Other way of holding accordion

[Ignacchitti]

I wished to hear opinions on this way of positioning your accordion, that the famous Peppino Principe displays.
He played like that his whole life and was quite successful and a great player.

You can see it below.

Features:
- straps hang from your elbows, not your shoulders.
- the whole accordion sits on your two legs, which are close together and practically touching each other.
- the back of the accordion is not touching your chest or abdomen.
- sometimes the accordion is leaning a bit backwards, sometimes forwards, almost like it's going to tumble and fall on your feet.

Pros? Cons? Damages to your body parts? Limitations in playing capacity?













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He was not the only one, of course. As you can see from the example below:

 

[Dingo40]

I wished to hear opinions

No matter what it is, there will always be supporters of the various ways of doing it!

 

[niels]

I wished to hear opinions

I notice most accordion players are seated. I can see how his way of holding the accordion is relaxed, balancing the weight..

Personally i only play seated. Easier on the back and all of muscles and bones
In my opinion one shoulder strap is enough. Two is just unnessecary hassle.

 

[debra]

I'd like to see him play bellows shake or ricochet...

 

[colinm]

André Loppe Photos (1 of 1) | Last.fm

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You can,t play with straps like that Andre

 

[colinm]

That right arm is all wrong Harry, how long have you been playing?

 

[Dingo40]

You can,t play with straps like that Andre

But ...it seems like you can!
See here:

 

[dak]

And I thought these photographs of the person my main accordion is dedicated to were just some kind of posing:

Maybe they are actually a thing. That's Maurice Thöni, quite a renowned accordion player and composer who lived in Switzerland.

Now I need to check whether I can find anything else.

Darn it. I never looked that closely:

https://accorda.ch/wp-content/uploa...oeni-beim-Musizieren-im-Jahre-1940-scaled.jpg

 

[tcabot]

I'd like to see him play bellows shake or ricochet...

I'd like to see myself play bellows shake or ricochet with normal shoulder straps...

 

[debra]

I'd like to see myself play bellows shake or ricochet with normal shoulder straps...

That's like the "safety" message you might see with a watch: you can swim while wearing the watch, but only if you can already swim without wearing it.

 

[Pipemajor]

That's like the "safety" message you might see with a watch: you can swim while wearing the watch, but only if you can already swim without wearing it.

I can do a bellows shake, but only when I'm not wearing an accordion

 

[murathan]

It seems this position also works well if you dont need to look at the keyboard which advanced-pro level players do not need to. Thats a proof of things can be done in different ways.

 

[baldlightning]

Looks to me like the photos are showing none-too-tall players with darned big accordions. In some cases it seems like the straps would run down from the box to the players shoulders when seated. It's easy to imagine they might find that awkward.

I myself play seated with just one strap worn low near my right elbow for the opposite reason as a fairly tall dude playing a smallish 2-row diatonic box. If I cinch it up securely with two straps over my shoulders my elbows are just too tightly bent all the time for comfort. Different strokes for different folks ('s bodies) I guess.

 

[skopaczewski]

I can do a bellows shake, but only when I'm not wearing an accordion

Me too. And it takes a while for the 'bellows' to stop shaking!

 

[JerryPH]

I'd like to see him play bellows shake or ricochet...

Damn, beat me to it! I'd also love to hear them play a song that was very loud with lots of bellows movement.
That position has zero bellows control!
Hand position is also bad... note the first pic... thumb is on the side/back of the keyboard, ala CBA!

Note that mostly very old gents are doing this. Thats because they likely have no choice... bad back, weak shoulders, but they still want to play. Kudos for the enthusiasm, but man, thats rough.

 

[dak]

Damn, beat me to it! I'd also love to hear them play a song that was very loud with lots of bellows movement.
That position has zero bellows control!
Hand position is also bad... note the first pic... thumb is on the side/back of the keyboard, ala CBA!

Note that mostly very old gents are doing this. Thats because they likely have no choice... bad back, weak shoulders, but they still want to play. Kudos for the enthusiasm, but man, thats rough.

In the photograph I linked from Maurice Thöni with both of his children (must be from the late 1930s to early 1940s: his daughter was born in 1925) he is still comparatively young (himself being born in 1897) and playing button accordion. And the strap clearly is off his shoulder. And in those years he had been a professional player for decades and kind of a fixture in various ensembles on national radio, so he can't have been all bad…

 

[debra]

In the photograph I linked from Maurice Thöni with both of his children (must be from the late 1930s to early 1940s: his daughter was born in 1925) he is still comparatively young (himself being born in 1897) and playing button accordion. And the strap clearly is off his shoulder. And in those years he had been a professional player for decades and kind of a fixture in various ensembles on national radio, so he can't have been all bad…

It probably was pretty good actually. But accordion playing techniques have evolved significantly since that era, especially in bellows technique.