Bulgarian Accordion Tutorial 2018 - Background

This document reflects my thinking as of July 2018, and is the basis for the 2018 revision of the tutorial. My ideas have been refined and modified somewhat since then, but I've preserved this document until such a time as all its content is reflected elsewhere in the new tutorial.

I recently (July 2018) had some mechanical insight that's very exciting to me and, if it proves as successful, will necessitate some major changes my existing Bulgarian accordion tutorial. This page describes of the gist of the new mechanics. I'd welcome correspondence by those sharing my interest as to whether this seems like a promising direction or not.

Motivation

The new mechanics address and resolve a number of practical & theoretical problems that have bothered me for a long time:

• I've often found 232 pralls more difficult to execute cleanly and stably than 121, 131 or 343. This goes against expectations and my understanding of other players' experience.
• I've been frustrated understanding why some fingerings work well while seemingly similar ones remain awkward and difficult to execute cleanly. This has often led to me creating ever-more-complicated fingerings seeking one that is mechanically sound.
• I've wanted a common framework I can use to understand the mechanical advantages of each of these different ornamental fingerings, one that draws on unifying physical principles.
• I've wanted a framework that reduces the number of notes I have to think about - so I think about only one thing on each 16th note, and not have to think twice as fast during ornaments.
• I've wanted mechanics I can practice at very slow speed that are still valid up tempo.
• I've been baffled by Petar Ralchev's stability. His completely calm mastery is evident even at very slow tempos, and markedly different from the frenetic flailings of others. I'd also like to understand how he can play such amazingly complex ornamentals textures at high speed (even if they're not always ones I'd choose.)
• On the other end of the complexity scale, what makes Boris Karlov's ornaments so incredibly powerful?

The New Mechanics

The new mechancs involve the angling of the wrist, the depth of hand insertion into the keyboard, and when fingers are tucked and when they are extended. By wrist angled right (R) I mean the fingers are up-keyboard from the palm & wrist. By wrist angled left (L) I mean the finger are down-keyboard from the palm & wrist. The hand is "deep" in the keyboard when it is more toward the base (black end) of the keys and "shallow" when it is more toward the tip (white end) of the keys. By tucked I mean the finger is bent from the 2nd knuckle (not the first). By extended, I mean the finger is mostly straight with minimal bend at any knuckle.

I'll consider just 232 pralls for the moment. Execution occurs in 2 distinct motions, roughly one for each 16th note of the rhythm:

• M1. Depress finger 2 by bending largely from the 2nd knuckle and sweeping the tip of the finger toward the palm.
• M2. Using the tip finger 2 as a pivot, and moving fingers 3, 4, 5 and the mass of the right half of the hand a unit, execute a rocking motion of the hand that strikes finger 3 against of upper auxillary note and then returns to starting position, reestablishing finger 2 on the base note. By moving the large mass of the right side of the hand rather than a single finger, the motion gains inertia and is made more stable and controllable. The rocking motion seems to be assisted by as as-yet unidentified muscle diagonally opposite to finger 2. Note that even though two notes (first auxillary, then base) are played during it, M2 is conceptualized in performance as a single motion.

For a 23232 trill, motion M2 is repeated.

Optimal wrist and finger posture for an ornament varies depending whether the notes played are white (W) or black (B). I will consider only half-step auxillaries here, so there are 3 cases for 232 pralls: BWB, WWW & WBW. In all cases, fingers strike the wide portion of W keys rather than trying to play in-between the B keys.

For WBW pralls, finger 3 must be deeper in the keyboard than finger 2. The wrist is angled somewhat R, finger 2 is tucked and finger 3 is extended. The rocking motion in M2 moves initially into the keyboard. The varying relative positions of W & B keys (e.g. between A-Bb & F-Gb) are accomodated by adjusting the angling of the wrist (more R for F-Gb than A-Bb).

For BWB pralls, finger 2 must be deeper in the keyboard than finger 3. The wrist is angled somewhat R, finger 2 is only slightly tucked (so the hand is not too deep into the keyboard) and finger 3 slightly extended, but curled underneath so that it can strike the W key shallower than finger 2. With the R angling of the wrist, the rocking motion in M2 moves initially out of the keyboard.

For WWW pralls, either the WBW or BWB mechanics will work. Choice is determined by mechanical convenience. It's generally easier to avoid lots of switching between your wrist angling L and R. On the other hand, you may find one set of mechanics just works better for you (for me, it's BWB).

