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ACCORDION - GENERAL INFORMATION
An improved small ACCORDION, but without the
accordion
keyboard, the concertinawas patented in England in
1829.
Its hexagonal end pieces are fitted with studs for
selecting
the various pitches from its reeds. Fully chromatic
and
capable of various tonal effects, it has been used in
solo
and chamber music.
Tchaikovsky used four concertinas in
his second orchestral suite.
A popular instrument for informal
occasions during the 19th century,
the concertina is still widely
used, especially in England.
The reed-organ family of musical instruments, descended from
the
Chinese SHENG, includes the ACCORDION, CONCERTINA, and
HARMONICA (or mouth organ). The term refers more specifically to
floor-standing keyboard instruments such as the harmonium and
American organ. All produce musical pitches by means of thin reeds,
set vibrating
by air under pressure or suction. The standing reed
organ, activated
by bellows driven by foot pedals, was developed
almost simultaneously
in Germany, France, and the United States
around 1810.
During the period of their greatest popularity, from
1840 to the
end of the 19th century, reed organs underwent many
improvements,
including the addition of percussion effects, knee
levers to control
loud-and-soft, and even drawtops to emulate the
tonal variety of
a pipe organ. In Europe, they were mainly
used for home music-making.
Several composers, including Dvorak,
Franck, and Schoenberg, used the
harmonium in concert works,
often for its "humble" associations with
domesticity or
amateurism.
The orchestra leader Lawrence Walk, b. Strasburg, N.Dak., Mar. 11, 1903, d. May 17, 1992, maintained his longtime popularity with a musical style of "champagne music" that seemed to satisfy a widespread interest in nostalgia. Welk earned his first accordion by hiring himself out as a farm laborer and began his career playing at rural celebrations. At age 17 he formed his first dance band, performing at dance halls and occasionally on the radio. Radio, then television, gradually brought his music to a national audience. Welk's own television show ran on television from 1955 to 1982. With Bernice McGeehan, Welk collaborated on several autobiographical books, including Wunnerful, Wunnerful! (1971) and Ah-One, Ah-Two! (1974). Zydeco is a style of popular music that has emerged from the Cajun and black Creole cultures of Louisiana's bayou region. With a driving syncopated rhythm, zydeco combines the lilting sounds of traditional Cajun music with elements from BLUES and ROCK MUSIC. Both styles are sung in French, and the central instrument is the accordion, but where Cajun music uses acoustic instruments such as the fiddle and the triangle, a zydeco band usually includes a rubboard (a piece of corrugated steel worn like a vest and played like a washboard), a saxophone or trumpet, and electric bass.
There are five different types of
concertinas:
1) English: fully chromatic, same
note in either direction, scale goes up vertically alternating from
hand to hand (the lines on one side, the spaces on the
other). Comes in four sizes, representing the violin
family: treble, tenor-treble, baritone and bass. Has
thumb straps and may or may not have hand straps.
2)
Anglo-German: two rows of buttons on each side, different
notes in
either direction, tuned from left to right according to
two scales, usually in fifths but occasionally in fourths (e.g.,
bottom row C, top row G; bottom row D, top row A). Bass on
left hand, treble on right. Hand straps only. [see below -
ed.]
3) Anglo-Chromatic: same as Anglo-German but with a
third row above the others that provides accidentals.
4) Duet
System: I'm not exactly sure how this works, but it has
features
of both, i.e, same note in either direction like the
English but left hand bass, right hand treble like the Anglo-German
or Anglo-Chromatic. Very rare.
5) Bandoneon: Large square
concertina used in Argentine tango music.
The system is _very_
confusing and apparently there are a couple of variants
on it but
I was told that there was a central logical core with
buttons
radiating out from there. If anyone can provide
more info than that, go
right ahead.
This bibliography is not very complete. On the other hand, there
just
aren't a lot of books on accordions out there. So it's
probably not
*that* incomplete. I don't include run-of-the-mill
books on simple
accordion method or vanilla books of accordion
music
(there are just too many of them).
More are always welcome.
Construction and repairLinks from
Accordion Site!
1 http://www.accordionlinks.com/
2 http://www.accordions.com/
3 http://accordionguy.blogware.com/
4 http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/user/phoebe/mosaic/accordion.html
5 http://www.pbs.org/accordiondreams/main/
6 http://www.kode-fu.com/shame/
7 http://phpnuke.org/
8 http://user.aol.com/accrdnmn/
9 http://user.aol.com/accrdnmn/cajun.html
10 http://www.makingbooks.com/accordion.html
11 http://www.cotatifest.com/
12 http://www.austinchronicle.com/mrpants/accordion.html
13 http://www.pbs.org/accordiondreams/
14 http://www.accordion-online.de/
15 http://www.accordionmusic.bd.se/
16 http://www.cafeaccordion.com/
17 http://www.fab-4.com/
18 http://www.amazon.com/
19 http://www.manson88.freeserve.co.uk/
20 http://www.accordionpage.com/
21 http://www.accordionheaven.com/
22 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accordion
23 http://www.accordion-o-rama.com/
24 http://www.meloche.net/acchist.htm
25 http://www.accordions.com/mac/
26 http://accordiondoc.home.mindspring.com/
27 http://www.accordionlinks.com/publisher.cfm
28 http://www.sunfield.ne.jp/~akasaka/
29 http://www.hoedown.com/artists/accordiontribe/
30 http://www.ladyofspain.com/
31 http://www.accordion-online.de/e_links.htm
32 http://accordion-store.com/
33 http://www.rootsworld.com/freereed/
34 http://www.accordionnet.com/
35 http://www.meloche.net/accordio.htm
36 http://www.ameritech.net/users/jackathy/MUSEUM.html
37 http://www.iserv.net/~rwhit/
38 http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall03/PATTaccordion.html
39 http://pub21.bravenet.com/
40 http://www.si.umich.edu/chico/instrument
41 http://www.sectorsoftware.demon.co.uk/accord.htm
42 http://www.mrbiggs.com/accordion/
43 http://www.live365.com/stations/222666
44 http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/texta/Accordion.html
45 http://www.cyberlink.bc.ca/~kiotac/
46 http://www.emi-premier.co.uk/
47 http://www.mrivideo.com/latinaccordion/
48 http://home.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/cato/Acco.html
49 http://www.white-horse.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
50 http://www.nac.cwc.net/