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Title: Music written for the melodeon
Hello Everybody!My first post........ I live and learn in Brittany (this is my second year)and play mostly Breton music and traditional French, with some Irish and Scottish - the Celtic connection in Brittany. However - I have been trying for AGES to findEnglishmusic - Morris dances, traditional dances and songs. I have found various sites that sell sheet music,but it is all "normal" music! The French music I use is a "tablature" (don't know English word!) - with push and pull and numbers for the buttons (normal music is sometimes absent or usually written above the push/pull). This is what I am trying to find - - does this sort of thing exist or do you use ordinary music and "translate" it into accord?n music - if so - how? It takes meagesto do this - I would be VERY grateful for any help. I only have one Morris dance written as a tablature,and Greensleeves so I'd love to have something else! Many thanks!!Hilary
Hilary56 posted on 19/07/2007 10:55
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The French music I use is a "tablature" (don't know English word!) - with push and pull and numbers for the buttons
Welcome to the forum. Most English and Morris music that I know about is only available in ABC or music notation format on the web. There is a page on Bernard Loffet's web site http://diato.org/tabledit.htm (in French) about TablEdit, which I believe will turn ABC into music notation and melodeon tablature. A good place to start looking for tunes in ABC is http://www.walshaw.plus.com/abc/search.html
out of puff posted on 19/07/2007 12:19
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Welcome to the forum. Most English and Morris music that I know about is only available in ABC or music notation format on the web. There is a page on Bernard Loffet's web sitehttp://diato.org/tabledit.htm(in French) about TablEdit, which I believe will turn ABC into music notation and melodeon tablature. A good place to start looking for tunes in ABC ishttp://www.walshaw.plus.com/abc/search.html
TablEdit is at www.tabledit.com and does diatonic accordion tab, so providing it's the same version of tab that Hilary is using it is a complete solution.
Hilary; TablEdit has a "French website". You can download a free demo from there too to see if it suits you. The full program is $55 which is quite expensive (though not as expensive as it used to be before the dollar collapsed). TablEdit reads tunes in abc format, which means that you can then produce tablature, for free, for every single traditional English tune, in multiple variants, by downloading the abc that is freely available online.
I would recommend that you start, however, with the "Lewes Favourites", which is a set of 200 popular English session tunes in abc format. All the old standards are here, and the abc reflects the way that they're currently played in that particular session. So it's a very good place to start.
I would give one slight word of warning about automatically generating melodeon tablature, which is that whether you play along the rows or across the rows gives a very different feel to the music, and the automatic tablature may not reflect the way that the music is normally played. So if something doesn't feel right when it's written down then you do need to trust your instincts and play it the way that feels right.
The other time-honoured way to learn English tunes is by ear; Folkworks produce a set of three books and CDs with the tunes played slowly and fast, that I found incredibly useful when I started. No tab of course; but it's perfectly possible to learn tunes by listening to them being played.
Good luck!
BohemianCoast posted on 19/07/2007 13:23
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Many thanks for your replies. I know the Bernard Loffet site very well - his shop is about twenty minutes away from where I live...... But he doesn't have anything English written in tablature - I bought a book of Scottish songs instead! However, I have tried to download his TableEdit but so far it hasn't worked...However I shall have another go! I shall definitely look at the sites you told me about - maybe I'll just have to "play by ear" - my Breton teacher swears by this method, so he'll be happy!
thanks very much again!
Hilary
Hilary56 posted on 19/07/2007 19:11
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The French music I use is a "tablature" (don't know English word!) - with push and pull and numbers for the buttons (normal music is sometimes absent or usually written above the push/pull). This is what I am trying to find - - does this sort of thing exist or do you use ordinary music and "translate" it into accord?n music - if so - how? It takes me ages to do this - I would be VERY grateful for any help. I only have one Morris dance written as a tablature, and Greensleeves so I'd love to have something else! Many thanks!!
You've discovered the major disadvantage of tablature - not much music written that way. You ask "do you use ordinary music and "translate" it into accord?n music - if so - how?" No, translation is not required - you read the notes off the ordinary music page and play them on the melodeon.
