Livenka (music)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The livenka (Russian: ливенка) or Livenskaya garmoshka (Russian: Ливенская гармошка) is a specific variety of accordion used in Russian folk music, specifically in the region around the town of Livny (Oryol Oblast), from which the instrument takes its name.
- The livenka is a unisonoric instrument, meaning that each button produces the same tone, regardless of the direction of the bellows.
- The right-hand buttons (of which there may be 12 to 15) play the notes of the obikhodnyy pitch set, which may also be thought of as a series of overlapping Mixolydian modes. (Banin, A.A. 1997. p.161)
- The left-hand levers play intervals of thirds or fourths, so that adjacent levers operated simultaneously will play a triad.
- The livenka has a very long bellows, when compared to other accordions—sometimes having forty folds, and extending to over a meter in length.
