Hybridbandonion
System: C/B-Griff, 78 tones (unisonoric, logical)
Audio on gabla.de, video auf youtube
Manufacture: Co. Harry Geuns (Belgien), 1992.
Draft: Norbert Gabla (Nürnberg, in the picture) 1990
Bandonion playing for those who know C fingering, without the hassle of the bisonoric keyboard. Although attempts were already made in the 1920s to transfer the C fingering system to the bandonion (Praktikal, Meisel, Péguri), all these variants find their limits in the partly different hand position compared to the button accordion.
For this reason, the keyboard of the Hybridbandonion was moved to a bevelled front. This requires a different way of guiding the instrument.
The mirrored keyboard results in the same fingerings for both sides, which unparalleled reduction in learning effort. Auxiliary rows have been dispensed because these would require a larger case with an unsatisfactory timbre.
A comparable manual design with identical single-note allocation on both sides and large buttons was used in 1948 by Pierre Monichon (1925-2006) in the development of his Harmonéon, accordéon de concert).
Right side:
In contrast to other bandonions, the hand position borrowed from the button accordion also allows the thumb to be used for 5-finger playing.
The Hybridbandonion has been built in various versions since 2003.
Frequent staccato playing, as in the tango, requires greater dexterity skill than on conventional instruments, because the movements of the fingers and the palm of the hand do not run parallel to the direction of movement of the bellows.
The bellows are also controlled by a strap at wrist level, rather than the usual at back of the hand. This allows the hands to be moved vertically along the length of the manual. On other bandonions, the hands are fixed in hand straps on the sides of the case.
The keyboard mechanism of the entry-level model
As early as the 1950s, this comparable model was developed and made by the Maugein company in Tulle in France, both as a single-note instrument and as a with coupling bass.
The identical manual design with large buttons on both sides corresponds to Monichon's Concert accodion Harmonéon. In addition, the case is also symmetrically built, as will be the case later on the Hybridbandonion. Whether the aim of this development was called the small accordion or the bandonion is not known.
The instrument is part of the collection of L. Jarry in Montreuil, France (boite-accordeon.com).
