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Bayan brief description. What is the difference between bayan and accordion: device, keyboard. Who are these exercises for?

Musical instrument: Bayan

The timbre palette of currently existing musical instruments is extremely rich, because each of them has its own unique voice. For example, in the violin it is melodiously charming, in the trumpet it is piercingly brilliant, in the celesta it is transparent crystal. However, there is one instrument that has the rare ability to imitate various timbres. It can sound like a flute, clarinet, bassoon, and even like an organ. This instrument is called button accordion and it can rightfully be called a small orchestra. Bayan, with its great artistic potential, is subject to a lot - from the accompaniment of simple folk songs to complex masterpieces of world classics. Enjoying great popularity, it also sounds on large concert stages and is an invariable participant in festive feasts; it is not for nothing that the button accordion is called the “soul of the Russian people”.

Bayan is one of the most advanced varieties of harmonica, which has a chromatic scale.

Read the history and many interesting facts about this musical instrument on our page.

Sound

Bayan, which has a rich musical and expressive potential, opens up great opportunities for performers for creativity. The bright sound is distinguished by richness, expressiveness and melodiousness, and the finest thinning gives the timbre a special brilliance. The instrument can play beautiful romantic melodies, as well as dramatic dark pieces of music.


The sound on the button accordion is formed due to the vibration of the reeds in the voice bars under the action of air, which creates a fur chamber and is characterized by a special dynamic plasticity. It is possible to perform the most delicate transparent piano and fanfare forte on the instrument.

Bayan, by virtue of its design feature(the presence of registers), has a diverse timbre palette of sound - from full-sounding organ to soft and warm violin. The accordion tremolo is very similar to the violin tremolo, and the dynamic volume of the instrument gives the impression that a full orchestra is playing.


Button accordion range quite large and is 5 octaves, starting from "mi" of a large octave and ending with "la" of the fourth.

A photo:

Interesting Facts:

  • An instrument called "button accordion" exists only in Russia; in other countries, such instruments are called push-button accordions.
  • The forerunner of the button accordion, the "Liven" accordion, had unusually long furs, almost two meters. Such an accordion could wrap itself around.
  • In Moscow there is the world's largest museum of harmonicas, one of the varieties of which is the button accordion.

  • In Soviet times, the best individually assembled concert button accordions "Russia" and "Jupiter" made at the Moscow state factory and distinguished by high sound quality were very expensive. Their cost was equal to the price of a domestic passenger car, and sometimes even two, depending on the brand.Now the cost of a concert multi-timbre button accordion is quite high and reaches 15 thousand euros.
  • The first concert multi-timbre button accordion was created in 1951 for the accordionist Y. Kuznetsov.
  • On concert bayans there is a very convenient device - the register switch is located under the chin of the performer, which allows the musician not to be distracted during the performance.
  • In the Soviet Union, at one time, electronic button accordions were produced, but this innovation did not take root, because at the same time synthesizers came into use, which became widespread.
  • The sound of the button accordion during the Great Patriotic War raised the morale of the soldiers, inspired to exploits. It sounded everywhere: in dugouts, on halts and on the battlefields.
  • The sound of the button accordion is very effectively used in their compositions by modern musical groups, such as Lyube, Vopli Vidoplyasov, Billy’s Band.
  • Well-known companies for the production of professional concert bayans, which are in demand and have proven themselves, are located in Russia - this is the Moscow factory "Jupiter" and "Tula Harmonica", as well as in Italy: "Bugari", "Viktoria", "ZeroSette", " Pigini", "Scandalli", "Borsini".
  • AT last years the word “button accordion” is often used to refer to a stale, “shabby”, “bearded” already old joke or anecdote.

Button accordion design

The accordion, which is a rather complex structure, consists of two main sections: left and right, interconnected with fur.

1. Right side of the tool- this is a box of rectangular shape, with a neck and a soundboard attached to it, with mechanisms built into it. When a key is pressed, the mechanism raises the valves, thereby passing air to the resonators with voice bars and reeds.

For the manufacture of the box and the deck, resonant wood species are used: spruce, birch, maple.

A grill is attached to the box, as well as register switches (if any are provided by the design) that serve to change the timbre. The box also contains two large straps to secure the instrument during performance.

On the fretboard, in chromatic order, there are playing keys in three, four or five rows.

