Here's a good youtube item to refer folk to:
Someone who successfully plays across a range of genres.
Someone who successfully plays across a range of genres.
How Western Media Portrays the Accordion
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Dingo40
Been here for ages!
That's not just someone, that's Ksenija Sidorova!
Indeed, wilddog, indeed.
How to pick a gig smartly....Note...I've put myself in the cafe rather than on either of the main stages and given no photo of the accordion to scare people off with misconceptions....,
Musical Evangalist ...I am the accordion renaissance....
Musical Evangalist ...I am the accordion renaissance....
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JeffJetton
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Maybe. People have been trying to push the accordion into the classical world for generations. There were big efforts, some of which succeed for awhile, in the '50s and '60s to have established university music programs add accordion. Accordion associations here in the States would (and still do) commission new classical compositions.
But I've always had mixed feeling about that, because a part of me feels like a lot of that effort was coming from a desperation to "prove" the legitimacy of the instrument. It seems like it might stem from an inferiority complex, rooted in that too-common Western/European mindset that an instrument doesn't count unless it can play "serious" music: Bach and Schubert and Schoenberg and all that. (Not that I'm accusing you of that, Walker.)
Whereas I say that the accordion has nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to prove. Sure, it can play classical. It can play jazz. But so what if it couldn't? It's fundamentally a folk instrument, and that's okay with me. It's also okay with me if people don't take it seriously. A non-serious instrument can still do a lot of good in the world!
I do agree that there's not much role for accordion--or ironically even guitar anymore--in modern pop music. I've always said that, if the accordion were to truly have a "revival", it wouldn't be because the classical or jazz communities decide to bless and elevate it, or because old-fashioned schottisches and polkas suddenly became all the rage again.
I think it would have to be because a brand new kind of music is created that becomes popular and breaks through to a young, mainstream audience. A kind of music in which the accordion is an integral part. Similar to how rock-and-roll exploded on the scene and brought the electric guitar with it.
That's how instruments become popular: By being the tool required to create the music that is popular. Until then, we'll just be playing a niche instrument, keeping a great tradition alive, and having a good time doing it (even if people poke fun now and then). That's not so bad!
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Good points Jeff! And that begs the question: Can you name 5 songs written after 2000 that you actually play on your accordion? I would like to but I have a hard time even naming 5 songs written after 2000. Not as a value judgement here, because I'm the first to say that it's all personal choice, but hey, I could definetly use some "new" tunes.
JeffJetton
Prolific poster
Tough question for me too, Tom!
I was about to mention songs from the Amelie soundtrack, but I think a lot of those were actually composed on or before 2000 and just reused for the movie.
I was about to mention songs from the Amelie soundtrack, but I think a lot of those were actually composed on or before 2000 and just reused for the movie.
Walker
🪗
Thank you JeffJetton for your well considered thoughts. I really appreciate them!
I too believe the accordion is fundamentally a folk instrument. But in the UK and Europe the accordion is really ebbing closer to becoming a classical instrument. I have a hunch about this more than ever. The number of universities providing studies in the accordion is ever growing. I would not be surprised if there were a hundred or more now. Apparently in Italy alone there are over 40 universities providing advanced studies in classical accordion.
However, there is a small problem. The repertoire! I think simply having classical studies is not enough. Too often the classical accordion scene is pushing for virtuosity and abstract music. To me this is not a sign of a mature instrument. We need great academic accordionists willing to play simple melodic music that people might actually want to listen to or have played on the radio.. For example, if you check on Youtube for a knock-out recording of Hymne a L'amour on accordion - it's not that easy. There's plenty of okay stuff but not many real corkers. This should be home turf for the accordion. Listen to what pianists and cellists are producing. Simple, beautiful music! And it's music the accordion should be claiming.
I too believe the accordion is fundamentally a folk instrument. But in the UK and Europe the accordion is really ebbing closer to becoming a classical instrument. I have a hunch about this more than ever. The number of universities providing studies in the accordion is ever growing. I would not be surprised if there were a hundred or more now. Apparently in Italy alone there are over 40 universities providing advanced studies in classical accordion.
However, there is a small problem. The repertoire! I think simply having classical studies is not enough. Too often the classical accordion scene is pushing for virtuosity and abstract music. To me this is not a sign of a mature instrument. We need great academic accordionists willing to play simple melodic music that people might actually want to listen to or have played on the radio.. For example, if you check on Youtube for a knock-out recording of Hymne a L'amour on accordion - it's not that easy. There's plenty of okay stuff but not many real corkers. This should be home turf for the accordion. Listen to what pianists and cellists are producing. Simple, beautiful music! And it's music the accordion should be claiming.
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JeffJetton
Prolific poster
You might be on to something there. As you may know, there are some "pop classical" YouTube stars that are enormously popular, such as the Piano Guys (7 million subscribers) and Lindsey Stirling (over 13 million subscribers!). They do these elaborate videos like the one you posted, with beautiful imagery and stirring music... sometimes classical, sometimes instrumental arrangements of pop and more modern tunes... people love it.
