What made you want to play the accordion?

[smdc66]

my ethnic origin is Italian and as the accordion features a lot in traditional Italian music I grew up with a passion for listening to this type of music

also my uncle played button accordion in Italy by ear and he was popular for providing the music for dances

at least one of his grandchildren also took up the button box and carried on the tradition

I say 'listening' as it has only been recently as in the last 5 years I have took to playing the accordion more seriously*

my father bought a couple of piano accordions and toyed with the instrument as I did growing up

anyway I inherited the red 48 bass royal standard accordion and this sat in my wardrobe for many years

* a friend of the family visited us at home 1 day and I showed him it as I knew he was a proficient player having played all his life, he had given up playing actually after an industrial accident damaged one of his fingers and played guitar instead, I said to him I wouldn't mind learning to play properly to which he said if I was serious to pop round his house for a lesson, I did this and have been popping round for years

he thanks me for rekindling his love of accordion playing although obviously I thank him for coaching me! and the guitar has been shelved

he also realised the accident didn't affect him playing other than having to change his style slightly

anyway that's my input to this interesting thread and hope no one stops posting

:ugeek:

 

[Matt Butcher]

I liked the sound. Someone floggged me a couple of African records when I was a reggae mad teenager and one had free reeds on - I now realise it was a concertina. There was a teacher at our school who played various boxes and I saw him at an outdoor event. The music seemed very alien and abstract to me, looking back I think it was Morris music. Although my mum grew up with Scottish Country Dance music around on Merseyside, she like Scottish singing but never listened to accordions. Anyway I think those couple of contacts planted a seed in my mind. Then later on I heard some more Zulu music and some Norteno and started to think about the sound again. The I heard the mrs playing in a pub in Bearwood and that was really the start of all the trouble.

 

[losthobos]

Started playing guitar at 20 turned pro by 27...1997 saw some performing rights bill passed that made venues need license for any act larger than two artists...wiped out all the working mens/social club gigs for us...MTV arrives on sky tv's in pubs...game over..went down duo/computer backing route till heart totally broken...Whilst good guitarist couldn't sing...no fun playin lead without backing or rhythm without melody so sold PA system and bought accordion with money as portable instrument that could play melody and rhythm at same time...
Happy sitting in front of fire trying to work out the magic formula that music is...whenever I get a paid gig I wonder what or why i'm doing it...fireplace is t place for me....with them sweet vibrations...

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Maugein,

All you did was relate the circumstances which influenced your personal attitude to the instrument. For my part, I began by empathising with your experiences of sectarianism. As far as I am concerned, relating your personal experiences is a perfectly legitimate method of building the story of your introduction to the accordion.

You keep right on posting in your refreshingly honest way.

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

 

[maugein96]

Thanks Stephen. You have understood exactly what I was trying to explain, and I tried to empathise with you in the post which followed. I like to call a spade a shovel, but with the subject matter concerned, a trowel may have been more appropriate.

 

[MikeS]

. About 5 years ago I was trying to learn harmonica to play along with my guitar and was frustrated with going nowhere with either instrument. When a friend offered to lend me an old 48 bass accordion to try, I was so smitten with its sound and potential that I bought it. The way I saw it, i was not quitting the harmonica but acquiring a bunch of them in a box and could use 10 fingers instead of one mouth to control the reeds.
I took a few lessons from a good teacher, got inspired to learn learn to read music, downloaded a bunch of Dwayne Scnarr lessons, set up a regular practice routine, and kept a journal on my progress. Then I found this site with lot of useful info and encouragement. Have not looked back and still moving along with a 60 bass now of which I have a question about that I will post in another topic.
Good choice of topic Maugein. A great opportunity to let me tell the world about how one less guitar player came into being.
Mike

 

[TomBR]

I like the sound! (Me too!)
I've always been fascinated by musical instruments and trying to play them. Growing up in a household with absolutely no spare money, making instruments was often the only way to get my hands on something. I started at the age of about 7. No Ebay in those days! I made a couple of clavichords, a hurdy gurdy and a bunch of other things while in my teens.
Fiddle was always something I wanted to play, though I only did a little bit of classical violin at school (maths got in the way.) I concentrated on fiddle for a good many years and made the fiddle I play, as well as a couple of mandolins (an F5 and an A5 if that means anything to you.)

A few years back I got into free reeds and have been having a great time repairing and refurbishing diatonics, concertinas and PAs.
I met my lovely fiancee through playing the fiddle for clog dancers, play in a ceilidh band and pub folk band and lead a large local group. Nice to even get paid for some things. Working hard on accordion but so far it's with friends and fiancee only, she plays English concertina as well as being a very good recorder player. Aiming to be playing accordion for clog dancing this summer, at least sometimes.

Playing accordion has improved my harmonic awareness greatly, and I do love to be able to play "complete" music. One reason for changing from diatonic to PA was that I wanted the harmonic freedom, without having to work out ins and outs!
Tom

 

[george garside]

I like .

