Irish music : why is it in D and G ?

Subject: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: GUEST,tom
Date: 03 Sep 05 - 11:50 AM

Anyone know why Irish music is nearly always written in D and G ?

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: GUEST,sharon g
Date: 03 Sep 05 - 11:52 AM

One reason: the uillean pipes are most able to play in these keys and their related minors- they are also easy keys on the fiddle and easiest keys for a "D" tin whistle- all of which have been part of Irish traditional music for a long time.

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: Stewart
Date: 03 Sep 05 - 01:50 PM

Other scales are used, but they are based on the keys of D and G major. There are 8 scales that form the basis of most Irish dance music:

Scales based on Dmajor:
-----------------------
D major/D Ionian: D E F# G A B C# d
E Dorian:            E F# G A B C# d e
A Mixolydian:                  A B C# d e f# g a
B Natural minor/Aeolian:          B C# d e f# g a b

Scales based on Gmajor:
-----------------------
G major/G Ionian: G A B C D E F# g
A Dorian:            A B C D E F# g a
D Mixolydian:                D E F# g a b c d
E Natural minor/Aeolian:         E F# g a b c d e

S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: MudGuard
Date: 03 Sep 05 - 03:01 PM

One reason: the uillean pipes are most able to play in these keys and their related minors- they are also easy keys on the fiddle and easiest keys for a "D" tin whistle- all of which have been part of Irish traditional music for a long time.

Hm - which is "actio" and which is "reactio"?

Is the widespread use of the "D" whistle the reason for many tunes in "D"
or
are the many tunes in "D" the reason for the widespread use of the "D" whistle?
(similar question for uillean pipes)

(I am absolutely no expert in this, just asking ...)

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: GUEST,Sooz sans cookie
Date: 03 Sep 05 - 03:22 PM

Fiddles are made to play in D - the notes are the same distance appart on each string. G involves changing only one note position ( C natural instead of C sharp) and C means changing two positions. I haven't explained that very well but a parallel is the piano which plays naturally in C and as you change key you need to use the black notes - one for G, two for D etc.

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: scouse
Date: 03 Sep 05 - 03:34 PM

Most of the Guitarist play in DADGAG these days.So moving the Capo they can cover most Keys.........As Aye, Phil

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 03 Sep 05 - 04:07 PM

I tallied the keys of the first 60 songs in O'Neill's Music of Ireland.

G -      21
D       14
B-flat - 12
C         7
F         3
E-flat    2
A         2

I suspect that dance music might vary less. (Someone else can count if they want.) But when it comes to lyrical pieces, it isn't true that it only comes in G and D.

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 03 Sep 05 - 04:17 PM

Make that "the first 61 songs".

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 03 Sep 05 - 04:46 PM

Fiddles are made to play in D

Nobody told mine that, fortunately. It plays in whatever key I tell it to.

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: Little Robyn
Date: 03 Sep 05 - 04:52 PM

That's because you have educated fingers!
Robyn

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: Tootler
Date: 03 Sep 05 - 06:52 PM

It's D and G in England too, but it seems to be A and D in Scotland.

Go back in time, however, and you find a much wider variety of key signatures used. Far enough back and you are more likely to find flats than sharps in the key signature. Playford's Dancing Master is a good example.

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 03 Sep 05 - 07:00 PM

a parallel is the piano which plays naturally in C and as you change key you need to use the black notes - that distinction between black and white notes is peculiar to keyboard instruments and the like. It doesn't really apply to fiddles or indeed fretted instruments.

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 03 Sep 05 - 10:54 PM

WELL DONE!!!!!

Thank YOU - Mr. Stewart - you are worthy of your family's plaids.

It is a simple matter of majors and minors.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: Pauline L
Date: 04 Sep 05 - 01:35 AM

Fiddles are made to play in D - the notes are the same distance apart on each string.

