Saturday 26 March 2011

Bayan time (3)



I just got a webcam for £2.50 from the charity shop, so thought I would show you the bayan I mentioned previously.  Possibly it's a bit incongruous playing the Bluebell Polka, Jimmy Shand's chart-topping signature tune, on a Russian accordion, but it's a very catchy tune.(not, as is commonly thought, trad Scottish, but written by one F Stanley in the early 1950s, with comic lyrics by Paddy Roberts - see the Strathspey Server).

- Ray
at 12:48
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7 comments:

  1. Felix26 March 2011 at 16:15

    Beautiful :-)

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  2. Ray Girvan26 March 2011 at 20:58

    Thanks. I have to admit, it's not brilliant, but I'm very chuffed at having got on not badly, at a middling age, with an instrument that's rated as quite difficult.

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  3. Felix27 March 2011 at 03:04

    Coming back to listen and watch again, this morning, I watched your hand not only laying the right keys from two keyboards of a million keys each but also maintaining the even air pressure, and my head began to hurt.

    No wonder you "huff" briefly at the end!

    As one who has never mastered anything beyond a simple standard harmonica, your modest comments about "not brilliant, but I'm very chuffed at having got on not badly, at a middling age" make me sick [big grin] and feel like giving you a good kicking behind the bike sheds! (Except, of course, that you are bigger than me, so perhaps we'll forget the kicking:-)

    But seriously, though – I loved it.

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  4. Ray Girvan27 March 2011 at 04:51

    The "huff" was the result of unseen multiple takes caused by a) three interruptions by doorbell and phone, and b) increased fluffing of notes because I was getting irritated. I finally spliced together the best bits of a dozen tries.

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  5. Julie Heyward27 March 2011 at 06:48

    I have a terribly slow internet connection, so I only made it to the 1:30 point (I love the music!). During the long pauses while my connection pondered whether or not to allow me to have any more, I was left staring at Ray, pinioned beneath this monstrous breathing, sinuously waggling beast -- and I can't help thinking that the instrument was playing Ray, not the other way around. Notice how it makes Ray's fingers wiggle obediently ...

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  6. Dr. C27 March 2011 at 09:28

    The Horowitz of the Bayan.

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  7. Ray Girvan27 March 2011 at 13:06

    Julie Heyward: ah, you caught me out. You'll notice that some buttons press themselves...

    Dr C: that's kind, but have you *seen* Alexander Dmitriev?

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