Accordion history and development

I thought I'd add a short biography - or history - of the accordion to this blog as it seems appropriate. I guess this is partly because when I first became interested in the accordion I assumed it was originally created in Germany or Russia, since so many of the instruments seem to derive from those areas, and was suprised to find out that it was actually developed in Italy.

So, anyway: the accordion takes its name from the German word 'Physharmonikaz'; which is a compound name constructed from the Greek word 'Physa', meaning 'bellows' and 'Harmonikos', meaning 'harmonic. The accordion is a musical instrument which uses air pressure to create its sound. Belonging to the family of instruments, the 'aerophones' the accordion consists of three parts: a right hand keyboard, for the melody; a bellows; and a left hand keyboard for accompaniment.

The sound of the accordion is produced by the reed: a small metal plate on which a thin steel strip is mounted which is caused to oscillate by air movement created by the bellows.

There are three popular types of accordion: The 'Diatonic' model, the Chromatic model, and the Piano Accordion.

one aspect of The Diatonic model which most distinguishes it is that the sound produced as the bellows open is different to the sound produced as they are closed. The Chromatic model (which also has buttons on the right hand keyboard) permits a complete range of twelve sounds to be played. The Piano Accordion has a right hand keyboard which is similar to a piano keyboard. In all three models, the accordion is a masterpiece of craft and mechanics constructed from hundreds of pieces, and in a variety of materials. Including woods such as fir, maple, mahogany and walnut. Metals such as steel, hard aluminum and brass. Fabrics such as cashmere, felt and cloth; also lamb's hide, kid and leather, celluloid, rubber and virgin wax.

It was Cyril Damian, a Viennese man, who first patented the accordion in Paris, on 6th of May 1829. It was a small four octave instrument he patented, which was to become the basis for the musical instrument we now know and love. The accordion appeared in Italy for the first time in 1863: A pilgrim, on his pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of the Black Madonna of Loreto, passed through the territory of Castelfidardo and stopped for a rest in Antonio Soprani's farmhouse carrying a rudimentary music box with him.

The pilgrim's Accordion was a strange object and aroused the curiosity of Paolo Soprani, Antonio's eldest son. Paolo's interest was rewarded by the pilgrim's present of the accordion to him; fascinated, he went on to examine the instrument in detail and finally opened a small handicraft store to sell an improved version of the accordion to his own design. The Italian Accordion industry has never looked back.

In 1876 at Stradella near Pavia, thirteen years after Paolo's store first opened, another Italian, Mariano Dallape, also began producing large numbers of accordions. Soprani and Dallape didn't know each other and had never met, but they both had the same intuition so far as development of the accordion was concerned. They both improved on the Viennese patent, and made the instrument known all over Italy; preparing the way for the modern accordion.

From these two centres of development, Paolo Soprani at Castelfidardo, and Mariano Dallape at Stradella, the construction of the accordion expanded quickly. Craftsmen were employed and trained to deal with the workload and as they gained experience and know-how they left to start their own workshops as the demand grew creating a massive expansion in the industry towards the end of the 19th century.

The accordion's popularity soon began to attract the interest of musicians; who started to compose for the instrument. In 1883, Petr Ific Ciaikovski introduced a piece for accordion in his 'Suite No. 2 in C Major'. Then In 1898, Umberto Giodano used the accordion during the third act of his 'Fedora'. Alban Berg used the instrument in the first act of his 'Wozzele' and Darius Milhaud and Dmiri Shostakovic later also included the accordion in their works.

Due to such musicla works, and the spread of European immigration, especially Italians coming to America, in the early years of the 20th century the accordion's reputation is developing worldwide.

With the invention of new materials such as celluloid in the US and the inclusion of mother of pearl in its design and construction, the aesthetics of the accordion slowly began to change and new production methods increased the instruments' expansion to fill the new worldwide markets: By 1953 the instruments exported from Italy totaled 200,000 units, and a similar quantity was exported from Germany.

More recently, the development of electronics has influenced the accordion's development as a modern instrument. Felice Fugazza, a music composer and teacher at the Bologna Conservatory, first introduced transistors into the accordion's construction in 1960. It continues to develop well into the new century.

Although, despite the advanced technology, materials and sophistication of contemporary accordions it is often the black and white image of early accordion players which attracts new players; and it is this long history which gives it its character. There is something of the old world about this instrument, its pilgrim roots and handcraft beginnings; the spread of folksongs and playing styles which has come down to us through the years which mean this remains a part of our humanity, our common heritage

Accordion

I always liked the idea of playing the accordion. I don't know what it was, exactly, which attracted me to the instrument. I guess I always liked the idea of being a little bit different, and there was something about the sound of that machine which always kinda touched me. Like a childhood I never had. As if knowing how to play that strange instrument would unlock something inside me I didn't yet know about.

It wasn't that long ago that I remembered all this as I was browsing a car boot sale. Stuck at the back of a pile of old records, a train set and a box of dolls there was this pile of bellows and keys which it took me a few seconds to recognise as an accordion. The young girl whose sale it was didn't know much about it and said she was just clearing out her family house. She didn't want much for it and I didn't care much if it worked or not because now, at last, I was going to own an accordion. I felt like I'd discovered some great but lost work of art.

Of course, when I got it home I couldn't resist trying it out, and when I played with it for the first time all those dreams came flooding back: I had to learn to play this wonderful instrument. But how?

First I checked out the local yellow pages and telephone directories, but nothing. No one anywhere near me taught accordion. I tried the local colleges but drew a blank again; not much call for that, they all said. I wondered how it was that I was the only person in the area who had an interest in this marvellous instrument. IU browsed all the local bookshops but found very little, the most I could find were books of musical scores put together with small how-to articles between the music. I needed more than this.

The internet was the best resource; there are some excellent sites with lots of information on them, about the great players, some music downloads and books, but still I couldn't find anything close to what I needed - a course of instruction on how to play the accordion.

Finally I came across Enzo Giribaldi's Accordion Course For Beginners. It's a completely downloadable course of instruction for people wantiong to play the accordion - or if you don't want to download, you can order it to be delivered. Once downloaded you can read it on your computer or print it out and read it like a book.

But it's more than just an ebook: It also contains videos and sound files you can watch and listen to as you work through the course - all by the greatest teacher you couild possibly imagine to have, the world famous Enzo Giribaldi! And all for the price of a couple of cinema tickets (or even, a couple of lessons with an ordniary teacher, if you could find one).

I worked my way through the course and after that felt more confident about getting buying accordion music and other books on the accordion - now I had my solid grounding I was able to understand what the otehr books were saying and my technique was good. I'm not an expert (yet) but I do play in a band and we're going to record an album soon - which I'll put up on this site when I have something. So, for my first post here, I just wanted to tell you - yes, it's possible, and here's how...

Enzo Giribaldi's Accordion Course website!