Re: Off topic - SITT 20 Studies in Double Stops

[David Kastrup]

David Kastrup <address@hidden> writes:

> Lukas-Fabian Moser <address@hidden> writes:
>>
>> One might add that string players sometimes tend to not precisely
>> adhere to the written note length in polyphonic double stops: Think of
>> the instances where Bach writes a longer note combined in polyphony
>> with shorter notes which are _not_ legato.
>> Playing non-legato and repeating the long note over and over again
>> would be silly.
>
> So?  You detach the bow from the string with the non-legato note and
> keep it on the string with the long note.  Then you make bow contact
> with the non-legato string again for its next note, never stopping the
> sounding of the long note.
>
> It's sort of a rocking bow action while continually playing the long
> note.  Been there, done that.  Indeed, in Bach partitas.  Takes a bit of
> practice in order not to let the long note wobble too much but very well
> worth it.

Funny thing here: right now I am working on pounding out the right
articulation for some movie music extract on accordion and the
fundamental problem I am working with here is the same: there is just
one bellows to do phrasing with, like the violin has only one bow.  But
like with interrupting bow/string contact for phrasing purposes, I can
use the buttons for interrupting bellows/reed contact for phrasing
purposes without needing to _hack_ off the tone rather than phrase it
nicely.

Listen to the first few measures of
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbQkQbnomi0>: basically the trick here
is to have sustained pressure on the bellows for the continuous sound of
the chord and the long treble phrases while phrasing off the bass
_gently_ (so that only the attack is conspicuous).  This sort of
non-binary button use is something that electronic accordions are
notoriously bad at and it's not like Midi is particularly good at
expressing it either.

The polyphonic phrasing of double stops on a violin requires similar
thinking out of the box.

-- 
David Kastrup