Head is above water and I'm here

The last little bit has been a rocky road. This "fun stuff" my destresser stuff, was too much to add in the last 9 days... OMG, it's been 9 freaking days!

So what has been up? Writing it all out might help me process it all. First, I have my normal work stuff which keeps me busy. And my second job work which had quite a bit in the last little bit more than usually as things are finally moving faster and foward there. Add in that I was in a show as part of work and there were rehearsals and practicing on my own as I didn't want to be the person who messed up as I did in rehearsals (OMG - I had two nightmares about that). And as always, homeschooling my son, teaching my older son to drive on Fridays, cooking, etc.

And then, quite literally, a day after that variety show happened successfully (and was great fun!) I started to get sick on Sunday. By Sunday evening I was super congested, super exhausted, and had a terrible sore throat. I attributed some of it just being exhausted - the nightmares weren't helping! Monday, I was achy and tired and napped twice during the day briefly - and for the first time in my life, I had no voice! Boy is that annoying! Tuesday, my voice was back (yay!) and many of my heavy symptoms were lighter, but by midday I started to develop a fever and by evening, it was significant. Wednesday, I felt quite a bit better and decided to stay home another day from work. By 3 pm I was getting antsy (a good sign), so I did minimum work in the kitchen - I cleaned a few pots and pans, decluttered the counter and made a meal in the electric pressure cooker. Oh, and a couple of lessons with my son for learning. Those other days my husband dealt with more of the learning, all of the snow/ice cleanup  and laundry and dishes, etc. I had no energy or desire to pick up the melodeon. I felt it would just discourage me instead of encourage me.

Today, Thursday, I was itching to get out of the house and to work and it was a productive day, but long as I had evening meetings. I came home about 8:30 and I was starving and getting pretty exhausted. I ate. Thanks goodness for leftovers! And then I came upstairs to spend time with my family. Of course, a minute or less after going upstairs, my hormone ridden son threw an epic fit about saying he had wanted to watch a movie and Sven, my husband, hadn't understood he had wanted to watch a movie. Yes... that was what the fit was about - for real. That burned off my last bit steam and took away any joy left for the day. I was completely sapped and zapped. My son was still so mad at us, he didn't want either of us to read to him tonight which is the first time in his nearly 12 years - and as a child with autism, giving up a ritual on his own is a big deal. 

My only take away from that is that I'm proud my husband and I kept our calm and stuck to our guns and didn't give in to his tantruming. Kiddo calmed down fairly quickly on his own, but he is currently still crying himself to sleep.

That is when I decided to steal a bit of time to play. There was no joy in it. I'm exhausted, but just making the time to play after several days away from it was in itself soothing. It was grabbing some me time once again.

I haven't been to the melnet site, or to my email associated with this blog for more than a week. I'll get to that tomorrow.

It hasnt' been 10 days though since I practiced a wee bit. Thanks to the Streb (what a joy to play on) I got a couple practice sessions at work in break times between work and rehearsals last week. It was short and it made me realize I need a different set of headphones or an adaptor for the port, but I did practice with the volume just turned down low. That was awesome! (even though I was walked in on by someone of our organization and I was still embarrassed!

Attached are some photos of our act in the show, which honest to goodness, now feels like 50,000 years ago. It's been a very, very long few days here. I don't like share pictures of me, but I do it because I need to get over that crap and accept me for who I am!!!! So below are me and my colleagues presenting "Be Our Guest". We are all dressed as exaggerations of ourselves. I work with children and I tend to wear petticoats and full skirts for festivals and holidays because the kids love it when I have fun and dress up. The kids decorated my skirt the week before too (if you're wondering why I have scribbly drawings on my skirt).

And less than 12 hours after the show, the work must go on. One of the classes I work with made dog toys from donated materials to give to a shelter.

PS. I chose this illustration because it has a robin and snow. Kind of like now. We had our only significant snow this Monday/Tuesday in mid March, just as, quite literally, the earliest spring trees started to bloom; killing probably all the cherry blossoms and kind of making pointless the Cherry Blossom festival in DC this year. Maybe they didn't want to bloom for Trump?

The good and the bad

Since I'm an optimist and like to get the bad out of the way to end on the good, let's start there. So, the bad is that I've been insanely busy. This past week I put in between my full time job, my part-time job, homeschooling, and teaching my older son to drive, I spent nearly every second of my available time which means very little practicing. Means I barely had time to try out the Streb sent for me to use for a few months too! Tomorrow is my day off for my full time job, so I'll have more time to practice tomorrow!

