Concertina (Chemnitzer and/or English versions) notations

• Aug 18, 2009 - 19:48

I play a Chemnitzer concertina that uses numbers and symbols to designate notes. I'm also interested in the English concertina that uses notes. For Chemnizter concertina players that do not read music, it would be nice to have a Chemnitzer concertina symbol placed with the notes as an option. I plan to read music myself, but learned concertina with these symbols.

Example: Note A=440. On Star brand Chemnitzer 104 button Key of C tuned concertina: Press "5" = A = 440 and Draw "2" = A = 440. Concertinas are tuned to different frequencies; I'm concentrating only on my Key of C box as the music itself can be transposed to other keys, etc. I may also be off an octave on the A = 440 tuning. It would great for MuseScore to automatically translate a score to the concertina symbols. The symbols include 1, 2, 3, etc., and +, 4/4, 1/1, 1/0, 2/0, 3/0, etc. for notes. ^ = press in. Symbols without the ^ mean draw out. I've been using the breath symbol for press in or draw out changes during measures.

It's not an accordian or bandoneon, but those are closely related instruments.

There are left hand, right hand press and draw different notes, and various button configurations for different types of concertinas.

Would any MuseScore software developers be familiar with this and be able to help me develop a concertina-based support system in MuseScore? Presently, I use the "accordian" staff and change it to "concertina."

There's a lot more involved with this because the 19th century Wheatstone English concertina (for which classical music was composed and Guilio Regondi was famous) uses a different keyboard and is unisonoric (same note press or draw), but the German Chemnitzer types of concertinas (used in mostly in polka or folk music bands in the U.S.) has different numbers and configurations of buttons and is bisonoric (different note press or draw).

I play a 104 button Star brand streamline style concertina, but there is overlap so it doesn't have that many notes. I plan to write music for my concertina with MuseScore and make it available for concertina players. The English style concertinas are different.

I'm also seeking to purchase a 130 button Star concertina that has a more full chromatic scale, and an English concertina to work on original classical music.

Anyway, I'm hoping there is someone that knows about the software development, and can help me to do this if it's feasible. I know concertinas are not as popular as other instruments, but it sure would help the future of concertina playing in the world if there was a way to easily covert and develop concertina scores.

I'd like to see more interest in concertina music and use of concertinas (of all styles and brands) for both serious musicians (such as renaissance of original classical concertina music) and the folk-based musicians. Reenactors of U.S. Civil War and other places in the world where the concertinas became popular could benefit from this feature.

I'm getting my squeezebox back from repairs this week and will work on my chromatic scale and keep using MuseScore to see what is needed. Presently, I'm using the note-text box and have to resize-redo these symbols whenever I change things as the text is not tied directly to the notes. I'm not adding any of my trials because I need to think this through more and develop a true chromatic scale for my individual concertina, which might be a bit different than others. That would mean any development of this feature might need to be changeable for individual concertinas, tuned differently, or that have different button configurations.

Thanks,
Roger Juntunen
Hubbard, Ohio, USA
Email: AMLAHDTI@AOL.COM


Comments

Do you mean this type of notation?
http://www.yagelski.com/sbox/music/ablossomfell.gif

You might achieve such a result by using Ctrl +k on a selected note and enter text. You can copy this text from note to note.

Regarding an automatic system to add this to notes. I guess a plugin can help. Take a look to plugins -> Note names.
Thought, at first sight, the same note seems to have different number on it . So it might be hard to find an algorithm to match pitches and numbers/symbols.

In reply to by [DELETED] 5

Yes, that is an example generally of concertina symbols.

The extra symbols correspond to unwritten separate notes.

But it might be a problem annotating each note because there are different symbols for press and draw; I'll give the Ctrl +k a try and post my findings later.

Thanks for the quick response. One way to possibly signify the proper symbol for press symbol versus draw symbol (i.e., Press 5 = Draw 2) might be for an algorithm to recognize the breath symbol properly place. For instance, after a "press" breath symbol placed on a measure, all note symbols would correspond to the proper press note symbol; after a properly placed "draw" breath symbol placed on a later measure, all note symbols would correspond to the proper draw note symbol. The symbols change for each note depending upon whether the note is play by pressing in the bellows or drawing out the bellows. I envision the concertina music flowing by providing suggested press/draw notations (the breath symbols seem to work OK) through the music. That would signify whether the following notes are played press or draw and would give the correct symbols.

Let's keep trying to come up with a good system...

In reply to by Roger Juntunen

Roger

Not sure if you are still interested but I am uploading this weekend an Anglo concertina plugin for MuseScore that will put the button pattern under the score. Anglo plays a different note in Press vs Draw. I played around with various systems for noting the button number, Left vs Right, which row and push vs draw. What I found was I needed the button to show as a single symbol. What I do is number, underlined if push and add ' for second row and '' for third row

So push button 3 in row 1 is 3. If I want the push button 3 on the second row then 3'
Draw button 3 in the third row is 3''

Buttons on the Right side are 6-10. I was amazed how quickly I just recognized a button at a glance.

I am happy to add add other key patterns if people want to email me the pattern. I was looking at a 30 button English but I need to think about how to code the buttons. Once the code is defined it is easy to program. I will put in a 20 button Anglo also before I upload.

Rich

In reply to by RichHelms

Bonjour,

Is it possible to use your plugin for diatonic accordion ?
The scores used in Brittany and in France for traditional music are generally like the one attached.
I created this tablature with my teacher:
- the notes lines are created with MuseScore
- the whole score with tablature is created in Open Office Draw (a very "heavy" procedure !)

Cordialement,

Pierre

Attachment Size
Comme de bien entendu_2.pdf 259.76 KB

Albert Nechanicky has come up w/ a Method book on playing the 130 Key Chemnitzer Concertina & what's neat about it, is that all of the Keys are Labeled w/ Numbers which you match in the Tablature.

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