Accordion school
An accordion school is a textbook for accordion lessons .
The first accordion schools were written very soon after the invention of the “accordion” by Cyrill Demian . As early as 1828, an anonymous writer wrote instructions for playing. In 1833 the well-known musician Adolf Müller wrote an accordion school with many details, which describes the instruments commonly used at the time. In Paris too, schools were published in 1835 immediately after instruments were built. But since the key assignment was not the same in all cases, the various schools also differed greatly.
The first instruments were extremely small and had very few bellows folds, resulting in little air content. Thus, the game primarily had to be played in a way that used rapid push-pull changes.
Most of the fonts used a kind of tablature , or normal notation , which was supplemented with information about the direction of movement and numbers as an indication of the key to be pressed. A similar system was used for the German concertina . The tablature notation is still used on diatonic instruments today.
Countless school works have been published over the years. By 1910 there were already more than 100 different schools. The book by Walter Maurer Accordion lists hundreds of authors of school works on eleven pages.
Schools for the diatonic harmonica
The Helbling publishing house patented a tablature for the two-row diatonic accordion in 1916 . This spread pretty quickly as it suited every mood. In notation one should actually publish a separate school for each type of harmonica; If a harmonica player learns CF after school, he can no longer play after notes in D major.
In the beginning, up to the Second World War , there were different grip systems, especially in Switzerland and Germany, which made it very difficult to pass on literature.
For the club model (diatonic harmonica) there is a teaching aid from Musikverlag Holzschuh in Manching, the New Holzschuh-Schule (thorough and easily comprehensible course for harmonica by Alfons Holzschuh).
Handwriting system Rosenzopf
In the last few years the fingering has become quite popular for the Styrian harmonica . Max Rosenzopf, a music teacher from Bärnbach in Styria , adapted the older Helbling system for the three- and four-row harmonica, called this tablature "Griffschrift" and published a first textbook based on this system in 1975 by the Preissler publishing house reached. All other handwriting systems that have appeared since then are based on it.
From the 3rd edition in 1977, Rosenzopf was the only one to expand his school to include "sound tables" and "notation comparisons of Griffschrift / Klangschrift" in order to be able to rehearse pieces notated in "Klangschrift" (normal notes). From the 7th edition in 1982 he included the transcription of all pieces "into the treble clef", set for a harmonica tuned in CFB.
Notation schools for the Styrian harmonica
In 1983 the music school director Josef Peyer from Stainz published a “School in musical notation for original Styrian harmonica”. However, he did not use any notes, but only the keys GCF, as well as the movement already arranged for the diatonic instrument. Playing after any notes is not possible with this system either. Above all, it is not possible for a harmonica tuned differently to play together with other instruments after these notes. Interestingly, Peyer uses the underscore known from Rosenzopf for the direction of pull, but the other way round: Helbling, Rosenzopf and all the finger script schools since then use the underscore for multiple printing, Peyer uses it for elevator.
Lately there have been some pretty useful schools in notation. An underscore is no longer used here, but the chord symbols also known for the accordion or guitar. But all are based on the fact that one should learn which tone is supposed to sound on which key when pressed and when pulled. But since accordions are built in many different keys, and therefore different tones sound for each, and each of these schools only teaches three keys, it is still not possible to play according to any notes.
Traditional teaching method
The accordion has always been taught by ear, with prelude replay. There are also very many teachers now teaching in this way, with great success. However, it takes a little longer to achieve these successes.
A video school using this method is listed under "Weblinks".
Play by notes
There are and have always been harmonica players who could play to any notes. Two systems are known that are actually based on the same idea:
- You learn to play any key (usually C major) on the instrument and then mentally transpose each piece into this key. Polyphony that is too difficult is simply simplified.
- Sometimes singing is also used, you sing, possibly in your mind, the piece according to notes and then play the sung.
- You transpose in the same way, but not in a certain key, but in relative pitches, comparable to the relative solmization .
Color notation theory
The color notation theory is based on didactic-theoretical considerations for the structurally better understanding of the harmony scheme of the occidental music tradition. This is based on the clearly colored identification of the tone levels and / or instrument-specific keys. This system also teaches playing according to any notes. But it is not very common yet.
Other handwriting systems
For the following harmonica instruments there are also fret systems ( tablatures ) that are still common today:
For these instruments as well as for the Styrian harmonica there are scripts in addition to the Capella music notation program, which generate the corresponding fingering from Capella scores.
- The bandoneon is also played according to a kind of fingerprint, the washcloth system .
Web links
- Explanation of the handwriting
- Playing the accordion according to notes
- Development of handwriting since 1916 with examples
Individual evidence
- ^ Accordion School, 1833: title page, foreword, following pages