BA2U5- SLIDES

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 FIVE (of TEN)

HARMONIC BASS-BEATS FOR SIMPLE-TIME TUNES

(For Inside Treble Row Melodies & Bass-Row Cross-Playing )

Return to BA2- Unit 5

SLIDE SET & NOTES - INSTRUCTIONAL SESSION FIVE

SLIDES COMMENTS & EXPLANATIONS

Zoom Slides 1 & 2

Welcome to Unit 5 of BA2, our intermediate-level dual-row button-accordion mini-course.

Zoom Slide 3

In the tunes covered in Unit 5 there is equal emphasis on beats and harmony.

Zoom Slide 4

The first three topics in Unit 5 include a brief review of earlier work on beats and beat notation, and on bass-end chords.

Topics 4 to 6 cover tunes with a consistent beat (for both common-time and waltz-time), with equal attention to harmonious chordal accompaniment.

Zoom Slides 5 to 7

Suggested ways of tapping beats using bass-end buttons.

In Unit 5 our emphasis is on suggestion (ii), alternating between single bass and chord taps.

Zoom Slides 8 to 10

Two of the reasons for "beats".

Zoom Slides 11 to 13

Review of (a) bars & (b) bar lines, with (c) a "waltz-time" example.

Zoom Slides 14 & 15

Reviews of bars & bar lines with (d) a "common-time" example.

Plus (e) a suggestion about playing the first beat in each complete bar.

Zoom Slide 16

Featured Tune (i)

Mary had a little lamb

A review (BA1-Unit 10) of tapping beats using bass-end button ob4 or ob4* for the first beat in each complete bar, and ob3 or ob3* for the remaining beats, when playing melody on inside row.

Zoom Slide 17

C Chord = C, E & G

On a G-C accordion -
Bass button o3

Bass button o3 (push) is harmonious with all the treble inside-row buttons from 2 to 10.

On a G-C accordion each of these treble buttons, on push, is either a C, an E or a G.

Zoom Slide 18

G chord = G, B & D

On a G-C accordion -
Bass button o3*

Bass button o3* (pull) is harmonious with the treble inside-row buttons 2*, 3*, 6*, 7* & 10*.

On a G-C accordion each of these treble buttons, on pull, is either a B or a D.

Zoom Slide 19

F Chord = F, A & C

On a G-C accordion -
Bass button i3*

Bass button i3* (pull) is harmonious with the treble inside-row buttons 4*, 5*, 8* & 9* (as well as with the treble note o3*)

On a G-C accordion each of these treble buttons,on pull, is either an F or an A.

Explanation during session instead of showing this slide.

Though the musical notes may be different for different accordions, our accordion button-number notation is transposable among designated accordions, as will be shown in the third slide down.

Slide 20

Chords ob1* & ib1*

Summary of Chord and accidental matching for tunes played on the treble inner-row . . . for the push on the bellows.

For the most part, as suggested by the table at left, we can ignore chord i3 (push).

Zoom Slide 21

Chords ob3* & ib3*

Summary of Chord and accidental matching for tunes played on the treble inner-row . . . for the pull on the bellows.

This table supports the value of cross-playing chord i3* to harmonically match the inside treble buttons i4*, i5*, i8*, i9* and outside button o3*.

Regarding Zoom Slide 22 - Playing Inside Row of Multiple Accordions:

This Button-Accordion mini-course is designed for dual-row diatonic accordions, with rows keyed a fourth apart (as shown for each of the four columns below), and with accidentals on the top button of each row.

As shown by the top half of the table: If you were playing your accordion on the inside row using sheet music matched to the accordion-key labels (G-C, A-D, etc.) you might be tempted to obtain separate sheets of music for each accordion. After all, each row of each accordion is in a different key (and thus a different set of notes).

However, as implied by the bottom half of the table: You need only one set of our accordion notation for playing on the inside row of each accordion, as the button numbers are the same for each column (G-C, A-D, etc.).

Zoom Slide 22

Top half of table: Musical key & chord info on four common diatonic button accordions.

Bottom half of table:
The relationship between the bass-end chord labels (such as ob3, ib3*, etc.) and the treble inside-row button labels (such as 2, 3*, etc.) is the same for the inside rows of the four button accordions listed.

Postscript to Slide 22 - Notation for Outside & Inside Treble Rows:

While the same diatonic notation can be used for most melodies on both the inside and outside rows, there are some (especially those that involve accidentals, bass harmonization, and cross-playing) for which you may need a separate sheet, or (at least) an explanatory footnote.

Zoom Slides 23 to 26

In BA1, Units 8 to 10, the emphasis was on "tapping" beats and beat patterns.

In BA2, Unit 4, the emphasis was on chordal harmony

In this Unit 5, both are considered equally important.

Zoom Slide 27 & 28

Three-chord harmony for inside-row melodies

On a G-C accordion, the three chords are C, F & G (ob3, ib3*, ob3*)

On an A-D accordion, the three are D, G & A (ob3, ib3*, ob3*)

On a F-C accordion, the three are F, Bb & C (ob3, ib3*, ob3*)

Zoom Slide 29 & 30

The tunes pages on the tunes2play4fun.com site do not show the bass-end chords explicitly.

What you may notice in this Unit is that the ib3* chord (pull) is matched to treble (inside-row) buttons 4*, 5*, 8*, 9* and o3*. For all push & the remainder of pulls, with inside treble row, use ob3 & ob3*, respectively.