Button-Accordion Tunes 2 Play 4 Fun
  • Home
    • Heads-Up
    • Most Recent Tunes
    • Sources - Melody, Chords & Lyrics
  • Search
  • Beginners
    • BA1-Main
  • Info
    • Introduction to Site
    • Intro to youTube
    • Intro to Button Accordions
    • Intro to Accordion Music
    • Basic ACCORDION MUSIC
    • Basic BUTTON LAYOUT
    • Basic NOTATION
    • Basic PRACTICE ideas
    • Intermediate MUSIC
    • Intermediate LAYOUT
    • Intermediate NOTATION
    • Intermediate PRACTICE
    • Advanced MUSIC
    • Advanced LAYOUT
    • Advanced NOTATION
    • Advanced PRACTICE
    • Accordion Links
  • CANADA
    • JIGS & REELS >
      • Auntie Mary
      • Aunt_Rubys_garden
      • I rowed up in a dory
      • Maple-sugar-reel
      • Pretty_little_Mary
      • Up_the_pond
    • NL - newer >
      • Candlelight_and_Wine
      • Fishing_in_a_dory
      • Grey foggy day
      • Joe Batt's Arm longliners
      • Loss of the Marion
      • Music and friends
      • Northern Lights of Labrador
      • Outport people
      • Rose in her hair.
      • Rubber_boots
      • Saltwater joys
      • Song for Newfoundland
      • Sonny's dream
      • Surrounded_by_water
      • The St. John's Waltz
      • Take me to the country
      • This Is My Home
      • Woman of Labrador
    • NL - older >
      • Badger_drive
      • Cliffs of Baccalieu
      • Feller from Fortune
      • Great big sea hove in ...
      • Harbour Le Cou
      • I'se The B'y
      • Jack was every inch a sailor
      • Kelligrew's Soiree
      • Let me fish off Cape St Mary's
      • Lukey's boat
      • Now I'm 64
      • Ode to Newfoundland
      • Old Brown's daughter
      • Old Polina
      • Paddy and the whale
      • Ryans and Pittmans
      • Squid jiggin' ground
      • Star of Logy Bay
      • Sweet forget-me-not
      • Tiny Red Light
    • OTHER - newer >
      • Both_sides_now
      • Did_she_mention_my_name
      • (The) Farmer's Song
      • Four strong winds
      • I'm movin' on
      • Log_drivers_waltz
      • Make_n_Break_Harbour
      • Sea-People
      • Song-for-Mira
      • Working-man
    • OTHER - older >
      • Bluebird
      • Farewell_to_NS
      • O Canada
      • Peggy Gordon
      • Red River Valley
    • Christmas Songs >
      • (A) Children's Winter
      • Christmas_fancy
      • Christmas in the harbour.
      • Marys_lullaby
      • Mummers song
      • Old_Christmas_waltz
    • BY "EAR" >
      • Bluebirds_sing
      • Capelin time
      • From an island to an island
      • Land_of_fish_and_seals
      • Light and Power Boys
      • (The) Music takes me back
      • Mussels in the corner
      • Newfoundland_waltz
  • U.S.A.
    • USA - newer >
      • Adios_Amigo
      • Annie's song
      • Ballad of the Green Berets
      • Blowing in the wind
      • Blue eyes crying in the rain
      • Bridge over troubled water
      • Bye bye love
      • Country roads
      • Crystal Chandeliers
      • Four thousand years ago
      • Have I told you lately that I ...
      • I can't stop loving you
      • I overlooked an orchid
      • I recall a gypsy woman
      • I walk the line
      • Me and Bobby McGee
      • Missing in action
      • Moon River
      • Old flames
      • Rambling Rose
      • Roses are red my love
      • Send me the pillow ...
      • Try _a_ little_kindness
      • Waltz across Texas
      • What a wonderful world
      • You're my best friend
    • USA - older >
      • Billy_Boy
      • Down_in_the_valley
      • Hammer_song
      • Happy Birthday
      • My grandfather's clock
      • Old_lamplighter
      • Old_Smokey
      • Shenandoah
      • Star-Spangled Banner
      • Streets of Laredo
      • Tennessee_waltz
      • This land is your land
      • Wabash cannon ball
      • Wildwood flower
      • Yellow_Rose_of_Texas
      • You are my sunshine
    • Christmas Songs >
      • An old Christmas card
      • Frosty the Snowman
      • Here comes Santa Claus
      • Jingle Bells
      • Jolly old St. Nicholas
      • Must be Santa
      • Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer
      • Silver Bells
    • BY "EAR" >
      • Edelweiss
      • If I should fall behind
      • Mary Ann regrets
      • Oh so many years
      • You're the nearest thing to Heaven
  • WORLD
    • JIGS & REELS >