Spending time translating music notation or ABC to tablature would be a real backwards step, whether with the aid of a computer programme or not. Instead, spend the time learning to read normal music (and, obviously, where the notes are on the melodeon), and also find out about ABC. It's not difficult, for the simple melody line and chord symbols which constitute the vast majority of music played on the melodeon. Then you'll have access to ALL tunes published in both standard notation and ABC (because ABC computer programmes will also write out the staff notation).
Bill Y
wgwy posted on 19/07/2007 19:52
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Reply to : BohemianCoast and OUt of PuffMany thanks for your replies. I know the Bernard Loffet site very well - his shop is about twenty minutes away from where I live...... But he doesn't have anything English written in tablature - I bought a book of Scottish songs instead! However, I have tried to download his TableEdit but so far it hasn't worked...However I shall have another go! I shall definitely look at the sites you told me about - maybe I'll just have to "play by ear" - my Breton teacher swears by this method, so he'll be happy!thanks very much again!Hilary
Hi Hillary & welcome to melodeon.net
You could easily add the type of tablature you are familiar with to any conventional music score in respect of which button to press & whether to push or pull on the bellows. make a little 'chart' with the dots from say low B to high A ( most music tutor books have something on those lines) from this you can identify the letter (name) of each note. secondly you need a keyboard chart for your melodeon which will tell you which button & bellows direction plays which note.
It is then a question of identifying each note in your music score and writing the appropriate button number above (or below) it together with a sign to push or pull the bellows. There is another useful purpose to doing this, as you fairly soon will find that you can dispense with the charts of the 'dots' and keyboard as you will have learned the name of the note each represents. You have then , totally free of charge!, started to develop the rudimentary ability to read the dots and to have learned the position of each note on your instrument and can therefore dispense with the tablature and use any written music!
george
georgegarside posted on 19/07/2007 20:01
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I agree with all that has been said. Another thing that I found useful when learning to play melodeon and read music notation at the same time simultaneously is that the three push notes starting from G (3rd button) on the 'G' row correspond to the middle three lines of the staff, and the four spaces in the staff correspond to the four pull notes starting from F# (2nd button). Outside that it all goes to pot. I still have difficulty playing in D from the dots after 5 years.
I've just checked, what I said above about playing in G is also true for playing in C on the 'C' row if you start from the line below the bottom line of the staff.
I forgot to mention a free program that has been talked about here is AbcNavigator. It's excellent for playing tunes from ABC files so you can learn them by ear. It's also French.
out of puff posted on 19/07/2007 21:11
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I forgot to mention a free program that has been talked about here is AbcNavigator. It's excellent for playing tunes from ABC files so you can learn them by ear. It's also French.
I tried ABC Navigator following it's mention here, and found it didn't work all that well. It's also been tried and found wanting elsewhere (Jack Campin post, 18July 15.48).
Bill Y
wgwy posted on 19/07/2007 22:47
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Thanks to everyone! I can read music so I think I'm going to sit down and write a "chart" for myself as suggested and learn which notes correspond to which buttons.........I am also downloading ABC Navigator and will try the other suggestions too!
One other question - why does it say "cheap chinese melodeon" under my name?
Many thanks again 
Hilary
Hilary56 posted on 20/07/2007 11:49
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One other question - why does it say "cheap chinese melodeon" under my name?
If you click on PROFILE top right of the forum screen you can edit your title in Account Information - Use Own Title
Lester Bailey posted on 20/07/2007 12:01
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Thanks to everyone! I can read music so I think I'm going to sit down and write a "chart" for myself as suggested and learn which notes correspond to which buttons.........I am also downloading ABC Navigator and will try the other suggestions too!One other question - why does it say "cheap chinese melodeon" under my name?Many thanks againHilary
knowing the keyboard layout extremely well is the key to playing either direct from the dots or from ABC notation. knowing exactly what is where also greatly facilitates playing accross the row . Other types of notation that rely totaly on button numbers & push /pull indicators are , in my opinion, only a very useful short term measure to get people up and running (I use them thoughout my beginners tutor book - but its only intended as a quick crash course) button numbers & pull/push doesnt give any indication of note length or timing and it is easy to learn to eqate a 'dot' with a button & bellows direction. This I see as a sort of interim measure - the more you use it the more you start to get the hang of reading the timing as well, although many of us will never aspire to being good sight readers.
george
georgegarside posted on 20/07/2007 12:50
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