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CAJUN ACCORDION DISCUSSION GROUP

 

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Re: THE 4TH GIFT OF GIFTS

If you all have your accordions labeled by now, then we shall give you an exercise to do on your "C" accordion that will bring to light the basis of our BLUE MAX "Resonant Thirds" fiddle tuning. We're still working on the name of the system lol.

These tunings will be, by all practical purposes, studio tunings. These fiddle tunings enable the fiddle player to not only tune to the certain key that the accordion was built in, but also to the key that Cajun songs are played in. In other words, if the accordion is a "C" accordion, it's two primary keys of playability are "C" and "G". The fiddle would be tuned to either one and the tuning is different for both.

And now for the "Exercise and Enlightenment"
Take your "C" accordion complete with all the fingers labeled and pull on the button combinations I will list below.
Buttons 1(G) and 3(D)
Buttons 3(D) and 5(A)
Buttons 5(A) and 7(D)
Buttons 7(D) and 9(A)

ABCDEFGABCDEFGABCDEFG (find a G and count back three, a D and count back three, an A and count back three, an E. This is what is meant by thirds. GDAE can also be found by counting forward by using fifths or counting 5 forward counting the "G" as number 1. If you turn GDAE backwards to EADG and count forward using the alphabet scale, you're now counting in THIRDS!! That's why some people say EADG and DGCF! Now you know.

You may notice that even though their labeled musical notes are different on your accordion, they sing together with each other nicely (they are in harmony)! This is the resonant thirds frequency phenomenon set forth by the hand of God and Science at some point during the process of all creation.

Well, we took those resonant thirds, found a provable pattern on the accordion key board, and applied them to tuning the Cajun fiddle to the key of G for playing with an accordion player that mostly plays in the Primary G (on the pull). Once we had that down pat, we applied the same provable system again to tune the fiddle to the key of "C" to accompany an accordion player that likes to play songs (on the push) which would be in the accordion's Primary "C". This new Resonance Tuning is so forgiving that learning the Cajun fiddle, to us, is now somewhat of a parlor trick. It's so very easy, yet still looks difficult to the uninitiated eye. Fellow musicians, the Base of Cajun music has always been and is now OFFICIALLY known as, the resonance of thirds and fifths, for both the accordion and the fiddle!!!!! THIS IS THE 4TH GIFTS OF GIFTS. The recognition of the patterns that were always there for us to see. You're Welcome! Have a Hap Happy New Year!! The new fiddle tunings will be made public at a later time at no cost to you the Cajun musician.

Re: Since We're Talking About Fiddling



The first black Cajun musician to ever be recorded was not Amede Ardoin, but the unsung, former convicted fellon fiddle player by the name a Douglas Bellard. By the way, Douglas Bellard has been accused of poisoning Amede Ardoin out of pure jealousy. Seems that Bellard wanted to join up with Amede and play fiddle with him, but Ardoin chose another and left Bellard hanging. Then Amede Ardoin went on to record and became the "new" first black Cajun to be recorded. Bellard got royally screwed. Could it have been revenge on Bellard's part?

Does anyone else hear the accordion base seconds being played in the background by Kirby Riley? Who in the hell was Kirby Riley? Anybody know?

And why in the living hell is he only playing the base seconding on that accordion in this recording.

Steve Riley, if you read this, do you know who Kirby Riley was?



Jamey Hall's most excellent Cajun Accordion Music Theory

Brett's all new Cajun Accordion Music Theory for all keys!

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