Another Dutch guy on the forum

[Crowling]

Hey all,
My name is Richard and have been taken lessons for half a year now. Going through the book "accordeon to the top" and in good hands by a very talented teacher.

First time I got in touch with the accordion was with a event from a local place which organises cultural events, one of them had introduction of several musical instruments and the they also had the accordion to pick from. Along with the saxophone and violin I choose to try.

Its been 4 years until I eventually decided to pick up lessons because the accordion just left such a good impression!

I have rented an accordion the first half year to see how things go, then I got in touch with someone that knew a woman selling one. Elderly lady that couldn't play anymore, and got it for a very good price.
It is a Fisart 120 base. I don't know how old it is but it's sounds beautiful and although it looked used it was in good shape.

I did had to drop it off for repair for a single button that was mute, but got it fixed and also from the shop got confirmed it in great shape, I can pick it up next Tuesday so was very happy to hear that too!


I was already looking through this forum for some time as it has great resources. I hope I can add to that and when the time is there, I might just upload a performance of a song .

 

[Tom]

Welcome Richard!

 

[niels]

Welcome Richard. Which part of the country are you from?

 

[Crowling]

I'm in region of Noord-holland

 

[GeekyPirate]

Hey fellow Dutchman! I've initially started with Hans van Schuppen as teacher, he is author of Accordion to the Top! He is amazing! I'm from Wijchen, he directs an accordion orchestra in our little village. I've been a couple times to look there to join. A lot has been going on my own life to where I coudn't attend to his lessons anymore, but hes amazing!

It's funny and cool to see recognition for him on this forum

Welcome to the forum. I'm very much a beginner myself. Working on my chords at the moment and learning some basic songs. I'll be looking forward to seeing more of you Richard!

Also, where did you get it repaired? The shop in Tilburg?

~ Rob

 

[Crowling]

Hey fellow Dutchman! I've initially started with Hans van Schuppen as teacher, he is author of Accordion to the Top! He is amazing! I'm from Wijchen, he directs an accordion orchestra in our little village. I've been a couple times to look there to join. A lot has been going on my own life to where I coudn't attend to his lessons anymore, but hes amazing!

It's funny and cool to see recognition for him on this forum

Welcome to the forum. I'm very much a beginner myself. Working on my chords at the moment and learning some basic songs. I'll be looking forward to seeing more of you Richard!

Also, where did you get it repaired? The shop in Tilburg?

~ Rob

Oh that's pretty amazing you actually got taught by the author! My teacher is also directing for several orchestra around The Netherlands, he is a pretty busy guy.

The repair is done locally, it's done by a general music shop in Schagen, but it was just a small repair for a mute button. For serious repairs or tuning they refer to somewhere in Apeldoorn (Don't know the shop, I didn't really ask further).

 

[debra]

Oh that's pretty amazing you actually got taught by the author! My teacher is also directing for several orchestra around The Netherlands, he is a pretty busy guy.

The repair is done locally, it's done by a general music shop in Schagen, but it was just a small repair for a mute button. For serious repairs or tuning they refer to somewhere in Apeldoorn (Don't know the shop, I didn't really ask further).

Many people refer to the shop in Apeldoorn because they don't know any better and haven't heard the horror stories.
The accordion (sales and repair) world is really a jungle with pitfalls. There are some really good shops and repairers, but there are also many bozos who just want to get rich fast and who prefer to never see the accordions they sell again... Some so called "accordion shops" don't even have their own repairer(s) and outsource all repairs. They cannot do anything right there and then in the store (like fix a stuck piccolo reed) as they have absolutely no clue...
I will not mention which stores and repairers are good or bad in public though. I don't want to get "cancelled" for doing so... That's how the world works since the invention of social media.

 

[Random Johnny]

Welcome Richard! Another Dutchman here

 

[niels]

I'm in region of Noord-holland

It looks like the dutchies are spread evenly over the country. I am from Groningen.

 

[debra]

It looks like the dutchies are spread evenly over the country. I am from Groningen.

The accordion is somewhat popular in all parts of the country. There are local differences that make things tricky though. In the north many people have their accordion tuned to 442Hz and in the south people use 440Hz. When you are in the center and want to play with people from all over the country it doesn't matter what tuning you use, you will always have trouble with different tunings. (The Dutch Symphonic Accordion Orchestra for instance has that problem.)

 

[Mr. Hyde]

Welcome! Expecting your show!