19 Tone Equal Temperament

Some of you may remember a post that I did a little while ago on temperaments, titled an illustration of the non-existence of God. If you haven’t read it then read it now, because this post might not make much sense without it. Since then, I have heard much more of the problems of temperaments, especially from David Howard of the University of York at the Institute of Acoustics Musical Acoustics Group (bit of a mouthful that) one day meeting in June. I then heard more from Graham Hair, Nick Bailey, Alex South and Bill Evans at the Galpin Society conference in July, specifically on 19 tone equal temperament.

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Harmonetta Bass

Some of you, the more astute ones perhaps, may be aware that I am interested in fingering systems for accordions. I have already posted on the Loomes Chromatic and am currently working my way through the Atzarin Accordion (very much a work in progress). And, of course, I already play a D/Em melodeon and a B/C+C# with Hayden free bass.

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.

When thinking about instruments…

People often look at the melodeon (or indeed any instrument) and claim that a particular part is good for the sound. For example, people sometimes (erroneously) say that resonance of the palletboard improves the sound of the instrument.

Musical Development problems – the Janko Keyboard

So, I have passed my Master of Engineering, which means that from next Thursday I can style myself “Mr Owen Woods, BA(Hons) MEng CertGSMD”. Not that I will in polite conversation mind, but it is rather daunting that it is an option. And with this revelation, it is beginning to sink in that I am going to leave this place. Which is not an unpleasant thought, it has been a tricky four years, but it isn’t wholly pleasant either.

The Pitfalls of Musical Instrument Acoustics

I have an interest in musical instrument acoustics. I should do, I took acoustics modules this year and my final year project was based entirely on it. And I’ve been looking into all sorts of different instruments, from stringed instruments in my project, to free reeds in my own time. Whilst reading through opinions on what matters and what doesn’t, I have come to realise a fundamental problem in looking at musical instruments.

Load of old Rubbish

Hello hypothetical readers, how are you? I missed last weekend’s update due to walking induced distraction. I was hiking parts of the Lake District and Peak District as a break from revision, which was welcome. The below shows where I was.

Making the most of your Limitations

A perennially popular topic of discussion amongst melodeon players is on the merits and disadvantages of different kinds of box, in particular whether altering boxes in certain ways diminishes the appeal. Gary Chapin recently wrote a very well written post on the relationship between boxes and their music. This is my take on the limitations of instruments and how that relates to the melodeon.