Maybe there needs to be an accordion version of that sort of thing?
Alan Sharkis
Prolific poster
I agree wholeheartedly. When and how can we motivate people to vote for candidates who support the arts?
Certainly in Scotland the accordion is very strongly associated with traditional folk music. But I’m very doubtful how far the interest in listening to this extends beyond a predominantly older demographic. If you look at attendances of accordion and fiddle clubs the audience is predominantly very old. Players can be younger! But there isn’t a strong indication of a more widespread interest.
Nor am I convinced that classical is the way to go, or that universities providing accordion studies is a good measure. At least in the UK. The numbers in Italy are more significant. But in much of the world there isn’t a great popular appreciation of classical music.
Personally I feel that the accordion needs to be promoted more as an instrument that can play popular music well, the kind of music that larger numbers of people want to listen to. This can be particularly obviously the case with certain genres of music, such as Latino and French themed. But I think it’s something that can be pushed more. Just don’t focus on the folk or classical.
I’ve recently started doing my own accordion arrangements of a number of popular pop tunes. Here is my take on Despacito, with fluffs, but at least a Latino based tune that is very well suited to the accordion.
AccordionUprising
Well-known member
In the US? These folks have Congress/Senate "arts report cards" that let you see how your politicians vote. Mine got a "B" because he didn't sign a few "dear colleague" letters about arts funding. I bet a few emails or calls about this rather niche issue might have nudged him to do that.
https://www.artsactionfund.org/ReportCard
The example ideally from places like Finland or Belgium (both
traditions I love) is they have funding for both training and places to perform. I gather there's a string of folk festivals where players can get experience and opportunities for folk or classical or whatever. Wish we had such a thing here. Both the US and Canada suffer from being so freakin' big. I'm now in Vancouver on Canada's west coast, which suffers from geographic isolation from the much more dense Eastern Canada, and the stupid national border that keeps people from doing a reasonable West-Coast Canada/US tour. Our friend Geoff Berner explains Canadian tours to Europeans as, "Tonight's gig is in Amsterdam, and tomorrows is in Kazakhstan."The genre issue is tricky. I think a lot of "folk" music survives with institutional support. Accordions dropped out of Anglo American pop music when it electrified and other reasons (my book is basically about that). The alternative real popular accordion traditions like North America's massive norteño market seem like a world away. But when people ask if the accordion is "coming back" I say it is back, they're just not asking in the correct language. I think playing smaller, electrified rock-star accordions you can play while dancing would be the way to attempt anything like that popularity. And playing music that young people want to dance to.
There's never going to be anything like the "Accordion World" in the 1950s until there's a post-war economy combining a devastated accordion-manufacturing region making innovative accordions cheaper, and a comparatively untouched super-wealthy customer base. Until we can buy and amplify accordions as easily as we can a plastic digital keyboard, it's got some barriers. Norteño holds out the counter-example though. They could be filling stadiums with keyboards, but there are those accordions.
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AccordionUprising
Well-known member
Good renaissanceing!How to pick a gig smartly....Note...I've put myself in the cafe rather than on either of the main stages and given no photo of the accordion to scare people off with misconceptions....,
Musical Evangalist ...I am the accordion renaissance....
AccordionUprising
Well-known member
I kind of dread some white kids forming a cumbia band, ripping off Celso Piña and being as big as the Police's "white reggae".
One thing with norteño (and cumbia) is they're folk/pop dance traditions that span generations. Oddly, Weird Al and They Might be Giants may be the most famous
centered artists in Anglo N. America and both have children going to shows with grandparents. Not sure how that's related. But if polka comes back like Vancouver punk band The Dreadnoughts hopes, it will be an all ages event.There's reasons people pick up different instruments in waves. Usually they seem to be: Cheaper, louder, more portable, and/or easier to play cool sounds with. So accordions have some issues to break through to win any one or two of those. It may occasionally come back for a while when people forget how cool it sounds, but it's hard to sustain without the cheaper/louder.
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Dingo40
Been here for ages!
I dunno: I sometimes wonder how many contra bassoon players, for example, spend their days agonising about the popularity or otherwise of their instrument instead of just getting on with playing it ?
Really, does it matter?
Does anyone even care ?
To quote Dale Carnegie:" Stop worrying, start living, folks!"
Really, does it matter?
Does anyone even care ?
To quote Dale Carnegie:" Stop worrying, start living, folks!"
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Valski
Well-known member
I don't think that there's any shame in accordions being classified as a folk instrument. Folk music is "of the people " and it survived from generation to generation because it was entertaining, sometimes happy and often sad but it spoke to people and continues to speak to them. In fact a lot of classical music was based upon folk melodies.
You did hit the nail on the head when saying that it helps to be part of a culture that is and was familiar with the instrument. The accordion and the fiddle were both prevalent in Canadian east coast traditional music and quite a number of the bands from there continue to incorporate those instruments. Perhaps this happens because young musicians can get access to inexpensive used instruments to start with. When we lament the demise of the accordion we forget that the fiddle was much more popular and it's probably lost more ground. When you go back far enough various flutes and bagpipes were ubiquitous.
