How drummers see us.....

[losthobos]

I've just happened across a drummers forum and they had a thread discussing wether an accordion was worthy of being called a musical instrument....these are links that some of the drummers posted in defence....



Just posted as interested to see perspective from another musicians ears.....shit loads of bad accordion jokes too of course...

 

[Accordionna]

Please, let us know where to join their fun.

 

[tcabot]

wether an accordion was worthy of being called a musical instrument

That is the question.
Should it be called playing an accordion, or should it be playing with an accordion?

 

[Tom]

Do they pontificate on whether digital drums should be called drums? Or even sound like real drums? And are hide heads really as good as plastic ones? Did Neil Peart play too many notes? Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[Ventura]

first of all, no-one in their right mind would fix up a Wurly accordion

there are good reasons they were among the first to go out of business
and that was DURING the golden age, ok ?

we had a flim-flam man nearby, in Ellicott City, who had a 3 row Tula bayan
that got caught in the flood, slammed against a wall, and the bass mech
(only held together by spring pressure) collapsed like a game of Pik-up-stix
so he listed all the parts and piles of parts on C-List for like 3 years over
and over again at 1000x markup from what the box could have sold for
pre-flood with lots of made up stories and claims of value

with all the old posts of collected wisdom in the newsgroup archives and here
hopefully there are few newbies who would get fooled by such people,
provided they did their homework

 

[Thomas N]

I feel it's their complete unfamiliarity of the accordion as a solo musical instrument. Maybe they've heard a polka or two and laughed.

Any accordion they've heard in a band situation most likely was hearing the keyboard player essentially use the accordion as merely a vertical keyboard. No knowledge of the bass side and poor usage of bellows phrasing. Kind of a gimmick. "Oh look, the keyboard player just picked up an accordion for this song. Awesome that he can also play accordion!"

Considering whether or not the accordion should be considered a musical instrument is just soooooooo drummer.

 

[losthobos]

I think they're just puppy dogs playing ....nothing malicious....also squabbling as to wether a Cajon is a drum or a stool......

 

[Rosie C]

I feel it's their complete unfamiliarity of the accordion as a solo musical instrument. Maybe they've heard a polka or two and laughed.

Sadly the accordion seems grouped with banjo, bagpipes, viola as instruments it's alright to poke fun at. But at our community orchestra there are no viola players, so the jokes may have a real-world effect. Who is going to take up an instrument when it's the object of ridicule? e.g. on the popular "Two Set Violin" channel there's a constant stream of viola jokes. We have a local oompah band, I know most of the players, but they don't want an accordion, preferring tuba, horns and clarinet.

 

[Accordionna]

Sadly the accordion seems grouped with banjo, bagpipes, viola as instruments it's alright to poke fun at. But at our community orchestra there are no viola players, so the jokes may have a real-world effect. Who is going to take up an instrument when it's the object of ridicule? e.g. on the popular "Two Set Violin" channel there's a constant stream of viola jokes. We have a local oompah band, I know most of the players, but they don't want an accordion, preferring tuba, horns and clarinet.

Unintended consequences may be correlated, or (nonetheless) consequential.

 

[Thomas N]

Sadly the accordion seems grouped with banjo, bagpipes, viola as instruments it's alright to poke fun at. But at our community orchestra there are no viola players, so the jokes may have a real-world effect. Who is going to take up an instrument when it's the object of ridicule? e.g. on the popular "Two Set Violin" channel there's a constant stream of viola jokes. We have a local oompah band, I know most of the players, but they don't want an accordion, preferring tuba, horns and clarinet.

It'a definitely a rough instrument to take up if you're looking for public affection LOL! The greatest living accordionists have under 5000 subscribers on YouTube with only hundreds of views of their videos.

There's a woman that makes Yogurt with millions of subscribers. It's just the way it is,

 

[RowanSumner]

It'a definitely a rough instrument to take up if you're looking for public affection LOL! The greatest living accordionists have under 5000 subscribers on YouTube with only hundreds of views of their videos.

There's a woman that makes Yogurt with millions of subscribers. It's just the way it is,

A gentleman is a man who can play the accordion, but doesnt

 

[Tom]

It'a definitely a rough instrument to take up if you're looking for public affection LOL! The greatest living accordionists have under 5000 subscribers on YouTube with only hundreds of views of their videos.

There's a woman that makes Yogurt with millions of subscribers. It's just the way it is,

Dorgival Dantes, definitely living, and the first accordionist I checked, has over 1 million subscribers and his most popular songs have over 10 million views.

I myself, definitely living, but not famous, have over 2000 views on one of my videos.

Just sayin’

 

[Thomas N]

Yep. There are some outliers. There's a guy that plays Despacito, arguably at a mediocre level, but the ambiance with the rain and his good looks had something like 10M views on just that one song and that was years ago I last checked. It's probably up to 20M now.

 

[Rosie C]

It'a definitely a rough instrument to take up if you're looking for public affection LOL!

It seems at times that the public are pretty cool about accordion - it's other musicians that are the problem!

 

[Dingo40]

Who cares what they say as long as they're talking about us (and spell the name right!)

 

[Pipemajor]

Who is going to take up an instrument when it's the object of ridicule?

Me. I play GHB pipes, Scottish Smallpipes and accordions of different types

 

[Rosie C]

Me. I play GHB pipes, Scottish Smallpipes and accordions of different types

Me too, I play recorder, viola, accordion... I should really try banjo sometime

 

[Siegmund]

I just finished writing a duet for viola and accordion, for a local couple that plays same (among several other instruments, including euphonium.) I wonder which of the two of them would win a popularity contest!

 

[Tom]

I am a gentleman. I have a viola but I don’t play it. But I may after the summer season is over. Just got a call to play at ADRC though, public service, 3rd October gig so far….

 

[Henry D]

It's definitely a rough instrument to take up if you're looking for public affection

Depends on the venue. I put in 45 minutes to an hour on the bench in front of my house with the accordion- about 40 feet from the sidewalk- waiting on the wife as she gives the dog his evening stroll. I usually play the accordion, but in the past have gone on streaks of tenor sax, clarinet, and flute. I'm surely best on the tenor out of the four, and in general acceptability for most venues the sax rates pretty high for both jazz and pop. The preference of the passing public is pretty clear though. Flute in second, sax in third. Clarinet in dead last, and...

The accordion overwhelmingly favored in a venue where people are passing by enjoying the air. Not just because of the a cappella nature of noodling on the other three hwich colors things when they're all on their lonesome- and not because the accordion really is a band in a box.

The accordion speaks to nostalgic memories- often to folks who really have no first hand memories of them to speak of. Kids find it a novelty, the grown ups ask for When the Saints Come ... (which I steadfastly refuse to play), and generally rather than declaring me a public nuisance (that may, of course just be "Minnesota nice"...) wave, smile, and lie through their teeth and tell me "sounds great". (They don't even seem to change their routes to avoid me!)

None of the other instruments elicit that response although one guy wanted me to cough up flute lessons based upon my somewhat free spirited take on Ding Dong the Witch is Dead.

Don't sell your accordion short. And remember- unless you're gigging for cash, the person you really want to make happy with that ungainly thing is... you.


PS And in an attempt to forestall the inevitable "I play to please the listeners you self-centerd oaf." I submit that you're doing it because it gives you pleasure to do so. I'll accept the "oaf" part as a fair hit...