How has your life changed because of the accordion?

[davidplaysaccordion]

I play open mics from time to time and the Fr4x along with the bk7m backing module always goes down great. There seems to be two sort of folk, those who grew up with accordions around them as kids and the younger generation that have never really seen one. In both cases I get seen to be amazed at what an accordion can do today. OK, so a 4x is not a ‘real’ accordion in strict terms but it’s still a hell of a lot of fun and if it gets people interested in the instrument than that’s no bad thing.

 

[Valski]

My friend in Canaan CT (Paul) says that the days of the "welcome to hell, here is our accordion" are over, that we are seeing a new generation that really has seen little to no accordion and has less of that prejudice of the 80's-90's... and because of that, the accordion is being seen in a bit of a different (read "better) light.

Would you think that accurate?

A lot of younger people rarely see an instrument played live that isn't a guitar or a drum. Because of it's versatility the accordion can truly amaze the public. Older listeners will tell you about a late uncle who would play accordion at family gatherings and younger people are just mesmerized by the complexity and the sound. Younger people weren't subjected to Lawrence Welk and they truly haven't formed a negative opinion.

 

[Valski]

I play open mics from time to time and the Fr4x along with the bk7m backing module always goes down great. There seems to be two sort of folk, those who grew up with accordions around them as kids and the younger generation that have never really seen one. In both cases I get seen to be amazed at what an accordion can do today. OK, so a 4x is not a ‘real’ accordion in strict terms but it’s still a hell of a lot of fun and if it gets people interested in the instrument than that’s no bad thing.

My FR8X along with the Bk7m also impress listeners and the ability to play backing tracks with just the accordion allows the rich sound without having to carry extra gear. I'm not as willing to transport all of the extra gear now that several decades have passed.

 

[jozz]

How has your life changed because of the accordion?

In what ways are you a better human being because of the accordion and playing the accordion?

great topic

playing for old folks homes can make you feel a better human being

early on as a kid the accordion was not that cool of an instrument, so it gives you some character if you hang in there
later on, and today I find myself in musician's circles that would have eluded me, had i quit the accordion as a kid

 

[cat]

I took up accordion seriously around 10 or more years ago. I'd already been studying and performing on stringed instruments for 40 years. I started seriously on accordions so I didn't have to sing - which I had done so much previously when entertaining - but I knew I didn't want to have to do it in perpetuity. Taking the path of least resistance ..

 

[colinm]

I was first introduced to the accordion about 75 years ago, my father brought a small 8 bass box back from the war, I played happy wanderer by ear, my grandfather had 2 harmoniums, he played for the church. I played 5 finger exercises on them but never learned the names of the notes, and I still have to count up from C.
I then progressed with a 24 bass tutor book by Conway Graves and piano sheet music.
My parents bought a 120 bass Pancotti ,one coupler, for £5 in the pub, it came with the Norm Zeller Mastery of the Bass tutor book and even though some of the notes only played in one direction I soon got used to making bellows changes at the appropriate moment.

I used to buy Accordion world magazine and through the adverts for Bell accordions obtained catalogues showing Hohner Atlantics and Sonolas with all those couplers.
By the age of twelve I had persuaded my parents to buy me a fully overhauled Hohner 120 bass one coupler, from Bells, it was brilliant being able to play without making bellows changes for silent notes.

There used to be dances in our village hall, before the days of tv, music provided by a small band with accordionist leader, Bill Corcoran, who lived about 5 miles away, my parents arranged for me to have lessons with him, I used to go on Sundays on my bike, he let me play on an excelsior accordion, started on The Can Can arranged by Thurban, accordion music, then on to Frosini, Olive blossoms , Hot points, he let me keep the music , fortnight on each them on to the next, these were the days of Bells accordion adverts on radio luxembourg, and Martin Lukins on workers playtime.
Then, when aged about sixteen, school and girls became more important, I got married and the Hohner stayed in its box.

Fast forward to age about 55 I found out by accident that a lady who lived nearby had been in the Junior world accordion championship, I started lessons again, she was not very impressed with my Orange Blossoms but we played duets and my playing improved.

Tried Barnsley accordion club, and one night who should turn up but Bill Corcoran, still a brilliant accordion player, unfortunately he did not recognise me but I did return some of his music.

Then I found The Wetherby accordion band and that was a whole new world, having to play and follow a conductor, unfortunately my lady teacher retired and the band packed in about the same time. But by now I had retired and graduated to a second hand Super 6, being an engineer I could do my own repairs except waxing and tuning, and there followed a succession of accordions, because not knowing at that time that super 6,s were so special, I sold it because the black keys were wearing out, then bought another one, sold that and bought the first one back, then sold that.