Not true. However, fiddles sound especially good when played in G, D, or A because of the resonances with the open strings (G, D, A, and E). Most of the famous violin concerti are written in D. In general, fiddlers prefer the keys of D and G. Scottish and Shetland fiddlers also like the key of A because you can play double stops (drones) with the A and E strings, and the music sounds so good and LOUD. This is very useful when fiddlers want to be heard even though bagpipes are being played nearby. Another reason is that it's cheaper to pay one fiddler to play double stops than to pay two fiddlers.

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: Bloke in the Corner
Date: 04 Sep 05 - 11:41 AM

I reckon the tunes were mostly written by people who wanted to make it easy for others - perhaps not particularly good musicians - to play them, so it was more accessible to playing in every little village/church hall/pub, so that folks could dance to them. After all, they were mostly written as dances, and, from watching 'Go west along the road' on the now-defunct Tara channel, local people were always playing and dancing to them. So, simplicity for accessibility is my opinion.
Thank God! It's hard enough playing in those keys, without E flat, z sharp minor etc.

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: Pauline L
Date: 04 Sep 05 - 02:44 PM

Yes, but it's not just simplicity. The fiddle sounds especially good in those keys.

I have heard that if you find a fiddle tune in B flat, you know it must be very good or fiddlers wouldn't play it.

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: Stewart
Date: 04 Sep 05 - 03:10 PM

Sometimes the 'flat keys' - F, B flat, E flat (1, 2, and 3 flats respectively) sound good on the fiddle, particularly in slow moody tunes such as slow airs. And they are no harder to play than D and G IMO. The worst key to play on the fiddle IMO is E major where you can't play the open D string, but have to sharp it with the first finger. Why do singers who play guitar like to capo up two frets and play in D chording which then comes out in E?

S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: Grab
Date: 04 Sep 05 - 03:30 PM

Good point MudGuard. Difficult to tell cause and effect - but since fiddles have been such a standard item for British Isles music for such a long time, any pieces in other keys before that will likely have faded away. And of course, until comparatively recently the pitch of notes was pretty arbitrary - without pitch pipes or electronic tuners, I guess it'd be tuning up/down to someone's flute/pipe/whistle, whatever pitch that happened to be in. "D" or "G" or whatever then becomes just a choice of fingering shapes rather than pitch, same as with a capo on a guitar.

Graham.

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 04 Sep 05 - 04:02 PM

Sooz, your theory holds good across one octave, but not two. In fact the fiddle is much less orientated to any specific key(s) than several other instruments. And I don't think Pauline's theory is convincing either. There's not much double-stopping in Irish traditional! (Certainly not comparied with bluegrass, or the Tchaikovsky violin concerto.) Making life easy for fiddlers might, however, be one reason why this music is so determinedly rooted in "first position".

Uillean pipes came on the scene relatively late. so I'd be surprised if they were a major influence on what keys were used. Maybe their cruder precursors were a factor, but flutes - whether side- or end-blown) might have been a more likely influence.

MudGuard, I take your point about what came first. My money would be on the intruments influencing the key pitches. rather than the other way round. Otherwise why is a broader range of keys not used?)

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: Noreen
Date: 04 Sep 05 - 04:40 PM

> written in D and G ?
and
> tallied the keys of the first 60 songs (meaning tunes) in O'Neill's Music of Ireland.

Who knows what key these tunes were written in? Captain O'Neill collected the tunes as they were played and wrote them down- that doesn't mean they were originally composed or played in those keys.

For example, Carolan's tunes will have been written to be played on a harp- unlikely to be in the same keys as they are played in on today's instruments.

Most people here are answering a different question: Why are so many Irish tunes played in D and G?

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: Tim theTwangler
Date: 04 Sep 05 - 05:16 PM

I know very little of the musicology of any music type but wasnt the music from olden days in Ireland played on Harps.
Maybe one of you educated types could tell me if that has any bearing on the quetion?

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: Gedpipes
Date: 04 Sep 05 - 07:16 PM

You want to try and play with a Northumbrian piper!

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 04 Sep 05 - 07:24 PM

Sorry, Tim - original Irish music was not from harps.

