As a bouzouki player, I've just been thrown a curved ball by a in law. I have just been presented with a Paolo Soprani BC box, and apart from a bit of one row morris years ago haven't a clue where to start.
Can someone please recommend a good Irish BC box tutorial cd or video or whatever.I'm not an absolute novice but have never crossed rows before. I need to know where I'm going so as not to waste time and effort getting it wrong and having to relearn.
One more thing what are all the buttons with odd symbols?, and where do they fit in to the grand scheme of things?
I don't know what it is with our family and these Paolo Sopranis this is the second one passed down to us in the the last 3 years. Number one son ended up with the first but eventually traded it in for small pipes. This time I'm determined to hang on to it and learn the beast
So any help/pointers etc willbe gratefully received.
Congratulations, you will have a lot of fun with the box, although it does take patience. One tutorial I had was the videotape put out by Homespun music featuring John Williams from Chicago. Not a bad tutorial for its length, but hardly a complete introduction. The other was a videotape featuring Peter Browne, which was entirely about ornamentation, and a bit advanced for someone just starting.
I am sure there are more out there, as I am still far from accomplished on the box, perhaps your query will produce something of value to me, as well!
Enjoy!
I had the Williams tape as well, and even watched it once, but didn't find it very enlightening. Can't hurt, though.
It's not too hard to dope it out on your own, if you know a little about the music and a little about music generally. Since one row is C and the other is B, you know two important facts straight off: in the D scale, two of the notes are on the B row only, and two are shared by the two rows. Working out where those notes are, and where the other notes are, is not tremendously difficult if you bear in mind that the notes of the C chord are on the press on the inner row and the notes of the B chord are on the press on the outer row, and the other notes are on the draw on their appropriate row. Obviously, since no notes are repeated, this means there's an asymmetry from octave to octave - this will be a little awkward at first, when you find that you have to shift to a different button to move from D to E in the middle octave, but in the higher octave you simply change direction, but you'll get the hang of that pretty quick, you're smart.
So once you've done that sort of fiddling, you'll have a pretty good idea of where the notes are and you can pick a tune you already know and try to dope it out. Blarney Pilgrim is a good one, you can play it all on the C row and it will move you through a lot of the instrument's range. Give that a try if you know it. Donnybrook Fair is also a reasonable one, and the Blackthorn Stick also goes nicely. From there, you'll have it all worked out by Christmas.
Have fun!
I think the john williams dvd was a good one but it kind of went over my head at first and it was only after much flailing about that realized what he wa trying to say. After that I used the damien connolly dvd which has some good tunes as well he talks more about fingering. Again after much flailing and trying to slide and use my fourth finger etc and wondering why I didn't sound the least bit irish I payed more attention to the lesson and low and behold things started to take off. Good luck
here's a couple of tips from someone who did not do this early on and wasted a lot of time hunting and pecking----
find and print out a b/c button layout chart on the internet (tho the connolly book, which i agree is a good idea, will have it too).
without driving yourself crazy, slowly but steadily learn which notes are on which buttons, on both rows. get to the point where you can go up the row pressing and drawing, and murmuring the note names for each button to yourself, until you get it, on both rows. then, get to the point where you can very slowly but fluidly do chromatic scales up and back using both rows, saying the semi-tones to yourself. speed doesn't matter. familiarity is the idea.
this will put you light-years ahead in learning how to play the thing, and that includes even if you only or mostly plan to play the C row. seriously.
contrary to how it seems to the unitiated, the weird seems-in-order-but-is-really-not quality of semitone boxes is an illusion. however, you can learn the notes very quick. this is because there is a fixed pattern to note layout. (though unfortunately, that pattern is not sequential scale order!).
each row is a major scale in one key. major scales have seven of the twelve available semitones that make up the western-music tone lexicon. the major scale tones are known to you already as, do, re, mi, etc.
on the PUSH, these tones of the seven are ALWAYS IN FIXED ORDER THUSLY:
135135135135135135135135135135135135135
(so, when you push in holding a bunch of buttons in that row, you hear a major chord)
on the PULL, the remaining four of the seven are ALWAYS IN FIXED REPEATING ORDER THUSLY:
2467246724672467246724672467246724672467
this doesn't change. ever. what does change, is how the notes on the push and the pull are fall relative to each other, given that you have three push notes and four pull notes and also given that in a major scale, six and seven (two pull notes) are sequential. so though the push notes and the pull notes maIntain their own fixed repeating order, they stagger and get out of sync WITH EACH OTHER in terms of scale order, capeesh? [they do come back into sync as the patterns repeat, but not within the span of your keyboard, and it wouldn't help anyway because unlike these numeral units, your tones have ascending and descending octave timbres, so....)