2. Left body- this is also a box of rectangular shape, in which on the outside is left keyboard an instrument containing five, and sometimes six rows of buttons: two are basses, the remaining rows are ready-made chords (major, minor, seventh chords and reduced seventh chords). On the left body there is a register for switching a ready-made or selective sound extraction system, as well as a small strap with which the left hand sets the fur chamber in motion.

In the left case there is a deck with complex mechanisms for extracting sounds in two systems for the left hand: ready-made and ready-elective.

The fur chamber, attached to the body with frames, is made of special cardboard and pasted over with a cloth on top.

The weight of a multi-timbre concert button accordion reaches 15 kg.

Bayan varieties


The large bayan family is divided into two groups: ordinary bayans and orchestral ones.

Ordinary ones have two types, which differ from each other in the accompaniment systems in the left hand: ready-made and ready-selective.

  • A ready-made accompaniment system consists of basses and ready-made chords.
  • Ready-to-elective has two systems: ready-made and elective, which are changed using a special register. The selective system has a full chromatic scale, which increases the performance capabilities of the instrument, but at the same time complicates the playing technique.

Orchestral button accordions, due to their design features, have a keyboard with only right side cases are also divided into two types:

  • first - the instruments differ in their pitch range: double bass, bass, tenor, alto, prima, and piccolo;
  • the second - differ in timbre: bayan-pipe, bassoon , the flute, clarinet , oboe.

Application and repertoire


The range of application of the button accordion is very wide, it can also be heard on the stages of large concert halls as a solo, ensemble, orchestral instrument and in amateur ensembles and orchestras of folk instruments. Groups consisting only of accordion players are very popular. Very often, the button accordion is used as an accompanying instrument or just in everyday life at various family holidays.

The instrument is very versatile, it performs works by composers of past eras, as well as music of modern genres: jazz, rock and techno.

The compositions of I.S. Bach V.A. Mozart , N. Paganini, L.V. Beethoven , I. Brahms, F. Liszt , C. Debussy, D. Verdi , J. Bizet. D. Gershwin, G. Mahler, M. Mussorgsky, M. Ravel, N. Rimsky-Korsakov, A. Scriabin, D. Shostakovich, P. Tchaikovsky, D. Verdi and many other classics.

Today, more and more modern composers write different works for the instrument: sonatas, concertos and original pop plays. L. Prigozhin, G. Banshchikov, S. Gubaidulina, S. Akhunov, H. Valpola, P. Makkonen, M. Murto – their musical compositions for bayan sound very impressive on the concert stage.

Works for button accordion

N. Chaikin - Concerto for button accordion and orchestra (listen)

P. Makkonen - "Flight over time" (listen)

Performers


Since the button accordion was gaining popularity very quickly in Russia, the performing arts on it developed very intensively. In connection with the constant improvement of the instrument, more and more creative possibilities. Particularly noteworthy is the contribution to the development of the performing skills of innovative accordionists: A. Paletaev, who was the first to switch to a five-finger fingering instead of the previously used four-finger fingering, thereby increasing technical capabilities tool; Y. Kazakov - the first performer on a multi-timbre ready-to-select button accordion.

The Russian bayan school is now very well known throughout the world, and the performing arts are now increasingly flourishing. Our musicians constantly become laureates of various international competitions. A lot of young performers enter the big concert stage, but it is necessary to single out the names of such outstanding musicians as I. Panitsky, F. Lips, A. Sklyarov, Yu. Vostrelov, Yu. Tkachev, V. Petrov, G. Zaitsev, V. Gridin , V. Besfamilnov, V. Zubitsky, O. Sharov, A. Belyaev, V. Romanko, V. Galkin, I. Zavadsky, E. Mitchenko, V. Rozanov, A. Poletaev, who contributed a significant contribution to the development of the modern performing school.

History of button accordion


Each instrument has its own history, and the button accordion also has a backstory. It began in ancient China in the 2-3 millennium BC. It was there that the instrument was born, which is the progenitor of the modern button accordion. Sheng is a reed wind musical instrument representing a body with bamboo or reed tubes attached in a circle with copper reeds inside. In Russia, he appeared during the Mongol-Tatar yoke, and then along the trade routes came to European countries.

In Europe at the beginning of the 19th century, using the principle of sheng sound production, the German organ maker Friedrich Buschmann invented a mechanism that helped him in tuning instruments, and which later became the forerunner of the accordion. Somewhat later, the Austrian of Armenian origin K. Demian modified the invention of F. Bushman, transforming it into the first accordion.