Then I found another teacher on Skype and because I could play for hours a day I started to improve and can nearly play Olive Blossoms and Nola.
Unnfortunately because of Covid mainly I have been restricted to playing alone for some time, and only recently I applied to join an “Eclectic“ orchestra, but was turned down because I played the accordion, so the journey continues.

 

[davidplaysaccordion]

Great to see someone else playing Nola. I grew up listening to my mother play that piece when I was about the height of her knee! I can now play it almost as well as she could.

 

[zqd9853572002]

Being an accordionist in this time and place is good for character building... not following the flock. It builds inner resilience and allows you to develop a sense of your identity regardless of the changing trends of the day. Accordion is not mainstream cool, and it is really quite liberating - not caring or being a slave to the times. That's why I love it. It's rooted in the traditions and ways that matter to me and not what modern whims dictate we should value...

Long live the traditional accordion!

agreed! It might because in playing accordion, you can be yourself and don't need to care about others comments. "not following the flock", true, because accordion itself is a not mainstream instrument at this age, lol

 

[zqd9853572002]

To be acknowledged in pretty much ANYTHING one has to be in the top 1 percentile world wide.

Strap on an accordion, play a song and people's jaws will drop at your magical abilities... lol

I used to say that music was my passport in to other people's lives, I've met so many good people, then I said that about photography, then I said that about my car hobby, martial arts experiences and finally my job... but none actually let me see deeper in to people's psyche and show who they really were more than music.

For some reason, start talking and playing music and all the BS just falls off on the side and all that is left is the real person that is usually hidden inside.

I heard in ancient China (long long time ago), people usually only playing music instrument when they are with very close friends (but of course, you can still play in front of lots of people if you want, but not lots of people do that), the logic behind is that when you play the instrument, other people can recognize who you are and identify your personality and what kind of person you are by listening how you play the instrument and how you deal with music, that people usually doesn't want to show to strangers.

 

[Sergei]

My neighbours no longer smile at me when they see me.

that's why i want to get a Roland FR-1x and play with earphones!

 

[AlicePalace]

Tl:dr — Accordions have brought the “play” back to playing music, and have become the early-retirement hobby I didn’t know I needed.

I’m a trained classical musician with a master’s degree in voice performance and pedagogy, with many years of piano lessons as well. While my experiences with classical music were incredible, it does require strict adherence to the written score, and it requires striving for perfection. None of this was very conducive to playing music just for fun, or improvising or anything. You read the score, you sing/play what’s written. It’s glorious when it all goes well, but feeling judged (especially for your voice, which is so personal) can be crushing. And it is witheringly difficult to make a living as a singer. So, I abandoned it completely 20 years ago in favor of raising my children and working a steady corporate job.

About 4 years ago, a friend invited me to a small, friends-only local Thursday night jam (“the Ramble”) at another friend’s house. I had just been wishing I could add some more fun to my life, so I accepted. When I got there, I realized that it was a terrible disadvantage not to be able to play a stringed instrument of some sort. All the guys there (no other women) played more than one instrument, including guitar, mandolin, dobro, fiddle, banjo, Cajun button box, harmonica, and a special guest one night even played the SAW .

It’s an understatement to say it lit my brain on fire. I loved, loved, loved the joy and energy and FUN, so I kept going back. Within just a couple of weeks, I decided to play the simplest and smallest stringed instrument I could think of — the ukulele — so I would have something to do with my hands other than clap them .

We played together in our friend’s living room every Thursday until Covid hit, and then we moved to having Zoom sessions where we would play FOR (not WITH) each other. This required each of us to choose and learn about 6 new songs a week, which was an excellent challenge, made us all better players, and opened us all up to broader genres.

Eventually, of course, we were able to get together again. I got a little tired of just playing uke, never really adding much to the ensemble (beside singing, which isn’t a small contribution, but still). So I picked up a melodica because it has a keyboard (familiar territory!), which provided some excellent color on certain songs, and my Rambler friends were super enthusiastic about it. Thing is, you can’t sing and play melodica at the same time, so this meant I couldn’t provide harmonies or lead vocals if I was playing it. And I’d sometimes run out of air for long phrases.

The solution? Well, I think you all know. CUE THE ACCORDION .

Now then, I‘m one of those people who grew up thinking Lawrence Welk and all the accordion polka stuff was just the squarest of square. That accordions were ridiculous. So I didn’t admit to anyone that I was thinking of getting one. But listening to YouTube recordings of some of the songs we were playing, it was obvious to me that an accordion would be such a great addition to our Ramble. I started reading and researching and asking questions online, and for my birthday late last year I snagged an inexpensive little student model (26/48, 2/4 LM Giulietti) that had popped up for sale locally.

