- 18 lessons teaching how to play 9 very popular Irish tunes.
- Progress at your own pace, pause & repeat videos.
- Access on all your devices.
- PDF sheet music & mp3’s to download & keep for each tune.
- 14-day free trial. Cancel anytime
- Access to 14 instruments, 40+ courses, 700+ tutorials
BONUS:
- Access our Entire Course Catalogue for Every Instrument.
- Library of over 150 popular Irish tunes to practice along with.
- Virtual Reality Sessions for the unique Irish Pub Session experience – a real treat for the Irish music lover.
- Community Forum of students and teachers, all friends with a love of Irish music.
The Piano Accordion is affiliated with many popular and cultural musical traditions across the globe. Piano Accordion Basics is suitable for the absolute beginner and is delivered by one of Ireland’s most accomplished musicians in any genre: the one and only Alan Kelly. OAIM are thrilled to offer this masterclass by one of the true legends of Irish music. If you have the brawn to hoist a piano accordion onto your shoulders and the brains to follow simple self-directed step-by-step tutorials, you’d be mad to miss this masterclass with one of the instrument’s finest players.
By the end of the course, you will have a repertoire of nine tunes which you will be able to play both melody and accompaniment for. The course has 18 lessons, broken into 3 to 4 tutorials each, where tunes are taught phrase by phrase.
Course Structure
Piano Accordion Basics is for the absolute beginner. The first five lessons concentrate on the right-hand melody, with a new tune covered in each lesson. Lessons cover simple Irish tunes that are well known globally. Hand and finger positioning, and basic ornamentation—cuts, triplets and slides—are discussed and demonstrated. From lesson seven onwards, the left-hand bass is introduced. For the bass lessons, mp3’s of the melody on its own are included, giving you the opportunity to isolate and perfect the accompaniment aspect of playing. Singling out the melody in this way facilitates that progressive shift in learning: from the foreground, almost one dimensional, melody to the textural backdrop that is the foundation of a lively ceilí.
It can take some time and practice for both the left and right hand to be co-ordinated with each other, but this is where the beauty of video tutorials come in. You are encouraged to stay with a particular tutorial until its elements are mastered. Listening to how the tutor is playing the tune and then mimicking it is the age-old way the tradition has been passed down through generations. With the video footage, you have the added benefit of pausing and repeating as often as you need, without any fear of testing the tutor’s patience!
The course offers a really diverse mix of tunes, all beginner, well known Irish tunes and song airs:
Oró Sé Do Bheath Abhaile
The Spanish Lady
The Kerry Polka
Peg Ryan’s Polka
Dalaigh’s Polka
The Spanish Lady
The Kerry Polka
Peg Ryan’s Polka
Dalaigh’s Polka
The Toormore Slide
Roddy McCorley’s March
Baby Rory’s Slip Jig
The Killavil Jig
Roddy McCorley’s March
Baby Rory’s Slip Jig
The Killavil Jig
Sheet Music and Mp3s available to Download for each Tune
Sample Sheet Music
Download Oró Sé Do Bheatha Abhaile ABC Sheet Music.
Download Oró Sé Do Bheatha Abhaile Standard Notation Sheet Music.
Sample mp3 of Oró Sé Do Bheatha Abhaile
Your Tutor
Described by New York’s Irish Voice as ‘in league with the best piano accordionists in the world’, Alan Kelly is regarded as one of Ireland’s most accomplished musicians in any genre. He is a piano accordionist, composer and arranger, utterly at home in his own skin. Though Alan hails from the rich traditional musical landscape of Roscommon, in the west of Ireland, variety in repertoire is one of his hallmarks. Alan is truly one of the busiest performers on the traditional and folk music scene, touring and recording with artists such as: Eddi Reader, Matt Molloy, Sean Keane, De Dannan, Lúnasa, and many more. A genuine musician, Alan’s playful, experimental approach to music has been described as magical, joyous and uplifting… always performed with flair and taste. Alan doesn’t just play the accordion, he celebrates it in a way that draws you into the passion he puts into the music he plays. Read more.Detailed questions and discussion on the course can be found in the Community Forum, available to paying members only.