In Russia, the harmonica appeared in the second quarter of the 19th century, it was brought from abroad, bought at fairs from foreign merchants as a curiosity. The instrument, which could play a melody and accompany, quickly gained popularity among urban and rural residents. Not a single festival took place without her participation, the accordion, along with the balalaika, became a symbol of Russian culture.

In many Russian provinces, workshops began to be created, and then factories that made their own local varieties of accordions: Tula, Saratov, Vyatka, Lebanese, Bologoev, Cherepovets, Kasimov, Yelets.

The first Russian accordions had only one row of buttons, they became two-row in the second half of the 19th century, by analogy with the design, which was then improved in Europe.

The musicians-harmonists were mostly self-taught, but they performed miracles of performing skills, despite the fact that the instrument was rather primitive in design. One of these nuggets was a worker from the city of Tula N.I. Beloborodov. Being an avid harmonist, he dreamed of creating an instrument that would have more performance possibilities.

In 1871, under the leadership of N.I. Beloborodov, master P. Chulkov created a two-row accordion with a full chromatic scale.


At the end of the 19th century, in 1891, after improvement by the German master G. Mirwald, the accordion became three-row, with a chromatic scale arranged in series along oblique rows. Somewhat later, in 1897, the Italian master P. Soprani patented his new invention - the extraction of ready-made major and minor triads, dominant seventh chords on the left keyboard. In the same year, but in Russia, the master P. Chulkov presented at the exhibition an instrument with bent mechanics in the "left hand", which also made it possible to extract ready-made chords with one keystroke. Thus, the accordion was gradually transformed and became an accordion.

In 1907, the master designer P. Sterligov. on behalf of the musician-harmonist Orlansky-Titarenko. a complex four-row instrument was made, called "Bayan", in memory of the ancient Russian storyteller. The instrument was rapidly improved and already in 1929 P. Sterligov invented the button accordion with a ready-to-select system on the left keyboard.

The growing popularity of the tool is accompanied by its constant development and improvement. The timbre capabilities of the button accordion make it truly unique, because it can sound like an organ or like wind and string instruments. Accordion in Russia we are popularly loved - this is both an academic instrument that sounds from the stage in a large concert hall, and a symbol Have a good mood, amusing people on a rural mound.

Video: listen to button accordion

In theory, a resonator is a physical body capable of responding to vibrations of a certain frequency and amplifying these vibrations. The simplest example of a resonator is the Helmholtz resonator, a hollow vessel with holes that can be used to find their simplest components in complex sound vibrations, that is, you can analyze the sound, since each resonator is tuned to a specific frequency.

In harmonicas, button accordions and accordions, a resonator is a system of air chambers of certain sizes built into one wooden structure, which is the base or support for the voice bars.

In practice, resonators are called differently: resonators, towns, etc. However, the first name should be considered more correct, since the air chambers in the resonators really contribute to the sound to some extent and improve the timbre of the sound. Therefore, the sound quality of the instrument depends not only on the voice bars, but also on the resonator, on the shape and size of the air chambers, calculated for each tone separately.

Reed resonators are divided into melody resonators, accompaniment resonators and bass resonators.

Melody resonators

The melody resonator (Fig. 43) consists of a mullion 1, an upper bar 2, a socket 3, partitions 4, and a mounting bar 5.

The air chamber in the melody resonator, as well as in the accompaniment resonator, is formed between adjacent partitions, a middle bar, an upper bar and a rosette. For each air chamber, one voice piece bar or a pair of reeds of the same tonality of a solid bar, sounding in opposite directions of air, is intended; the air chambers must be well insulated from each other so that there is no excitation of the reeds in adjacent chambers.

The number of air chambers in a melody resonator depends on the range of the instrument and the design of the melody keyboard mechanism.

Depending on the type of the instrument, the design of its keyboard mechanism and the voice of the instrument, there are from two to six resonators in the right cover.

B table. 9 shows how the number of melody resonators changes with an increase in the voice of the instrument.

In connection with the change in the size of the added bars, the resonators of the melody undergo some changes.
In mass-produced instruments, the melody resonators are removable. It is more convenient to repair such resonators.

In some custom-made instruments, the melody resonators (especially often in the treble group) are non-removable, i.e. they are glued directly to the soundboard without sockets. Non-removable resonators contribute to better sound formation, but they create great inconvenience during repairs, reduce labor productivity when repairing the vocal part and tuning, and, as a result, increase the cost of repairs.

