What do you get the person who has everything? Well, if that “everything” includes an accordion, then why not get them the gift of accordion lessons?
Just drop me a line at , and we’ll get the whole thing set up.
Say “no” to giving them another necktie!
I make no secret of my love for MuseScore–the free, open-source music notation software that has pretty much completely replaced Sibelius on my computer (and Sibelius was itself a welcome replacement for Finale, if that tells you anything). I’ve used MuseScore to make accordion sheet music, custom exercise handouts for my students, jazz lead sheets for my piano gigs, and even full string arrangements for my wife’s quartet.
Well, I guess the folks at Packt Publishing must’ve gotten wind of my fanboyishness, because they kindly sent over a copy of Maxwell Shinn’s eBook “Instant MuseScore“ for me to take a look at.
The book is positioned as a quick, get-your-feet-wet type of guide. Shinn deftly walks the reader through the basics of downloading the software, installing it, then creating a new, multi-instrument score, pointing out some of the common (trust me!) pitfalls along the way. It’s an easy, breezy read–just enough to get you going in the right direction.
Which puts the book in a difficult spot. There are plenty of free resources out there on the internet to help the MuseScore beginner get started, most notably Katie Wardrobe’s excellent set of YouTube videos that are linked right on the MuseScore’s own home page and which cover much of the same ground that Shinn does.
That said, I did learn a some new tricks from “Instant MuseScore” (eight of them, to be precise… I kept track as I read). So the book is definitely bringing something to the table.
But when you consider the price (Amazon currently offers the Kindle version for $7.99) along with the thin size of the book (probably less than 40 pages of genuine content), it’s a tough sell. Especially to a market that’s used to “free” from the outset. In that light, I think the book would probably benefit from either a slightly lower, “impulse buy” price level, or by having a bit more content–perhaps covering numbered endings, codas, styles, and more advanced format tweaking.
Still, I’m glad to see MuseScore getting some attention from professional publishers. Hopefully it’s the start of a trend!
Saw this quintessentially “Nashville” ad on Craigslist and just had to post it:
Not a bad deal, really. Maybe this could start a whole “Tracks for Clunkers” movement?
You know that wonderful old Steinway grand piano in the drawing room of the Cheekwood mansion? The one with the little sign telling people not to touch it? Well I got the chance to play it for four hours this past weekend, during one of the First Tennessee Fridays they’re having in conjunction with Bruce Munro’s sprawling outdoor art installation, LIGHT.
The guests that passed through to listen were wonderful. I had some great requests, heard a few people singing along, and even got a few couples up and dancing!
The bad news is that LIGHT is in its closing week. The good news that, until the last day on the 10th, Cheekwood is open every night until 11:00pm. Check it out while you still can!
You never know what will happen when you tip a street musician…
I always enjoy playing weddings. There’s just something about being a part of such a significant moment in people’s lives that makes it more than just a “typical gig” This past weekend I was hired to play piano (sadly, not accordion) for a post-ceremony reception, and it was extra-special for two reasons:
First, it was at the marvelous Hermitage Hotel here in Nashville.
Over a century old, the Hermitage ranks among the great “grand” hotels of the South and is a perfect spot for a wedding. Getting to play a grand piano with a view of that historic, beaux-arts lobby was a real treat.
Second, my wife’s string quartet was providing the ceremony music!
Anne Landis stays booked with weddings pretty solidly these days, whether it’s as part of a quartet, trio, or as a solo wedding violinist. But I don’t get too many chances to see her on the job.
It was sort of like a “take your husband to work” day…
“Prost!” Source: Wikimedia Commons
Guten Tag!
From time-to-time I’ll be posting some of my own accordion arrangements for you to download and (hopefully) enjoy playing. Just my way of saying “thanks” for being a visitor to my website.
And what better way to kick things off than with something in honor of Oktoberfest, which starts today in Munich!
I’ve never been, but I hear that it’s in tents! (Ba-dum-psssh…)
Anyway, here’s the beer hall favorite Du, du liegst mir im Herzen…
Click image to download…
Those of us who learned accordion using the excellent Palmer-Hughes method books will no doubt recognize Du, du liegst mir im Herzen as the basis for volume 1’s Dreaming. P&H just modified the melody a bit to simplify the fingering.
I’m using the Marlene Dietrich version as inspiration for the somewhat unusual chord progression here. I think it makes the song a lot more harmonically interesting.
Also, I’m only going through the “Ja, ja, ja, ja…” part once per repeat. But you often hear it played twice in a row, so feel free to repeat those bars if you like. It is, after all, the one part that even those who don’t know German get to sing along with!
Do your musicianship a favor and take three minutes to hear what violin legend Itzak Perlman has to say about practicing:
“I always say ‘practice slowly,’ and the reason that I say ‘practice slowly’ is this: If you learn something slowly, you forget it slowly.”
I’m a big fan of slow practice too, and I’ll probably talk more about it in later posts. In the meantime, give it a shot the next time you hit a troublesome passage. The slower, the better. A metronome can help “rein you in” if you need it.
Along the lines of the story on Alex Carozza I posted about previously, Inforum.com brings us a look at some other accordion die-hards: Dilworth man keeps accordions’ bellows breathing
I wasn’t around during the “accordion boom” when people like Dave Kolle were selling several dozen accordions a week and teaching a full roster of students. Must’ve been a heck of a time. But I’m glad to see people still keeping the torch alive as best they can. Like Linda Gylland, also featured in the article:
“They talk about how North Dakota is the No. 1 state in drinking alcohol because there’s nothing else to do,” she said. “I thought, ‘These people should throw the booze away, find some accordions, and start having some real fun.’ ”
Well, I don’t know about throwing all the booze away–drinking songs do make up an important part of the accordion repertoire, after all–but I like the rest of her idea!
The New Yorker recently featured a short video profile of Alex Carozza. Which reminded me of the time, long ago, when he sold me my first accordion…
It was 1997, and I found myself in New York City with the urge to buy an accordion and learn to play it. Back then, the section of 48th street just off of Times Square was without question the place to go. Most people just called it “Music Row”–not to be confused with Nashville’s Music Row, of course.
Think of it as sort of a Diagon Alley for musicians. Every instrument, accessory, and gadget you’d ever need could be purchased somewhere on that block. Manny’s was there. Rudy’s was there. Sam Ash lorded over about half the block with multiple storefronts.
Sandwiched between these “big guys” was an easy-to-miss door, leading to a narrow set of stairs that lead up to Alex’s shop on the second floor. It was there that I met the man himself and told him what I was looking for (something used, cheap, and shippable back home to Nashville).
He disappeared among the tall, metal shelves and soon emerged with what he assured me, in his characteristic Italian accent, was the perfect first accordion for me.
I guess he was right, because that old accordion set me on a musical path that, 16 years later, I’m still traveling.
These days, most of the music stores on 48th have either gone out of business or moved on to parts of the city with cheaper rent. But Alex and his accordions are still there, making sure there’s still some music playing on what’s left of New York’s “Music Row”.