      • Irish washerwoman
    • Australia - older >
      • Waltzing_Matilda
    • England - newer >
      • Bread_and_Fishes
      • Fiddler's Green
      • Let it be
      • Let me be there
      • World_of_our_own
    • England - older >
      • Dirty_old_town
      • Drink to me only ...
      • Girl_I_left_behind
      • It's a long way to Tipperary
      • Long_long_ago
      • Navvy_boots
      • Scarborough Fair
    • Germany- newer >
      • A_little_peace
    • Germany- older >
      • Brahms_lullaby
    • Ireland - newer >
      • After all these years
      • (The) Ferryman
      • Fields of Athenry
      • Gypsy Rover
      • My lovely Rose of Clare
      • Nancy Spain
      • Roads of Kildare
      • Rose of Mooncoin
      • Town_of_Ballybay
    • Ireland - older >
      • Black velvet band
      • Come back Paddy Reillly
      • Danny Boy
      • Galway Bay
      • Galway Shawl
      • Irish washerwoman
      • Maid in the Garrett
      • Molly Malone
      • My wild Irish Rose
      • Red_is_the_rose
      • Rose of Aranmore
      • Wild Rover
    • Norway >
      • You_raise_me_up
    • Scotland - newer >
      • Come by the hills
      • It's a dream come true
      • Mull of Kintyre
      • We'll meet again my friends
    • Scotland -older >
      • Auld Lang Syne - New Year's
      • Cock o the North /Aunt Mary
      • Loch_Lomond
      • Road to the isles
      • Wild mountain thyme
    • Wales-older >
      • The Ash Grove
      • Sweet_Jenny_Jones
    • Christmas Songs >
      • Christmas in Killarney
      • Deck the hall
      • Good King Wenceslas
      • We wish you a Merry Christmas
    • BY "EAR" >
      • Among the Wicklow Hills
      • Hills of Glenshee
      • In an Irish country home
      • It's good to see you
      • Love me when I'm old ...
      • My homeland
      • The little shirt my Mother made for me
  • GOSPEL
    • Songs - newer >
      • Because He lives
      • God on the mountain
      • He touched me
      • It is no secret
      • May_the_Good_Lord_bless
      • Millenium Prayer
      • One day at a time
      • 'Till the storm passes by
      • Unclouded Day
      • Will you walk with me
      • Wings of a dove
    • Songs - older >
      • Beautiful isle of somewhere
      • Church in the wildwood
      • Count your blessings
      • Do Lord
      • Give me oil for my lamp
      • Higher ground
      • How beautiful Heaven must be
      • I'll fly away
      • In the sweet by and by
      • Just a closer walk with Thee
      • Keep on the Sunny Side
      • Kum ba yah
      • Let_the_lower_lights
      • Life is like a mountain railroad
      • Mine eyes have seen the glory
      • Precious memories
      • Shall we gather at the river
      • Standing in the need of prayer
      • Stranger of Galilee
      • When the roll is called up yonder
      • When the Saints go marching in
      • Whispering hope
    • Hymns - newer >
      • Give_to_us_laughter
      • Here I am Lord
      • How great Thou art
      • Jesus you have come to the lakeshore
      • Morning has broken
      • Pass it on
      • Spirit, Spirit of Gentleness
    • Hymns -older >
      • All people that on earth
      • Amazing Grace
      • Be Thou My Vision
      • Blessed_Assurance
      • Crown_Him_with_many_crowns
      • For_the_beauty
      • In the garden
      • I love to tell the story
      • Immortal_invisible
      • Jesus loves me
      • Joyful, joyful, We ...
      • Precious_Lord_take_my_hand
      • Softly and tenderly
      • Take time to be holy
      • We love the place O God
      • What a Friend we have in Jesus
      • Will your anchor hold
      • Wonderful_words_of_life
    • Christmas Carols >
      • Away in a manger (JRM)
      • Away in a manger (WJK)
      • The First Noel
      • The friendly beasts
      • Go, tell it on the mountain
      • Hark the herald angels sing
      • I heard the bells (Marks)
      • I saw three ships
      • Joy to the world
      • Mary's Little Boy Child
      • O come, all ye faithful
      • O little town of Bethlehem
      • Silent Night
      • When a child is born
    • BY "EAR" >
      • Lord, don't give up on me
  • KIDS
    • Billy_Boy
    • Frere Jacques
    • If you're happy
    • Twinkle little star
Button-Accordion Project