Accompaniment resonators

The accompaniment resonator (Fig. 44) consists of a mullion 9, an upper bar 3, a rosette 8, partitions 5, fastening bars 1 and 7, collars 2 and 6, an air chamber 4.

Accompaniment resonators for bayan and accordion have 12 pairs of air chambers, i.e. 12 air chambers on each side of the resonator.

In the harmonic accompaniment resonator, the number of pairs of air chambers is less; it depends on the number of buttons on the left mechanism (range).

Accompaniment resonators have the following varieties:

  • accompaniment resonators with identical opposite air chambers designed for bars of the same height. Typically, such resonators are used for instruments with an independent bass mechanism.
  • accompaniment resonators with opposing air chambers of unequal height, designed for bars tuned to an octave. Such resonators are often used for instruments with a borrowed bass mechanism.

Accompaniment resonators for instruments of mass and individual production are usually made removable.

bass resonators.

Depending on the type of bass mechanism, resonators are divided into two main types by design:

  • bass resonators for borrowed bass gear - borrowed bass resonators
  • bass resonators for non-borrowed bass gear - non-borrowed bass resonators.

In harmonicas and accordions, borrowed bass resonators are usually used, in button accordions, those and others.

The most common type of resonator for a borrowed bass mechanism (Fig. 45) consists of a mullion 1, upper bars 2, rosettes 4, baffles 6 and tongs 5 ​​and 7.

On one side of the borrowed resonator, the lowest sounds for this instrument are located; on the other, on
an octave higher.

In practice, it is customary to call one side of the bass resonator with the lowest sounds the I octave, the other - the II octave.
It should be noted that these names do not correspond to the actual height of the bars located on the resonator, but are conditional names. The actual height of sounds of I and II octaves, depending on the instrument, ranges from mi or fa of the contra octave to mi or fa of a small octave.

The bass resonator for a non-detachable mechanism (Fig. 46) consists of a mullion 7, an upper bar 5, a rosette, an octave bar 10 III octave, an octave bar 9 IV octave, a resonator 11 III octave and a resonator 8 IV octave.

Two more one-way resonators have been added to the non-borrowed bass resonator: an octave III resonator
and an octave IV resonator, since the four-voice bass sound is created by bars mounted on octaves I, II, III and IV.

The third octave resonator is designed for strips tuned an octave higher than the second octave, the fourth octave resonator is higher by an octave of the resonator of the third octave. The resonators of the III and IV octaves are installed on a common socket, and their air chambers are connected by channels in dummy bars with the same air chambers of the resonator of the I and II octaves.

The air chambers of the resonators are closed from the outside with voice plates. In this case, it is necessary to fulfill the condition of absolute airtightness between the strips and the plane of the resonator. This is necessary so that the air passes only through the vocal openings in the bars and is used to excite the reeds. In order for the strips and resonators to be hermetically connected, the strips attached to the resonator are poured along the perimeter with molten wax-rosin or ceresin mastics, or less often with nitro paints.

Materials used in the manufacture of resonators and the assembly process

Most suitable material spruce and fir wood should be considered for the manufacture of resonator parts. It has good sound conductivity, low volumetric weight, and is easy to process.

For parts of the resonators (except for the socket and fastening bars), birch and softwood wood: alder, poplar, aspen can also be used.

Resonator sockets are made of hardwood or high quality plywood.

The center of the bass resonator is usually made of birch plywood 3-4 mm thick.

The assembly of the resonators from parts consists in gluing its parts to the mullion, starting from the top bar. Then proceed to gluing the partitions. Lastly, the socket and resonator mounting bars are glued.

For gluing, carpentry glue, polyvinyl acetate emulsion, synthetic adhesives, etc. are used.

The gluing process takes place with certain exposures, depending on the adhesive used.

Many enterprises produce resonators for melody, accompaniment, III and IV octaves of the bass resonator for more
perfect technology - by milling. This makes it possible to obtain a mullion with partitions and tongs from a wooden blank at the same time. Milled resonators are made of beech or spruce.

There are two ways to manufacture resonators by milling: across the fibers (wood fibers are directed along the mullion) and along the fibers (wood fibers are directed across the mullion).

In the resonators made by the first method, it is necessary to smear the partitions with glue, varnish or other composition, otherwise, in open wood pores, the vibration energy of the reeds will be absorbed by them and the sound will be deaf. Resonators made by the second method do not need to be lubricated.