It was from vocal-chords, (the only musical instrument created by God.)

Sincerely,

Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 04 Sep 05 - 07:49 PM

Not true. God also created the banjo...but only as a joke.

Aloha,
Mark

(Ducking and covering, just like in the old days...)

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: GUEST,Joe
Date: 05 Sep 05 - 12:12 PM

"Fiddles are made to play in D"

Nobody told mine that, fortunately. It plays in whatever key I tell it to. (Countess Richard)

"That's because you have educated fingers!"
(Robyn)

......and a bloody big ego!

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: GUEST,tom
Date: 05 Sep 05 - 12:25 PM

Well thanks everyone;I'll read through the replies now that I've got a bit of time. I'm always amazed by the knowledge of mudcatters .

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 05 Sep 05 - 12:36 PM

it stands for Dublin and Guinness

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: Pauline L
Date: 05 Sep 05 - 06:29 PM

Peter K (Fionn) said

And I don't think Pauline's theory is convincing either. There's not much double-stopping in Irish traditional!

That's not what I said. Here are my words. Read them more carefully.

However, fiddles sound especially good when played in G, D, or A because of the resonances with the open strings (G, D, A, and E)... In general, fiddlers prefer the keys of D and G. Scottish and Shetland fiddlers also like the key of A because you can play double stops (drones) with the A and E strings, and the music sounds so good and LOUD.

Someone else said

And of course, until comparatively recently the pitch of notes was pretty arbitrary - without pitch pipes or electronic tuners, I guess it'd be tuning up/down to someone's flute/pipe/whistle, whatever pitch that happened to be in. "D" or "G" or whatever then becomes just a choice of fingering shapes rather than pitch, same as with a capo on a guitar.

On the contrary, in the 18th century, traditional music from the British Isles, as well as music which we now call "classical," used a pitch somewhat lower than 440 as the standard A. The A of the 18th century was more like the G# today. The frequency of the standard has been creeping up because some people prefer the brighter sound. The trend continues among many musicians today.

The pitch of fiddle strings can not be varied a great deal, unlike the situation of guitars with capos. Some traditional fiddle tunes can be played to good effect with wildcat tuning, for example, AEAE instead of GDAE. However, fiddle strings are susceptible to snapping if they're too tight and to being unplayable if they're too slack. Many fiddlers who use wildcat tuning use a separate fiddle which they keep tuned that way.

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 05 Sep 05 - 07:25 PM

Och, Pauline I wouldn't call AEAE wildcat tuning. It is called high bass tuning and is very common with Cape Breton and Scottish fiddle styles. The most used key in Cape Breton is A so high bass tuning really enhances the sound. Years ago before amplification two fiddlers in unison would play the same tune , one using the two higher strings and the other using the two bass. This would give a lot of extra volume for dancing, and it also sounded great.
                        Sandy

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 06 Sep 05 - 08:52 AM

"Re: > tallied the keys of the first 60 songs (meaning tunes)
in O'Neill's Music of Ireland."

My reply: I went to high school, and I know the difference between a song and a tune. When I said "song" I meant "song". If you prefer, you can call it a lyric, a ballad, a ditty, an air or a love song.

"Who knows what key these tunes were written in?"

It doesn't matter what key they were written in. Since they were songs, the key depends on the voice of the singer or on the instrument they were played upon.

Some of the pieces could have been composed by people who couldn't tell you what key they were in. The composer had a tune in his head and words to speak, and on different days he might have sung it in different keys.

Others were no doubt written by people with plenty of musical knowledge. It isn't true that everybody in Ireland did everything by ear.

Today, the habit of using D and G is convenient for many people. How could you have jams if people memorized their favorite tunes in a dozen different keys?

Clearly, D and G are also useful for certain instruments - D flute, D whistle, guitar, and fiddle. (When I want my friends to do a tune that's in C, I usually change it to D for them.)

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: mooman
Date: 06 Sep 05 - 08:58 AM

They don't have to be!