Playing accordion has improved my harmonic awareness greatly, and I do love to be able to play complete music. One reason for changing from diatonic to PA was that I wanted the harmonic freedom, without having to work out ins and outs!
Tom

Tom, you can have the best of both worlds with a BCC#! Diatonic punch with stradella bass means that the treble end does not have to be played in a way that enables the best choice of bass . I have British Chromatics (aka BCC#s) with from 12 to 96 bass.

For clog, and morris I do however prefer a simple 2 row DG box for ease of carting about, very punchy treble and bass, the latter acting as tuned percussion rather than having any great claim for top hole harmony!

george

 

[TomBR]

I like .

Playing accordion has improved my harmonic awareness greatly, and I do love to be able to play complete music. One reason for changing from diatonic to PA was that I wanted the harmonic freedom, without having to work out ins and outs!
Tom

Tom, you can have the best of both worlds with a BCC#! Diatonic punch with stradella bass means that the treble end does not have to be played in a way that enables the best choice of bass . I have British Chromatics (aka BCC#s) with from 12 to 96 bass.
For clog, and morris I do however prefer a simple 2 row DG box for ease of carting about, very punchy treble and bass, the latter acting as tuned percussion rather than having any great claim for top hole harmony!
george

Fair point George and I acknowledge your enthusiasm for the BCC#. I thought about it, Ive even got an 80 bass that Im part way through restoring, but I think Ill stay unisonoric! (And the 80 bass will go up for sale when done.)
Cheers, Tom

 

[Bobo]

We used to have a rotating dinner party with some friends. It got to the point where we would have a theme for the food (Italian, Asian, etc.) and we would decorate and play background music according to the theme.

One month we decided to do a Creole theme and I downloaded a bunch of Zydeco songs.
I loved it immediately and decided to learn accordion.

I bought a cheap PA and found a teacher that turned me on to all the different music of the world that incorporated the accordion.

Never did learn any Zydeco.

 

[dan]

What made me want to play?
Curiosity. I picked one up, poked at the array of bass buttons, sensed there was some clever principle involved in their arrangement and vowed to figure it out. And once I'd worked out 3-chord polkas on the Stradella bass, there were mysteries of jazz theory to be unlocked, and hey have you thought about the chromatic button accordion...

The accordion rewarded my persistence by granting me entry into campfire sing-a-longs, garage rock bands, and jazz sessions. At age 30, I wanted something less serious than playing the oboe in the orchestra. I could have taken up the guitar, but it would have been a serious commitment of time and money, and I'd be starting too late to ever get very good, and it would be a distraction from my responsibilities. Of course, the accordion has those same drawbacks but it delivered them by stealth.

 

[Morne]

Since everybody plays the guitar... out of everything else, why not the accordion?

I wanted to play something, and like many people my first thoughts were at the (electric) guitar. Luckily I persevered in not getting one until I moved past my metal phase. That's when I got into baroque which is where my love for harpsichords and organs started. However, getting or playing either of those would be impossible and I couldn't stomach the fake, cheesy sounds on a cheap keyboard.
At the same time I also started listening to more different, often Russian, music and eventually I had a bit of accordion air time behind me. That's when I realised that since I probably won't ever be donning a powdered horse hair wig, the accordion would be the thing for me. It can do both folk and some baroque. So maybe one day, when I learn to play the thing properly, I might be able to play baroque music next to a real harpsichord. That'll be my ultimate dream, although the intersection of people who like both is probably only me. :lol:

Also, there's some fun in tinkering with accordion guts.

 

[Mr Mark]

Wendy McNeill. !!!

I fell in love with her music a couple of summers ago and it has had a profound effect on my own musical outlet, and actually, my own personal being. Simple melodies, wonderful writing and the most beautiful voice I have ever heard. My discovery of her music led me to take in as many of her tour dates as I could, while I could, that summer (2015 - she resides in Europe but is originally from Alberta, Canada - so it probably wouldnt happen again).

I have played guitar for about 25 years prior, and for various reasons became disillusioned with the rock and metal thing - partly because I am getting older and that stuff is a young mans game so I wanted to play music I could sustain throughout my ages. I have gone to numerous folk fests over the years also and found myself drawn to the naturally distorted or buzzing sounds of both stringed instruments and the accordion, as well as the sustainability aspect of the music there. I tried to play the cello, but found that instrument (as with most of the stringed family) was probably going to take much more time than I had to become reasonably competent with.

I also have to throw a lot of props in here to the Accordion Noir Fest in Vancouver - as one of Wendys tour dates was at this festival in Vancouver that year - and I was thrilled to find how awesome the accordion really is - with all of its diversity and character it was incredibly refreshing to see so many different styles, oddities and uniquities there. When I returned home from that festival I found a half decent second hand accordion and returned the rental cello (as a side note I forwent the money I had saved for hotels that trip and managed to find a super cheap second hand upright bass that I stuffed into my car and slept with for several nights instead of a hotel bed - so I still had a stringed instrument, and one I could realistically play!). A very short time later I managed to break a number of bones in a work accident - some of which were the ones in my right forearm - and thus was forced to spend a lot of time (which I now had) learning the bass buttons. A lot of coincidental things happened there, some of them bad, but then I realized it probably wasnt as bad as rockstar bad could be, so I took my lumps and play on.

