Porch 

Left keyboard. Bayan: history, video, interesting facts, listen

Leonid Gurulev

On the right keyboard, as we already know, the melody of a piece of music is played; 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.

The right mechanism of the button accordion Jupiter 64/106 in the process of assembly.

So, the price of the same button accordion, the photo of which flaunts on my profile picture, is 350,000 rubles. Do not look for Swarovski inlay on the case, it is not here. This is an ordinary serial button accordion. The fact is that the production of button accordions is a long, laborious, practically non-automated process.

The time of creation of this musical instrument is longer than the time of bearing a human cub. A long eleven months pass from the moment the work begins until the birth of the finished button accordion. Eight different masters are involved in this difficult process. 80% of all production is done by hand.

Left hand action of a ready-to-select accordion, an experimental version. The process of developing a new tool model. Designer - Lavrov Viktor Petrovich.

If you decide to start making harmonicas, you should not google technical schools and universities that produce the corresponding masters. The creators of these musical instruments will have to be taught from scratch. The process of training one professional takes at least 2-3 years.

For the birth of one button accordion you will need:

Master in Nodal Mechanics

Furrier

Case maker

Resonator maker

Left mechanics assembler

Right mechanics assembler

Tuner

There is not a single person who would combine all these specialties. It is very, very rare to come across a master who is excellent at two of these eight wisdoms, but no more.

The salary of a metropolitan harmonica maker is approximately 35,000 rubles. Taking into account the cost of renting a room, it is better to organize production somewhere in the provinces, and maybe outside of our vast country.

Production of resonators: installation and gluing of partitions.
Master - Kudar Mikhail Ivanovich

Perhaps the largest harmonica factory is located in Pyongyang. 1100 people work there, of which only 80 are managers, and the rest are workers. Mostly accordions are made there. This factory and the Moscow company "Jupiter" have close friendly and partner relations.

Levers assembly with valves of the right mechanics of bayan Jupiter

Pasting mesh right mechanics.
Master Rybin Mikhail Nikolaevich

Pasting the grid of the right mechanics

Production of the right mechanics of the button accordion Jupiter 4-voice.
Master - Platonov Konstantin Mikhailovich.

This is how a musical instrument is made. The instrument turns out to be very, very nice.

Final stage creation of harmonics - tuning.

The last step is setup

By the way, the accordion is the younger brother of the button accordion, and not vice versa, as many people think.

Accordion. Photo taken by Alexey Bondarenko

In general, there are a great many harmonics. For the meticulous, here is the harmonic classification scheme

And here is Alexey himself in the process of creating his new avatar

Alexey Bondarenko is photographed for a new avatar

At the factory, even the inscriptions on the dust about music

In general, the button accordion is by no means something irrelevant, as they like to say in the vastness of Runet, but a popular, interesting and very serious musical instrument. Here.

The left keyboard consists of five (and sometimes six) longitudinal rows. These rows are counted in the direction from the fur to the edge, that is, the row closest to the fur is called the first.
The keys of the longitudinal rows of the left keyboard are not located exactly opposite the keys of the first row, and each row is slightly shifted upwards, in relation to the previous one. Thus, transverse rows that are slightly beveled upwards are created.
The keys of the 1st and 2nd longitudinal rows, when pressed, give bass sounds. Each key of the 3rd, 4th and 5th rows (and in some instruments also the 6th row) gives the sound of finished chords.
The main row of the left keyboard is the second longitudinal row of basses, which is called the main row.
The keys of the main row are not arranged in the order of scale steps, but in such a way that each adjacent key, counting from bottom to top along the keyboard, gives a fifth sound higher than the previous one.
Approximately in the middle of this row there are seven bass keys, of which the first white one from the bottom gives the lowest sound of the button accordion - the note F of the contra-octave; the adjacent white key gives a sound up to a large octave, etc.



The basses of the second row are the main sounds in relation to the sounds of the chords of the remaining rows, that is
The black key next to the note F down gives the sound of B-flat, the second black key down gives the sound of E-flat, etc. Thus, the sounds extracted on the white keys of the 2nd row, as a whole, constitute the scale of the C major scale, but not in the usual order. The five black keys of this row in relation to the white keys give sounds chromatically changed (ie, flat and sharp).
Seven white and five black keys give all 12 chromatic sounds within one octave. In addition to seven white and five black keys, in the same row there are also white and black keys, which are a repetition of those mentioned above; they are for convenience (to avoid jumps).
The first row of the left keyboard is called auxiliary. The keys of the first row are located among themselves in exactly the same way as in the second row and are a repetition of the 2nd (main row), but the first row in relation to the second in height is shifted up by a major third (in writing notes).
Thus, against the sound fa of the 2nd longitudinal row (the first white key from the bottom) is the sound la.
The auxiliary row, which gives third sounds to the main bass row (2nd row), is of great convenience and makes bass playing much easier.
The auxiliary row keys in the notes are conventionally denoted by the letter B, which is placed under or above the note.
The basses of each key of the main and auxiliary rows are recorded with one note, although when the corresponding key is pressed, not one sound sounds, but three sounds of the same name in three octaves at once:

The third longitudinal row gives major triads (or their inversions), built from the main basses of those sounds that are extracted by the adjacent keys of the second longitudinal row. The fourth row gives the chords of the minor triads (or their inversions), and the fifth row gives the dominant seventh chords (or their inversions).
In the button accordions of some designs there is also a sixth longitudinal row, which gives the sounds of chords of diminished triads.
The basses of the second row are the main sounds in relation to the sounds of the chords of the remaining rows, that is, the chords depend on the name of the bass against which they stand in the transverse (oblique) row. In other words, each main bass along the transverse oblique row has three ready-made chords related to it.
When you press only one key of the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th longitudinal rows, a whole chord sounds at once, but all the sounds included in the chord are still written in the notes. The sound of these chords does not go beyond the small and first octaves.
To make it easier to find chords on the button accordion, the following symbols are used in the notes:
1) major chords (large triads) are denoted by the letter B;
2) minor chords (small triads) are denoted by the letter M;
3) dominant seventh chords are indicated by the number 7;
4) diminished triads are denoted by the letter U.
If after the bass there is a chord that has one of these conventions, then this chord is taken in accordance with the designation in the same transverse (oblique) row in which the bass is located.
To make it easier to find the desired key on the keyboard, a small note in brackets is written at the bottom of the chord, which indicates which main bass the chord should be taken from:

In example 2, the bass si is taken in the auxiliary row, and the next major chord from the note G is in the same transverse row as the si note.
If the chord is above the bass note, then the bass and chord are played at the same time, that is, two keys, bass and chord, are pressed together.
In these cases, a small note in brackets may also be signed below the chord, indicating from which bass the chord should be played:

If the bass is written with notes of longer durations, and the chord has a shorter duration, the notation in notes is as follows:

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 capable of much - 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 rich, expressive and melodious, and the thinnest 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 button accordions 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.
  • At one time, electronic button accordions were produced in the Soviet Union, 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

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

1. Right side of the instrument- this is a rectangular box, 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 rectangular box, in which on the outside there is the left keyboard of the 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 case there is a register for switching a ready-made or selective sound extraction system, as well as a small strap with which 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 accordion 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