The accordion is a wonderfully versatile musical instrument. It is
used in nearly all types of music, from the obvious polka to zydeco to
jazz and even rock. Two great examples of the latter are They Might Be Giants and "Weird Al" Yankovic.
The accordion is a reed instrument, and consists of two halves,
seperated by a bellows, like so:
+---+\/\/\/\/\/+---+
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
+---+/\/\/\/\/\+---+
Each side contains a bank of metal reeds. Air is allowed through any
given reed by pressing a key or button which opens a valve covering the
reed. Some accordions have buttons on both sides, these are usually called
concertinas. Sometimes, an accordion will operate like a harmonica in
that one button will produce a different sound when the bellows are
drawn than when they are closed, but most produce the same sound in either
direction.
The accordion we will deal with here is the common piano accordion.
The (player's) right side is outfitted with a piano keyboard for
melody, while the left side is outfitted with a large (intimidating for
the beginner) array of buttons for bass and accompaniment. The size of
the array ranges from 6x1 to 20x6, and even larger sizes exist. The smallest
complete size is 12x6, giving 72 buttons. This size is arranged like so:
BELLOWS
Db Eb F G A B
| Ab| Bb| C | D | E | F#
| | | | | | | | | | | |
B O O O O O O O O O O O O 3rd T
O O O O O O 0 O O O O O O Root O
T O O O O O O O O O O O O Major P
T O O O O O O O O O O O O Minor
O O O O O O O O O O O O O Dominant 7th
M O O O O O O O O O O O O Diminished
HAND
Note that the "Root" button in the C
column is usually marked with a
depression,
rhinestone, or other finger-aiding device, not unlike those
little marks on computer keyboards.
The root note of each column goes up a perfect fifth in the
upwards direction and down a perfect fifth in the downwards direction. The
"Root" and "3rd" buttons play the root and major third of their
respective columns. The "Major" and "Minor" buttons play major and
minor triads starting on their column's root note. The "Dominant
7th" and "Diminished" buttons each play a diminished triad respectively
starting on the root and major third of their column.
Bigger or smaller accordions will add or remove columns from either
end, and smaller accordions will remove rows in the following order:
Diminished, Dominant 7th, Minor, Major, 3rd.
Note that this configuration allows for a major or minor arpeggio
to be played easily; the three buttons involved are nicely juxtaposed and
readily available right above the major chord button.
Major, minor, and other modal scales can be played with similar ease.
Playing any permutation of the I-IV-V movement is easy, the three columns
involved are are right next to each other.
Aside from pumping the bellows, learning the keys, and mastering the
buttons, the only major accordion technique is what is known as the
bellows shake. This consists of rapidly pumping the bellows in and out
to create a string of stacatto notes, not unlike double tounging used on
brass instruments.
Most modern accordions contain multiple banks of reeds, always on the
right side, often on the left side. Tabs situated on either side above the
keyboard and buttons allow selection of reed banks. Accordions will
usually have from two to four banks of reeds on the right side, and up to
about eight on the left.
The reed banks on the right are classified as either 16', 8', or 4'
(this is the same manner in which organ pipes are classified). 8' is
midrange, 16' is an octave lower and 4' is an octave higher. Accordions
have always one or two 8' reed banks, and usually a 16', 4', or both.
Combinations of these banks are selected by the tabs above the keyboard,
labelled with a symbol denoting which banks they activate:
_____
/_____\
|__*_*__|
\_____/
Here, the two dots in the middle indicate that two 8'
reed banks are
activated. A dot in the top represents the 4'
reed bank, and a dot in the
bottom represents the 16'
reed bank. Most accordions having two 8' banks
will have one
detuned slightly in order to create a
tremolo effect. The
tabs also have names denoting the type of sound which they produce:
Master
Bass Bandon Organ or Full
_____ _____ _____ _____
/_____\ /_____\ /__*__\ /__*__\
|_______| |___*___| |_______| |__*_*__|
\__*__/ \__*__/ \__*__/ \__*__/
Violin or
Clarinet Musette Oboe Piccolo
_____ _____ _____ _____
/_____\ /_____\ /__*__\ /__*__\
|___*___| |__*_*__| |___*___| |_______|
\_____/ \_____/ \_____/ \_____/
Bass (left side) reeds work similarly, although the system is a bit
more complex. One does not switch bass reed banks very often; this is
why many accordions come without switchable banks on this side.
Not all accordions use reeds. Some are fully electronic, operating
not unlike a MIDI keyboard, and not requiring any bellows pumping.
Accordions also come with built-in microphones or can have some added for
playing through an amplifier.
Well, I think that's all I can ramble on about with regards to
accordions. If you are interested in learning how to play, buy a used
accordion (these go from $100 to $1000) and a teach-yourself book
(instructors are hard to come by). If you cannot find any good used
accordions, new ones aren't all that expensive either, ranging from $300 to
$3000 dollars (super-magical five-digit priced models also exist). If you
can find a lesson teacher, good for you, take lessons from him/her!
I hope this answers all the questions you never even thought to ask about
accordions. If you have more, feel free to /msg me.