...and wait - there's more!

[Ffingers]

Youtube keeps popping these delights:




Young uns showing the way

No! The accordion is not becoming an ananchronism; the practice of playing the instrument seems very much alive and well.

 

[JerryPH]

Very nice indeed… but the popularity is very location specific. There are perhaps 6 places in Canada where it seems to be hanging on by its fingertips, but pretty much silent everywhere else. In Canada, sadly there is no great popularity for the accordion.

 

[Tom]

Very nice indeed… but the popularity is very location specific. There are perhaps 6 places in Canada where it seems to be hanging on by its fingertips, but pretty much silent everywhere else. In Canada, sadly there is no great popularity for the accordion.

Diatonic accordion folk music in Quebec, for example?

 

[JerryPH]

Diatonic accordion folk music in Quebec, for example?

That was #5 on my list. But that is 1 weekend a year only for that festival in Quebec, short of that, it is invisible.

 

[Ffingers]

Very nice indeed… but the popularity is very location specific. There are perhaps 6 places in Canada where it seems to be hanging on by its fingertips, but pretty much silent everywhere else. In Canada, sadly there is no great popularity for the accordion.

Not even in Vancouver?

 

[cestjeffici]

Very nice indeed… but the popularity is very location specific. There are perhaps 6 places in Canada where it seems to be hanging on by its fingertips, but pretty much silent everywhere else. In Canada, sadly there is no great popularity for the accordion.

Interesting. About 18 months ago I spent 5 weeks in Quebec City. One night in an Italian restaurant there was an strolling accordion player. The accordion was making beautiful sounds and looked a bit unusual. I spoke to the player. He was playing a Roland FR8. It got m interest. When I got home form the trip I bought my first accordion. A Roland FR4. So it was in Canada that my accordion journey started.

 

[JerryPH]

Not saying that there aren’t tiny pockets of accordion players, just that short of 1 very misguided accordion club and one accordion event in Quebec City, that is pretty much it in Quebec. Unlike say Ontario’s Hamilton/Burlington/Toronto area that has a complete Doctorate of Music on accordion program in place, multiple big events and for me a big indicator of interest, hundreds of accordions up for sale in public online marketplaces and multiple big accordion stores and 3-4 different professional accordion repair people.

 

[Tom]

Not saying that there aren’t tiny pockets of accordion players, just that short of 1 very misguided accordion club and one accordion event in Quebec City, that is pretty much it in Quebec. Unlike say Ontario’s Hamilton/Burlington/Toronto area that has a complete Doctorate of Music on accordion program in place, multiple big events and for me a big indicator of interest, hundreds of accordions up for sale in public online marketplaces and multiple big accordion stores and 3-4 different professional accordion repair people.

Any live accordion music going on there Jerry?

 

[32251]

Sure enjoyed listening to that. So enlighten me. On the first piece I wanted the bass notes to sound a bit smoother. Is that just the way they sound?

 

[OuijaBoard]

How does Quebec have a "misguided" accordion club? This is intriguing. I thought "accordion clubs" were pretty much the same, at least in the U.S. Can't say I've ever wanted to participate in one. The type of stuff they seem to want to play and the accordion aesthetic of the membership reminds me of a demonic David Lynch vision of mid-century marching-band purgatory.

 

[cestjeffici]

How does Quebec have a "misguided" accordion club? This is intriguing. I thought "accordion clubs" were pretty much the same, at least in the U.S. Can't say I've ever wanted to participate in one. The type of stuff they seem to want to play and the accordion aesthetic of the membership reminds me of a demonic David Lynch vision of mid-century marching-band purgatory.

The accordion club I belong to in Maryland has been a great help to me in advancing my skills. Yes, there is a mix of skills but everyone who plays gets the support of everyone listening. It is an opportunity to get used to playing in front of an audience, to get advice from more skilled players, to see a variety of accordions, and sometimes even to get a few small problems fixed as there are several people who have some repair skills in the club. I am inspired by the better players and encouraged by seeing those who don’t play as well as I do (not many of those so far!) This accordion club is an important part of my development as a player.

 

[JerryPH]

Any live accordion music going on there Jerry?

Tried looking, found little. Maybe I am not looking in the right places.

 

[JerryPH]

How does Quebec have a "misguided" accordion club? This is intriguing. I thought "accordion clubs" were pretty much the same, at least in the U.S. Can't say I've ever wanted to participate in one. The type of stuff they seem to want to play and the accordion aesthetic of the membership reminds me of a demonic David Lynch vision of mid-century marching-band purgatory.

Similar thing here. The "club" when I was a member there consisted of perhaps 12 people that played accordion, 3 to 4 of which played. They consist entirely of people 70+ years old, including the non-playing members, of which there are many more.

