Learn the History of the Accordion

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, learn the parts of an accordion. Our expert, Amanda, explains how an accordion works and how to take care of it. Learn what classifies an accordion as well. So, if you are looking to begin your accordion music career, watch this free video series today!

Video Transcript

"AMANDA CLAIRE: So if you've ever wanted to learn how to play the accordion, your friends and family might be discouraging you from such a hobby because people have mixed feelings about accordions. They have a very bright sound. They really stand out above background music. Some people really like them. Other people--there are actually people that just can't stand the sound of an accordion. I personally, love the sound of an accordion. It's very popular. In a lot of music around the world, obviously, in America, it's very popular in old cowboy music, obviously, zydeco, Cajun music. It has a long history in German music, polka and Czech music, French music, Italian music. I mean, it's really--it kinda has a worldwide influence. Certainly, Mexico, Tex-Mex, Tejanto and Conjunto music all has different types of accordion music in it. In this video, we're going to be focusing on the piano accordion. And what a piano accordion is, is an accordion that has piano keys on it. This is an accordion here. We've got this instrument opened up for you here to show--there's a lot of things that one of these little air organs has that are similar to an accordion. But we're kind of going to be limiting this series to piano accordions. It's an accordion that has piano keys on it and we'll talk about some of the other types of the accordions. And we're going to just basically learn about basic accordion structure, accordion anatomy, how to choose an accordion if you're buying one and very, very, basic playing skills."