Damien Connolly's new tutor book and DVD for B/C accordion

StevieJ · Post by **StevieJ** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 6:34 pm

Damien Connolly's Irish Accordion Tutor is now available. I got a copy from him at East Durham last week, and it's a fine piece of work.

It comprises a book and a DVD. The book includes quite a bit of introductory theory - including a discussion of Damien's approach to fingering and moving around the fingerboard, and detailed explanations of the principal ornaments he uses - and a collection of 29 tunes (polkas, jigs and reels) rendered in both conventional notation and a tablature of Damien's own devising. All the tunes are recorded on the accompanying DVD.

The book is spiral bound - opens flat or on a table or music stand - with a thick plastic protective cover. The tablature is a kind of souped-up variant of ABC that Damien calls "BoxTab". In both systems coloured highlighting is used to indicate bellows direction and certain specific ornaments. In addition there are red symbols - an arrow to indicate a finger slide (a technique that Damien uses copiously and to great effect) and an X to signal an unexpected shift. Fingering is indicated for each note, including graces.

On the DVD,each of the 29 tunes in the book is demonstrated slowly (first and second parts separately) using the fingering indicated in the book. The camera angle is such that you can see exactly what he is doing. He also demonstrates all the ornaments he explains in the introductory part of the book. Basses for 6 tunes are demonstrated separately.

All in all a very well thought-out project, based on the teaching system Damien has been developing over the past few years. I'm not a B/C player but when I started C#/D I bought a few of the teaching aids for that system to get a few tips. I consider this new tutor by Damien Connolly to be far more thorough and useful than any I have seen so far. In a completely different league, in fact. Highly recommended.

For the moment, copies are available only from Damien personally. The simplest thing for anyone interested would be to contact him by email (at damienj NOSPACEHERE connolly ATSIGN hot NOSPACEHERE mail DOT com). The price for the book and DVD is US$45 and there may be an additional charge for postage. He is in Fairfield, Connecticut. You would need to send him a check in US$ drawn on a US bank or an international money order for the total.

PS In the end Damien realized he couldn't deal with both B/C and C#/D in one book, and so he plans a second volume for C#/D players. I think it might be a while before he gets around to doing it though - he completed work on the tutor at about the same time that his wife Sally gave birth to their third child, a girl this time. Congratulations Damien and Sally!

kmag · Post by **kmag** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 7:51 pm

Hi Stevie,
Do you have an alternative way of contacting Damien? I have sent a couple of emails and I am afraid that it is not getting by his spam filter or something since there is no reply. If that fails is there another source for the material?
Thanks,
Kurt

StevieJ · Post by **StevieJ** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:43 am

It's possible he's away, this being the summer vacation (Damien is a schoolteacher). Check your pms though.

Flutester · Post by **Flutester** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 3:32 pm

I have also just recently seen a copy of Damien Connolly's Accordion Tutor book and DVD. It is very well done and is really going to be a very useful tool for students of the box. My friend got her's from Damien at the Catskills workshop. I tried to contact him also at damienconnolly@hotmail.com but no response. In addition on the back of his book is a website for the book. www.theaccordiontutor.com But it is not a working website. So, if anyone else has luck in getting in touch with him in order to purchase a book and DVD please let us know.

kmag · Post by **kmag** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 5:55 pm

Hello Jim,
The email address has a letter j after the Damien, no space and all lower case.
Kurt

Flutester · Post by **Flutester** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 9:55 am

Hi Kurt

Thanks for the tip on the j in his email address. I didn't notice it when I read the address in the previous posting by Steviej. I tried it last night and this morning I received a reply from Damien with instructions on how to order directly from him. Thanks for your help.

kmag · Post by **kmag** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 4:45 pm

Hello all,
I got my tutor about a week or so ago and have recently had time to look at it. I feel this is a great tutor for everyone even though it is marked intermediate. I am a beginner and have found it very helpful, well thought out and easy to understand, especially with the accompanying DVD.
A great product and many thanks to StevieJ for steering everyone towards it.
Kurt

StevieJ · Post by **StevieJ** » Mon Dec 15, 2008 1:04 pm

A web page on the tutor is now up HERE - with online ordering.

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