How to Repair Accordions

Series Summary

Music is one of the primary forms of communication on Earth. Whether the use of tones and melodies developed before, after, or in conjunction with spoken language is unknown; yet music is unique in that it helps us to talk to each other in ways that language cannot achieve. It creates a connection between people that is not limited by time, distance, or relationship; a song can speak to anyone, anywhere. That’s why music continually changes and grows, is still loved and still proliferates. Music is a living language.

The accordion might be considered one of the dialects of that language. An accordion is a bellows instrument, using a mixture of keys and stops to create a distinct timbre and resonance that lend themselves easily to Zydeco, Tejano, and Polka music. It is played by squeezing and expanding the bellows while depressing keys, buttons, or stops, depending upon the variety of accordion.

The sound an accordion makes is usually light and full of harmony, hence the types of music the instrument is typically associated with. Yet, it can also represent a wider range of human emotion; its tonal registers can express sadness, longing, and contemplation, as evidenced in traditional French music. Some players, including Judy Tenuda and “Weird Al” Yankovic have found that the accordion is the perfect instrument for comedy.

In this free video series,

The accordion might be considered one of the dialects of that language. An accordion is a bellows instrument, using a mixture of keys and stops to create a distinct timbre and resonance that lend themselves easily to Zydeco, Tejano, and Polka music. It is played by squeezing and expanding the bellows while depressing keys, buttons, or stops, depending upon the variety of accordion.

If you have noticed a funny sound coming from your accordion, it might need to be repaired. Now, this is not as scary as it may seem. Accordions are easy to take apart. In fact, all you need is a set of pliers. Our

Video Transcript

"AMANDA CLAIRE: So, one reason I have this instrument on the table, this little kind of air organ, is that a lot of out elements of this is very similar to how an accordion works inside. This board here is drilled with little holes, and behind those holes are the reeds, probably brass or steel reeds in an instrument like this, that are going to be--air is going to flow over them. And an instrument like this has a fan in it. If it is was pump organ, it would have had bellows in it kinda like an accordion has. But all of this is very similar to what's inside of an accordion. You see when I press a key, here, you have this little valve that pops up, and basically what it does is it opens up that hole and now air can flow through that hole and cause that reed to vibrate. Okay. So, we're going to open up an accordion. Not only did you see how it's put together inside, but for couple other reasons. One is, is that if you get an accordion, or even if you own one, you've gotten one for a few years, sometimes a reed will stop working, and it's not the end of the world. It doesn't mean that you have to send the accordion to the accordion repair shop. You can actually often fix that yourself. So, we're going to learn how to take it apart and just kind of look at what's inside of an accordion, how you can fix a reed or a valve that's not working too well, and all you really need to do that is a set of needle nose pliers."