I have many in my repertoire in keys like F, C and Bb, especially some slower tunes. They are not particularly difficult to play on the mandolin or violin families and no particular problem to back on guitar.

As Noreen says, many of the older ones weren't necessarily written in the keys they are played in today.

Peace

moo

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: greg stephens
Date: 06 Sep 05 - 11:49 AM

The villain in this piece may well be the melodeon(or diatonic button accordion), which swept through the world carrying all before it in the late 1800's. While fiddles played easiest in D, G and A, at least with a bit of practise you can play in other keys as well. But once someone in the pub turns up with a one row, or two row diatonic box, you're scuppered. Coupled with the simple whistles and flutes, with the 6=holes closed note as a D, and the influence to stick to a handful of keys is very powerful. Examine a few fiddlers tunebooks of 1800-1850( a fair few flat key tunes included) with fiddlers' books today(hardly any flat keys), and the point becomes obvious.

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: Kaleea
Date: 06 Sep 05 - 05:41 PM

I've often heard this asked & discussed, & when I started playing in the Ceili bands (as a teen), asked the same question & got Irish pipes/button accordian type answers for the most part.    If you're not an egghead like me, just skip my following meanderings.   Yet. . .
Info on how the Irish Harps were tuned can be found in "Ancient Music of Ireland by Edward Bunting, Arranged for Piano" (believed to be for piano instead of harp because the piano was more popular by then & he thought he could sell more books).
Edward Bunting was hired (as a teen) to notate/transcribe the tunes performed in the great meeting of Harpers in Belfast 1792 when the last Belfast Harp Festival of the old time traditional itinerant harpers performed. & according to Bunting were "all the best of the old class of harpers-a race of men nearly extinct." [There was at least one woman harper there, too.] The book also includes an "Account of the Old Melodies of Ireland." The keys are all over the place-probably since the over 150 tunes were arranged for piano. Keys include: A, Bb, C, D, E, Eb, F, G, Am, Cm, Dm, Em, Fm, F#m, Gm.
Known dates of tunes are given as far back as 1599, but most say, "date unknown, ancient, very ancient or very very ancient. (wow!)
   
    OK, the tuning of the traditional 30 string harp used by the old Harpers:
           (from the bass up)
basses:
C,D,E,G,A,B,C,D,E,F,G,G,A,B,C

trebles:
D,E,F,G,A,B,C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C,D

sometimes they tuned with G# in the bass; F# in the trebles when the melody called for it; very rarely a C# in the trebles.

The Irish Harp had no F# between E & G in the bass, probably because it had no concord in their scale for that tone, either major or minor.


There were basically only 2 major keys, G one #, and C natural which were perfect. Harpers also made use of two ancient diatonic minor keys Em (one #) & Am natural minor--these were considered imperfect scales. Also, D natural minor which was considered more imperfect, but many liked the sounc of that scale. G mixolydian scale is found with no sharps or flats, thus the G major key, & so on with a few other of the "church modes" or ancient scales. If you omit certain notes of a major key scale from the melody, you can have a tune sounding in a major key even though the scale is lacking a couple of notes as in our modern version of that key.
So I can see where the G & sometimes D or even sorta A keys came from, & there wasn't much of anything going on with "flat" keys like the Scottish bagpipes as we now know them.

    Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm an egghead.

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 06 Sep 05 - 06:31 PM

Well done Kaleea!

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: Blackcatter
Date: 06 Sep 05 - 11:50 PM

Speaking as a whistle player - while I have whistles in A, Bb, C, D, E, Eb, F & G, it's a lot easier if people I play with stick to a couple or 3 keys. In fact, it's easy to have just my D and G whistles ready at all times. That way I can play in D, G or C (the C is the 2nd major key of the G whistle).

Speaking as a singer - I want the song played in a key that's within my range for the notes it has. I'm all over the scale when it comes to that, though my range is large enough that a most songs work well within at least a 3 key range.

