All About Accordions
Darnell Istead
When you hear those first notes squeezed from the old accordion, you know the party's getting started! For generations, those lively notes have provided the soundtracks to celebrations around the world.
Accordions are sometimes called "squeezeboxes". Whatever the name, it is a member of the handheld, bellows-driven, free reed, aerophone family. As an accordion is played, the compression and expansion of the bellows generates airflow across the reed, causes the reed to vibrate and creates a musical tone. There are many forms of accordions, each with a keyboard to control flow of air to the reeds and produce a greater variety of tones.
Physical Features of the Accordion
Today's modern accordions consist of a two-part body. Bellows separates these two rectangular halves. On each half of the body there is a keyboard with piano style keys, buttons or levers. When pressed, these buttons travel in a direction perpendicular to the movement of the bellows, or toward the performer. Most modern accordions have buttons that are capable of producing entire chords, while traditional concertinas have buttons that only produce single notes.
Types of Accordions
There are various types of accordions, each differentiated by the styles and key note systems. Among these styles are the Piano, Chromatic, Concertina and Diatonic accordions.
Chromatic Accordion: This instrument is capable of playing a 46-note chromatic scale. Because the buttons are not diatonic, it has the greatest range of treble noted of any accordion style available these days. Chromatic accordions range in size from those with 20 treble keys and 12 bass buttons, to modern chromatic models featuring 6 treble button rows and 160 bass buttons. These styles are now very popular in Russia.
Concertina: Noted for its unique shape, the concertina can have anywhere from four to twelve sides in cross-section. It has two keyboards, one at each end of the bellows. Every one of the buttons delivers an individual note, so there are no fixed chords on a concertina. Also, the different notes and systems vary so greatly that it is almost impossible for a performer of one system to pick up a concertina of a different system and play it having to relearn the instrument from scratch.
There are other unique characteristics that set this particular instrument apart from the rest. Unlike modern accordions, the concertina's buttons never produce chords and they travel parallel to the motion of the bellows, or toward the opposite end of the instrument. In addition, the internal materials, mechanics, construction and tone color are all different from other styles of accordions, but the basic standards of sound production are identical.
Diatonic: This style of accordion is often the instrument of choice of folk and dance groups. The great sound output, light weight, low cost and playing simplicity make the diatonic one of the world's most popular accordions. Players find it easy to perform on the diatonic, as the note pattern on the keyboard is similar to that of the mouth harmonica.
Piano Accordions: The piano accordion has become the first truly standardized universal type since the development of the Stradella bass system. This means that a performer can play in a number of styles without changing the system, making the piano accordion the easiest type to play.
There's a lot more to the accordion than a simple "squeezebox". If you've always wanted to play the accordion, why not try a few different types? You'll be making sweet music with an accordion style that's easy to use and fun to play.
Darnell Istead is a contributor to several popular Internet sites, on
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