The good, while I was stressed all to heck and super busy, I found I wanted to grab the melodeon to practice and it does act as stress relief.  On Saturday morning, I had three things super looming over me to get to before noon and before I went to the take my son out driving and grocery shopping for the week, I said, "Give me a few minutes to play the melodeon so I can relax a little bit." So, as bad as I am and will be for a long time, playing is serving a crucial purpose - stress release!

Today I received another gift of music from Wally too. I haven't had a chance to open it fully Wally, but thank you! It's shocking and amazing and so generous.

And today I stole an hour at the end of the day to practice. Probably not the best to practice between 8:45 and 9:45, but that is what I had available to me.

I ran through all the pieces I am learning (about 5) and decided to show the second piece I'm working on as it's a march and marches are a Theme of the Month of melnet - maybe I'll put my feeble attempt up as it progresses as, hey, it's a march! Then, I tried the last piece I'm working on which is a reel. I can play it a tiny wee bit better than what I recorded here, but not much better as I have to slow it way, way down to try to get left and right hand to work together.

Overdue updates, a new development, and generosity

Has it really been 5 days? How is that possible? Business!!!! I have had several really long work days and with the weather being unbelievably seasonally warm too, more 'blog time' has been spent outside too. But, it doesn't mean I've quit! Nope! I'm plugging away.

First, let me talk about practice and developments. Practice has been more sporadic as my time has been more sporadic, but they have been good practices with seeing improvements nearly every time I sit down to play. I have decided not to move on to the next section of the method book yet I decided to  just keep going back through the tunes and exercises I have already started so that they start to feel less strained and approach even their lento tempo on the recordings. It feels a bit less horrible - not good, but less like random notes being played on a page.

The new development actually has me almost giddy. There has been a lot of discussion on melnet about how to learn and how to play the melodeon. I totally get the thoughts and feelings on this too. The melodeon is a folk instrument. It's meant for dance and singing along and for a showing emotion.  It's a music to be felt deep in the soul to be "good" really. I've posted some really, heart felt, deeply felt - either in joy or sorrow pieces. The players might not be feeling sorrowful or joyous, but their music expresses it.

Like these two in an off the cuff moment. They play off each other and let the tunes evolve. It's just a joy to watch and listen to.

I didn't grow up in that tradition or learn music in that manner.Maybe there is just less of that overall in much of the US? (I grew up in a mostly rural-ish part of the country - but as an adult I've always lived in or near large cities). I learned in school, on a classical instrument and I was to strictly play what was on the written page and to follow the director for tempo, etc.

There was a jazz band at school, but the French Horn is not ever used in a jazz ensemble (though I did get to play on one piece and got to go to state as there was an arrangement for horn... but it was still all on paper.)

And I think I'm a German deep in my soul and to top that - a mid-westerner through in through in my behavior - don't let loose -follow the rules - don't show emotion. All scripted music.

So, that has been how I've been approaching picking up the melodeon because that's how I know how to approach music. People on Melnet tell me to noodle around on the box. That leads to nothing. The melnetters who grew up with hearing the music and experiencing this instrument as a folk instrument are probably dying inside or wanting to throttle me for wanting to make this folk music into a classical, strict, style of playing. I get that, but I cannot undo my nature or my more formal learning on an instrument (despite huge gaps in learning).  The notes on the page work for learning and introducing new tunes to my ear -hearing it and seeing it written out gets it in my head. BUT... I do have an inner voice that does want to break free. More on that in a minute.

Anyway, one of the five pieces I'm working on in the method book is a catchy tune. I found myself this morning humming it, but not as it's written on the page, but how my inner composer is feeling how it could be played. In my head, the basses compliment the melody - it's not in the traditional um pa steady rhythm, but instead are stressing certain tones and notes. Just now I thought of it again, and the tune in my head sounds differently with stresses elsewhere in the piece.

This is a huge development for me. I am feeling the music specifically for this melodeon and it's off the book. It feels heartfelt in my head. It sounds fun! Yay! Now, there is no way in hell I can play that tune that is running in my head as I stink at this instrument as a beginner, but I"m feeling it differently for pieces that "stick".

And that might be a problem for the one piece especially that is not working well at all. I don't hear that song in  my head - it's either not interesting or not natural sounding or something. And I've decided that if I don't particularly like a piece, I shouldn't play it or practice it! There will be other pieces that go over the same skills I can work on that I do like and do feel more natural and will therefore be more interesting and easier to learn.

So 'by the ear' learners. Take heart. I will break free from the page too - somewhat, in time, within my comfort zone.

And now, generosity and how it comes at a time when I need it.