I. Fadeev, I. Kuznetsov "Repair of harmonicas, button accordions and accordions"

Bayan belongs to a rather small group of instruments that have a wide sound range and do not require accompaniment. This group, as is known, belongs primarily to the piano, organ, harp, and from the folk harmonica, guitar and some others. It is the versatility of the instrument, its compactness, combined with excellent sound qualities, among which the controllability of sound is the most valuable, that determined its democratic character and immense popularity, both in our country and abroad. The bayan is rightfully considered one of the most advanced and widespread types of harmonica. This is a reed keyboard-pneumatic musical instrument with a twelve-step equal temperament system.

The body of the button accordion consists of two parts (right and left), which are connected by a fur chamber (fur), it is made of beech or spruce. The outer surface is carefully polished or glued with celluloid. The fur chamber, which has 14-15 folds (borin), is made of electric cardboard, glued with silk and granitol and fixed with rounded metal corners. On the right semi-body there is a fingerboard with a keyboard for playing right hand. The most common bayans have three rows on the right keyboard and the number of keys is from 52 to 61.

Its range is from B-flat or G of the big octave to C-sharp or G of the fourth octave. Low sounds are produced by the keys located at the top of the fretboard, and the highest sounds are at the bottom of the fretboard. Having four or five rows on the right keyboard does not increase the instrument's range. These additional rows, called auxiliary, are a repetition of the main ones and enable the performer to easily transpose a piece of music into any other key.

On the outer side of the left semi-body there is a keyboard for the left hand with five or six rows of key-buttons. Their number is usually 100-120. On the side of the semi-body there is a belt for the left hand, which, in addition to the game function, also performs the function of mechanical science. Two shoulder straps hold the instrument in place while playing. Another strap can be used connecting them on the back.
The basis of sound production on the button accordion is the vibration of metal reeds (voices) under the influence of an air stream. The tongue, rigidly attached at one end to the metal frame, slips freely in it under air pressure from the side of its rivet. Under the influence of pressure from the other side, it is not excited due to the overlapping of the opening for the sounding voice with a glued strip of husky (skin).

Therefore, to extract the same sound by expanding and compressing the fur, two identical tongues are needed, attached on different sides of two identical openings in the frame. The frames together with the tongues are called slats.
The slats are mounted on special frames - resonators, divided into cells - air or resonator chambers. The entrance to each chamber is called a resonator socket. Through the openings of the socket, air is supplied from the fur chamber to the vocal reeds fixed on the walls of the air chambers of the resonators. For good tightness of the structure, the contact surface of the socket with the soundboard and the voice strips with resonators is pasted over with a husky. Resonators are attached to the deck wooden blocks and special bolts.

The loudness of the sound depends on the amplitude of the oscillation of the reed: the stronger the pressure of the air jet, the louder the sound, and vice versa. The pitch of the sound depends on the length of the tongue: shorter ones produce high-pitched sounds, longer ones - low ones. To prevent the reeds of low register sounds from being excessively large, additional weights are riveted onto them.

The timbre of the sound depends on the design of the soundboard and resonator, the shape and volume of the resonator chambers, as well as on the thickness and material of the bar, on the quality of the metal from which the voice is made, and on the profile of the voice.

Button accordion, accordion, harmonica... For inexperienced people who are far from music, there is no difference between these instruments: either an accordion or an accordion. Such people can calmly come to a musical instrument store and, pointing to an accordion, ask: “Give me this accordion!” They confuse accordionists with bayan players, and both of them with accordionists ...

And yet there are differences, and quite significant ones. But in order to understand how the button accordion differs from the accordion, it is necessary to say a few words about their common ancestor.

Accordion - cousin of the jew's harp

All accordions, as well as button accordions and accordions, are reed musical instruments. Since they have a keyboard, they are also considered keyboards, more precisely keyboard-pneumatic. But still, the main sign that distinguishes any accordion is the reed, a flexible steel plate, during the vibration of which the sound is obtained. In different instruments, the reed is set in motion in different ways. For example, they play the jew's harp by pressing it to their teeth and at the same time hitting the tongue with their fingers, and the mouth serves as a resonator here. By opening it narrower or wider, you can get sounds of different timbres.

How is an accordion arranged?

At the accordion, the reeds oscillate in the air flow, which the performer pumps, compressing and stretching the fur. They are fixed on metal strips with slots through which air passes, and come in different sizes: some are more massive and larger - these reeds give lower sounds, others are lighter and smaller - here the sounds are higher.

