Intro to Embedded youTube Videos


Soon after I established the tunes2play4fun.com site in 2015, I discovered that youTube videos could help me improve my button-accordion playing by
  • helping me learn new tunes as I listened to several youTube performances in various keys,
  • training my "ear" to quickly determine the performances' keys, many of them A, D, G and C which matched my A-D and G-C accordions.
  • giving me professional (or semi-professional) performances, some better than others, to accompany or play along with.
  • making the whole learning process more fun.

So, I started embedding youTube videos into the tunes pages, with the performance musical keys identified, so that other accordion players would be able to benefit and have even more fun.  This "intro to embedded youTube Videos" page was created at that time, and, though browsers have improved significantly since then, it still remains relevant.
Return to BA1-Unit 1

1.  About youTube
A video sharing web site, youTube was created by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim  in 2005 and purchased by Google in 2006.  The very first video to be uploaded to youTube in April of 2005, showing founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo,  is embedded at right.

Now there are many millions of videos on youTube with billions of viewings each day.  Hundreds of thousands of them (if not millions) are music videos, and vast numbers of them are accordion tunes or are compatible with the button accordion.  You can expect to see a large number of these embedded in the pages of this site as an aid to learning the tunes.
2.   youTube - Direct 

When you go directly to youTube for a video to view, it will usually have the format shown at right, in which the viewing screen is surrounded by additional information, including comments by other viewers (below the video) and additional choices (on the right).  This can be distracting;  hence, the decision to embed the videos into my "tunes" pages.

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3.  Viewing an embedded youTube Video
What you see and hear is often dependent on the browser you are using.   Here we are using the mid-2015 Mozilla Firefox browser.  Some features will not work in older versions or other browsers.

The embedded youTube video at right shows Poss Slaney performing "Cock O' The North", also known in Newfoundland and Labrador as "Auntie Mary", on his GCF Hohner Panther.  To view and listen to the video,
  • click on the right arrow in the center of the video.


You may want to stop or pause the video.  To do this,
  • move the cursor over the screen, and a control panel will appear at the bottom of the embedded screen, as shown in the photograph at right. 
  • Click on the block on the left of the control panel.

You may note that the block in the lower left corner was replaced by a right arrow.  To continue viewing the video
  •  click on this arrow.



If the tune is new to you, you may want to play it a number of times. 

To do this,  when the video finishes
  • move the cursor over the screen, and a control panel will appear at the bottom of the embedded screen. 
  • Click on the clockwise circular arrow on the left of this panel, as shown in the photograph at right, and your video will be repeated.
You can also adjust the volume by
  • moving the cursor over the speaker icon just to the right of the circular arrow, and a volume bar & slider will appear, and then ...
  • clicking on and moving the volume "slider" to the right (to increase) or left (to decrease) the volume.
If you wish to play along with a tune that is too fast for you, you can reduce the play-back speed to 75% or even more to 50%.  Unfortunately the quality of the 50% sound is also reduced, especially if multiple instruments or singing are involved.  However, it may still be of value in the early stages of learning a new or fast tune.

To do this,
  • click on the sprocket symbol to the right of center on the control panel,
  • select speed, and then
  • pick the 0.75 or the 0.5 option.
  • Now when you press on the right arrow (or the circular arrow) it will play at reduced speed.

To return to normal speed,
  • click on the sprocket symbol to the right of center on the control panel,
  • select speed, and then
  • pick the Normal option.
  • Now when you press on the right arrow (or the circular arrow) it will play at normal speed.
You may notice other options on the control panel.  Feel free to play with them at your leisure. 

If your screen gets messed up, just refresh your main browser window itself, and start over.
For most tunes, this site embeds  several youTube performances in various keys.

The video at right is one by the Fogo Island accordion group, playing "Auntie Mary" in the key of C.  The tempo is quite fast, so you may initially need to cut the speed as much as 50% in order to play along.  The music begins at the 20 second point and lasts about 80 seconds.

Have fun!
Heads-Up 1:   I can't guarantee the accuracy of all the keys that I include for the various youTube videos;  I'm still trying to train my "ears" to listen more carefully to the music.  Most are OK, but it's possible that a few may be merely "close", and you may find some that are painfully off the mark.   The same can also be said of my attempts to determine the tempo of some youTube performance.

Heads-Up 2:   You may observe that different performers can interpret tunes differently, with some being "close" to the accordion notation that I've included, and others not so close.  Even when they play the same notes, they can change the rhythm or, more commonly, the tempo somewhat, and they can add embellishments.   As you become more experienced on the accordion, you will probably do the same thing.  That's just the way it is!  (And, of course, errors can occur in the notation - hopefully quickly found and corrected!)