I had a hard Sunday this past week. I don't like it when my work doesn't feel "good". Not so much for me, but my volunteers. I want their experience working with kids to feel good and to be rewarding and when it's not possible (usually do to too many kids at one time), I don't feel good about it. 

Monday was a really good day, but it was a very long day. I had hoped when I got home I could practice... this in itself in interesting. I wanted to practice. because even as horrible as it is to listen to myself right now, it is a stress reliever. I look forward to it. However, I got home at 10 pm. Read to my son before he went to bed, and then it was nearly 11 pm. Too late! I was feeling a bit deflated, but then I saw there was a package for me. A package from Wally from Minnesota, Walleye on Melnet, I discovered. He had sent me a book of tunes for the diatonic accordion. I even recognized most of the names that provided the tunes. I felt dumbfounded... another gift - just because. I did choose to play the melodeon because I found that the group on melnet were so generous with helping new people learn and that it was a true community built around the playing (and restoring) of melodeons, but I didn't expect this generosity of materials and I'm really touched and I can't wait to dive in more.

Then I checked my personal email and I had two messages - one for tracking info from the UK and a message from Steve Rouse who makes the Streb e-melodeon. It was a note saying he sent me an older, loaner e-melodeon just to test it out and to use as a silent melodeon. So on those 12 hour work days, I can practice at work too without bothering anyone for a midday break. I had put myself on a queue for buying a new instrument a week or so ago. The queue for these hand-made electric melodeons is 12-18 months long. That he is lending his older one to me, is breath-taking generosity from Steve. 

Honestly, there is so much generosity, I need a list:

1. Scott Bellinger - spent his time with me helping me choose an instrument.
2. Scott Bellinger allowed a like for like swap of CF Hohner Liliput accordions so I can get it faster.
3. Scott Bellinger threw in a soft-sided carry bag and free shipping to send the two instruments.
4. Sean sent me the Pignol and Milleret Method book - just needing to pay for shipping.
5. Playandteach has answered so many of my questions and even answered one by doing a tutorial on a skill just for me on a youtube video.
6. I was sent two books via Amazon from an anonymous person.
7. I was sent a wonderful tune book by Wally.
8. I am being sent a loaner e-melodeon by Steve where I just need to pay for shipping.

This has all happened in the last two months. That is incredible. I am a giving person - always have been, but I'm not used to being on the receiving end of such generosity. I'm deeply touched and I promise it won't go to waste.

Good day, bad day, good day, bad day next?

It's like that game you played as a child with a daisy like flower - he loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not. He loves me! That is how learning feels recently. A horrible day - a great day, horrible day, great day. Today was a great day.

I didn't do anything different, I just started going through the pieces again. I even started a new one and it started to come (horribly, but recognizable) almost immediately. Muscle memory, head memory. I don't know. We all know it's true though. Sometimes stepping back, giving it some time is all that is needed to make forward progress. Today I had forward progress - significantly.

I am also realizing things about myself. I'm super self-conscious about playing and practicing and bugging people with practicing. I said on melnet today that I don't know if it's my personality (probably) or the years of being told listening to me practice was like listening to a dying cow when I practiced my horn in my early years.

Plus, I like to be with my family. We have this habit (which I love) of being together but doing different things. My husband will be playing chess. My son watching a movie or doing something on his iPad and my working or writing something all in the same room. We can tune each other in and out as we wish. But with practice... I sort of dominate the room. I could go to other rooms, but it's not as convenient and some of it then interferes with my mother in law's spaces and I definitely don't want to deal with snooping, irritating, etc.

I am highly thinking of getting a midi diatonic accordion just for being able to practice. It is more for me than anyone else. I don't play as well or as boldly if I'm worried about bugging people - or even as long. I had my accordion with me all day yesterday at work, but there's nowhere to go and I don't want to play and annoy people. And, if my older son wants a go at it, he can practice too as headphones will make it silent anywhere!

A work day Saturday - but a couple nice surprises

I had two work engagements to day. Both were quite enjoyable, but still took a significant portion of the day. The first nice thing was that my husband and younger son were with me for the second event of the day and we had lunch afterward. We haven't had a nice and slow lunch out in ages.

I came home to a pile of dishes (left from yesterday where my husband and I had a super busy day.) and learning to do with my son, and prep for Sunday and after the last few days of nonstop go I wasn't feeling to happy about all of it. Balance of work/home/homeschooling these last few days.

So, this was my mindset late this afternoon. Just then my mother in law who lives with us was heading out to meet up with some friends and she found a package in the door. I wasn't expecting anything, but it said it was for me. I opened it and I was so confused. It was two new books from Amazon.

