ACCORDION 5
Your Accordion's
DIATONIC COLLECTION
A wee bit of music theory -
- perhaps of interest to some, but not to others, who are free to completely ignore it. |
Much of our music is based on twelve collections of notes, with seven notes in each collection. The C collection of notes, if played in succession, would be counted as follows:
C = 1 D = 2 E = 3 F = 4 G = 5 A = 6 B = 7 Higher C = 8
These are counting numbers from 1 to 8, not button numbers.
If played in the order given, starting and ending on C, we refer to it as the C-major scale. These notes form an octave, which can be repeated to reach higher, or lower, C notes. Each treble row of my button accordion covers just over two octaves; on the other hand, a standard piano keyboard covers more than seven octaves.
The ancient Greeks first observed that the notes in an octave were NOT equally spaced in a relative auditory sense. For example, stepping from note to note on the C-major scale would be equivalent to the following:
C step-to D step-to E baby-step-to F step-to G step-to A step-to B baby-step-to higher C
If you have a double-row accordion with a C row, that is what you are playing when you press the following buttons, pushing or pulling as indicated:
3 step-to 3* step-to 4 baby-step-to 4* step-to 5 step-to 5* step-to 6* baby-step-to 6
C = 1 D = 2 E = 3 F = 4 G = 5 A = 6 B = 7 Higher C = 8
These are counting numbers from 1 to 8, not button numbers.
If played in the order given, starting and ending on C, we refer to it as the C-major scale. These notes form an octave, which can be repeated to reach higher, or lower, C notes. Each treble row of my button accordion covers just over two octaves; on the other hand, a standard piano keyboard covers more than seven octaves.
The ancient Greeks first observed that the notes in an octave were NOT equally spaced in a relative auditory sense. For example, stepping from note to note on the C-major scale would be equivalent to the following:
C step-to D step-to E baby-step-to F step-to G step-to A step-to B baby-step-to higher C
If you have a double-row accordion with a C row, that is what you are playing when you press the following buttons, pushing or pulling as indicated:
3 step-to 3* step-to 4 baby-step-to 4* step-to 5 step-to 5* step-to 6* baby-step-to 6
This is easier to follow on a piano, and would be equivalent to starting from middle C (white key), and walking up the inside of the keyboard with your fingers, stepping over any black keys and touching only white keys. Observe that there is no black key between E and F, nor between B and C; hence the "baby-steps" when moving between these keys.
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Remember the "Step Step Baby-step Step Step Step Baby-step" pattern; musically it defines what is called a diatonic major scale, and the notes form a diatonic collection.
If you have a double-row accordion with a D row, and press the following buttons, pushing or pulling as indicated, you are playing the D-major scale, also diatonic.
3 step-to 3* step-to 4 baby-step-to 4* step-to 5 step-to 5* step-to 6* baby-step-to 6
This is also the case for the A row on an A-D accordion, the D row on a D-G accordion, the G row on a G-C accordion and the C-row on a C-F accordion.
This is why we can use the same notation for the inside rows of A-D, D-G, G-C, or C-F accordions; similarly for the outside rows, and often for both rows. We say that these instruments are transposable.
If you have a double-row accordion with a D row, and press the following buttons, pushing or pulling as indicated, you are playing the D-major scale, also diatonic.
3 step-to 3* step-to 4 baby-step-to 4* step-to 5 step-to 5* step-to 6* baby-step-to 6
This is also the case for the A row on an A-D accordion, the D row on a D-G accordion, the G row on a G-C accordion and the C-row on a C-F accordion.
This is why we can use the same notation for the inside rows of A-D, D-G, G-C, or C-F accordions; similarly for the outside rows, and often for both rows. We say that these instruments are transposable.