On each bar, two tongues are fixed on both sides, separated by a leather valve in such a way that only one of them vibrates when the fur is compressed, and the other when stretched. Accordingly, there are also two slots that overlap the tongues.

To amplify the sound, air chambers are used - resonators, to which the straps are attached. These resonators are wooden (usually spruce). Together with the slats, they are assembled into blocks that are installed inside the body of the accordion on the soundboard - a special partition with holes. The resonator blocks are located on the side of the deck, which is closer to the fur, and on the side of the body there are valves for air supply. These flaps are connected to buttons and covered with a grille.

When the buttons are pressed, the valves open, air flows through the deck, and the reeds vibrate to create sound.

Sometimes the sizes of the reeds on the soundbars, which means their musical tone, may differ. Therefore, all accordions are divided into two large groups: in one, the reeds at the "input" and "exit" are the same, the most famous accordion of this type is lame. In the second group, these reeds differ, which gives sounds of different pitches. This type includes accordions such as talyanka (distorted "Italian").

Differences between left and right keyboards

The buttons on the left keyboard are located on the case itself. It is intended for accompaniment. Pressing one button on it opens several resonator chambers at once, and a whole chord sounds.

The melody itself is played on the right keyboard. Here, the buttons are located on a neck attached to the body, and are equipped with metal levers that go to the valves. They are arranged in one or more rows (hence the names "one-row", "two-row", etc.). Pressing one button opens only one resonator - and therefore a single pure musical tone sounds.

First hand harmonicas

In 1783, the Czech master Kirshnik, who lived in St. Petersburg, discovered a new (as it seemed to him) way to extract sounds - with the help of metal reeds. In 1821, the Berlin master Bushman created a harmonica based on this method, and the following year he tried to attach fur to it. In 1829, the Viennese inventor Cyril Demian came up with an instrument that he called the accordion, because its left keyboard was the same as that of modern harmonicas - chordal: pressing one button gave a whole chord. However, this instrument did not yet have a right keyboard.

Approximately in the 1830s, the novelty penetrated into Russia, acquired a simple name there - an accordion - and gained great popularity.

From accordion to button accordion and accordion

But the musicians immediately noticed that simple harmonies also have drawbacks. For example, they have a limited sound range (few octaves). As a rule, they have only one key, and are either major or minor.

Therefore, the question soon arose of inventing such a musical instrument that would have the advantages of an accordion, but at the same time would have an extensive scale and a uniformly tempered musical scale (i.e., such a scale where each octave is divided into 12 mathematically equal semitones). This tuning has been used in academic music for several centuries. Another name for it is "full chromatic scale".

Throughout the 19th century various firms and masters in Europe and Russia worked on improving the accordion. A right one was added to the left keyboard, various prototypes of the button accordion and accordion with a piano keyboard appeared - among them the “piano harmonica” from the city of Yelets and the chromatic harmonica by Nikolai Ivanovich Beloborodov, created in 1870.

In 1907, the inventor Petr Egorovich Sterligov made the first three-row button accordion, and in 1913 a five-row button accordion.

At about the same time, chromatic harmonicas with piano keyboards, that is, modern accordions, spread to Europe. AT Soviet Union they came about in the 1930s.

Bayan and accordion: similarities

Firstly, as already mentioned in the article, both the button accordion and the accordion are chromatic harmonics, that is, they have a uniformly tempered system (12 semitones per octave) and a large range of octaves.

Secondly, the button accordion and accordion are similar, in particular the left keyboard. It is intended for bass notes (the first two rows of buttons) and for chords (the remaining four rows - major, minor, seventh chord, diminished seventh chord).

Types of button accordions and accordions

Coming to a musical instrument store to buy a suitable harmonica, you need to know that there is one more important nuance.

Both button accordions and accordions are divided into three types: ready-made, elective, and ready-selective. Ready-made left keyboard is configured as described above. For electives, it, just like the right one, is needed in order to extract not chords, but individual notes. In the third type - ready-elective - you can switch between the two modes. To switch on the left keyboard there is a special register key. In select mode, rows with chords turn into a kind of right keyboard of a four-row button accordion, only mirrored.

Professional musicians most of all love ready-to-select accordions and button accordions, since the possibilities of these instruments are very wide. They are a little more difficult to master than ready-made ones, but you can play almost anything on them - even Bach's fugues.

