Re: Subject: [Harp-L] Harmonetta update

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Actually, the Harmonetta is nothing like the accordion in its button setup. Button accordions and Harmonettas follow completely divergent note layouts.
Also, the Harmonetta is a true harmonica and not a blow accordion (breath-operated accordion).
Harmonicas require you the player to move your mouth to where the reed is and apply your breath in that location. This is a feature of harmonica that is not present on any accordion.
With accordions you simply pump the bellows in and out and let your fingers select the notes - the air is applied to the entire reed block, but is only allowed through the holes that are opened by your fingers.
The same is true of blow accordions such as the melodica and the
 accordina. You blow (and usually do not inhale) through a single access port, supplying air to the entire instrument, selecting which reed(s) receive air by pressing buttons or keys.
The Harmonetta does have one feature in common with accordions and concertinas, which of course is the button board. This makes it something of a hybrid and unique among harmonicas. But even here it differs from concertinas, where the player's palms face each with the fingertips pointed away from the player, and the accordion, where the palms of the hand face inward toward the player's body and the fingertips of the two hands face one another. On the Harmonetta the player's palms both face downward with the fingers pointed more less at each other. This is not trivial, as it makes a big difference in playing technique and in available fingering configurations.
And the Harmonetta further differs from accordions in that no single button plays a chord, and one-button chords are a distinguishing feature of the accordion.
Winslow
Winslow Yerxa
Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN
 978-0-470-33729-5
Harmonica instructor, The Jazzschool for Music Study and Performance
Resident expert, bluesharmonica.com
Columnist, harmonicasessions.com

--- On Fri, 10/8/10, EGS1217@xxxxxxx <EGS1217@xxxxxxx> wrote:

 Or since  you find 
the Harmonetta more closely related to the accordion set up,  have you ever 
played accordion?