The accordion is played by compression and expansion of a bellows, which generates air flow across reeds; a keyboard controls which reeds receive air flow and therefore the tones produced.

Physical description

The related concertina differs in that its buttons never produce chords and travel parallel to the travel of the bellows (towards the opposite end of the instrument); there are also differences in the internal materials, construction, mechanics, and tone color, but the basic principles of sound production are identical.

History

• The Aeoline, by German Bernhard Eschenbach (and his cousin, Caspar Schlimbach), 1810.
  • Was a piano with added aeoline register.
  • Aeoline Harmonika and Pysharmonika are very similar names at that time.
    • Aeoline and Aura ware first without bellows or keyboard.
• The Hand Physhamonika Anton Haeckel 1818 Hand type mentioned in music newspaper 1821.
• The flutina, by Pichenot Jeune, ca. 1831
• The concertina, patented in two forms (perhaps independently):
  • Carl Friedrich Uhlig, 1834.
  • Sir Charles Wheatstone, examples built after 1829, but not patented until 1844

An instrument called accordion was first patented in 1829 by Cyrill Demian in Vienna (Interestingly, the original patent shows the name "eoline" crossed out and replaced with "accordion" in different handwriting). Demian's instrument bore little resemblance to modern instruments: It only had a left hand keyboard; the right hand simply operated the bellows. One key feature for which Damian sought the patent was the sounding of an entire chord by depressing one key. His instrument also could sound two different chords with the same key: one for each bellows direction (press, draw); this is called a bisonoric action.

At that time in Vienna, mouth harmonicas with "Kanzellen" (chambers) had already been available for many years, along with bigger instruments driven by hand bellows. The diatonic key arrangement was also already in use on mouth-blown instruments. Demian's patent thus covered an accompanying instrument: an accordion played with the left hand, opposite to the way that comtemporary chromatic hand harmonicas were played, small and light enough to for travellers to take with them and use to accompany singing. The patent also described instruments with both bass and treble sections, although Demian preferred the bass-only instrument owing to its cost and weight advantages.

The musician Adolph Müller described a great variety of instruments in his 1833 "Schule für Accordion". At the time, Vienna and London had a close musical relationship, with musicians often performing in both cities in the same year, so it is possible that Wheatstone was aware of this type of instrument and may have used them to put his key-arrangement ideas into practice.

Jeune's flutina resembles Wheatstone's concertina in internal construction and tone color, but it appears to complement Demian's accordion functionally. The flutina is a one-sided bisonoric melody-only instrument whose keys are operated with the right hand while the bellows is operated with the left. When the two instruments are combined, the result is quite similar to diatonic button accordions still manufactured today.

Further innovations followed and continue to the present: Various keyboard systems have been developed; voicings (the combination of multiple tones at different octaves) have been developed, with mechanisms to switch between different voices during performance; different methods of internal construction to improve tone, stability and durability, and so on.

The instrument was popularized in the United States by Count Guido Deiro who was the first piano accordionist to perform in Vaudeville. Accordion is the main instrument in the musette style of ballroom music in France (a style now largely out of fashion) and in the 1950s chanson singing, which has a revival in the form of neo-realism. Today, the accordion is largely used in the Southern Brazil (state of Rio Grande do Sul) by the traditional music groups. They play Polkas, Chamamés, Milongas, Tangos, Chacareras and other 3/4 compasses. The main kind of accordion used in this region, is the 120 basses. But they also use the 4, 8 basses and the bandoneon. Main accordion players from Rio Grande do Sul: Luciano Maia, Arthur De Faria, Leonel Gomez, Edilberto Bérgamo, Renato Borgetti, and others.

Button accordions

Diatonic button accordions have a melody-side keyboard that is limited to the notes of diatonic scales in a small number of keys (sometimes only one). The bass side usually contains the principal chords of the instrument's key and the root notes of those chords.

Almost all diatonic button accordions (e.g.: melodeon) are bisonoric, meaning each button produces two notes: one when the bellows is compressed, another while it is expanded; a few instruments (e.g.: garmon') are unisonoric, with each button producing the same note regardless of bellows direction; still others have a combination of the two types of action: See Hybrids below.

A chromatic button accordion is a type of button accordion where the melody-side keyboard consists of uniform rows of buttons arranged so that the pitch increases chromatically along diagonals. The bass-side keyboard is usually the Stradella system, one of the various free-bass systems, or a converter system. Included among chromatic button accordions is the Russian bayan. Sometimes an instrument of this class is simply called a chromatic accordion, although other types, including the piano accordion, are fully chromatic as well. There can be 3 to 5 rows of treble buttons. In a 5 row chromatic, two additional rows repeat the first 2 rows to facilitate options in fingering. Chromatic button accordions are preferred by many classical music performers, since the treble keyboard with diagonally arranged buttons allows a greater range than a piano keyboard configuration.