Recently you hear of many more young people taking up the accordion because it has such a beautiful sound, in fact I've helped 3 young people get a start and when I play in public the younger people are the most curious about the instrument. Sixty years ago the accordion was everywhere and this changed to the guitar but apparently their dominance is also starting to wane in popularity. Since it's easier to record and mix music these days I can see this helping to make accordions popular again.
The perception that you have to play serious music to make an instrument popular is not proven to be correct. Playing music that is fun to play and is good to listen to will do wonders to promote the accordion.
You did hit the nail on the head when saying that it helps to be part of a culture that is and was familiar with the instrument. The accordion and the fiddle were both prevalent in Canadian east coast traditional music and quite a number of the bands from there continue to incorporate those instruments. Perhaps this happens because young musicians can get access to inexpensive used instruments to start with. When we lament the demise of the accordion we forget that the fiddle was much more popular and it's probably lost more ground. When you go back far enough various flutes and bagpipes were ubiquitous.
Recently you hear of many more young people taking up the accordion because it has such a beautiful sound, in fact I've helped 3 young people get a start and when I play in public the younger people are the most curious about the instrument. Sixty years ago the accordion was everywhere and this changed to the guitar but apparently their dominance is also starting to wane in popularity. Since it's easier to record and mix music these days I can see this helping to make accordions popular again.
The perception that you have to play serious music to make an instrument popular is not proven to be correct. Playing music that is fun to play and is good to listen to will do wonders to promote the accordion.
Good points all 'round, but one thing needs to be brought into the debate is the definition itself of what "accordion" actually means.
There is an immense "variation on a theme".
As a newcomer to the scene who has spent many pleasant (and sometimes not so enjoyable) hours listening to recorded music and scouring youtube for sounds and scenery, I am constantly amazed at both the range and types of instrument made and as well as the seemingly endless styles of music played on them.
The lady I referred to, Ksenija Sidorova, is but one example of someone who has taken the squeezebox to new levels in both the competence in musicianship, and the breadth of the music in which she engages.
There are quite a few others who, like the best orchestral players, indulge themselves in many genres other than the "classical" repetoire.
My own introduction to the accordion as something more than a danceband/folk dance instrument was in 2001 when a locally well known and respected pianist/organist in Siracuse, Sicily, played classical pieces on the piano accordion at a free concert in a public hall and who was obliged to return several times to the call "Bis! Bis!" from an enthalled, and very mixed, audience.
The continuing development of the instrument itself, across several genres needs to also be considered, and the likes of the Roland electronic types and more suitable electronic amplification for the acoustic variety will undoubtedly lead to futher broadening of field.
The world in general moves on, and so does the that of music.
Enjoy it, whether popular or not.
There is an immense "variation on a theme".
As a newcomer to the scene who has spent many pleasant (and sometimes not so enjoyable) hours listening to recorded music and scouring youtube for sounds and scenery, I am constantly amazed at both the range and types of instrument made and as well as the seemingly endless styles of music played on them.
The lady I referred to, Ksenija Sidorova, is but one example of someone who has taken the squeezebox to new levels in both the competence in musicianship, and the breadth of the music in which she engages.
There are quite a few others who, like the best orchestral players, indulge themselves in many genres other than the "classical" repetoire.
My own introduction to the accordion as something more than a danceband/folk dance instrument was in 2001 when a locally well known and respected pianist/organist in Siracuse, Sicily, played classical pieces on the piano accordion at a free concert in a public hall and who was obliged to return several times to the call "Bis! Bis!" from an enthalled, and very mixed, audience.
The continuing development of the instrument itself, across several genres needs to also be considered, and the likes of the Roland electronic types and more suitable electronic amplification for the acoustic variety will undoubtedly lead to futher broadening of field.
The world in general moves on, and so does the that of music.
Enjoy it, whether popular or not.
I do a lot of tunes across many eras including some from the past 20 years.
Some bands whose songs seem to lend themselves to the box:
Belle and Sebastian
Iron and Wine
Beirut
The Magnetic Fields
Kings of Convenience
The Shins
The Decemberists
Jose Gonzales
Fleet Foxes
This may or may not be relevant but I was reading a book about the history of jazz and the suggestion was jazz may not have developed in the way it did if the soldiers returning from the civil war had not dumped their horns by the side of the road to be picked up by the plantation workers (I'm using this term loosely as know longer know how to speak correctly in this Woke world) who could never have had access to instruments
It also suggested the same with pianos....with the invention of the player piano real pianos were dumped outside bars as obsolete...and guess which honky tonkers picked them up...
So a tradition was born.....legend has...and seems quite plausable to me....
So here's an idea....start dumping your unused accordions in deprived areas and see where we go from there......
It also suggested the same with pianos....with the invention of the player piano real pianos were dumped outside bars as obsolete...and guess which honky tonkers picked them up...
So a tradition was born.....legend has...and seems quite plausable to me....
So here's an idea....start dumping your unused accordions in deprived areas and see where we go from there......
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