Then, of course, it gets fun when my friend with the guitar knows how to play a song in a certain key, needs to use a capo to modify it for his voice and then has to modify it a bit differently so that I can sing harmony. At that point, it becomes a nice thing to have whistles in 8 different keys.

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 07 Sep 05 - 04:03 AM

Hello Guest: Joe. Do I know you? If you've ever picked up a violin you would quickly have noticed that the fingering is the simplest thing in the world and you learn it in the first hour of Day 1. It's getting a listenable sound out the the bowing that's just a bit harder. It's no more problematical to play in one key over another once you have identified the various places where the appropriate notes are found, particularly if you ignore the grey-beards swigging out of pewter tankards who spout the weird notion that it's somehow untraditional and contrary to f*lk police law to move your left hand up out of the first playing position.

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: AggieD
Date: 07 Sep 05 - 06:25 AM

I'm no techie or egghead, but when I told my choirmaster, who is also a seriously good musician, conductor & adjudicator, that I played melodeon that is tuned to the keys of G & D, his immediate response was that G is called 'the peoples key', as it is the most commonly & easily used key.

Also the orchestra of course tunes to the oboe in G, is this purely coincidental, or do one of you clever bods know a technical reason?

Angela

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 07 Sep 05 - 06:45 AM

The oboe is used, I was informed when learning music, because (supposedly) it keeps its pitch the best of all instruments. Not being an oboe player, I don't know if it also the most difficult to adjust the pitch of instantly like a string instrument - I suspect that may have something to do with it.

As to why the note G, I could guess "Traditional", but it would just be that.

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: GUEST,Dazbo
Date: 07 Sep 05 - 06:59 AM

Speculating: I would think it is mainly due to the instruments used. For instance diatonic instruments like melodeons are severly limited in which keys they can play. This is not a new phenonomen as most old instruments were limited in their playable keys. This was made more complicated by the use of unequal temperament (which has lingered longer in traditional music than classical or popular music). Fiddlers could play in any key because they can infinitely adjust each note to match the temperament used, other instruments could only cope with a few keys around their 'natural' key; to venture into the outer reaches of sharps and flats was to become more and more out of tune.

So the introduction of the fiddle and later on the introduction of equal temperament lead to the tunes being played in a myriad of keys. I would suspect that as these instruments became more sophisticated to enable all keys to be played in they became more and more expensive; so the people who played the traditional music in the hamlets and villages could not afford them so they bought cheap instruments like tin whistles or melodeons or made their own. These instruments were either incapable of playing in more than a couple of keys or, due to lack of instruction were played in the key(s) that were easiest to play in like D on a fiddle. (Yes, I know that there is not intrinsically harder to play F# Major than to play C providing you've got the time, patience, knowledge and inclination to learn these uncommon fingerings). Then through iteration the tunes began to be played in only a couple of, common, keys that the majority of the musicians were happiest to play in.

Why D and G? Certainly I think that it could be down to the melodeon But D/G melodeons have not been that commonly used in Ireland (and only since about the 1950's in England), most one-rows were in C and from early on in the 20th centuary the chromatic boxes (CC#; BC; C#D etc) were common in Scotland and Ireland so theoretically could be used for all the 12 major keys and their relative minors. Interestingly, I think if you look at the keys used around Western Europe for traditional music they seem to be in, more or less, the same few keys F, C, G, and D.

Is this plausable?

Dazbo

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 07 Sep 05 - 07:42 AM

The 'key of C' - irrespective of pitch - was the 'original key' in Western Church Music - that's what the staff notation grew up for!

The keys of F & G are Built from C - F upwards%% and G downwards%% - the 7ths were flattened.

Now as to where the key of D fits in all this, it IS built upwards from G...

%%(plagal modes and all that stuff!)

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 07 Sep 05 - 07:45 AM

Is this plausible?

