Information About ™Accordion |
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An accordion is a Musical Instrument of the handheld Bellows -driven Free Reed Aerophone family, sometimes referred to as Squeezebox es. The accordion is played by compression and expansion of a bellows, which generates air flow across Reeds ; a Keyboard controls which reeds receive air flow and therefore the tones produced. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Modern accordions consist of a body in two parts, each generally rectangular in shape, separated by a bellow. On each part of the body is a Keyboard containing buttons, levers or Piano -style keys. When pressed, the buttons travel in a direction perpendicular to the motion of the bellows (towards the performer). Most, but not all modern accordions also have buttons capable of producing entire Chords . The related Concertina differs in that its buttons never produce chords and travel parallel to the travel of the bellows (towards the opposite end of the instrument); there are also differences in the internal materials, construction, mechanics, and Tone Color , but the basic principles of sound production are identical. HISTORY The accordion is one of several Europe an inventions of the early 19th century that used free reeds driven by a bellows; notable among them were:
An instrument called accordion was first patented in 1829 by Cyrill Demian in Vienna (Interestingly, the original patent shows the name "eoline" crossed out and replaced with "accordion" in different handwriting). Demian's instrument bore little resemblance to modern instruments: It only had a left hand keyboard; the right hand simply operated the bellows. One key feature for which Damian sought the patent was the sounding of an entire chord by depressing one key. His instrument also could sound two different chords with the same key: one for each bellows direction (press, draw); this is called a ''bisonoric'' action. At that time in Vienna, mouth harmonicas with "Kanzellen" (chambers) had already been available for many years, along with bigger instruments driven by hand bellows. The diatonic key arrangement was also already in use on mouth-blown instruments. Demian's patent thus covered an accompanying instrument: an accordion played with the left hand, opposite to the way that comtemporary chromatic hand harmonicas were played, small and light enough to for travellers to take with them and use to accompany singing. The patent also described instruments with both bass and treble sections, although Demian preferred the bass-only instrument owing to its cost and weight advantages. The musician Adolph Müller described a great variety of instruments in his 1833 "Schule für Accordion". At the time, Vienna and London had a close musical relationship, with musicians often performing in both cities in the same year, so it is possible that Wheatstone was aware of this type of instrument and may have used them to put his key-arrangement ideas into practice. Jeune's flutina resembles Wheatstone's concertina in internal construction and Tone Color , but it appears to complement Demian's accordion functionally. The flutina is a one-sided bisonoric melody-only instrument whose keys are operated with the right hand while the bellows is operated with the left. When the two instruments are combined, the result is quite similar to diatonic button accordions still manufactured today. Further innovations followed and continue to the present: Various keyboard systems have been developed; voicings (the combination of multiple tones at different octaves) have been developed, with mechanisms to switch between different voices during performance; different methods of internal construction to improve tone, stability and durability, and so on. The instrument was popularized in the United States by Count Guido Deiro who was the first piano accordionist to perform in Vaudeville . Accordion is the main instrument in the Musette style of ballroom music in France (a style now largely out of fashion) and in the 1950s Chanson singing, which has a revival in the form of neo-realism. Today, the accordion is largely used in the Southern , Arthur De Faria , Leonel Gomez , Edilberto Bérgamo , Renato Borgetti , and others. BUTTON ACCORDIONS On button accordions the Melody -side Keyboard consists of a series of Button s (rather than Piano -style keys.) There exists a wide variation in keyboard systems, tuning, action and construction of these instruments. Diatonic button accordions have a Melody -side keyboard that is limited to the notes of Diatonic Scales in a small number of Keys (sometimes only one). The Bass side usually contains the principal Chords of the instrument's key and the root notes of those chords. Almost all diatonic button accordions (e.g.: below.'' A chromatic button accordion is a type of button accordion where the melody-side keyboard consists of uniform rows of buttons arranged so that the pitch increases Chromatically along diagonals. The bass-side keyboard is usually the Stradella system, one of the various free-bass systems, or a converter system. Included among chromatic button accordions is the Russia n Bayan . Sometimes an instrument of this class is simply called a '''chromatic accordion''', although other types, including the piano accordion, are fully chromatic as well. There can be 3 to 5 rows of treble buttons. In a 5 row chromatic, two additional rows repeat the first 2 rows to facilitate options in fingering. Chromatic button accordions are preferred by many Classical Music performers, since the treble keyboard with diagonally arranged buttons allows a greater range than a piano keyboard configuration. Various cultures have made their own versions of the accordion, adapted to suit their own music. Russia alone has several, including the bayan, Garmon , Livenka , and Saratovskaya Garmonika . Various hybrids have been created between instruments of different keyboards and actions. Many remain curiosities, only a few have remained in use. Some notable examples are:
STRADELLA BASS SYSTEM The Stradella Bass System uses rows of buttons arranged in a Circle Of Fifths ; this places the principal major chords of a key in three adjacent rows. Each row contains, in order: A major third (the "counter-bass" note), the root note, the major chord, the minor chord, the seventh chord, and the diminished seventh chord. Depending on the price, size or origin of the instrument, some rows may be missing completely or in different positions. In most Russian layouts the diminished seventh chord row is moved by one button, so that the C diminished seventh chord is where the F diminished seventh chord would be in a standard Stradella layout; this is done in order to achieve a better reachability with the forefinger. Common configurations are:
FREE BASS SYSTEMS There are various free bass systems in use; most consist of a rotated version or mirror image of one of the melody layouts used in chromatic button accordions. One notable exception is the Titano line of converter bass, which repeats the first two bass rows of the Stradella system one and two octaves higher moving outward from the bellows. Skillful use of the free bass system enabled the performance of classical piano music, rather than music arranged specifically for the accordion's standard chorded capability. Beginning in the 1960s, competitive performance on the accordion of classical piano compositions, by the great masters of music, occurred. Although never mainstreamed in the larger musical scene, this convergence with traditional classical music propelled young accordionists to an ultimate involvement with classical music heretofore not experienced. Many modern and Avant-garde composers (such as Sofia Gubaidulina , Luciano Berio , and Magnus Lindberg ,) have written for the free bass accordion and the instrument is becoming more frequently integrated into New Music chamber and improvisation groups. AUDIO SAMPLES RELATED INSTRUMENTS Squeezeboxes
Other free-reeds TRIVIA
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