for accidentals, especially when attempting more exotic music than ITM - G#, F natural and sometimes the flats. What I could do with but haven't got - and I'm not going to try and get it now - is middle C.
Going on my attempts to play the *scales* of unusual keys, on whichever buttons/rows, they've struck me as quite difficult: I haven't stuck at it. Nobody's fault but mine - younger and more enthusiastic players bat them out with ease on melodeons such as mine.
# Posted on June 26th 2008 by nicholas
Re: Box players - have you gone beyond the main keys?
I play C#/D. I learn a few tunes in E major but that is only B/C fingering for D major so no big deal.
The main difficulty with slightly remote keys is that the "magic notes" are often not useable, nor the 7th which you can take in the same draw as the 6th (C# and B on my box). So in those keys you end up with a lot more pushing and pulling.
For example Dminor and G minor (or rather dorian) are moderate finger twisters on C#/D - but you can do anything if you practise enough. One has to tackle Dm reels at some point - the Tempest is a good one to start with, and the Ewe Reel is an easy G sort-of-dorian one to tackle too.
I enjoy playing slower tunes and airs in Gm, often true Gm (with two flats, not just one). Neither of these keys is any kind of problem on a B/C box, of course.
When you get into really remote keys you start to get different combinations that ease off the constant push-pulling, but they come in weird places! Try playing a D tune in Eb on C#/D for example. My current workhorse for this is Rambling Pitchfork. In fact occasionally I try to play that tune in all the different major keys. You learn interesting things. But then you forget them immediately.
# Posted on June 26th 2008 by Jeeves Tones
Re: Box players - have you gone beyond the main keys?
Keys like Bb,Eb and Gminor are like going to the gym for us box players (I think I hear snickers from the PA crowd... ). They definitely feel like a workout. They help you master your instrument, no doubt about it. I often play Tommy's Tarbukas aka Sparky in Gminor to limber up and everything else afterwards seems like a piece of cake. But fun? not really. Billy McComiskey wrote the Palm Tree in Bb and The Flowers of Brooklyn in Eb in response to a challenge from a PA player, but unless you play like Billy himself,they'll feel like you're crunching abs all the way through.
# Posted on June 26th 2008 by pennhorse
Re: Box players - have you gone beyond the main keys?
Hi JT, still need to get back to you about that Poutoux guy!
# Posted on June 26th 2008 by pennhorse
Re: Box players - have you gone beyond the main keys?
I play a C/G anglo and I've been learning tunes in Gm and F lately. I also play a few tunes in F#m. (similar to the key of A) I know players who have concertinas in flat keys and such that expand the key possibilities without changing the standard fingering.
# Posted on June 26th 2008 by Phantom Button
Re: Box players - have you gone beyond the main keys?
Like nicholas, I have the 2 1/2 row. I play B/C. However, I am just getting to be somewhat competent (I hope my teacher is not reading this!) in C, D, G and recently better with A. Actually, I find A much easier than C despite C being a traditional learners key on the B/C.
On several occasions working with our Church liturgi-nazis, I have had to play in Bflat a bit and F on some faux-Irish made-for-church stuff for the high Holy Day in March.
# Posted on June 26th 2008 by zippydw
Re: Box players - have you gone beyond the main keys?
E, C, F, Bb, Eb and G mi are keys I've used occasionally on b/c. They'd be easy if i used them as often as the fiddle keys.
Playing in B maj across the rows made me see the great potential of D/D# boxes for keys G D and A with workable basses. I hope to buy one soon.
# Posted on June 28th 2008 by millionyears_bc