For 343 pralls, the same mechanics apply with finger 3 tucked and finger 4 extended (for anatomical reasons, finger 4 here can't be extended as easily as finger 3 in 232 pralls). During M2, fingers 4 and 5 move as a unit along with that portion of the hand to the right of finger 4. This is a smaller mass than moves during 232 pralls, so the motion is slightly more difficult, but it still works.

For 121 and 131 pralls (WBW or WWW only), the shortness of the thumb relative to fingers 2 and 3 means there is no need to tuck finger 1, or extend fingers 2 or 3, just position them naturally. For 121 pralls, the M2 rocking motion is accomplished largely with finger 2 alone, rather than with the entire hand. For 131, the rocking motion is somewhere in-between the single-finger rock of 121 pralls and the half-hand rock of 232 pralls.

Analysis

For 232 pralls, the rocking motion in M2 may be likened to a lever arm pivoting on the fulcrum of the stationary tip of finger 2. Tucking finger 2 and extending finger 3 increases the length of the lever arm and the moment of inertia of the moving lever, compared to the normal resting position of fingers 2 & 3. This change makes the lever more mechanically stable and easier to control. Also, rotating the hand during M2 bring larger muscle groups into play than if it were an entirely finger-based motion - large muscle groups are more stable and tire less easily.

343 pralls utilize a smaller lever arm mass than 232 pralls, making them somewhat more difficult to execute. However, fast, clean execution still appears to be possible. 34343 trills also seem to work fine. 121 and 131 pralls are still more difficult to execute at tempo due to further reduced leverage. 454 pralls are infeasible using this technique due to the almost total lack of leverage.

In this technique, the player must be aware of when fingers 2 or 3 are tucked (on the base note of an ornament) and when they are extended (on the auxillary note). In 16th note passages without ornaments, these fingers are free to be tucked, extended or somewhere in between (relaxed hand position). I lean toward relaxed position, but am open to other schemes. If you're not used to making these distinctions (I wasn't) this takes a lot of slow practice to build in good habits.

Aside from the tucked finger position, the first note of a prall or trill is musically indistinguishable from other 16th notes in a melody. It's the M2 rocking that given the ornament it's zing. When practicing at slow tempo, M2 rocking motion is still treated as a fairly quick single motion, so the ornament still has some bite. As the tempo accelerates, the patter of 16ths keeps pace, while the M2 rocking motion doesn't change so much. Thus, at fast tempos the 3 notes of a prall are more equal in duration than they are at slow tempos.

During 23232 & 34343 trills, additional speed can be gained by bouncing the auxillary finger on the auxillary note. This starts to happen fairly naturally when practicing at initially slow and then accelerating tempos.

By varying the relative timings of motions M1 & M2, one can change the character of a prall from smooth (e.g. Petur Ralchev) to sharp (e.g. Boris Karlov). The two motions together comprise an 8th note. If M1 & M2 are spaced as equal 16ths, the effect will be smooth. The M2 occurs very soon after M1, the effect will be sharp.

Old-time students of Boris Karlov may note his preference for keys with more sharps than other accordionists. There may be several possible explainations for this, but it's interesting that this key choice requires him to use more BWB, and fewer WBW pralls. Since I find the BWB motion mechanically easier, BK's key choice may be made for mechanical reasons.

Wrap-Up

I believe the new mechanics solve a number of previous problems.

1. They provide a common framework for understanding prall & trill execution that is based on physical principles (moment of inertia, prefer large muscle groups).
2. They provide insight on which fingerings are more challenging by distinguishing tucked, extended and relaxed finger postures.
3. They requires the player think at 16th note speed, but no faster.
4. They enable slow practice with the same mechanics as up tempo playing.

If incorporation of these techniques into my own playing proves successful I hope in the future I might be able to:

1. Imitate both Karlov's simple, powerful ornaments and Ralchev's complex and smooth control using an integrated technique;
2. Extend the methodology to ornamentation beyond pralls and trills.

On a person note (which might apply to other people, too, which is why I'm including it), why did I find 232 pralls more difficult in the past, and why is so that different from others' experience? I suspect one important reason is I that didn't distinguish between tucked and untucked finger postures. Something about my keyboard mechanics history led me to tuck finger 2, well, hardly ever. I viewed finger 2-5 depression as always starting from the 1st knuckle. Perhaps others' history let them more toward bending at the 2nd knuckle. I previously found 121 and 131 pralls the easiest, because the mechanics here described work naturally due to the short thumb. Similarly, I was used to tucking finger 3 in a rough approximation of the new mechanics, probably because of the reduced size of the accordion keyboard compared to the piano (where I started).

Copyright 2018 Erik Butterworth. All rights reserved.