[Philip May]

Hi everyone!

I’ve recently taken a stab at transcribing Bartok’s Romanian Dances for AAB and TTB combinations, as I thought the timbre of the instruments would fit well with the sound world of the originals.

My problem is that I’m unable to test drive the score as I only have one other melodica-playing friend! Would anybody mind taking a look and letting me know – either by reading through the score or even testing it in an ensemble (amazing if you can!) – what works (if anything) and what ought to be added, removed or tweaked. I’d be very grateful for any and all brutally-honest feedback! I won’t mention in particular what my own concerns are so as not to be too leading.

The score and parts are saved here: https://1drv.ms/f/s!Auban-kMN__ZhZwsoY8vUbYD2HROrA

Many thanks in advance.

[Gianluca Barbaro]

Hi!
Awesome project!
At first sight, I see some range problems. My advice is to refer to standard melodicas, as shown in the following picture:

Also, some key signatures and following accidentals maybe are a little bit above the average reading skills: what about transposing to some easier tonalities?

Finally, bass melodicas are notoriously problematic: some fast passages might be difficult to render, but I should try and play them first, which I haven’t done yet… 😉

gl

[Philip May]

Hi Gianluca,

Thanks very much for taking the time to look through the score and for the ranges chart – I’ve saved that for future reference!

Thanks for your point about the key signatures. I’ll take the third piece down a semitone so it’s in A Minor rather than G# minor! And I hadn’t realised that one of the pieces was out of the range of even a tenor melodica, so I’ll sort that too.

Yes, the bass melodica is one of my main concerns, particularly with difficulties around control and attack around the lower range. I’ll see whether any of the notes need to be raised an octave for ease.

Thanks again!

[Author]

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