Hello all

[swilliams002]

Hi, I'm Stephan and I'm from Ohio. I have played piano for almost 12 years, and I'm currently teaching piano and doing vocal accompanying while attending university. I don't own an accordion, nor do I know how to play it. I don't know very much about the instrument, but I love its beautiful sound. I plan to get one within the next couple of years.

As a classically trained musician, I wish the accordion was more widely recognized as a serious solo concert instrument. One of my favorite recordings of the Goldberg variations is on the accordion. Also, I greatly enjoy Vivaine Chassot's recording of the Haydn Concerto in D Major, with what I presume are her own cadenzas.

Anyway, I really don't know much of the in's and out's of the instrument, so feel free to point me to articles/videos/threads that might help, even if they seem rather basic. I'm looking forward to learning more and eventually learning the instrument myself!

 

[Tom]

Welcome Stephen! Around here we don’t care about no steenkin’ “recognition as a serious solo instrument.” just kidding. As long as they don’t make us play another polka everything is Ok!

On a more serious note, a word of advice for you: If you are interested in playing classical music on your future accordion, the conventional wisdom is to investigate what is known as a “Chromatic Button Accordion (CBA)” with “Free Bass.” This is because this type of accordion gives you a greater range of notes, and more flexibility in your bass than a traditional “Piano Accordion” with “Stradella Bass,” normally used in polka and other traditional musics.

Good luck!

 

[OuijaBoard]

Salut, and wishing you accordion adventures sooner rather than later,

Perhaps you already saw it, but here is the link to a current thread in which some of us are waxing rhapsodic about some very nifty classical offerings, including some discussion of the GVs: (You mentioned piano--Lucky me, I'm seeing Vingur Olafsson do an all-GV concert in my city this coming season!)

No limits to the virtuosity of our instrument

Something that I keep coming back to: Pure magic by an accordionist almost unknown beyond her native Norway, it seems.

www.accordionists.info

 

[Ben-jammin]

Hello Stephen,

Which university are you attending? Besides me there are other members that live in Ohio that can point you towards the local accordion community. There’s a fairly recent post about the mussette tunings that may be helpful when looking for an instrument, however the most important thing is condition.

 

[SteveBox]

Welcome Stephen. If you are in no hurry to choose your first accordion, and for now just want to educate yourself, then I would suggest you spend time browsing through the thousands of posts on this forum and use the search feature for particular topics than interest you. There is much you can learn this way, and of course any local accordionists you meet can help you. The Cleveland/Pittsburgh area must have a lot of accordion/polka events, but classical music on the accordion may be harder to find.

 

[swilliams002]

Thanks to everyone for your welcoming replies!

To answer Ben's question, I attend a private university in Steubenville, OH, about 40 miles from Pittsburgh. I'd actually be interested in any sort of accordion event, classical or otherwise, just to see what it would be like haha.

I'm definitely not in a rush to choose an accordion. It's probably for the best that I cannot afford one at the moment. If I could, I probably would be in rush, and I don't tend to make the best decisions when I rush. I will definitely check out the Chromatic Button Accordion and research some more. Being able to play classical music on my future accordion is definitely a priority, but I'm also branching out and discovering new music lately.

OuijaBoard - Olafsson is an amazing pianist! That's quite the opportunity. I remember being mesmerized by one of his recordings of a Bach transcription. Adagio from Organ Sonata No. 4. It's still one my favorite studio recordings by a pianist.

Thanks again to everyone!

 

[Walker]

Hi Stephan,

Classical accordion means different things to different people. I think Riccardo Centazzo is very good indeed.



He has a YouTube channel you might want to check out.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZRoHkqdFUIXWEOSzhaxBGw/playlists

 

[Ben-jammin]

Ah, Steubenville is a long trip from where I’m at. But you’re pretty close to Kevin Solecki that runs Carnegie Accordion. He distributes Roland, Bugari and has his own line of Accordions (which he now advertises as being from the same bugari/zero sette factory). He also frequently has used stuff coming in. If you’re willing to travel a bit north there’s quite a bit of Slovenian polka being played. Most of the accordionists in that scene really like talking to people interested in accordion if they have time. They also frequently have or know of available used instruments as well as other resources.

The reason I asked about your location was if you were just down the road to invite you over to get some hand on experience with various accordions to start learning how good ones should respond vs poor quality or poor condition examples. But as we said you’re pretty far off.

 

[JerryPH]

Welcome! Don't just ask about accordions, asking about it is like learning to swim by reading about how to do it... lol
Get yourself one and enjoy it.