so check it out---remember, it's SEVEN semitones in fixed repeating sequences:
the [[]] marks are the span of your little old button keyboard.
note especially the // marks. this is to show you the genius of the semitone box layout. between these marks on either side, i'm showing you how the designers of this system took advantage of the stretch in the repeating patterns where the four pull notes and the three push notes are kind of (BUT ONLY KIND OF) close to each other. they share buttons with neighbor tones, BUT NOT IN SCALE ORDER. sometimes the neighbor is above, sometimes it's below.
so with this key, it is a snap to memorize your keyboard. in C,
1=C
3=E
5=G
and on the pull,
2=D
4=F
6=A
7=B
you can plus this in the same way for your B row, and on any row of any semitone box. everyone will be AMAZED at how quickly you've grokked it!
Okay for one thing, those weird buttons with symbols are couplars. They change the sound of the box (Try pressing them and you'll know what I mean). Look up something that you can learn the notes from.
Having watched the postings for some time, BC box advice from ceemonster is usually worth listening to. And I found the Connolly tutor very good, although to be honest I didn't use it much. I knew enough about the ornamentation before and to my mind that is Connolly's strength.
And subscribe to melodeon.net.
Living in Switzerland, I ordered the Damien Conolly tutor book through his website : came in a week and a half, so I guess it's not a worry ... and I think it's a good starter !
have fun with your box !
BC Button box advice please
BC Button box advice please
As a bouzouki player, I've just been thrown a curved ball by a in law. I have just been presented with a Paolo Soprani BC box, and apart from a bit of one row morris years ago haven't a clue where to start.
Can someone please recommend a good Irish BC box tutorial cd or video or whatever.I'm not an absolute novice but have never crossed rows before. I need to know where I'm going so as not to waste time and effort getting it wrong and having to relearn.
One more thing what are all the buttons with odd symbols?, and where do they fit in to the grand scheme of things?
# Posted on June 17th 2011 by -=cluiche=-
Re: BC Button box advice please
I don't know what it is with our family and these Paolo Sopranis this is the second one passed down to us in the the last 3 years. Number one son ended up with the first but eventually traded it in for small pipes. This time I'm determined to hang on to it and learn the beast
So any help/pointers etc willbe gratefully received.
# Posted on June 18th 2011 by -=cluiche=-
Re: BC Button box advice please
Congratulations, you will have a lot of fun with the box, although it does take patience. One tutorial I had was the videotape put out by Homespun music featuring John Williams from Chicago. Not a bad tutorial for its length, but hardly a complete introduction. The other was a videotape featuring Peter Browne, which was entirely about ornamentation, and a bit advanced for someone just starting.
I am sure there are more out there, as I am still far from accomplished on the box, perhaps your query will produce something of value to me, as well!
Enjoy!
# Posted on June 18th 2011 by AlBrown
Re: BC Button box advice please
I had the Williams tape as well, and even watched it once, but didn't find it very enlightening. Can't hurt, though.
It's not too hard to dope it out on your own, if you know a little about the music and a little about music generally. Since one row is C and the other is B, you know two important facts straight off: in the D scale, two of the notes are on the B row only, and two are shared by the two rows. Working out where those notes are, and where the other notes are, is not tremendously difficult if you bear in mind that the notes of the C chord are on the press on the inner row and the notes of the B chord are on the press on the outer row, and the other notes are on the draw on their appropriate row. Obviously, since no notes are repeated, this means there's an asymmetry from octave to octave - this will be a little awkward at first, when you find that you have to shift to a different button to move from D to E in the middle octave, but in the higher octave you simply change direction, but you'll get the hang of that pretty quick, you're smart.
So once you've done that sort of fiddling, you'll have a pretty good idea of where the notes are and you can pick a tune you already know and try to dope it out. Blarney Pilgrim is a good one, you can play it all on the C row and it will move you through a lot of the instrument's range. Give that a try if you know it. Donnybrook Fair is also a reasonable one, and the Blackthorn Stick also goes nicely. From there, you'll have it all worked out by Christmas.
Have fun!
# Posted on June 18th 2011 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: BC Button box advice please
I think the john williams dvd was a good one but it kind of went over my head at first and it was only after much flailing about that realized what he wa trying to say. After that I used the damien connolly dvd which has some good tunes as well he talks more about fingering. Again after much flailing and trying to slide and use my fourth finger etc and wondering why I didn't sound the least bit irish I payed more attention to the lesson and low and behold things started to take off. Good luck
# Posted on June 18th 2011 by croxton
Re: BC Button box advice please
This is what you need:
http://www.damienconnolly.com/tutor.html
# Posted on June 18th 2011 by pennhorse
Re: BC Button box advice please
sorry, cross-posting with croxton.