Now I had ordered two things yesterday for my son and mother in law, but that package had already arrived. Did I accidentally order something else. Impossible because I have never even seen or heard of these books before! But they would be something I would get exactly because just a day  before I had asked about recommendations about for such books on the melnet forum. Someone had gotten it for me!?!?!

What a very pleasant surprise! I love my husband to pieces, but he doesn't get me gifts - partly because he's lousy at it and feels too pressured. As I said, I love the guy, but that is not a strong suit! I get gifts from my mother in law for Christmas, but they are never thoughtful.They are gifts for the sake of saying she gave me a gift. I really cannot remember the last time I got a thoughtful gift and definitely not one from a stranger!

I know it's a melnetter from this side of the pond as it says so on the note. Just wow! I was a recipient of a random act of kindness. Super nice. I will definitely put them to use once I learn a bit more about G row. I started on G row today too! And, when I have "got it" and mastered things with these books, I will pass it on to another beginner.

But now back to learning/practicing today. I see, though, that I'm falling into a terrible habit. I actually did the exact same thing when I was 6 years old learning piano. I remember it! The book for learning piano,( I think I learned from Miss Adeline?)  Had fingering written under the notes. I paid more attention to the fingering that I did the notes! Then one day the fingering help was gone and there I was clueless.

In this beginning method book, written in small letters is fingering guides with bellow direction guide. See below. Now, there are so many things I could be looking at instead of the fingering guides to know what to play. Things that will never go away for notation, but those fingering guides will, so why am I looking at them!

I tried to start look at the notes above or the C and G lines below, but of course, it's easier to play with the fingering guides! ACK!!! Even though I'm not trying to take the easy way out, my brain can't be quite convinced of that!

I didn't get as much practice in as I wanted today too as I said it was a working day, but I did get some in! Now off to read to my son before bed and to then watch the rest of the movie I started watching with my husband, Sven, last night.

Not much to add

I ran out of spare posts long ago. I only had 10 minutes to practice from all day yesterday. In the evening (from 10 pm to 11:30) I opted to watch half a movie with my husband in the evening versus practicing after my son went to bed.

I just started logging where my time goes on toggl, and yesterday it says I spent 8 hours doing things I log. This means I must be forgetting to put things in for my time because I was working, with just super brief interruptions from 10:00 am to 10 pm. I used 9-10 am for pleasure - reading, catching up on news, asking a question on melnet, etc. Then it was work for both my jobs. Oh well.

Only thing I will add is that for some reason, learning the second octave of the C row seems harder to get in my head. I have no idea why;perhaps because some of the same letter notes have different push/pull, but I think what it really is, I can "get" through them a little faster with left hand and so the right hand isn't getting as much practice of repetition before I try a new exercise. Last night in the ten minutes I had, I went through all the same exercises as the day before and I'll probably keep doing that for today (and maybe) tomorrow depending on how much time I have to practice.

I don't even have a nice photo/link for anything today! So, I'll just attach an art piece with a melodeon today. Though it might be a concertina - not sure.

Twinkle Variation

So, two days ago I practiced standard Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Yesterday I decided to try a variation that has been in my head since college that I had made up for fun while fiddling with the piano. I remember my roommate in college my freshman year had to write a variation of Twinkle... for an assignment for a class. She was a transfer student majoring in voice. She spent a lot of time on that assignment, but she failed the assignment. She realized that term that being a big shot at a rinky dink private university was getting her nowhere at a larger public university.  Anyway... I came up with my own variation after that and it's just kind of stuck with me. It stinks, but it's what I got... and it's like the only variation of a song I think I've ever done in my head.  But... after listening to these below, I realize I'm oh so not creative! My variation is so boring!  I'm not a composer and it's outside my scope of ability. I'll just try to repeat what others can do better than me for probably like, forever for playing tunes

. I did a search on youtube for other variations. These are so much better than mine. Like this one will make you smile, if you aren't weirded out first! 

This one from a tutorial on melnet somewhere I suppose. Not really a variation, but better than my attempts!

On a toy... A TOY sounds better than me! I just have to smile...

Mine? It goes at snail's pace and it's full of mistakes and the basses are awful. I thought writing it out would help - it didn't (much). I think tomorrow I'm going back to written stuff in the method book for another change of pace.

Below is my attempt for the night. I'll limit it to one of standard twinkle and one for the variation. There is no "good one". This is a fully - ton of mistakes, stop and start again video. Painful!

