Out of my depth

Since my last post I have received a huge amount of encouragement and support, both over the internet and in real life. I have been hugely touched by this, so thank you everyone. It wasn’t a terribly easy post to write, but I am glad that I did. It is always going to be difficult to admit that you have a problem, but I think that it is important to be honest with people, especially those that you care about. I have been particularly touched by those professional melodeon players who have offered encouragement and sympathies, especially John Spiers, Jon Loomes and Andy Cutting.

Why I didn’t give up melodeon

I came very close to giving up box this year. For those that know me (or have bothered to read the rest of this blog), that may seem inconceivable. But I did come very close to giving up.

The Atzarin Accordion

Hello everybody! Today I announce a new project. A little while back I wrote a post on Accordion Classification, which mentioned that there had never been a “Bisonoric, Chromatic Button Accordion”. It did however mention two such systems, the Loomes Chromatic and the Atzarin System.

Language and Music

My girlfriend is Jewish and I am not. Being in a multi-cultural relationship is an amazing thing, I get to experience another culture in a way that few can. Plus it is a culture which is familiar to someone raised as a Christian and involves eating large amounts of very good food.

A tribute to Tony Hall

It is a week of tributes apparently. I am going to break convention by making a tribute to someone whilst they are still alive. That person is Tony Hall.

I remember the first time that I ever heard Tony Hall. It was also the first time that I heard his name. It was at an amazing concert called “The Sound of Hohner” at the Manor Pavilion Theatre during Sidmouth Folk Week 2008 (I think). It was a concert which featured some of the best players of Hohner instruments around, including Tony Hall, John Kirkpatrick (another massive influence), Pete Coe, Ed Rennie (who organised it), Chris Parkinson and others. You had to be there and I’m fortunate in that I was.

It has been too long

Hello everybody! It has been far too long; over three months have passed since last we spoke.

They have been an eventful three months, which is my principal excuse for inactivity. I was offered a job part way through January and am now working full time as an Acoustic Consultant (see this post for why), mainly looking at noise management for construction projects. Unfortunately it is a hefty commute away and so most of my time has been spent going to work, commuting and sleeping. I am now getting into the swing of things though, so fingers crossed I should have a bit more time soon.

Inside and Out Part 6 – The Shand Morino

Today we go back to Inside and Out and I’ve got one of the giants of the accordion world to take apart for your delectation and delight. For those of you who are new to the blog and don’t know what this series is about, see Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. This week I’ve been given a set of pictures by Ian Cruickshanks (the same Ian Cruickshanks who took the pictures of the Schwyzerörgeli) from one of his other accordions – his 1950s Shand Morino.

The Loomes Chromatic

If you aren’t at all interested in melodeon fingering layouts then look away now. You have been warned.

My last blog post of 2012 is on an interesting idea. Regular readers may remember that I wrote a little-understood post on classifying accordions a little while ago and mentioned in that post the possibility of Chromatic, Bisonoric, Button Accordions. This I defined as an accordion which uses buttons, having different notes on push and pull and based around a chromatic scale. There haven’t been any such accordions built, but the subject of this blog post is one possible idea.

A year of Music and Melodeons

Well, today is the one year anniversary of my first ever post on this blog. It’s been an interesting year and thanks to WordPress, I can quantify exactly how interesting it was.

An illustration of the non-existence of God

Somehow this blog has got sidelined for a while, which is sad. Being unemployed is getting me down and I am tending to not do any of the things that I should.

However, that changes today, with this post. I was slightly hesitant about writing about this topic, because this knowledge caused a bit of a musical crisis for me earlier this year and I wouldn’t want to wish that on anyone. However, under the assumption that what you don’t know hurts you more than what you do know, the time has come to talk about temperaments.