Free-bass system explained

See main article: Accordion.

A free-bass system is a system of left-hand bass buttons on an accordion, arranged to give the performer greater ability to play melodies with the left-hand and form one's own chords. The left-hand buttonboard consists of single-note buttons with a range of three octaves or more, in contrast to the standard Stradella bass system, which offers a shorter range of single bass notes, plus preset major, minor, dominant seventh, and diminished chord buttons. (Pressing a single preset chord button sounds a three-note chord.) The term "free-bass system" refers to various left-hand manual systems that provide this functionality:^[1] The Stradella system does not have buttons for different octaves of the bass notes, which limits the types of melodies and basslines that can be performed with the left hand.

• Two related layouts exist as mirror versions of the chromatic button accordion, these were marketed in the US by the Giulietti Accordion Company as "Bassetti".^{[2] [3] [4] [5]}
• The "quint" free-bass system invented by Willard Palmer – later patented by Titano, has extra bass rows to extend the existing bass arrangement of the Stradella system.^[6]
• The quint version and chromatic-button versions were available in "converter" (or "transformer") models with a control to switch from standard Stradella to free-bass.^[7]
• A piano-like layout exists that mirrors the right-hand keyboard of a piano accordion, with round buttons laid out like piano keys. This system is popular in Asian piano accordions, especially in Azeri garmon.
• A hybrid Chromatic/Stradella system known as the Moschino free-bass system is available. The system arranges the left-hand buttons so chromatic arrangement of keys, adjoining Circle-of-Fifths, chord inversions, and alternate chord voicings are available to the player simultaneously. A famous accordion musician and proponent of the advantages of the Moschino free-bass system was George Secor, and links to a more detailed description of the system is included on his wikipedia page.
• Other less popular arrangements exist, such as the Kuehl system.

History

By the year 1900, the Stradella bass system had principally reached its current construction with 120 buttons over six rows. However, while that setup worked well for major and minor music accompanied by many chords, the performer would only have access to about a major seventh of bass notes while playing, or two octaves with a timely shift of registers. The problem was solved in the early 1900s by adding three rows of chromatically ordered single notes next to the standard bass.^[8] In 1900 in Moscow Russian master Bakanov made a garmon with piano keyboards for both right and left hands each w/ 30 Keys from C to F. From 1906 the brothers Kiselevs' factory in Tula began to produce bayans with the three-row free-bass left keyboard.^[9]

In the United States, the virtuoso John Serry Sr. designed and built a working model of a free-bass system to assist in the performance of both classical and symphonic jazz compositions in 1940. It incorporated dual keyboards for the soloists' left hand based upon two sets of reeds which were tuned in octaves. This provided the soloist with a total range of tones which exceeded three and one half octaves. The dual keyboard design is illustrated below and was accessed through the use of a switch mechanism to provide independent access for the performers thumb onto Keyboard #2 and the performer's remaining fingersonto Keyboard #1.^{[10] [11]}

Keyboard #2 __F#_G#_A#____C#_D#____F#_G#_A#____C#_D#____F#_G#_A#____C#_ _F__G__A__B__C__D__E__F__G__A__B__C__D__E__F__G__A__B__C__D_Keyboard #1 ___F#_G#_A#____C#_D#____F#_G#_A#____C#_D#____F#_G#_A#____C#__ __F__G__A__B__C__D__E__F__G__A__B__C__D__E__F__G__A__B__C__D_

Efforts to popularize

Thus this Hohner company decided to enlarge the market for accordions^[12] by turning the instrument from its traditional music roots into an established instrument for orchestras.^[13] An orchestra was put together, touring Germany to introduce the new concept. The company also supplied sheet music for this new type of accordion.^[13] Although these were reportedly popular, it was not until later when the instrument became more widespread.

In Northern Europe, free-bass accordionist Mogens Ellegaard, along with Hugo Noth and Joseph Macerollo,^{[14] [15]} helped popularize the instrument and inspire compositions for it.^[16] In an interview he describes how the free-bass accordion was still practically non-existent in his childhood (born 1935), but how composers in his native Denmark began to write works for him since 1958.^[17] In 1968 he arranged the manufacture of accordions with nothing but free-bass layouts to accommodate newcomers, as free-bass accordions would otherwise always include standard bass.