What is the difference between bayan and accordion

In addition to the different shape of the body (it is more rectangular for the button accordion, more rounded for the accordion), and the shape of the neck (the neck for the accordion is longer), the main difference between the button accordion and the accordion is the keyboard for the right hand.

On the right keyboard of the button accordion there are three to five rows of buttons representing the full chromatic scale and covering the range of 5-6 octaves. There are both 3-row and 5-row button accordions, and in a five-row button accordion, the first and second rows of buttons are similar to the fourth and fifth. When playing on it, this facilitates the transition from one key to another.

The accordion's right keyboard is a series of massive piano-like keys. As a rule, there are 41 keys on the fretboard. The right keyboard also has several register switches. With their help, they change the timbre of the sound or its pitch, making the sound an octave higher or lower. Concert models of accordions also have switches that can be pressed with the chin without interrupting the playing.

However, the accordion keyboard itself covers a smaller range than the button accordion keyboard. Being like an accordion musical instrument, the accordion (if you do not take into account the register switches) can only take three and a half octaves.

And finally, the main difference between the button accordion and the accordion is the sound. In the accordion, the voice reeds are tuned with a slight dissonance; the musicians call this “in spill”, which gives a more velvety sound. The button accordion has reeds tuned in unison, and the sound is clearer.

Leonid Gurulev

On the right keyboard, as we already know, the melody of a piece of music is played; the left keyboard serves to play the accompaniment (accompaniment) of this melody. However, there are cases when the melody passes in the bass voice and is played on the left keyboard of the accordion.

BASS CLEF

To record bass sounds, there is a bass key, or the “fa” key, which is depicted with a special sign (see Fig.). He points out that the note F of the small octave is written on the fourth line of the staff:

Knowing the location of this sound on the stave, it is not difficult to determine the rest of the bass sounds;

FINGERING

On the left side of the accordion are buttons arranged in slightly slanted transverse rows. This whole part is called the bass keyboard.

The bass keyboard uses four fingers to play the accordion. They are designated as follows:
2 - index finger (second finger)
3 - middle (third finger)
4 - nameless (fourth finger)
5 - little finger (fifth finger)

The 1st finger is not involved in the game. It is used to press the air valve.

BASS SOUNDS

The first two longitudinal rows from the fur contain the main bass sounds. On these rows, a melodic line is played in the left keyboard.

The second row, counting from the fur, is called main. Here is a button with a small notch that corresponds to the note C. Press this button with 3rd finger:

Above the C bass sound button is the G sound button. Press it with 2nd finger:

Below the C bass button is the F note button. Tap it with your 4th finger.

Bass sounds are usually recorded within one octave.

MAIN BASS RANGE

Sometimes, in order to visualize the image of the melodic line, the basses are recorded in different octaves. In fact, they sound within the above octave.

Exercises on the main row of the left keyboard:

CHORDS

Characteristic for the accordion is the presence of buttons, when pressed, not one sound, but several sounds. This simultaneous sounding of several sounds is called chord. In the right keyboard, to get a chord, you need to press several specific keys at the same time, but in the left keyboard, chords are already given in ready-made. By pressing one button, we will hear a chord consisting of several sounds.

The chords are written in the following notes:

From these sounds ready-made chords are formed. All notes included in the chord are written on the stave one above the other:

There are chords major, minor, dominant seventh chords and reduced(we'll look at diminished chords later).

The chords are built from the main bass along the oblique transverse rows and have the same names. Below is the bass ( before) and a chord from that bass ( C major):

For easier identification of chords, symbols are used.

Major chords located in the third row of the keyboard are indicated by the letter " B".
Minor chords (fourth row of the keyboard) are indicated by the letter " M".
Dominant seventh chords (fifth row) are indicated by the number " 7 ".

Below is the chord chart for the left keyboard. For now, we will consider chords only from basic sounds ( do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si). We will study the first (auxiliary) row in the next lessons, so for now I "painted" this row in gray.

If there is a designation after the bass (B, M or 7), then this chord (button) is taken from the same bass located in the main row.

When repeating the same chords, the symbols may not be written out:

If the bass and chord are written one on top of the other, then they are played simultaneously, that is, both buttons must be pressed together.

Exercises

When learning exercises, try to play evenly, counting out loud. For now, follow the fingering in the following order: the main row - the third finger, the row of major chords - the second. Follow the movement of the fur, the sound.