Various cultures have made their own versions of the accordion, adapted to suit their own music. Russia alone has several, including the bayan, Garmon', Livenka, and Saratovskaya Garmonika.

Various hybrids have been created between instruments of different keyboards and actions. Many remain curiosities, only a few have remained in use. Some notable examples are:

• The Schrammel accordion, used in Viennese chamber music and Klezmer, which has the treble keyboard of a chromatic button accordion and a bisonoric bass keyboard, similar to an expanded diatonic button accordion.
• The schwyzerörgeli or Swiss organ, which has a (usually) 3-row diatonic treble and 18 unisonoric bass buttons in a bass/chord arrangement (actually a subset of the Stradella system), that travel parallel to the bellows motion.
• The trikitixa of the Basque people has a 2-row diatonic, bisonoric treble and a 12-button diatonic unisonoric bass.
• In Scotland, the favoured diatonic accordion is, paradoxically, the instrument known as the British Chromatic Accordion. While the right hand is bisonoric, the left hand follows the Stradella system. The elite form of this instrument is generally considered to be the German manufactured "Shand Morino", produced by Hohner with the input of the late Sir Jimmy Shand. p.98, Howard, Rob (2003) An A to Z of the Accordion and related instruments Stockport:Robaccord Publications ISBN 0-9546711-0-4

Stradella bass system

Depending on the price, size or origin of the instrument, some rows may be missing completely or in different positions. In most Russian layouts the diminished seventh chord row is moved by one button, so that the C diminished seventh chord is where the F diminished seventh chord would be in a standard Stradella layout; this is done in order to achieve a better reachability with the forefinger.

Common configurations are:

• "12 Bass" goes from Bb; to A (the third to eighth column in the picture above), and only has root note and major chords.
• "24 Bass" goes from Eb; to E, and has root note, major and minor chords
• "32 Bass" goes from Eb; to E, and has root note, major, minor and seventh chords
• "40 Bass" goes from Eb; to E, and has root note, "counter-bass" note, major, minor and seventh chords
• "48 Bass" goes from Eb; to E, and has all six rows
• "60 Bass" goes from Db; to F#;, and has root note, "counter-bass" note, major, minor and seventh chords
• "72 Bass" goes from Db; to F#;, and has all six rows
• "80 Bass" goes from Cb; to G#;, and has root note, "counter-bass" note, major, minor and seventh chords
• "96 Bass" goes from Cb; to G#;, and has all six rows
• "120 Bass" goes from Bbb; (i.e. low A) to A#; — that's 20 columns — with all six rows.

Free bass systems

Skillful use of the free bass system enabled the performance of classical piano music, rather than music arranged specifically for the accordion's standard chorded capability. Beginning in the 1960s, competitive performance on the accordion of classical piano compositions, by the great masters of music, occurred. Although never mainstreamed in the larger musical scene, this convergence with traditional classical music propelled young accordionists to an ultimate involvement with classical music heretofore not experienced.

Within the United States of America several noted instrumentalists demonstrated the unique orchestral capabilities of the free bass accordion while performing at the nation's premier concert venues. Included among the leading orchestral artists was JOHN SERRY SR - a noted concert accordionist, composer and arranger. Many modern and avant-garde composers (such as Sofia Gubaidulina, Luciano Berio, and Magnus Lindberg,) have written for the free bass accordion and the instrument is becoming more frequently integrated into new music chamber and improvisation groups.

Audio samples

Related instruments

Squeezeboxes

• Concertina
• Bandoneon
• Flutina

Digital Accordions

• Roland Virtual Accordion

Other free-reeds

• Harmonica
• Harmonium
• Melodica
• Sheng
• Khene

Trivia

• Players of the accordion include polka stars Lawrence Welk, Myron Floren, Frankie Yankovic and "Weird Al" Yankovic, rock musicians Bruce Hornsby, David Hidalgo of Los Lobos, Garth Hudson of The Band and Danny Federici of the E Street Band, and zydeco musicians Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural of Buckwheat Zydeco, Beau Jocques, Flogging Molly, John Linnell, Jason Webley and Boozoo Chavis.
• The piano accordion has been lampooned in American culture, from The Far Side to Garfield, and even other forms of media.

References