My elbow is aching me quite a bit today. I hope it's muscle and not joints. Muscles heal faster than tendons. Though it doesn't show, but with writing the music down and practicing, I probably put in 3 hours today (a day off from work (mostly).

Day 3 of figuring this thing out - just noodling around

Today, I just tried to try something by ear after getting that recommendation on melnet. I decided to try Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. On one hand, I got it nearly instantly. However, adding in chords with the left hand is a totally different experience.

I practiced about 15 minutes before going to work on the Hohner GC. I practiced 15 minutes at work (on the Liliput CF) and then I practiced over an hour at home divided in two sessions. Some of that time was doing some cross row playing to try something out, but it's not even close to going prime time yet as I still can't get Twinkle Twinkle Little Star without messing up - and I mess up differently each time! Rhythm is off, nothing is smooth/good yet. And it's one of the simplest tunes ever! But it is only day 3... practice, practice, practice.

Around 10:30 pm I decided to record what I had accomplished for Day 3. I tried  to record about 15 times back to back. This is not a pretty process. 🙎I just wanted to make it through the tune without such horrible mistakes that it becomes unrecognizable. 

Anyway, here's attempt #1 and it really was the first attempt for recording after about 1.5 hours total of practicing the &$#%ing nursery rhyme.

So I tried a few more times, deleting after I made a few bazillion mistakes. You all don't want to watch 457 takes, right?  This next one was around attempt 8 or so.

Then around attempt 12.

And then around attempt 20 or so. I was getting so hesitant with each note because I just don't "feel" it securely yet.

So, that was Day 3. First day I tried to follow a video tutorial and play along with it after I learned a bit of it. Second day I followed lessons 1-3 in the method book. Third day I just noodled around.

I think what would help me is actually looking at notation or sheet music - even for twinkle twinkle. I just don't seem to be able to hold the notation/feel for it in my head. I have so little experience with that! Only time I had to do that, I think (?) was when I was in college and we memorized marching band music for the shows. I can't even remember if that was at both the universities I went to (Freshman year at Central Missouri State University) or my senior year (University of Northern Iowa). Or maybe we never had to do that? In high school I did flags, but I remember the rest of band needing to memorize music. Huh... too long ago!

Anyway... I think if I saw sheet music or handwritten notation, I could have gotten further along, but then, this is helping me gain new skills and it's stretching my brain muscles which is good for me too.

I won't show tons of takes most of the time. I just want people to get a real feel of what it is like to start an instrument. It's a process and it takes time, work, and patience. If I only showed you polished stuff, I'm fooling myself and everyone else at how much work it takes.

Also, I have a bit of left hand fatigue, but nothing painful. I'm just using new muscles! It's mostly the muscle of my left palm on the pinky finger side. No shoulder or carpel tunnel stuff flaring up - which is GREAT!

Everything has arrived and trying it out!

First, Friday afternoon the melodeon in GC method book arrived. Yay!!!

Saturday early afternoon the two melodeon's arrived, but I am currently waiting to open the box because I was advised to let them slowly warm up before opening it to prevent condensation from forming. Amazingly,  I have patience. Why? Because I have so many other things on my plate. Today is my one and only day off in a week and well, it's always kind of full!

But I am a bit amazed at myself for this lust/need to learn. For over a month now I have been researching and looking and asking questions. The last two days while working, I've had different mixed lists of accordion/melodeon players youtube videos playing in the background. Like right now while writing this. I'm listening to a mix of "accordeon diatonique". I have never had this passion or need of just "I have to do this". Of course, I've never felt so much prolonged stress before either.

I hope it's like I remember of a high school acquaintance. Here's her story. There was a girl in middle school, a year behind me, who played the French Horn. She hated it and was pretty awful at it. She really wanted to switch to flute. The band teacher wouldn't allow it because he was desperate for horn players and was drowning in flute players. She kept pressuring him. Finally he relented. Within one semester - 4 months, she went from last flute player to the best flute player of about 15 flutists. She just had a passion and, therefore, put out more effort. In 10th grade she made all-state for flute. She was going nowhere on the horn... the passion wasn't there.

Now, I'm not saying I'm going to be a super star. But if I keep this passion, I should get to "passing" ability more quickly.

I'm also excited because it's a hobby that can fit in with my life - no mess so no clean-up. This so uber appealing to me right now.

Now to figure out how to record things!
______________________________________

That above was written before unpacking them and trying it out.