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

MINI-COURSE BA1
The Button Accordion, its Music & Notation

UNIT SEVEN (of TEN)
​Drone & Tap Introductions to Accordion Tunes


Return to BA1 - Unit 7
                                                       
                                                                                   SLIDES   &   COMMENTS
​Slide 1 (Button Accordion One)
Picture

Welcome to Unit 7 of BA1, our mini-course introduction to the button accordion, its music, and notation.





​Slide 2  (List of units in the BA1 mini-course)
Picture

​​
Unit 7 adds bass-end drone, "drone-like" and tap beats to accordion melodies, to create tunes.  

It includes practice song-melodies for Units 8 to 10.

​Slide 3  (List of Topics for Unit 7)
Picture
Topics 1 to 5 at left include demonstrations & practice using the five familiar and four "some-what" familiar song-melodies that were included in the previous Unit.

Click ​HERE for the Unit 6 web link that leads to the pages for these nine song-melodies.  This link will open in a new window, to make it easier for you to return to Unit 7 and these slides.

​Slide 4 (Topic 0 - Background to drone (bass) accompaniment
Picture
This slide gives the idea behind the use of drones in music.

It applies to a wide range of musical experiences from listening to symphony orchestras in a vast concert hall to listening to a couple of friends, one on an accordion and the other strumming a guitar.

​Slide 5  (Topic 0 - Introduction to drone (bass) accompaniment)
Picture
Here is what we mean by a musical "drone" 

Our button accordions provide two low bass notes with one octave of separation between them on each of bass-end buttons 2, 2*, 4 & 4*.


​Slide 6   (Topic 0 - The Scottish bagpipe as a drone example)
Picture
Some bagpipes are constructed with three different lengths of drone pipes: longer, medium and shorter, with bass & low-tenor notes (possibly very low A, low A, and low E, for example), for better harmonization with the chanter.  
And here is a prime example of one type of musical drone: the Scottish bagpipe (also known as a Great Highland Bagpipe, or GHB)

The drone contains the same bass notes ("low A" and an "octave-lower A").  The pipes & chanter are often claimed to be in the key of A (but the key is actually just slightly higher than Bb).

While this drone note does not harmonize well with all the notes on the chanter, it works for the tunes that are frequently played on Scottish bagpipes.

​Slide 7 (Topic 0 - Accordion "drone" imitation)
Picture
On the dual-row button accordion, the same outside-row bass note is heard when button 2 is used on the push and button 4 on the pull, to create a drone.

On the push, this bass button note is highly consonant with buttons 2 to 11, but on the pull it is not very consonant with buttons 2*, 3*, 6*, 7*, 10* and 11*.
​Slide 8 (Accordion tune demo & practice with bass drone)
Picture
CAUTION:  Take care not to extend the bellows beyond a safe level.

For this tune there are far more push beat-intervals (42) than pull beat-intervals (22), so you will probably need to use the air lever extensively for this "drone" version.

​

​Slides 9  (Drone positives and negatives)
Picture
There are five problems, as listed at left, with this single note drone.

In the remainder of this unit we'll try to find ways of playing the bass-end notes & chords to solves, or at least reduce, these problems.

​Slide 10 (Bass-end accompaniment options for bass-chord pairs matched to treble rows)
Picture

​The five topics selected for Unit 7:

   1.  Drone bass notes

   2.  Drone chords

   3.  Tap bass-note button

   4.  Tap chord button
​
​   5.  Drone bass & tap chord
  
​Slide 11  (Single button bass "drone")
Picture
This "drone-like" exercise is easier in that it involves only one bass button, which is kept pressed for the push and the pull.


Slide 12   (Accordion tune (demo/practice) with push & pull bass-note "drone-like" sounds)
Picture

​Here we keep outside bass button 2 pressed, as we play the melody part on the outside treble row.

See web site for additional verses.

​Note that, except for one note (9* in line 3), your fingers only have to cover buttons 5 to 8.  You can either stretch your little finger down, or move your hand.

​Slide 13   (Positives & Negatives for this "drone-like" feature)
Picture
Observations:

This "drone-like" bass playing has two main advantages over the single-note drone:
1. A little more harmonious.
2. Can play on both treble
     rows.

However:
3. It still easily runs out of air. 4. The bass still too loud.

5. Some notes are still not
​ harmonious (on the pull).
​
​Slide 14   (Single button chord drone)
Picture
This lacks the low note sound that we usually associate with drones.

