The Bulgarian dance tunes that are the subject of this tutorial are monophonic melodies that maintain a 16th note pulse of 5,6,7,8,9,11 or more beats in a regular symmetric (e.g. pravo) or asymmetric (e.g. paidushko) pattern. Longer notes (8ths, dotted 8ths) are usually filled in to maintain the pulse either with repeated notes or some form of ornamentation.
Pralls and trills are the most common ornaments in Bulgarian accordion music. A prall consisting of a base note, a quick switch to the chromatic upper auxillary and a return to the base note, with the 3 notes total taking the equivalent time of an 8th note. The term 'prall' is non-standard in the literature, with other authors using the terms 'inverted mordent', 'mordent', 'trill' or 'turn'. I use prall here for conciseness and precision.
Depending upon the rhythmic context, the prall may be notated as an 8th note decorated with prall symbol, or as two consecutive 16ths of the same pitch with a grace note between them on the upper auxillary. The prall symbol is always used when first note falls on a strong beat. 2 16ths are used when they straddle a bar or major rhythmic divisions. Some cases are ambiguous and may be notated either way. The following fragment of a Boris Karlov "Shopsko horo" features 3 pralls, each marked with a caret and each on a different part of the beat:
The exact timing of the 3 notes of a prall is somewhat subtle and will be discussed later once the mechanics are understood. For now, realize that the 3 notes are definitely not all the same length.
In this tutorial, I use the term trill to mean a sort of extended prall. Most often, a trill will consist of 5 notes - base note, upper auxillary, base note, upper auxillary and base note, taking the equivalent time of a dotted 8th note. Occasionally, longer trills are used, maintaining the established pattern of one base note per 16th note of elapsed time. I notate trills will the tr symbol over a note or two notes tied togther. The following fragment features 3 trills, each on a different part of the beat:
Many Bulgarian melodies require only pralls and trills as ornaments and most Bulgarian melodies can be played acceptably using ornamenting only with pralls. For these reasons, I will focus on pralls and trill at first, and postpone discussion of other ornaments until later in the tutorial.
Bulgarian dance music is (almost always) played legato. By this I mean that the 16th notes of a melody are played connected to each other without a break. Occasionally there are rests between notes that add accent to a melody, but consecutive 16ths are played with no break in sound. This idea may be surprising to those who associate a detached, marcato style with melodic vitality (as happens in Irish and Contradance music, for example.) However, the power and drive Bulgarian music comes from a combination of smoothness, precision, ornamentation, legato and some subtle timing that will be discussed later. Adding space between 16th notes in Bulgarian music only dilutes its power.
For melodic work, I recommend practicing mostly using a single middle-range reed on the treble. On most accordions this is labeled "clarinet", although some use th e term "oboe". The clarinet switch provide the clearest sound, and will best allo w you to hear, diagnose and correct difficulties you encounter. Other switches compatible with Bulgarian playing are middle and low (usually called "bandoneon" , sometimes "melodeon") and low and high (usually called "organ"). Musette switches are inappropriate in Bulgarian music.
Tilt-Brush-Pivot is what I call my approach to basic Bulgarian accordion mechanics. It consist of these elements:
Thus framed, basic Bulgarian mechanics consist of a series of Tilts, Brushes and Pivots. Tilt & Brush provide the foundational mechanics for playing an unornamented melody. Built upon this foundation, the Pivot provides mechanics for pralls, trills and other ornaments considered later.
The "hard part" of Bulgarian mechanics is mostly in the Pivot. The exact mechanics of the pivot varies depending upon the geometry of the black & white keys required and the fingering context of the ornament. These details will be described more fully in the following lessons.
The basic mechanics above does not use finger 5 - being significantly shorter than 2, 3 or 4, it can't use the same brush mechanics. However, most simple Bulgarian melodies can be played fine without finger 5, so I have moved its consideration out of "basic mechanics" and into topics to be covered later.
With only Tilt & Brush, one can play the unornamented outline of most Bulgarian melodies. The practice page for this lesson presents several melodies for such practice.
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