First, Scott did a great job of packing these! And the Liliput case and Liliput are so tiny! (unpacked Liliput not shown)

And then, it's practicing. playandlearn on melnet posted just a week or so before I was to receive the GC Melodeon some tutorials/exercises for learning some basics to learn a piece called Valse Triste. He made 4 videos for a beginner. Well you can't get more beginner than day 1 of ever holding the instrument!

As I figured, learning to separate my two hands was/is going to be hardest thign to first figure out as fingers like to do the same at the same time with the same fingers. I could get this exercise about 75% of the time right for fingers on the right buttons (after an hour or so of building up to that). However, my fingers want to both do the same thing - either both hands legato or both hands staccato. And, of course, I'm just figuring out the bellows of how much air for the phrase I'm trying to play, etc. It's a lot of things to concentrate on at the same time.

All in all it went as expected.  Here is after an hour of practicing the first video lesson. I'm not done with that video yet as I am still working on being consistent and with separating those hands as if they were controlled by two brains instead of one.

As per usual Melissa - I don't dress up for such things. This is Melissa, at the end of a day, sans makeup, just as I am... raw footage on a crappy IPad Air 1 camera. But hey, it works.  Tomorrow I'll probably look a bit better as Sundays are the "big work day" but I'm also likely to be more frazzled.

Enjoy and cringe and laugh with me. Now, if you have some tips for me... be nice, but I'll listen!

First attempt at Recording... Oops!

Second attempt. I was distracted by the camera... semi-oops!

Third attempt. I tried hard to concentrate on what I was doing... but putting it all together - even in such a simple oompa-pa-pa and two notes on the other... not so simple! I tried to zone out to not really 'see' the camera.

It can only get better from here! Here is what these exercises are building up to (someday).

And thank you Sean for the method book and Scott for the button box! 

The Hohner Liliput that is on the way

I talked about the Hohner Liliput when I talked about how I always looked for bargains, but I haven't shared much more about it.

If you recall, I decided to swap the one I got from ebay with one already to go at Bellinger's Button Box. They were practically identical. So, this one below is "the one" I'm getting.

Scott does a similar test on all his melodeons, which has made it great to hear the different voices and to compare one type with another. When you listen to this you will notice the voice has a slight tremolo to it, which means it's not completely dry and I'm actually glad about that as it will also give me a different sound between the two boxes I will have (besides being in a different key).

The Hohner Liliput was made between 1935-1940. (The other Hohner on the way was made some time pre-WWII).  From, Gumshoe Arcana:

Accordions accompanied German soldiers and officers to the front. To this end, Hohner designed instruments that were small and lightweight for soldiers to stow easily in a rucksack. Today, the Preciosa and Liliput are much sought after accordions.

Yes, these accordions were specifically made smaller to take to the battlefields. And they are quite amazing to have such a full voice in such a small box. (the Preciosa was made even smaller for the same reason). The smaller size makes it easier, supposedly, to learn to play because you learn to play the bellows and other skills without tiring the player as quickly because it's easier on the back, shoulders, etc with less weight. I hope the smaller buttons don't add complications, but we'll see.

What I find funny about a "rucksack" accordion is that: a. of all the things to carry, even a small accordion would be one of the top things to go on my list! It's added bulk and weight to have to march with and it pushes other things out of the rucksack - like FOOD and blankets! I guess it shows how important having entertainment and comfort on the battlefield mattered.  Also, funny to me is that the accordion is a fairly easily to damage instrument. My grandfather, born in 1900 was a bugler... THAT instrument on the field is much less destructible, of course, it was used for service, not for entertainment... big difference. And I suppose, besides a simple flute and mouth harmonica, a square wooden box is the next "safest" small instrument as fiddles and guitars have shapes that are more prone to breaking and definitely not able to stuff in a rucksack.

Here is more about the Liliputs, this time post war from Melnet from 2009:

I recently played my little Hohner Liliput to my mother who is 83. She immediately recognized the instrument and came up with an interesting story.

Just after the war in the late 40's she went on a walking holiday in the Swiss and Italian Alps guided by a former member of the French Resistance. Apparently whenever they met German hikers in chalets and inns, the German's produced little accordions out of their rucksacks just like the Liliput and played and sang. Given that at that time in history Germans were not the most popular people in Europe, these little accordions did a lot to break down ill will and establish friendship between people who only a year or two before had been killing each other. 

Now that's a nice thing to know about melodeons.