In some Russian, Canadian^[18] and European music conservatoires, free bass accordion is considered a serious instrument for study and there is now a large modern repertoire for it. Free bass accordion is taught at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City. In the United States, free bass instruments are much less well known despite attempts to popularize them by Palmer and Hughes and the Giulietti Accordion Company^{[19] [20]} in the 1960s and 1970s. In Canada, the accordionist Joseph Macerollo even collaborated on the development of a detailed syllabus for students of the Free-bass accordion while on the faculty of the Royal Conservatory of Music Toronto (RCMT) in the mid 20th century.^[21]

During this period several American accordionists demonstrated the unique orchestral sound of the instrument through live performances as well as by composing original works which featured the instrument. Included among this group was John Serry, Sr. whose Concerto for Free Bass Accordion was completed during the 1960s.^{[22] [23] [24] [25]} (See Accordion music genres)

Notes

1. Dan Lindgren, "Free-bass Systems Compared"
2. Web site: Freiburger accordion workshop, document on free bass. https://web.archive.org/web/20070501012543/http://www.akkordeon-maurer.de/documents/d/Quintkonverter.htm. 1 May 2007.
3. https://books.google.com/books?id=BKIrEVM7Bb4C&dq=Giulietti+Accordion&pg=PA481 Index of patents Issued by the United States Patent Office, 1968, p. 481 - Giulietti Accordion Co. - Patent issued for the bass section of the accordion on Google Books
4. https://www.worldcat.org/title/1199340753 The Giulietti Sound: In Search of the History of My Accordion. Neijnens, Sander. The Netherlands, 2008 The Giulietti Sound on wolrdcat.org
5. https://books.google.com/books?id=scMgAQAAIAAJ&q=Giulietti+Corporation+Bassetti+Accordion "The Purchaser's Guide to the Music Industries, 1972. p. 168 Giulietti Accordion Corporation in New York City on Google Books
6. Web site: Titano Accordion Company, History. 27 March 2012.
7. Web site: Converter Bass. 8 June 2014.
8. Bjarne Glenstrup, Harmonikaens Historie (1972), The University of Copenhagen (Faculty of Music), p. 43
9. Book: Mirek, Alfred. ru:Справочник по гармоникам. 1968. Moscow. 92. Russian.
10. Squeeze This - A Cultural History of the Accordion in America Jacobson, Marion, University of Illinois Press, Chicago, IL, USA, P. 61.
11. Web site: Accordion Lessons and Rentals in Buford, Dunwoody and Lilburn GA . 2017-03-16 . 2017-08-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170805200510/http://newschoolofmusic.com/music-instruments/about-musical-instruments/accordion-lessons/ . dead .
12. Monichon wrote, "En 1912, la maison Hohner produira ses premières « basses chromatiques » .... La 'Coopérative Stradella' mettra au point, en 1912, un instrument de 120 basses avec trois rangées de 'notes chromatique'..."—Pierre Monichon, Francesco Giannattasio and B. Bugiolacchi, Chronological Synthesis of the Evolution of the Accordion (1984).
13. http://crosssound.com/CS00/CS00Instruments/CSTHEACCORDION/accordionENG.html The Accordion
14. Web site: University of Toronto - Faculty of Music - Our People . 2023-02-14 . music.utoronto.ca.
15. https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/joseph-macerollo-emc The Canadian Encyclopedia - Biography of Joseph Macerollo on thecanadianencyclopedi.ca
16. [Ole Schmidt]
17. Mogens Ellegaard, cited in "Interview," The Classical Accordion Society of Canada Newsletter (March 1990), 3–5.
18. Web site: University of Toronto - Faculty of Music - Our People . 2023-02-14 . music.utoronto.ca.
19. https://books.google.com/books?id=BKIrEVM7Bb4C&dq=Giulietti+Accordion&pg=PA481 Index of patents Issued by the United States Patent Office, 1968, p. 481 - Giulietti Accordion Co. - Patent issued for the bass section of the accordion on Google Books
20. https://www.worldcat.org/title/1199340753 The Giulietti Sound: In Search of the History of My Accordion. Neijnens, Sander. The Netherlands, 2008 The Giulietti Sound on wolrdcat.org
21. https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/joseph-macerollo-emc The Canadian Encyclopedia - Biography of Joseph Macerollo on thecanadianencyclopedi.ca
22. https://www.esm.rochester.edu/sibley/files/John-J-Serry-Sr-Collection.pdf Eastman School of Music - University of Rochester - Sibley Music Library: John J. Serry Sr. Collection score "Concerto in C Major (1967) for Free Bass Accordion " Folder 15 & 16 p. 10 archived at the University of Rochester Eastman School of Music Sibley Music Library Special collections on esm.rochester.edu
23. Library of Congress Copyright Office, "Concerto in C Major for Bassetti Accordion", Composer: John Serry, June 4, 1968, Copyright # EP247602.
24. Accordion World, Bedford Hills, NY, 1968.
25. https://books.google.com/books?id=N0chAQAAIAAJ&dq=Catalog+of+Copyright+Entries+John+Serry+1968&pg=PA1626 Library of Congress Copyright Office - Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third Series - Music - July-December 1968, Vol. 22, Part 5, Number 2, Section 1, 1970, p. 1626 "Concerto in C Major for Bassetti Accordion" Op. 1 John Serry 1968, Solo Arrangement Jan. 1, 1968 No. EP247602 on books.google.com