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Accordion
Professional modern accordion
From the beginning
Accordions (from 19th-century German Akkordeon, from Akkord—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type, colloquially referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist. The concertina and bandoneón are related. The harmonium and American reed organ are in the same family, but are typically larger than an accordion and sit on a surface or the floor.
The accordion has traditionally been used to perform folk or ethnic music, popular music, and transcriptions from the operatic and light-classical music repertoire. It was also used by the Kikuyu tribe in Kenya and is the main instrument in the traditional Mwomboko dance. Today the instrument is sometimes heard in contemporary pop styles, such as rock and pop-rock, and occasionally even in serious classical music concerts, as well as advertisements.
The accordion appeared in popular music from the 1900s to the 1960s. This half-century is often called the "golden age of the accordion". Five players, Pietro Frosini, the two brothers Count Guido Deiro and Pietro Deiro and Slovenian brothers Vilko Ovsenik and Slavko Avsenik, Charles Magnante were major influences at this time.
The accordion is a traditional instrument in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the dominant instrument used in sevdalinka, a traditional genre of folk music from Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is also considered a national instrument of the country.
Richard Galliano is an internationally known accordionist whose repertoire covers jazz, tango nuevo, Latin, and classical. it has grown in popularity among classical composers.
Early jazz accordionist include Charles Melrose, who recorded Wailing Blues/Barrel House Stomp (1930, Voc. 1503) with the Cellar Boys; Buster Moten, who played second piano and accordion in the Bennie Moten orchestra; and Jack Cornell, who did recordings with Irving Mills. Later jazz accordionists from the United States include Steve Bach, Milton DeLugg, Orlando DiGirolamo, Dominic Frontiere, Guy Klucevsek, Yuri Lemeshev, Frank Marocco, John Serry Sr., Lee Tomboulian, and Art Van Damme. French jazz accordionists include Richard Galliano, Bernard Lubat, and Vincent Peirani. Norwegian jazz accordionists include Asmund Bjørken, Stian Carstensen, Gabriel Fliflet, Frode Haltli, and Eivin One Pedersen.
While the accordion's left hand preset chord buttons are limited to triads and seventh chords (for the dominant seventh chord and the diminished seventh chord), jazz accordionists expand the range of chord possibilities by using more than one chord button simultaneously, or by using combinations of a chord button and a bass note other than the typical root of the chord. An example of the former technique is used to play a minor seventh chord. To play an "a minor" seventh chord (with an added ninth), the "a minor" and "e minor" preset buttons are pressed simultaneously, along with an "A" bassnote. An example of the latter technique is used to play the half-diminished chord. To play an "e" half-diminished seventh chord, a "g minor" preset button is pressed along with an "E" bassnote.
INTERESSTING STORY...
This is one of those stories destined to not only change the life of one man, but also of one town, one country. What happened in 1863 seems to be a legend, but was in fact a reality, important enough to start an industry that would become famous all over the world: the accordion industry.
An Austrian pilgrim returning home from a visit to the Loreto sanctuary asked for hospitality for the night at a farmhouse near Castelfidardo. After having been refreshed, he sat down near the fireside and started to play a strange “box”. This was the house of Antonio and Lucia Soprani and their sons. One son, Paolo, was interested in this musical box which was in fact a copy of the “accordeon” patented in 1829 by Mr. Demian of Vienna. Many different stories tell of how Paolo obtained this box: some say that during the night, the young Paolo woke up to study all the secrets of the box. The important thing is that, from this little box and Paolo’s intelligence, after a few years the accordion industry would be born in Castelfidardo.
In 1864 Paolo opened a little workshop inside his home, with the help of his brothers; after some years, he moved to a bigger house, engaging some workers. The first “armoniche” produced were sold in fairs and markets of nearby towns. In Loreto there were always a lot of pilgrims, religious visitors and dealers. Paolo went there to exhibit his accordion an he also became a good player.
In 1872 he moved to the centre of Castelfidardo and opened a factory in the Piazza Garibaldi. His instruments had immediate success, especially in the country where the farmers danced to popular songs. Quickly the popularity grew and requests came from other european countries like France.
At the end of the 19th century the “armonica” started to be exported to other continents, for example the USA, where a lot of Italian people had emigrated and the sound of the “armonica” eased their homesickness. To supply the increasing number of orders he needed to find a bigger place and more workers, to organise the phases of production in a better way and create a commercial office. For this reason Paolo with his sons Luigi and Achille opened a new factory in Castelfidardo where about 400 people worked.
In 1900 the company had a big success in a fair in Paris; Paolo became a member of the academy of inventors of Bruxelles and Paris and met the President of France.
He continued to work in his factory until he was 70 years old, when his two sons took over. He died in his house on 20th February 1918, when he was 73 years old.
keyboard layout