So, how does it play? Here is Pikey playing a nice piece on a Liliput I believe in CF like what is coming to me:

Here's another two, but in BbEb the first one just makes me smile. I think a BbEb will be another voice I will get if I fall in love with playing. I love the tone in this key:

Here is another tune, this Liliput converted to a DG:

Read something a little troubling - neck/shoulder pain

As I wait patiently for the box(es) to arrive, I read up about different things. Out of curiosity today I read up on shoulder and neck pain. I did this because I have an injury to my right shoulder I acquired it in a weird fluky way about 5 years ago and after lots of physical therapy and an MRI it was determined that I have a very slight tear deep in the shoulder that would be more harmful to surgical repair than leave it, but it causes me problems as the other muscles try to compensate for that muscle with an injury. I mostly do OK, but I sometimes get tingling in that arm/fingers and it's only certain movements that cause problems.

But, I also have symptoms of carpel tunnel too, but I'm SUPER careful to always keep my wrists straight - even when I sleep. I use an ergomic mouse, I use my laptop and desk, etc. so that my wrists can remain straight and I've been successful at not creating big issues with my wrists/inner forearms.

I was happy to learn that the push/pull was on the left side as the damaged shoulder is on the right shoulder, but now I just read about the sharp edges of the older instruments and finger placements that it leads to some people having carpel tunnel issues because of the wrists needing to be bent too much for too long. I did not like reading that!?!?!? Both the boxes I have coming in are sharp edged boxes! Let's hope that I won't run into that problem.

I've found some discussions about the fear and some suggestions to help. This first one is about playing a button box - the fear and some suggestions given by other players: https://thesession.org/discussions/17338

This next one is on a concertina site, but it mentions melodeons too. http://www.concertina.net/kc_ortho.html/

This last one mentions the problem for all sorts of musicians and gives some exercises and stretches to try: http://makingmusicmag.com/carpal-tunnel-musicians/

This page here gives some good advice for straps and how to hold it. However, I think it's old and is without visuals, but good information: http://www.geocities.ws/kozulich/holding.html

From what I've read and gathered - I should get really decent double straps to ease the weight off the hands and the one shoulder, but is that helpful? or is better with one strap? And I am thanking everyone now at melnet for specifying that I should get small boxes to learn on. Now I'm beginning to get it.

Of course, some people play with no straps:

This is a typical strap for a diatonic accordion:

Here is a more deluxe version.

Then there are double straps.

And they can get quite beefy (as piano accordion and club accordions can get quite heavy).

And the things I don't particularly like listening to: wet/dry tuning

Something started to become apparent to me. There were some things I started to not like listening to. It wasn't style of music. All of it could be lovely. But there were certain instruments that sounded off to me - but not off like an untuned piano as it was "off" for the whole instrument, not just individual notes. Like below. These are being played just fine -  but the instruments themselves bug me. These musicians are quite good actually. 

Here's another:

I want to make it clear - the playing is FINE... I hope to aspire to either of these player's abilities. I started to get a bit concerned as then I found a few of the same instruments that sounded so very different from each other. Oh my goodness...

It's hard to replicate what I was finding, but this is the closest I can find to share easily in a post.

These three are playing the same tune on the same brand and mostly the same make of instrument (though differently keyed instruments):

Again, everyone is playing so beautifully and I can only hope I can play so beautifully!

I thought, maybe it's just these older instruments don't hold their tune well or something, but it wasn't their instruments being out of tune.

Here's this newer wood, accordion with that same wa-wa-wa sound, followed by the same brand of accordion and similar makes (differently keyed). They sound so completely different from each other in sound.

None of these accordions are "testable" by me. I will have to buy one sight unseen. Yet, my ear cannot tolerate (for very long) the sounds of the wa-wa-wa on some of these instruments. I think my years of band and playing the horn drove all tolerance of major dissonance out of my head. I know I have a very sensitive ear to things being out of tune. I donated after listening one time the Three Tenors Christmas CD because on several of the pieces the singers and players were out of tune. It simply gets on my nerves and practicing with an instrument that has a lot of tremolo/dissonance? I couldn't do it.

So, back to researching, what was up with that? Turns out that there are different methods of tuning accordions. Dry tuning there is little to know tremolo, wet tuning there is a lot. Then there is everything in between. Here's what I found on the melnet sight about it:

Tuning and tremolo

Beats 

As already mentioned, a 2-voice instrument will typically have its two sets of reeds tuned slightly apart from each other, which creates the characteristic, pulsating tremolo sound. These pulses are known as ‘beats’, and are caused by the sound waves from each reed alternately reinforcing and diminishing each other. The number of beats per second is equal to the difference in frequency between the two reeds; for example, for the note A, if one reed is tuned to concert pitch at 440 Hz (Hz = Hertz, the number of vibrations per second) and the other reed is tuned slightly sharp at 444 Hz, the resultant rate of beating will be 444 minus 440 = 4 beats per second. 

