Button-Accordion Tutorial  Project

(Dual-row G-C or A-D, with Accidentals)
Based on  tunes2play4fun.com  &  Facilitated by ZOOM

MINI-COURSE BA2
Intermediate Melodies & Tunes

UNIT ONE (of TEN)
​Sliding, Reaching and Cross-playing (Melodies)

Return to BA2- Unit 1
SLIDE SET & NOTES - INSTRUCTIONAL SESSION ONE

Zoom Slides 1 to 4

Welcome to our intermediate-level dual-row button-accordion mini-course.

This mini-course, like BA1 before, is based on the premise that all learning involves a lot of supported self-teaching.
Zoom Slide 5 & 6
​
Disclaimer:  This mini-course has been assembled by a (mostly) self-taught player, who is neither a professional  musician nor a professional music-teacher, but with a teaching and instructional development background, and with a new-found love of the button-accordion.

Hence: No charges, no fees, no exams, no guarantees ... just playing for fun.
Zoom Slides 7.   The focus of 

​Units 1-3 is on intermediate-level "melodies;" 

Unit 4 is on chordal "harmony;"

Unit 5 is on "tunes" & chordal harmony;

and Units 6 to 10 (winter, 2022) is on intermediate-level tunes.
Zoom Slide 8

5 instructional sessions (over 10 weeks)

5 individual demo/practice sessions
​
Perhaps an extra "seasonal" session?

Lots of home practice.
Zoom Slide 9  =  Topics

Most BA1 melodies used only 4 buttons.

The majority of melodies in BA2 will use more than 4 buttons.

This can mean
 - fingers sliding as a group
 - fingers reaching to nearby buttons
 - fingers cross-playing (reaching to
   next row).
Zoom Slides 10 to 12

This is a type of checklist of:

What we covered & bring FROM BA1,

And what we intend to progress TO in BA2,

​Or (in the case of more distant goals) what we progress TOWARDS in BA2.
Zoom Slide 13 

We have four featured melodies,
but one of them twice, for five featured performances in total.  
Zoom Slide 14  (Love Me Tender)

Lyrics credited to Elvis Presley and Vera Matson.  Wikipedia credits Vera's husband, Ken Darby.

Music from the American Civil War tune "Aura Lee" by George R. Poulton.
​
Zoom Slides 15 to 17

These suggestions are made mainly for beginners. 

​With experience your fingers will find the correct positions and slide or reach, as necessary, almost automatically.
Zoom Slide 18     Auld lang syne 

Lyrics by Robert Burns
and based on a traditional tune.

A practice for reaching (or sliding, if you prefer)
Zoom Slide 19      Wildwood flower

 An American folk song adapted from "I'll Twine 'Mid the Ringlets" by J.P. Webster & Maud Irving.

A practice for reaching (or sliding, if you prefer)      
Zoom Slides 20 to 23

Buttons 2 to 10 of the inside row run from the low "G" note to high "e", with a couple of notes missing (low "A" and high "d").

However, both of these missing notes are found on the outside row, within easy reach for most song-melodies.

Note A = o3*         Note d = o11
Zoom Slide 24      Four strong winds
                          by Canadian Ian Tyson
                     Played on inside-row low

Practice reaching from the inside row to the outside row for button o3*.
Zoom Slides 25 to 27 

Buttons 2 to 11 of the outside row run from the low "D" note to high "d", with a couple of notes missing (low "E" and high "c").

However, the high "c" missing note is found on the inside row along with an high "e" note.  The low E note is not available from either row.

Note high c = i9        Note high e = i10
Zoom Slide 28      Four strong winds
                          by Canadian Ian Tyson
                   Played on outside-row high

Practice reaching from the outside row to the inside row for button i9.
Zoom Slides 29 & 30

Someone once claimed that mastering most skills is 10% knowledge and 90% practice.  While the exact percentages may be different, the mastery of the button accordion certainly depends on some knowledge combined with lots of practice, preferably in small non-tiring periods that are fun.

Here are 3 extra melodies for practice.
Zoom Slide 31      Come By The Hills
                       Lyrics:  W. Gordon Smith
                    Tune:  traditional Irish song
                            Buachaill o'n Éirne Mé

Played on outside row.
​Practice reaching with little finger.
Zoom Slide 32        Higher Ground
                   Lyrics: Johnson Oatman Jr.
                   Music: Charles H Gabriel

Played on inside row.
​Practice cross-playing for button o3*.
Zoom Slide 33       Bread and Fishes
                                   Lyrics:  Alan Bell
                         Tune: 18th century Irish

​Practice sliding and reaching.
Zoom Slides 34 & 35

In as far as is possible, participants are invited to self-select a half-hour "demo/ practice" slot (Tues or Wednesday PM)

This slot will cover melodies or tunes from the "More (Home-Practice) Melodies" list, then other melodies (including the "Featured Melodies") of interest to the participant, providing they match & support the materials covered. 
Slides 36 & 37  Looking Ahead to
                           Modes & Accidentals

Accidentals are notes that are included for effect in a melody, but are not part of that melody's diatonic set.  Button notes i1, i1*, o1 and o1* are accidentals for the accordion's two diatonic rows.

Also, each row can get an accidental from the other row (For example, the outside G row has three F# notes (2*, 6* & 10*), and F# is an accidental note for the inside C-row.
Zoom Slide 38