Then I also realized it would very much behoove me to learn some piano. And the circle of fifths. Lo and behold, the accordion made music theory make sense to me. Previously I had learned to sight read playing tuba and trombone in high school band, but it never made sense to me. Years later all that training is paying off.

Another discovery for me was Geoff Berner, from that same Accordion Noir Fest, I had seen him before but hadnt paid much attention due to the fact that I was a guitar player. I have since been paying way more attention to accordions and festivals that feature or at least have them.

I did also notice that accordion players dont really need drummers. I consider that a bonus, but then again I have had some frustrating experiences with drummers.

Lastly, it costs me significantly less electricity than my guitar amps used to.

It seems to me Accordions are all about gains. It is a wonder more people have not discovered them.

 

[maugein96]

A lot of interesting accounts, and it seems there are three basic types of us. Those who have always wanted to do it, those who were curious, and those who just happened to get into it without realising why.

It was also very interesting to read that several of us already played other instruments, but in some cases had become disenchanted with them.

The thread was merely started to give members an opportunity to speak about themselves, purely because there wasn't a lot happening on the forum at the material time.

Thanks to all of those who saw fit to participate, or who will possibly add posts in the future. I'm sure that those of us who read the posts from the various members concerned enjoyed learning about their reasons for taking up the accordion. The accordion would just be an inanimate object with thousands of parts that not many people have any knowledge of, if it wasn't for the people who played it!

 

[Anyanka]

What made me want to play the accordion? More a question of WHO: twas The Groanbox Boys.

Saw - and heard! - them at Crawley Folk Festival in the summer of 2009, was blown away by the range of expression of the accordion, and shortly after acquired my first box. Hooked ever since.

 

[JackieC]

I was already a professional musician when I decided to learn accordion. Whenever my music partner and I performed our music on two flutes or guitar and keyboard, many people said our music had a European sound to it. When it was suggested that I consider learning accordion, I was excited about learning. I had been inspired by all the years of seeing Myron Floren playing accordion on the Lawrence Welk show. I fell in love with the accordion and it became my instrument of choice. This awesome instrument is capable of so many expressions of music and feelings, that it draws attention from those who hear it. After 24 years of playing accordion, I love it more now than ever! Back in 1999, I had the great privilege of performing in an accordion orchestra at the Welk Theater in Branson, Missouri under the direction of Myron Floren. What a great thrill and honor that was for me. He was quite a talented and loved star of the accordion in the U.S.A!

 

[JeffJetton]

I also came from a piano background. (So what made me want to play piano? Growing up in my house there was a piano and lots of Jerry Lee Lewis and Ray Charles records. Add to that the girl down the street who taught piano and looked a bit like Laurie Partridge. How could anyone resist those combined forces?)

Anyway, for a time, back in the '90s, I was playing in a backup band for a singer. There was a point in the show where she'd do a medley of songs done in the popular "unplugged" style of the day. There'd be a big oriental rug downstage with stools on it, and the band would all gather together with acoustic instuments: The electric guitarist would have a mandolin, the steel guitarist would switch to Dobro, the bassist would bring an upright bass... even the drummer would drag down a single snare and small cymbal.

But me? I was stuck up on my riser with all my heavy, non-portable, non-acoustic keyboards. If only there were some sort of instrument that would be of use...

Then one day I happened to be in New York City. At the time, 48th street was the place to go for any sort of musical instrument. I asked around for accordions and wound up in the shop of the legendary Alex Carozza, who sold me a used ladies' accordion* for (I think) $300.

And that was that! {}


* Edited to clarify: A ladies' accordion that was used. Not an accordion for used ladies.

 

[aaronishappy]

Has anyone ever seen the film "House of Fools"? It's a Russian film set during the Chechen war, and in that film there is a lot of accordion playing, of great Russian (and Chechen?) songs. I remember seeing it for the first time 8 years ago and was so enamored with both the accordion and this Russian folk music. It would be another 5 years before I actually decided to get one but 3 years from that point I am still playing and loving the accordion, and Russian folk music! Admittedly it's no longer my "main" instrument, I picked up the fiddle 1 and a half years ago and that has become my new obsession, but as I said I still regularly play and love it. I will probably dabble in a few other things throughout my life, but the accordion will always have a special place in my heart as the instrument that introduced me to the fabulous world of music. And what an instrument to start with!

 

[JeffJetton]

Has anyone ever seen the film House of Fools?

Nope. But its in my Netflix queue now. Thanks for the tip! :ch

 

[donn]

I signed up on tuba, but one by one everyone else drifted off, the last accordion player got transferred to LA, so ... someone had to do it. We had an accordion in the house and I'd been gradually learning to play it, but that doesn't seem to count as I didn't originally buy it for myself.

I do play a variety of other instruments, but the accordion by far the highest pitched - the upper end of the M reeds is a mystery to me, can't imagine tones so shrill are needed for anything.