Amount of tremolo: dry and wet tuning 

If the two sets of reeds are tuned exactly the same as each other, there will be no beating and hence no tremolo. This is known as ‘dry’ tuning. All other tuning will give a certain amount of tremolo. A marked tremolo – say 5 beats per second or more is usually described as ‘wet’ tuning, and of course there are all sorts of degrees of wetness in between. Different manufacturers and different nationalities will describe the tremolo in different ways, usually with a certain amount of overlap; but mainly can be summarised thus: 

• Wet: 5 or more beats per second ( >20 cents at A=440)
• Tremolo: around 4 beats per second (15 cents at A=440)
• Demi-swing: about 2 to 3 beats per second (8 - 12 cents at A=440)
• Swing: a light tremolo of 1 to 1½ beats per second (4 - 6 cents at A=440)
• Light swing: very light tremolo, slower than 1 beat per second ( <4 cents at A=440)
• Dry: no beats at all
• Musette tuning generally refers to three-voice instruments tuned M- M M+ with a wide spread of tremolo (5 beats or more per second).

The amount of tremolo is a very personal thing; some people like the warmth and fatness of sound of a wet-tuned instrument, and believe that it helps the sound carry better in an outdoor situation. Others prefer the much ‘purer’ or even austere sound of swing or dry tuning. As a rough guide, most factory-tuned two-voice Hohners e.g. Pokerwork, Erica, Corona, etc., tend to be wet-tuned at 5 or more beats per second, Castagnaris swing-tuned at around 1 – 2 beats per second, and Saltarelles, Dino Baffettis, etc., somewhere in between, in the demi-swing to tremolo range. The M reeds of one-row four-stop Cajun and Quebecois instruments are often tuned dry (no tremolo) or just a light swing. However, it is sometimes possible to specify the degree of tremolo when ordering an instrument, otherwise a reputable tuner will be able to tune your instrument according to your particular wishes. 

Remember that the values quoted above refer to the tremolo for the note A4 = 440 Hz. Rather than having a constant rate of tremolo over the range of the instrument, the lower notes are often tuned with much less tremolo, and the higher notes with more tremolo, the rate gradually increasing as you go up in pitch. Why? To most people, it simply sounds better that way.
However, if you are not sure what you want, listen to as many different instruments as you can, either on recordings, or preferably live; and if you are able, try them out for yourself.

Ok, now I get. I learned that I needed a dry tuned instrument for my ear sensitivity. One more "check" on what to buy. Next!

Learning all the unique voices

So I kept searching through Youtube videos to figure out what I liked in tone and style. I was listening to these beautiful pieces:

There was that post from yesterday with this gorgeous piece:

And I found this one:

 

Then I found this beauty that showcased 13 different instruments with the same player playing the same pieces. It really gives a feel for how they different voices/instruments compare and I know it's the instruments and not the player:

And this one, similarly with 12 different instruments, almost all of them different from what was shared above:

Oh my goodness! So many freaking choices! Then, I stumbled onto something completely different, but still a diatonic accordion with the base I love. This style of diatonic accordion is called a steirische button box/accordion. How can you not love this?

So, on melnet people kept asking me, "What do you like?" All of it???? OK, maybe not all of it. I do not like this... (next post).

How I plan to learn this darn thing...

... that I don't yet have in my possession. 😀

My initial thought had been lessons - and there might come a time for that, but there are not really any in person lessons available to me, and even what is available for piano accordion is $50-$75 an hour. My mind is thinking more on, "where else could that $200-$350 a month go?" It could go to so many things! Also, that then becomes a stressor - paying for lessons if I have time to practice for them or not! So, for now, no lessons.

That is one of the reasons I settled on melodeon because there are lessons and talented and helpful people I can get help with online. Also, with this particular instrument, playing by ear is common and I can plunk things out by watching fingers and/or listening to the tune. Plus, on melnet, there are people who right out music for practicing, so there is even that!

There is one set of books that has been recommended and I might get those, but they are over $100 for the set. The are called Accordéon Diatonique I think I want to make sure I like what I'm learning before I plunk that down. I've asked if any used copies are for sale, but so far there's been no one selling.

I'm also wondering if there is an app to help with practice fingering. Hmm... (In the meantime since writing this post last week, some sites have come forward for beginners. Oh how much easier it is to learn things now with the internet!)

Right now I'm in the "wait" mode while the instrument arrives (though by the time this post gets posted, it might have been sent!)

Decided to google something different then as my mind waits. Look at this cute little print?