Oh yes, Darren. I've always thought the melodeon was responsible for most of the world's ills . . .;-)

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: GUEST,Joe
Date: 07 Sep 05 - 08:17 AM

No Countess - I'm happy to report we don't know each other, but your comment re the melodeon further confirms my conclusion that you have a superior and condescending attitude that sits uncomfortably within this forum. I have picked up a violin in my time (and a number of other instruments too - can even get a few tunes out of them; unlikely though to be up to your standard...grin).

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: manitas_at_work
Date: 07 Sep 05 - 08:25 AM

The melodeon is in D and G because those were the most popular keys in the British Isles. On the Continent C/F and A/D are popular.

It may be that D and G are more common because a one foot whistle ( or flute) plays more or less in D but I think it more likely that the violin is the main influence.

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 07 Sep 05 - 08:27 AM

If you don't know me, how can you claim to know so much about me? Dazbo does know me and we often trade melodeon jokes. It's called 'being mates'. Possibly you haven't got any and have decided to visit this forum to see if you can find some. I really don't think remarks about what 'sits uncomfortably' or not within it are appropriate from someone who is not even a member. We are here to talk about music, not to be assaulted by inane, off-topic inanities from faceless morons.

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: Snuffy
Date: 07 Sep 05 - 08:42 AM

We are here ... not to be assaulted by inane, off-topic inanities from faceless morons.

We already have plenty of members who can (and do) do that!!! :-)

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Sep 05 - 08:45 AM

On topic - I thought that maybe the point being made was that the fiddle was easier to play in D (and G naturally) and didn't warrant a comment like "Nobody told mine that, fortunately. It plays in whatever key I tell it to" which I felt was a tad sarcastic.

As a teacher I try not to tell students things like "the fingering is the simplest thing in the world and you learn it in the first hour of Day 1" or

"the bowing is just a bit harder" or

"it's no more problematical to play in one key over another once you have identified the various places where the appropriate notes are found".. just in case they might get disheartened when they haven't mastered the instrument in the first 6 weeks of playing.

Sorry, Countess, if I offend your aristocratic sensibilities.

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: Peter T.
Date: 07 Sep 05 - 09:01 AM

I suspect the real reason has to do with the modes in which the music is played, and the influence of traditional pentatonics clashing with the major scale. Flatting the F# in G gives you C, and flattening the C# in D gives you G. Easy to play, but still gives you that "Celtoid" sound to modern ears. Really old music is hardly transposable into modern keys at all.
yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: GUEST,Dazbo
Date: 07 Sep 05 - 09:32 AM

Manitas "The melodeon is in D and G because those were the most popular keys in the British Isles"

I've thought it strange that the keys of D and G are so popular in England but the first DG melodeons didn't appear in England until the early 1950's and had (if I remember it right) were specially made by Hohner. If the keys of D and G were so popular why did it take so long to get them made?

Countess R: nice to hear from you again and you'll be pleased to note that I've decided there are not enough melodeons in the world and I'm after another - a nice little Italian number !sigh!.

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Sep 05 - 10:31 AM

and strangely anglo concertinas are hardly ever in GD, even the 20 keyed two rows!

Subject: RE: Irish music : why is it in D and G ?
From: greg stephens
Date: 07 Sep 05 - 12:44 PM

I think my post was the first to raise melodeons as the possible villain of the piece. I should point out that I very specifically did not identify D/G melodeons as the culprit, that would be far too simplistic. I would blame the one-rows (C or D), and the C#D two-row, for example. That particular two row, for example, can obviously be played in any key, but D and G are infinitely easier than most of the ther keys (as on the fiddle, whatever the multi-keyed Countess Richard says).
As to how and why a C one-row melodeon can reinforce the key of D on the fiddle, it takes a bit of figuring out, but it is true. See what happened in Louisiana, for example.
    On the general influence of the box on Irish music, perhaps Michael Coleman, Ireland's greatest fiddler, should have the last word. He was asked for a coontibution to the funeral expenses of a great accordion player. He asked what people were giving, and was told that most people had come up with ten bob. He said "Here's a pound, bury two of the bastards".