Welcome to my TUNES site. It is dedicated to the memory of three great NL button-accordion players: Harry Hibbs, formerly of Wabana on beautiful Bell Island, Art Stoyles of historic down-town St. John's, and Minnie (Hoskins) White of picturesque St. Albans and the Codroy Valley. In addition to their roots in the traditional music of Newfoundland and Labrador, Harry & Minnie were strongly influenced by the music of Ireland and Scotland, and Art by the music of Portugal.
Why this site? Well, I am learning to play my diatonic button-accordion ("melodeon" in the UK), mostly aided by my accordion notation and youTube videos. This is a transposable instrument, which facilitates a simple music notation, based on button numbers, appropriate for a wide range of folk, gospel and popular music selections. My goal is to be able to play a large number of both new and traditional tunes by "ear," and this site, though initially a demo in web design, has been helpful. I'm happy to share it with folks who, like me, seek tunes 2 play 4 fun on their accordions.
Why this site? Well, I am learning to play my diatonic button-accordion ("melodeon" in the UK), mostly aided by my accordion notation and youTube videos. This is a transposable instrument, which facilitates a simple music notation, based on button numbers, appropriate for a wide range of folk, gospel and popular music selections. My goal is to be able to play a large number of both new and traditional tunes by "ear," and this site, though initially a demo in web design, has been helpful. I'm happy to share it with folks who, like me, seek tunes 2 play 4 fun on their accordions.
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My notation is written mainly for Hohner (Erica)-style accordions with two treble rows, keyed a fourth apart (such as A-D, D-G, G-C or C-F), and accidentals on each treble-row's top button.
This also corresponds to the middle and inside treble rows of many triple-row Corona-style accordions, though requiring adjustments for playing on the outside row. These are commonly keyed E-A-D, A-D-G, G-C-F, and F-Bb-Eb. My notation has rather limited value, if any, for accordions with two rows keyed a semi-tone apart, such as B-C or C#-D. |
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To help you learn tunes, two types of web pages are available from the drop-down menus above.
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1. The Information & BA-tutorial (background) pages contain information at introductory, basic, intermediate and advanced levels. From time to time there may also be a NOTICE on this page for (free) limited-enrollment Button-Accordion Zoom-enabled tutorials, aimed primarily at folks who are teaching themselves to play.
2. The tunes are grouped into six categories of web pages - by geography: Canada, USA, and World; - by focus: Dance-Tunes, Gospel, and Kids; where most pages contains a tune in button-accordion notation, with lyrics (where available), and a number of embedded youTube videos, along with other relevant tune information. Four of these six broad categories also include tunes I've selected to learn "BY EAR". |
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