What did you play before the accordion?

[Yffisch]

I started with the accordion, and am ending with it... lol

All through high school we had music class, but the teacher fast learned that I was good on accordion and then from there on, while each student was mandated to play 1 instrument a year, I was made to play 5-6 different ones.  Each time I was assigned another instrument, I learned it quickly, surpassed the other students and soon after even the teacher himself, usually within 1-2 months.  When that happened, he changed my instrument on purpose to keep me at a lower level, closer to the other students.  During high school, I played pretty much ever brass instrument, drums, woodwinds and even harp (which I hated because it hurt my fingers).

The teacher was a *******, because he let me bring in the accordion once, where I played 2 songs in class then told me that I'd never be allowed to bring it again and I was told that I was never to participate in the school competitions because I was so far above other students.  I think the real reason was because I was just better than the teacher and he was a jealous jerk.

Haha, fun story! I guess I would have been jealous as well as a teacher if my student got much better than me. Even though it was a bit jerky of him
I guess that once you improve your "learning by ear" and knows how to play one instrument, then it's kind of applicable on all instruments. I'm a little bit of the same. I know what notes to look for and I understand the intervals, and the instrument is just an instrument. Playing basic tunes on almost every instrument that exists are quite easy, but playing intermediate tunes on all the instrument is a hell and it would be impossible since there are so many technical details with each and every instrument that you need to master. But if you're a master on clarinet, then all kind of flutes + saxophone will not be a very big step. But to master one instrument from each instrument group (brass, wind, string, pluck, percussion etc) - that will be a HUGE effort.

 

[hais1273]

Nothing. I really wanted to play the guitar when I was about 11 , there was a guitar shop in Westmount Road that  I used to walk past on most days. The instruments looked so cool and interesting, and I bet the new ones smelt good too.

My Mother made it completely and absolutely clear that guitar lessons and a guitar were as likely as a trip to the moon in a  balloon. About that time I would have gone on to secondary school, where two ghastly music "teachers" cured me of any interest in music other than playing records, concerts and the radio. Music was for other people not me.

 

[Glug]

Back when I was a kid (1970s) and played the piano badly my parents spotted a pump organ for sale locally and bought it for £100 if I remember correctly.
I think a lot of places were getting rid of them at that time and getting something more modern.

It was a lot of fun to play: two keyboards and lots of stops/couplers, everything made of wood and brass.  It also made a lot of noise if you peddled fast enough.
The one in this clip is similar:  

They sold it after a few years (Id then left for univeristy) to get the space back and bought a 48 bass accordion which I still have.

If youve got the space theyre a lot of fun, just not very portable.

 

[Dingo40]

And a bit tricky to balance across your knees?

 

[Glug]

Don't think it's very good for the knees

It took 3 people to move it I think, it was about 6' high and 4' deep.
They come with a bench to sit on to play it, which wasn't a low piano style one: you have to pedal.

These days I would have a lot of fun taking it apart to see how it worked and fixing it, but I was a kid back then, and now I live in a flat.

What you can't see in that video is the "knee swells" - knee operated switches for +volume, and something I can't remember.

 

[jozz]

big sound out of that organ!

very steampunk-like

 

[Glug]

As a kid the couplers were some sort of mechanical magic

Treble coupler: Above middle C also plays an octave higher
Bass coupler: below middle C also plays an octave lower
Manual coupler: playing on lower keyboard is duplicated on top keyboard.

You can see them in action (together) at the start of that clip.

 

[Deleted member 48]

Answered this question a few times in earlier posts, but I'm happy to repeat my answer here.

I started around the age of 13 with classical guitar on my own, and later took classical guitar lessons in music school.
Still love the guitar (and lute) very much, but play it only a couple of times a year.

(Started with CBA accordion C-system at 18 years, went to the full 10 years of music school)

10 years ago, I decided I wanted to play the clarinet and did 2 years of music school with a clarinet teacher.
I like the sound of the clarinet very much, it was one of Giora Feidman klezmer cd's that made me want to play the clarinet, and the Johannes Brahms sonatas for clarinet and piano.
I did not practice a lot, and I was terrible on the clarinet. Fingering technique was easy, but I did not develop the necessary jaw and lip muscles to control the reed and the sound.
My own fault and mistake, and I wisely decided to stop with the clarinet. The decision to play the clarinet was too impulsive (only based on the sound of the clarinet), I underestimated to time to practice and fysical aspects of muscle development.


So great to learn many musicians take up the accordion as a 2nd instrument, after many years of playing other musical instruments.

(Perhaps an equally interesting question would be: "What did you play after the accordion?")

After the accordion, for me personally, it's all free reeds:
a Wicki-Hayden duet concertina, an english concertina, an accordina, and mouth harmonicas.

But the accordion really is my musical companion for life.

I don't exclude the possibility in the future to have a try on the bagpipe, the smallpipes with ... bellows, when I shall be retired.
But chances are I'll increase my concertina playing instead.
Free reeds with bellows, for me, are the most practical and easiest to play music instruments.

The ROI (return on investment) ratio is ideal with free reeds.
I don't have to practice that much, and the accordion gives me so much pleasure in music making.

(I'm not a Caruso or Pavarotti, with my low bass voice, I'm not a singer)

 

[Zevy]

I started on (in chronological order, almost all self-taught) piano, melodica, accordion, recorder, guitar, trumpet, and whatever I could get my hands on. All that remains is the accordion, and I can fool people into thinking that I can play the piano. 

 

[george garside]

mouthie ( harmonica if you were posh!) which lead to a natural progression to diatonic box when I could afford one!

george

 

[Chrisrayner]

Guitar, banjo, blues harp, mandolin, jews harp. Diatonic/melodeon. Finally c-system CBA.

 

[craptiger]

I played Piano from age 5, then Piano Accordion for 20 years, then converted to a Chromatic Accordion (C system) due to a hand injury preventing me from stretching two fingers apart enough to play thirds on a piano keyboard.