# Posted on June 18th 2011 by pennhorse
Re: BC Button box advice please
here's a couple of tips from someone who did not do this early on and wasted a lot of time hunting and pecking----
find and print out a b/c button layout chart on the internet (tho the connolly book, which i agree is a good idea, will have it too).
without driving yourself crazy, slowly but steadily learn which notes are on which buttons, on both rows. get to the point where you can go up the row pressing and drawing, and murmuring the note names for each button to yourself, until you get it, on both rows. then, get to the point where you can very slowly but fluidly do chromatic scales up and back using both rows, saying the semi-tones to yourself. speed doesn't matter. familiarity is the idea.
this will put you light-years ahead in learning how to play the thing, and that includes even if you only or mostly plan to play the C row. seriously.
contrary to how it seems to the unitiated, the weird seems-in-order-but-is-really-not quality of semitone boxes is an illusion. however, you can learn the notes very quick. this is because there is a fixed pattern to note layout. (though unfortunately, that pattern is not sequential scale order!).
each row is a major scale in one key. major scales have seven of the twelve available semitones that make up the western-music tone lexicon. the major scale tones are known to you already as, do, re, mi, etc.
on the PUSH, these tones of the seven are ALWAYS IN FIXED ORDER THUSLY:
135135135135135135135135135135135135135
(so, when you push in holding a bunch of buttons in that row, you hear a major chord)
on the PULL, the remaining four of the seven are ALWAYS IN FIXED REPEATING ORDER THUSLY:
2467246724672467246724672467246724672467
this doesn't change. ever. what does change, is how the notes on the push and the pull are fall relative to each other, given that you have three push notes and four pull notes and also given that in a major scale, six and seven (two pull notes) are sequential. so though the push notes and the pull notes maIntain their own fixed repeating order, they stagger and get out of sync WITH EACH OTHER in terms of scale order, capeesh? [they do come back into sync as the patterns repeat, but not within the span of your keyboard, and it wouldn't help anyway because unlike these numeral units, your tones have ascending and descending octave timbres, so....)
so check it out---remember, it's SEVEN semitones in fixed repeating sequences:
[[[67//246724//67]]]24672467246724672467246724blahblah
[[[35//135135//13]]]51351351351351351351351351blahblah
the [[]] marks are the span of your little old button keyboard.
note especially the // marks. this is to show you the genius of the semitone box layout. between these marks on either side, i'm showing you how the designers of this system took advantage of the stretch in the repeating patterns where the four pull notes and the three push notes are kind of (BUT ONLY KIND OF) close to each other. they share buttons with neighbor tones, BUT NOT IN SCALE ORDER. sometimes the neighbor is above, sometimes it's below.
so with this key, it is a snap to memorize your keyboard. in C,
1=C
3=E
5=G
and on the pull,
2=D
4=F
6=A
7=B
you can plus this in the same way for your B row, and on any row of any semitone box. everyone will be AMAZED at how quickly you've grokked it!
# Posted on June 18th 2011 by ceemonster
Re: BC Button box advice please
Okay for one thing, those weird buttons with symbols are couplars. They change the sound of the box (Try pressing them and you'll know what I mean). Look up something that you can learn the notes from.
# Posted on June 18th 2011 by Patrick Murray
Re: BC Button box advice please
Having watched the postings for some time, BC box advice from ceemonster is usually worth listening to. And I found the Connolly tutor very good, although to be honest I didn't use it much. I knew enough about the ornamentation before and to my mind that is Connolly's strength.
And subscribe to melodeon.net.
# Posted on June 18th 2011 by nfldbox
Re: BC Button box advice please
Thanks guys , think I'll try and get a copy of Connolly's tutor. I don't suppose it's on sale in UK anywhere is it?
I tried searching on Google and it appears to only be available from his site in the USA
Thanks ceemonster, and everybody else. Looks like I've got me a project for the summer.
Any other advice will be gratefully received ;)
# Posted on June 18th 2011 by -=cluiche=-
Re: BC Button box advice please
Just don't do it. Not even once. It'll steal your life away.
# Posted on June 18th 2011 by polkageist
Re: BC Button box advice please
Living in Switzerland, I ordered the Damien Conolly tutor book through his website : came in a week and a half, so I guess it's not a worry ... and I think it's a good starter !
have fun with your box !
# Posted on June 20th 2011 by Nikita Pfister