We had a house concert yesterday, here's the program!

1. “La Paloma,” S. Yradier, 1859
2. “Maguire and Paterson,” Robbie Overson, 1991
3. “Etude,” Chopin, Op. 10, No. 3, 1833, arr. Eugene Ettore
4. “Under Paris Skies,” Hubert Giraud/Jean Drejak, 1951
5. “Flatbush Waltz,” Andy Statman, 1980
6. “Bulgar from Odessa,” traditional, arr. Peter M. Haas, performed by Ariella Seidenberg & Joel Weber
7. “Noon Song,” Chick Corea, 1971, performed by Peter Berking
8. “Blue Moon,” Rodgers & Hart, 1934, arr. Joel Weber
9. “Mister Tony Polka,” unknown, & “Beer Barrel Polka,” Jaromír Vejvoda, 1927
​
(15 minute intermission)

10. “Mississippi Dreamboat,” John Redmond & Charles Ford, 1938
11. “Pachelbel Canon in D” (performed in C), Johann Pachelbel, sometime between 1680 and 1706
12. “Four Strong Winds,” Ian Tyson, 1963
13. “Teach Your Children,” Graham Nash, 1970, performed by Julie Lemoine and Joel Weber
14. “BanksofMarble,”LesRice,1950
15. “Thirsty Boots,” Eric Andersen, 1965
16. “Last Night I had the Strangest Dream,” Ed McCurdy (1950)

.Tuesdays June 9, July 21, August 18, Sept.15, 2015, all at 5:45 pm for 1 hour at my home in North Oakland.

This group can accommodate beginners who can read and play two hands, on up to intermediate/advanced. Most songs have easy and more difficult parts. We'll be working mainly from the Great Accordion Songbook--two-to four-part songs from Palmer-Hughes & Sedlon and others.

We can work on any music you want to bring in, provided it has two or more parts. This may include two-handed piano compositions, violin duets, etc.

There will be absolutely no homework. We'll sight-read and practice as a group during the sessions. If you twist my arm I'll provide you with music to take home, but I don't want anyone to feel bad because they didn't practice. I repeat: no homework.
Six total spaces available.

I have some accordions for use at group if you prefer not to bring your own. We may need stands.

Cost is $120/package of four sessions. This cost may drop to $80 when three or more have signed up. Class is definitely a go with those who have signed up already, though. No refunds except for new folks: refund of 3 sessions' cost if you're not happy with the first one.

Email me or call me at 510.655.4398 to find out more.
Or check out some of my videos.

I was listening to a number of jazz accordionists at the Cotati Accordion Festival in August and wondering why I don’t like a lot of jazz accordion more than I do.  Part of it is that I like strong melody and many kinds of jazz bank on far flights from the melody.
It occurred to me that you can think of the accordion as two different instruments, one with right hand single note and another with right hand chords. Dyads come somewhere in between.  As accordions are chorded with three- and four-note right-hand chords, the music can get muddied and songs become more alike.  Single note songs do not inherently sound alike on accordion; the range is greater.

It’s as if for North Americans and Western Europeans the chording subconsciously reminds people of polkas—the multi-notes all sound a little or a lot like the accordion’s inner polka trying to get out.  And while polka is wonderful, you don’t want your other songs semi-automatically sounding like polkas.  It takes extra work and musical ear to make sure that a chorded song does not sound muddy or more like a polka than you wish it did.

At my student Karen’s lesson today, we figured out something important.  Karen already knows that if she doesn’t want to play a song anymore, she doesn’t have to, whether she’s learned it perfectly or not.

She also knows that she can practice whatever she wants during the week and choose not to play it at all at her lesson.  This lessens stress for her, and it means she’s playing for her and not for me.  And we use lessons to work on sight reading and various techniques and hints for her to be able to work on her own better.

Today Karen was lamenting that she didn’t remember the songs she learned for very long—not as in memorizing, but as in when she went back to them later she felt like she had lost a bit.   So what we figured out is that she doesn’t have to ever go back and play the old songs unless she wants to, and that she totally has my permission on this.  I will never press her to develop a current repertoire.  She doesn’t need one if she doesn’t want it.
​
Even better, it clarifies that what she loves is the process of practicing and learning new songs and techniques.  It doesn’t matter how much or how little she remembers of specific prior songs.  Inevitably she keeps getting better at playing and keeps bringing more to the process of learning and playing songs for herself.  It’s perfect process learning—she practices and learns because she wants to practice and learn, and in her practice she never has anything to worry about for lessons.

First things I tell my students about the left hand:

• If you haven’t played before, use your 4th finger on the fundamental bass row—the one with the indented or rhinestoned C bass button, and play bass-chord 4-3.  If you’ve already learned 3-2—as I did back in the dark ages—use those and you’ll be fine.  The 4-3 formation has the advantages of encouraging you to drop your wrist and of making alternating bass easier—4-3-2-3 or 4-3-3-2-3-3 etc.
• Adjust your bass strap so it’s loose enough to let your wrist slide, but keep it tight enough so your palm doesn’t lose contact with the box as you pull out.
• Drop your wrist toward the floor till your 4-3-2 fingers line up with the bass row you’re playing.
• Learn to keep your fingers quiet and on or close to the buttons.  Most of us can’t do this from the start, but you can learn it as you go along.  Then later it’ll be easier to hit bass jumps and to play fast.
• Arch your wrist so the last segment of your fingers comes straight down on the buttons.  This minimizes hitting multiple basses when you don’t want to.
• When it’s convenient, do your bass jumps up while pulling out; down while pulling in.  This idea comes from Charles Magnante’s first method book.
• As a default, keep basses and chords staccato.  But there are many times you’ll want them longer, especially when the left hand is providing harmony.  Staccato bass has the advantages of giving you a better metronome, making the bass side less overwhelming to the treble (right hand) side, and enabling you to play fast later.

Hope Lutheran Church, El Sobrante, CA, March 2013  First heard this in New Orleans, 2012, performed by Meschiya Lake.  Based on the version in Duke Ellington: 1936-40 Small Group Sessions.

So my student Leila just left for the East Coast--boo hoo!  But she had a great parting thought.  She basically said that the single most useful skill she got from her lessons related to pattern recognition--look at the music before you play; notice the phrases; notice when a phrase repeats note for note or nearly.

This is like algorithms and language learning.  With playing music, people who read the music--as opposed to those who play by ear--start out reading note by note.  In complex long songs this becomes daunting.  But when you start reading and understanding phrase by phrase, section by section, it is much less daunting.

​Watching for patterns as you go along in your learning moves you forward really well.