​Slide 15  (Accordion tune (demo/practice) with push & pull chord "drone-like" sounds)
Picture
Here we keep outside chord button 1 pressed, as we play the melody part on the outside treble row

​This melody is also used as a doxology in many churches, sometimes titled "Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow".

​​See web site for remainder of the melody

​Slide 16   (Positives and negatives for this drone-like feature)
Picture
Observations:

This somewhat "drone-like" chord feature had two main advantages over the earlier single-note drone:
1. A little more harmonious.
2. Can play on both treble 
     rows.

However:
3. It still easily ran out of air 4. The drone was still some-
    what loud


Slide 17  (Introduction to bass-note taps, with expected benefits)
Picture

​Each tap is somewhat shorter than the beat interval, though how much shorter is up to the player and the type of tune being played.

Recall that:
One period (or dot) = 1 beat
One colon (2 dots) = 2 beats
​etc.


​​Slide 18  (Accordion tune (demo/practice) with push & pull bass-note tapping)
Picture

​Here we tap bass button 4, once for each beat, as we play the melody part on the inside treble row

A possible solution to the problem of running out of air, and bass overpowering of the melody.



​
​Slide 19  (Accordion tune (demo/practice) with push & pull bass-note tapping)
Picture
Again, we tap bass button 4, once for each beat, as we play the melody part on the inside treble row

Again, recall that
                   one dot= 1 beat
one colon = 2 dots = 2 beats

Tapping is a possible solution to the problems of running out of air, and the bass overpowering of the melody.

Slide 20  (Introduction to single-button chord taps, with expected benefits)
Picture
​Here we tap the appropriate chord button instead of the bass button.

​When playing the melody on the inside treble row with your right fingers, tap the outside chord button 3 with one of your left fingers.


​​Slide 21  (Accordion tune (demo/practice) with push & pull chord tapping)
Picture

This tune is an old standard for learning to play the bass-end along with the melody.

​​Slide 22  (Accordion tune (demo/practice) with push & pull bass-note tapping)
Picture


​The beat pattern for this tune has been slightly simplified.  See the tunes2play4fun.com web page for the original tune.

​​Slide 23  (Accordion tune (demo/practice) with push & pull bass-note tapping)
Picture
​



My intention, in this BA1 mini-course for beginners, was to use melodies and tunes with one note per syllable.  

In this song there are three syllables where there are two notes each:
walk = wa_lk      (line 1)
dove = do_ve     (line 3)
balls = bal_ls      (line 5)

​The underscore _ is used to show that the syllable is being  stretched, turning it (in a way) into two syllables to match the two notes.   The underscore is also commonly used at the end of syllables (as at the end of each line above) to indicate that the sung syllable is to held longer.
​

Slide 24  (Introduction to "bass-note drone - chord tap" combination)
Picture
This is included here mainly a a finger exercise, in preparation for Unit 8.

For some people this type of bass-end playing can be difficult;  it depends on how fit your left hand and finger muscles are.

Exercise caution.


​​Slide 25  (Accordion tune (demo/practice) with bass drone & chord tapping)
Picture
Another classic children's melody.

Keep button 2 pressed with one finger, while the other finger taps button 1  (one tap for each beat).

Observe that the melody notes at the end of lines 1 & 2 are each held for two beats, while the note at the end of line 4 is held for four beats.




​Slide 26  (
Picture
Practice lists for Unit 8

​Slide 27  ( 
Picture
Web path to Unit 7 slides and tune web pages.



Return to Top of Page
Return to BA1 - Unit 7

NOTE  1 - Copyright:
​Most of 
the contents of this site, in print, audio and video formats, is "copyright" protected.   
Users are responsible for ensuring that their usage is permitted by Canadian and international copyright law and agreements.  Check the Heads-Up (Read & Heed) button on the home page for additional information.

NOTE 2 - Composers, Performers & Publishers:
Though not revenue generating
, this site high-lights and celebrates some of my favorite composers, performers, and publishers, and encourages you to purchase their products, whether in paper, CD or electronic formats.
​

DISCLAIMER 1:  Browser Compatibility:
This site has been tested on the 2020 Chrome, Edge and Brave browsers without problem.  However my current (January 2021) Firefox browser does not always properly align the button notes with its corresponding lyrics.

DISCLAIMER 2 - Errors & Omissions:
Many of these tune pages are still in early stages of development, probably with many errors and omissions.  Make corrections as needed.

Copyright © 2015