As promised, here are the links to things I talked about in tonight’s #AskMelonBox live Q&A:
Facebook Live Video
Watch the whole 1 hour live Q&A again in this video to see what I was nattering on about!
Pick Up & Play: Let’s Get Started Online Course
“I thoroughly reccommend this course” ~Andy Cutting
My absolute beginners online course is JAM PACKED full of information to get you off to a flying start in your melodeon playing journey! Click here to read all about it and sign up today!
Mel Biggs Music YouTube Channel
Blogs
I referred to a couple of my blogs in tonight’s Q&A. You can read the full articles here:
- The ongoing benefits of attending one of my workshops: Session Survival Skills @ Melodeons In Wensleydale
- Mel’s Mindful Approach, taking control of your fingers and playing slowly: How To Become A Good Mimic @ North East Melodeon Playgroup
- Mel’s self development and the usefulness of scales: Halsway Manor Euro Music Weekend: A Personal Journey
Good Tunes to Take You From Beginner to Intermediate
Derek Tarrant (aka Derek The Nutter) asked what are my top four tunes to help you move from a beginner to an intermediate player:
Why?
- Gets you used to playing in D Major (always a problem for people for some reason!)
- Changes key from D to G major as it moves from the A music to B music.
- Gets you into row crossing in a more simplistic ‘block’ style when using my left hand arrangement.
Bouffard’s Waltz into Eglantine
Why?
- I always introduce 3/4 waltz oom pah pah rhythm using the tune La Marianne for it is very simplistic. This follows on nicely from that building on complexity.
- With my left hand arrangement, it gets you row crossing in more challenging ways,
- It’s in D – more practise in this slightly trickier key (seriously, why is D more tricky for people?!)
- Moving between two quite similar tunes is tricky, but these two lend themselves to the challenge in a non-threatening way!
Why?
- It introduces playing in Am and using the Am chord fingering on the LH
- My left hand arrangement involves a lot of tasty chords, therefore getting you used to moving between and using different chords in your playing
- Introduces nice ‘trickling’ or ‘zipping’ cross over patterns on the right hand
- Once melody established, I use this tune to introduce my concept of ‘note shaping’ as it lends itself to that rather nicely
Why?
- Using essentially the same melody but learning how to change time signatures
- Moving from 6/8 into 4/4 and vice versa
- How this alters the feel and control required in our playing in order to achieve this
Next Q&A?
Put it in your diaries! Tell your neighbours! The next #AskMelonBox live Q&A will be August 13th 7-8pm GMT (not first Monday as I’ll be at Sidmouth instead!)
You can take part over on my #AskMelonBox melodeon.net thread or over on the live video on my Mel Biggs Music Facebook page.