Musical interests entirely consist of 3 genres, French Coureur du Bois, spoon to knee folk songs, country music horribly translated and over and over quite badly played and a few VERY specific and often repeated Italian songs. There is absolutely zero interest or tolerance for anything else. Basically if it is not a narrow focused group of Franco-Italian, it is not heard and they let you feel that strongly. When I played there, I played Beer Barrel Polka... NOT ONE person knew what it was.

Meetings start on a weekday at 4pm and end around 7:30 because by then 2/3rd of the audience is falling asleep. The president of the club (at the time I was there) is the owner of the biggest (and only) accordion store in Montreal... and he plays well, except that his first love is saxophone and that is what he brings to the monthly meetings.

It is less about accordion music and more about keeping the folks from the seniors care center happy. I managed to stay a whole 3 months before I left. When I saw the yearly calendar for the coming year at the annual Christmas party and for October, I was hoping to see "October fest" and saw a (repeated for the 6th time) "French Country Night", I knew this place was not for me.

 

[micahcowan]

I mean. All of that's the same with my local accordion group, too, but I still enthusiastically attend and get involved, because as you all are pointing out, accordion seems to be hanging on by a very bare thread (especially outside of those categories described for accordion clubs), and I want to do everything I can to bolster public exposure to and interest in the accordion. Because I want an ecosystem for it to still persist in another decade or so, when all these 70+-year-olds have gone on to greener pastures. Obviously a vital part of this plan means also bringing younger blood into these kinds of community organizations... If I should find that my club actively rebels against accordion music outside those unsavory categories, or against youth, then I will happily start a new one. But I don't foresee that being a serious problem - my impression is that the older generation are just as happy as I am to see young people interested in playing (but they extend that to me as well, as probably by far the youngest member of the club, at 46 lol).

(Edited to add Also, even though they all tend to play all the same tired old classics from the 30's to 50's, the handful who are actually highly skilled, can make even those sound really lovely.

 

[Squeezeplay]

Similar thing here. The "club" when I was a member there consisted of perhaps 12 people that played accordion, 3 to 4 of which played. They consist entirely of people 70+ years old, including the non-playing members, of which there are many more.

Musical interests entirely consist of 3 genres, French Coureur du Bois, spoon to knee folk songs, country music horribly translated and over and over quite badly played and a few VERY specific and often repeated Italian songs. There is absolutely zero interest or tolerance for anything else. Basically if it is not a narrow focused group of Franco-Italian, it is not heard and they let you feel that strongly. When I played there, I played Beer Barrel Polka... NOT ONE person knew what it was.

Meetings start on a weekday at 4pm and end around 7:30 because by then 2/3rd of the audience is falling asleep. The president of the club (at the time I was there) is the owner of the biggest (and only) accordion store in Montreal... and he plays well, except that his first love is saxophone and that is what he brings to the monthly meetings.

It is less about accordion music and more about keeping the folks from the seniors care center happy. I managed to stay a whole 3 months before I left. When I saw the yearly calendar for the coming year at the annual Christmas party and for October, I was hoping to see "October fest" and saw a (repeated for the 6th time) "French Country Night", I knew this place was not for me.

A lot of clubs become too specific. None seem to be interested in anything except what the executive deem acceptable, One club I asked about, wouldn’t even give me the meeting dates ,or location unless I could conform to their “ classical” music interest. No wonder this instrument is dying here.

 

[Ffingers]

A lot of clubs become too specific. None seem to be interested in anything except what the executive deem acceptable, One club I asked about, wouldn’t even give me the meeting dates ,or location unless I could conform to their “ classical” music interest. No wonder this instrument is dying here.

A kind of snobbish elitism can sometimes over take the best of club organisations, often resulting from the characters of domineering personality creating heirarchical administrative and instructional structures.
They pop up everywhere.
One "folk" group in the '70s which I encountered considered that the chromatic harmonica ( a 'mere mouthorgan' ) had no place in their musicmaking, it being a "modern invention of American origin"!
The banjo was OK, though

 

[Squeezeplay]

I they even wanted to know what brand accordion or accordions I own before they would consider letting me join

 

[dak]

my impression is that the older generation are just as happy as I am to see young people interested in playing (but they extend that to me as well, as probably by far the youngest member of the club, at 46 lol).

I increasingly get into the situation where I feel unable to find myself on the same page with old fuddie-duddies a decade younger than I am.

 

[JerryPH]

I they even wanted to know what brand accordion or accordions I own before they would consider letting me join

Where is this club??
I’d love to be able to walk in to this place, meet all their weird rules and then walk away saying “sorry, you guys are too limiting and amateur for me, but thanks for the offer”.

 

[Tom]

I’m started a club myself which is still going strong, meeting and gigging regularly, although I moved away. No officers or rules. Everyone plays the same songs together then people can play their own tunes if they want. The music tends to be “accordion industrial complex” from the good old days because of the background of my co developer who has taken over, making set list for gigs, lining them up, etc. But meets in a “pub” owned by my friends, and no drama allowed.