Start those toddlers off right!
- Thread starter swingbozo
- Start date
petch
Well-known member
The options for kids seems to either be literal toys or Hohner's insanely overpriced XS model
Ventura
Been here for ages!
those bellows are about as stiff as a Roland V
swingbozo
Member
Don't knock those toy instruments!
Paŭlo
Newbie
Thing is, there doesn't appear to be anything particularly affordable for any kind of student, let alone kids. I get the difference between accordions and things like violins and ukeleles - things that are built cheap enough for whole class use in school, but still basically usable. But if accordions are so difficult and expensive to build, how did they become popular and stay widespread for some decades?
swingbozo
Member
Booze, and cigarettes.
Hiring one accordion player is still cheaper than hiring a band. Unfortunately now it's even cheaper to just hire a DJ.
Hiring one accordion player is still cheaper than hiring a band. Unfortunately now it's even cheaper to just hire a DJ.
Good question. Perhaps the volume they were made in the past meant an economy of scale reflected in the retail price, or perhaps they were always crazily expensive! No doubt there is a student of economic history on here...
I started aged 4 with a 12 bass German accordion. I still have it deep in a cupboard. I still feel so lucky to have started so young. My mum did insist I had proper lessons, paid for alongside the box, which was probably for the best!
swingbozo
Member
There is probably only one instrument on the planet that does not benefit from a formal education as soon as possible: The Fiddle.
Not "the violin" or any combination thereof. The fiddle. Nothing destroys youthful exuberance as quickly as formal lessons. In the case of pretty much all instruments this really is a good thing, and will ease decades of improper playing. But if you want to play a bluegrass fiddle, you just go off into the woods and come back playing any way you want.
I'd probably classify fourth finger bass as one of the things I may or may not have learned correctly. I plowed through my dad's old accordion books and they did fourth finger bass so that's the way I learned it. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Well, it's a thing.
I prefer 4-3 for bass as a starting point. Leaves more options for movement, which means I use all four fingers. Less the pinky, but it's still used well.
I come from the violin and viola, so I was already well practiced in using all four before I ever came to the accordion.
I come from the violin and viola, so I was already well practiced in using all four before I ever came to the accordion.
I was looking at the XS. I agree I wish it was a little cheaper but from what I hear/read it is rather suited for kids. It's supposed to have thick plastic and doesn't feel like a cheap toy. My kids play with an old melodeon, but I wonder how much longer that will last without damage to the casing.
I can't find XS near me to demo yet. Who here has one?
Alan Sharkis
Well-known member
Question: What’s the difference between a violin and a fiddle?
Answer: A violin has strings and a fiddle has ‘strangs.’
A fiddle has a pile of rosin below the bridge. And the player more often wears boots.
M
Mullanphy
Guest
As a Fiddler (not a very effective one, but still one, anyway) I think it's necessary to point out some of the fallacies brought up concerning the instrument and my fellow fiddlers.
Fiddles do differ from violins but not for the salacious rumors
being spread here. The difference is the setup, primarily placement of bridge and sound post, to produce a sound preferred by the audience and musician. Other changes can be nut height, strings (NOT "strangs"), tail piece and loop. Like an accordion, a fiddler can have one custom made. Just as an accordionist can change the sound of their instrument by retuning the reeds, a fiddler (and their audience) prefers a certain snappier and livelier sound over the more lush and sonorous sound of a violin played in/with a symphony.
I stopped wearing boots long before I took up the fiddle. I now wear sports shoes, hiking shoes and leather dress shoes (just not all at once). My fiddle (and most other fiddlers fiddles) are kept clean because rosin buildup can adversely affect sound quality. We tend to eave it on the strings after playing but clean it up elsewhere.
A fiddler's pronunciation of the word "strings" is dependent upon their natural speech pattern, just as it is with anyone who plays accordion. Seriously, do you think any of those Irish fiddlers say, "strangs"?
Every musician, beginner, advanced, and savants, will benefit from some level of formal instruction (even if it is the parents or grandparents showing the kids how its done) and will advance more quickly than without it. Yes, even accordionists.
OK, I know ya'll are jokin'. Mostly. And so am I. Mostly.
Fiddles do differ from violins but not for the salacious rumors
being spread here. The difference is the setup, primarily placement of bridge and sound post, to produce a sound preferred by the audience and musician. Other changes can be nut height, strings (NOT "strangs"), tail piece and loop. Like an accordion, a fiddler can have one custom made. Just as an accordionist can change the sound of their instrument by retuning the reeds, a fiddler (and their audience) prefers a certain snappier and livelier sound over the more lush and sonorous sound of a violin played in/with a symphony.I stopped wearing boots long before I took up the fiddle. I now wear sports shoes, hiking shoes and leather dress shoes (just not all at once). My fiddle (and most other fiddlers fiddles) are kept clean because rosin buildup can adversely affect sound quality. We tend to eave it on the strings after playing but clean it up elsewhere.
A fiddler's pronunciation of the word "strings" is dependent upon their natural speech pattern, just as it is with anyone who plays accordion. Seriously, do you think any of those Irish fiddlers say, "strangs"?
Every musician, beginner, advanced, and savants, will benefit from some level of formal instruction (even if it is the parents or grandparents showing the kids how its done) and will advance more quickly than without it. Yes, even accordionists.
OK, I know ya'll are jokin'. Mostly. And so am I. Mostly.
As a Fiddler (not a very effective one, but still one, anyway) I think it's necessary to point out some of the fallacies brought up concerning the instrument and my fellow fiddlers.
Fiddles do differ from violins but not for the salacious rumors
I stopped wearing boots long before I took up the fiddle. I now wear sports shoes, hiking shoes and leather dress shoes (just not all at once). My fiddle (and most other fiddlers fiddles) are kept clean because rosin buildup can adversely affect sound quality. We tend to eave it on the strings after playing but clean it up elsewhere.
A fiddler's pronunciation of the word "strings" is dependent upon their natural speech pattern, just as it is with anyone who plays accordion. Seriously, do you think any of those Irish fiddlers say, "strangs"?
Every musician, beginner, advanced, and savants, will benefit from some level of formal instruction (even if it is the parents or grandparents showing the kids how its done) and will advance more quickly than without it. Yes, even accordionists.
OK, I know ya'll are jokin'. Mostly. And so am I. Mostly.
Thanks for info, Michael. I think he's dreaming of a bigger accordion! Actually he's playing very well, so actually probably has one.
AccordionJustice
Active member
When he was a boy, Lawrence Welk asked his father to buy him a $400 piano accordion, equivalent to around $5,411 in 2021. In return he promised to work on the family farm until he turned 21 to pay off his debt. As accordions became more complex, so did the labor price increase, but their image in pop culture of the time made them beloved by people in all social classes. Those who didn't have as much just made do and saved.
I've read of several instances, on Al Gore's amazing internet, of people who have R&R's the reeds on children instruments using "quality" machine grade reeds, greatly improving the sound of these diminutive boxes. Lucky for me, I can afford a real accordion.
Harrytulipan
Member
Walter special 40 (Hagström) is not expensive, I think.
Harrytulipan
Member
Accordions were mass produced. Also, poorer people did not buy the expensive accordions. They might have bought a cheap Granesso Hagström.
Dingo40
Been here for ages!
Just shows: often it's what you play and how you play it, not what you play it on!
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