Once again — brain fireworks! I love the challenge of playing it, and for the first time I find I’m willing to improvise solo breaks in our Ramble. I’m willing to try something new, even if it might not be perfection. Much credit for that goes to the guys in the Ramble, who couldn’t care less if a person bombs their solo. Our only goal is fun, and this has turned music completely around for me.

I’ve now acquired a 2nd accordion (41/120, 3/4 LMM ladies size Larenti) and I’m excited to learn how to do my own repairs, because I do love a good puzzle. This is turning out to be a terrific early-retirement hobby, and I am just jazzed and thrilled and grateful for it.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

 

[JerryPH]

I know that had I not been an accordionist, I would have never met one of the finest men and women that the good Lord had placed on this earth. I’ve just come back from spending a few days with our very own Ed and his wife Lorraine. I sit here this morning just relaxing a little and reliving our time together and cannot help but feel blessed. That is an experience I could not have had without the accordion.

 

[EMan]

That goes both ways Jerry. We would have never met you either, if it weren't for the accordion AND this forum ! We had a great weekend !

 

[EuroFolker]

My parents were born in that other half of what used to be a part of your small nation... but I bet you we could still muddle through a conversation in your native tongue if we had to. The music would take care of the rest.

Where would that be? Maybe the genetics explain your talent?

 

[dak]

Not my neighbours, clearly.
At least the Mrs stopped threatening to leave me since I got a Roland and can play into my headphones.

Indeed, the mere act of wearing headphones stops people from talking to you.

 

[dak]

After deciding to switch to CBA and acquiring what was to become my main accordion, its internals pointed to an "M. Thöni" being associated with it:

After some web search, I found an "Edition Thöni" music publisher and some biography talking about a cooperation between Thöni and Morino for building an instrument such as mine (it turned out rather exaggerated since Thöni just had ideas about what he wanted, and Morino was the one implementing the ideas in actual construction). I contacted Gottfried Aegler, the owner of the publishing house and he referred me to Maurice Thöni's daughter Jeanne Thöni. I had long conversations by letter and phone with her, and got stories about her father and his work, journal articles, copies of letters between Thöni and Morino, even though it was a disappointment for both of us to figure out from photographs that my instrument was not, as we had assumed, the last instrument of her father. The most likely clues regarding the role my instrument played at some point of time might be found in the letters between Maurice Thöni and Venanzio Morino that Jeanne Thöni gifted to the Harmonikamuseum in Trossingen. But I would not likely find anything because they conversed in French.

Eventually I visited Jeanne Thöni in Zürich for about a week at a time when Gottfried Aegler also came over for a concert with works of Maurice Thöni, and we had a lot of fun together.

Playing the instrument also prompted me into taking accordion lessons in the small town I am living in, and this led to me getting a number of people in the accordion ensemble of the local music school, including a good friend I had many conversations with (and who no longer is with us, though his instrument has stayed in the ensemble).

So I got to know a number of people through accordion, and my instrument in particular. It's also been the trigger to work more thoroughly with MIDI hardware and put music to scores with the music typesetter program LilyPond, a program where I eventually served as lead developer, again meeting people I would not otherwise have gotten to know, particularly in one large meeting week at my place with developers from Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Poland and other countries.

Quite a path that the accordion has led me around.

 

[tcabot]

@dak Would you be happy to share a photo of the accordion?

The reason I ask is because I find the 1950s Morinos to be some of the best looking accordions in existence. The retrofuturistic design is exceptional, and to my eye even (marginally) beats the cadillac-grilled Accordiolas of the 50-60s period.

 

[dak]

@dak Would you be happy to share a photo of the accordion?

The reason I ask is because I find the 1950s Morinos to be some of the best looking accordions in existence. The retrofuturistic design is exceptional, and to my eye even (marginally) beats the cadillac-grilled Accordiolas of the 50-60s period.

Well, it's not like the instrument isn't all over the place in my postings (like the recent Oblivion video). My avatar also is from its keyboard. Digging through some camera files, I found this one (probably not what you were thinking of):

Here is the first photograph I got from the vendor before I bought it:

 

[tcabot]

That's pretty much the Morino that I had in mind in my previous post.

What is that fretless ukulele doing on top of your accoridon?

 

[dak]

That's pretty much the Morino that I had in mind in my previous post.

What is that fretless ukulele doing on top of your accoridon?

Using it for support. It's more than thrice the accordion's age.