Popularity of accordions where you live

[Squeezeplay]

Southern Alberta here….I know of only two who play….me and one other, he uses an FR 3X…..at home I use my 3X regularly, when I showed up at a local jam with my acoustic, I got some funny looks from the other participants. Once they got used to the fact that is isn’t quite as annoying as a poorly played banjo, it was welcomed into the group, and they are happy to have both of us there. No accordion clubs near me that I know of. I have though acquired a couple students since my move here….we are hard pressed for tutors here.

 

[Lydia]

I know I am late in replying to this thread but where I live in the snowy mountains area of Australia there are a lot of people who have/had an accordion in their homes. One main reason is that this area was very busy with post war immigrants with the build of the snowy hydro scheme. Apparently in those days they were played in many parties and places where different ethnic groups gathered. Oh to have been here then.
Lydia

 

[Newbie]

I live in Kansas USA. It seems to me that here you need to know someone who knows of someone to make any connections. I acquired my student accordion from a retired Pastor that also plays professionally, and he incorporates magic tricks into his act. I acquired another accordion from a man who has a small group and plays in the Kansas City area in venues that have live music. My teacher is a member of ATG and graduated from the University of Missouri at Kansas City when they had accordion courses there taught by Joan C. Sommers. These days she plays a Roland and performs locally. She has traveled extensively preforming with USO tours and other countries worldwide. She also toured for a couple of years with Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians. There are no music shops where I live, the closest would probably be Chicago, so I really don't have the opportunities to try out different new accordions.

 

[Lydia]

I have to travel 9 hours to collect my new accordion after our trip. My current accordion is a 120 bass hohner and it is way too large for me. I am awaiting my order of a 72 bass accordion. I chose the new one by listening to demos played by the shop I am buying mine from. Currently in our little town we have a visiting teacher and there are 3 of us students. We are lucky to have a music shop here. This is where the lessons take place. Who knows where this journey will take us in our accordion sessions.

 

[Ffingers]

I have to travel 9 hours to collect my new accordion after our trip. My current accordion is a 120 bass hohner and it is way too large for me. I am awaiting my order of a 72 bass accordion. I chose the new one by listening to demos played by the shop I am buying mine from. Currently in our little town we have a visiting teacher and there are 3 of us students. We are lucky to have a music shop here. This is where the lessons take place. Who knows where this journey will take us in our accordion sessions.

Very lucky to have such services, indeed!
My closest music shop is 2 hours drive away and there are no dedicated accordion teachers in WA as far as I can ascertain.

 

[Alans]

Toronto is one of the three cities in Canada where you can do a performance degree at a university level. But Toronto,which has the most established program,hasn’t had a new student in at least five years.
We keep hearing about this incredible accordion revival and if I go to a local accordion event,which is barely once a year,there are many aficionados there.
But there are no private teachers here,and this is the largest city in Canada. Actually there is one but he’s a pianist.
If the revival is taking place I have no idea who these people are or where they are playing.
Years ago I attended two international accordion conventions and I think the average age was easily 65 + and that was at least fifteen years ago. A lot of accordions seem to be sold on sites like Facebook-but I have no idea who is buying them.

I think we all can appreciate the fact that the idea of wanting to learn to play the accordion,like any instrument, doesn’t happen in one afternoon. I guess a lot of people are interested but they don’t continue. Certainly there is no evidence of more than three playing at a professional level here,and their performances locally are extremely rare.

I learned the hard way-I formed online a local accordion club-quickly 28 people requested membership and when I suggested we meet for coffee to try and move forward not one person responded with any interest. I gave up on the idea.

These days fans seem to have memories of grandpa playing the accordion way back when. That’s it.

I think the most exciting part of accordion education is the large amount of teachers who now teach via zoom. I study with an excellent teacher in Serbia. It is so difficult to find an in-person teacher almost anywhere-that it is understandable why young people aren’t signing up. I knew of two teachers who taught for decades in public programs and when they retired the music programs cancelled the accordion study. One had been there for sixty years. Today you can live anywhere and study with the best teachers. It will be interesting to see what the outcome of all of this online teaching will mean down the road. It can only improve things for our community.

 

[Ventura]

the world changes

once upon a time a lot of musicians could make a living playing
Accordion as their primary instrument.. this period in America
was gradually ending as i came up. During my time, MOST accordionists
had to switch to flat keyboards to make a buck, and they were more
and more only able to be musicians as supplemental income

i am certainly among the last of that period to have made a
living through Accordion my entire life, though i did have to
supplement that at times by other involvements, mostly in the
Music Industry at retail, institutional, and commercial levels

while there are still many opportunities for Musicians to stay
busy gigging with accordion, most of those are for love of
a genre rather than actually making a living wage.. the compensation
is not measured in money

in another thread a family intends to liquidate over 800 accordions
in one auction.. i personally doubt 800 accordions are sold
at retail in the entire United States of America in one years time

still, there are many young people showing interest and effort,
though the majority of them appear to be interested in some niche
or specialty, rather then the generalist approach of the old guard
who perhaps had favorite areas of study, but could and did
play all types of music and play it well and make money doing it

since times have changed, so have the opportunities that shape
the need for accordionists, which drives the choice of people
to take on the accordion for their entire LIFE or to do something else

 

[Tom]

the world changes

once upon a time a lot of musicians could make a living playing
Accordion as their primary instrument.. this period in America
was gradually ending as i came up. During my time, MOST accordionists
had to switch to flat keyboards to make a buck, and they were more
and more only able to be musicians as supplemental income

i am certainly among the last of that period to have made a
living through Accordion my entire life, though i did have to
supplement that at times by other involvements, mostly in the
Music Industry at retail, institutional, and commercial levels

while there are still many opportunities for Musicians to stay
busy gigging with accordion, most of those are for love of
a genre rather than actually making a living wage.. the compensation
is not measured in money

in another thread a family intends to liquidate over 800 accordions
in one auction.. i personally doubt 800 accordions are sold
at retail in the entire United States of America in one years time

still, there are many young people showing interest and effort,
though the majority of them appear to be interested in some niche
or specialty, rather then the generalist approach of the old guard
who perhaps had favorite areas of study, but could and did
play all types of music and play it well and make money doing it

since times have changed, so have the opportunities that shape
the need for accordionists, which drives the choice of people
to take on the accordion for their entire LIFE or to do something else

Interesting story, thanks. I’m watching a young guy right now trying to make it here in the Midwest where the accordion is still known. He works real hard, playing lots of gigs, and I think he took the repair course in Castlefi too. Maybe his wife is a dentist, I don’t know. I really hope it works out for him. Anyway, I was at an event last night and told someone I play accordion at the farmers market. Her response, “Oh, that’s a lost art.” So there you have it.

 

[cat]

I played my box around town, cider mills and such this past summer/fall - having moved to a new region (Detroit area) it was fun getting around. I haven't seen anyone else out with one. Forty-plus years ago people here had accordion lessons for mitzvah, etc. Have all the accordionists moved to Florida? I've seen a lot of boxes in pawn shops there.

 

[JohnnyZZ]

haha. how popular is accordion where Im from??Balkan region, its a religion. We say that accordion music is in our soul. We dont need to learn it, it is there. Now where I live in Southern California, thats another story. But that is fine, I play for me. And my friends from the same region. Even people that dont care for our music, once they hear accordion live in person, they dont mind it and find it easy to listen to.