Playing The Button Accordion
Angelina Pyrkins
Button accordions may be traditional instruments, but they enjoy as strong a popularity as ever before.
The accordion family includes a wide variety of styles and forms. The piano, diatonic and chromatic accordions are just a few of the most popular choices. Another important branch on the family tree, the button accordion, has been popular since it was first developed in the late nineteenth century.
The button accordion is an adaptation of an older and more basic instrument known as the melodeon. The button accordion has a unique physical characteristic, with an extra row of buttons that have been pitched a semi-tone above or below those of the melodeon. Using the bellows, the musician can actually create two notes from one single button. This manipulation gives the button accordion more fingering economy and articulation.
There are variations within the family of button accordions. The widest variations can be seen on the basic construction, keyboard systems, action and tuning of the individual instruments.
One of the most notable styles of button accordion is the diatonic. On a diatonic accordion, there is a melody-sized keyboard that is limited to the notes of diatonic scales. These notes are provided through a small number of keys, or even just one key. It is worth noting that the bass side of the diatonic usually contains the principal chords of the instrument's key, including the root notes of those chords.
Diatonic button accordions are generally bisonoric. This means that every button produces a couple of notes. One note is produced when the bellows are compressed, while the other is produced when the bellows are expanded.
Some diatonic button accordions, however, are unisonoric. In other words, each button on the garmon produces the same note, regardless of the direction of the bellows. Others offer a combination of the two styles.
The chromatic is another popular style of button accordion, with a melody-sized keyboard composed of uniform rows of buttons. These buttons are arranged to provide an increase of the chromatic pitch along the diagonals. The keyboard on the bass side of the chromatic accordion typically uses a Stradella system, one of many free-bass or converter systems.
Some instruments in this class are simply called "chromatic" accordions, even though the other types, including the piano accordion, are also fully chromatic. Since the introduction of chromatic buttons, this type of accordion has become the preference of many classical music performers. The treble keyboard of this instrument is now denser than that of a piano accordion, allowing a much greater musical range.
Various cultures have developed their own versions of modern button accordions, and have adapted their inventions to suit their own traditional styles of music. Russia alone has a number of accordions, such as the Garmon, Saratovskaya Garmonica, Livenka and the very popular Bayan.
If you love the unique sound that an accordion lends to traditional and popular music, pick up a button accordion and try your hand at playing this age-old and ever-popular instrument.
Author Angelina Pyrkins provides material for a variety of popular web magazines, on http://jicaw.com/ family fun and http://pynot.com/ family life themes.
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