... Continuing on the accordion topic...

My favorite new music gadget this year wasn't shown at NAMM. It's not a gadget, it's a MIDI instrument, named Thummer, by Thumtronics (www.thumtronics.com).

Jim Plamondon, a fellow I know from about 15 years ago at Microsoft, invented the Thummer, borrowing and improving on keyboard layouts that have been explored over more than 100 years. The Thummer keyboard is very roughly analogous to the Dvorak typing keyboard.

Here's what a pair of Thummer keyboards look like, that would be used by the left and right hands:



You can play just one Thummer or two of them. You might bind two Thummers back to back to play them sort of like a two-side accordion.

Here's what the Thummer keyboard layout looks like:



Study the layout some. See how you'd play a C major scale. Then see how you'd play a D major scale. The fingering is exactly the same for any major scale-- only your hand position changes. The same thing is true for chords. See how you'd play a C major chord with 3 fingers. The same finger pattern plays a D major-- only in a different position of the keyboard.

The Thummer keyboard layout is perfect, musically.

Cheers
-- Mark