Where Have All The Accordions Gone?

[Rustyt1953]

In my career as an A-list bassist, I have done many recording sessions and live shows with Zydeco and Norteno groups.

The accordion has no middle ground. In the hands of an accomplished player it can be the defining sound and drive of the band.

In the hands of a lesser player it is a torture device listed in the Geneva Convention.

 

[vytoland]

my mother was a HUGH fan of lawrence welk............so, at the age of 6, I was introduced into the wonderful world of music lessons

I really wanted to play the saxophone or guitar...........but was "encouraged" to learn he accordion...........and so, each week I would sit in a small room, with the door closed, beside the cigar smoking teacher and play the accordion...........

I, now, do not have to worry about going to hell after death..........all the Transgressions I committed on earth ............have been satisfied by the suffering in that room.....

 

[labworm]

my mother was a HUGH fan of lawrence welk............so, at the age of 6, I was introduced into the wonderful world of music lessons

I really wanted to play the saxophone or guitar...........but was "encouraged" to learn he accordion...........and so, each week I would sit in a small room, with the door closed, beside the cigar smoking teacher and play the accordion...........

I, now, do not have to worry about going to hell after death..........all the Transgressions I committed on earth ............have been satisfied by the suffering in that room.....

John Sosnowski and John Kopachinski both played the accordion while we attended St.Stanislaus school.

 

[federali]

I think I Know Where The Accordions Went!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trVo1FAhCVQ

 

[gunblade]

Ever hear of perfect pitch with an accordian? It's when you toss the accordian in the dumpster and you hit a banjo.

 

[photocosmo]

Jimmy Sturr and Frankie Yankovic possess 98% of all the accordions in the world.

Actually it would seem that quite a few of them wound up at my friend's music store just down the street from my place of employment. If you google "Accordion Heaven" and follow the trail you will find that they are still popular and pretty darned spendy to boot! Not surprising considering that they are beautiful and complicated instruments.

BTW besides being a virtuoso on the "squeeze-box" he also sells a modern electronic version of them which are hand-crafted for him in Italy.

For myself, I prefer the smallest and second most annoying (in the wrong hands: MINE) instrument: the harmonica. YES! Ken sells them too but I am forbidden to play one in the store.

P.S. IMHO the most annoying instrument in the "wrong hands" would be the Bag Pipes.

 

[mc5aw]

Once everyone picked up guitars, the accordion market got squeezed.

 

[Ogandydancer]

As an aside I also like the Concertina. When played by a good player they sound great.

 

[A10]

Jimmy Sturr and Frankie Yankovic possess 98% of all the accordions in the world.

I actually have a Frankie Yankovic CD sitting here somewheres....I bought it to irritate the grandkids. It works!

 

[labworm]

photocosmo

Plucked idiophones are the favorite musical instrument in the dental field.

 

[cowart]

I really prefer listening to bagpipes......

"An ill wind that no one blows good"

 

[arjay]

I really prefer listening to bagpipes......

That would be the other side of the family [emoji32]

 

[wbraswell]

Is Frankie any kin to Al?

 

[photocosmo]

My Dear Labworm,
That does not surprise me in the least, in fact my serious fear of dentists is the result of one such amateur musician's amusing little paradiddle played on my "choppers" around the age of 13.

It still resonates with me today.

 

[federali]

Another Interesting Accordion Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9A6h7Z_dBo

 

[venomballistics]

man ... you can just feel the accordion love in that vid

 

[calmex]

"An ill wind that no one blows good"

It would be very hard to get the youth of today's generation (myself included) to climb over-the-top of a World War One trench to follow the bag-piper into the face of German machine-guns like as happened a hundred years ago.

But perhaps if you kept the pipers in the trench, wailing away with that Rowdy-Roddy-Piper sound, some would consider climbing out to face the music. And if you added an accordian to accompany the pipe-music, you might just clear the trench without the need of a Provost Marshal walking up-and-down the duckboards with a cocked Webley in his hand and a whistle in his mouth.

 

[Coldshooter]

On Thistle & Shamrock it was once said welcome to heaven here's your harp welcome to hell here's your accordion.

 

[Triathloncoach]

I was at a Billy Joel Concert a lot of years ago. He started playing an acordian. He told the crowd he grew up in a tough neighborhood and if the other kids knew he played piano they would have beaten him up. But they would have killed him if they knew he played the acordian.

General comment - Billy Joel is extremely funny.

 

[DeadAye]

I guess there's something wrong with me.
Bagpipes speak to me like no other instrument does.
The sound of bagpipes played at a military or policeman's funeral stirs the soul.

I believe I have something in my eyes.
Listen to this and reflect on what we have here - and why - while I find a box of Kleenex.

Bagpipes bad? Ha!

 

[hangnoose]

ACCORDIONS

Most of their popularity died with Lawrence Welk. The cost to make them just rose and rose. Some were kept to torture kids with lessons. Most in use today are in New Orleans with groups like Buckwheat Zydeco. If they can't get your toe tapping, you might be dead.

 

[soFlaNative]

Thanks DeadAye for the goose bump moment with that top vid. The pipes have always hit me where I live, figure if it didn't I'd have no soul.

The accordion? Too much hit or miss, although an old gent would play on the beachfront down here on a Friday night and could always get a few folks happy footing along the Broadwalk.

 

[shouldazagged]

I was never an accordion or Welk fan, stems from my rock and roll indoctrination, Elvis' water boarding us kids and brain washing by that Dick Clark feller.

But then there was this side to Welk:

http://youtu.be/t8tdmaEhMHE

 

[Jinglebob]

An accordion player drove to the beach. He checked to make sure that his accordion was secure in the back seat and then locked the car.

After a couple of hours of beach walking he returned to his car and discovered the rear window broken out. Fearing the worst, he looked in the back seat only to discover a second accordion sitting next to his.

 

[A10]

But then there was this side to Welk:

http://youtu.be/t8tdmaEhMHE

Tankayou tankayou Bobby an Sissy, for dat luvaly zong. Anda now heeers a wunnerful song by Chimmie Hendricksssa............

 

[wuluf]

Y'all know the definition of a gentleman?
One who knows how to play the accordion...and doesn't.

I love zydeco and many celtic bands rock a squeezebox of some sort, but as was said, in the wrong hands? Ouch...

 

[hangnoose]

INSTRUMENTS GONE BAD.

My Father played the piano & organ. We loved piano music, but THE ORGAN made you feel like you were at a roller rink or hockey game. Thank God he never got his hands on an accordion!

 

[ACORN]

I really prefer listening to bagpipes......

I love the bagpipes but always smile when I think of how someone described them as sounding like a truck backing over a flock of geese!

 

[ACORN]

A little acordeen some banjo and an anvil but still pretty cool
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=e4Ao-iNPPUc

 

[DeadAye]

The girl playing the guitar and singing Highway to Hell is pretty entertaining too