Russian Bayan Factory

This just one of many wonderful pictures of a Russian Bayan Factory on the blog of Sergei Mukhamedova.

http://ottenki-serogo.livejournal.com/177743.html

The page is in Russian but can be translated by Google Translator.
Now, keep in mind not all translators are equal (some are much funnier than others); Google Translator claims the factory as founded in 1930 and residing in Tula, which may well be accurate.

Na zdrave (to your health)!

What does it mean to 'play in a band'? I truly think 'play' is the important word here. In my last post you saw OBI very proper and quite serious. Um...these pictures are not very serious, unless you consider our intent to start the party after our last show at Minnesota's Renaisance Festival last year.

The weather was cold and dreary last October but that didn't stop us from having a good time. Natalie started the day of fun for us in full character with an Eastern European accent and sentence structure which proved so authentic that it compelled people to talk very simply, slowly and with sign language to her so she would understand they wanted to buy a CD. OBI (minus Colleen who had another gig and plus Sarah who fleeced the crowd for tips) created such a stir in the little open pub during performances that none of us had to spend our own money for drinks the rest of the day....and Natalie kept up her character's performance until we were all locked in the van and driving out of the parking lot. Na zdrave (to your health)!

Orkestar Bez Ime

One might ask themselves, who is this 'band' she's talking about?

An excellent question.

Yes, even though I'm totally accordion-centric and encouraged to be so, I spend most of my musical life working with musicians that don't play the accordion. This is Orkestar Bez Ime, which means 'Orchestra without a name' in Bulgarian. The group has it's beginnings within Ethnic Dance Theatre's The EDT Folk Orchestra. EDT is a fine dance company in Minneapolis/St.Paul whose mission is to foster understanding and awareness of world cultures through the re-creation and presentation of traditional ethnic dance and music. http://www.ethnicdancetheatre.com.

Members of OBI work with EDT whenever possible from a small ensemble of dancers and lone musician (me) for Young Audience shows in Minnesota elementary schools, to larger productions in the Spring with the full company of 24 dancers and 9 musicians.

However, year round the six inhabitants of Rogaria (OBI's home country) perform together at festivals and dances throughout the Midwest. The members are L to R seated, Colleen Bertsch (violin), Katrina Mundinger (clarinet), Natalie Nowytski (vocals and percussion), Scott Keever (guitar, mandolin), L to R standing, Dee Langley (accordion), Matt Miller (bass).

Closet Accordionist (for a night)

May 2010 - On tour OBI (rogaria.com) stayed for one night in a basement apartment behind Little Bucharest Bistro in Chicago. Very proudly I was shown to my private room.....a real treat while on tour. Imagine my surprise when I realized it was actually a walk-in closet with a bed. There on the floor in it's canvas backpack was my accordion. I wondered how in the world to explain that I was in the closet with my accordion for the first time in my life.

After settling in we went over to the bistro and started playing. And continued playing....until the owner was so happy he broke dishes while dancing and the Romanian Soccer team came in to celebrate. Somewhere around 3:00 a.m. the picture on the left was taken with the infamous saxophonist Gelu and OBI jamming. It was the first time I'd played with $20 bills tucked in my bellows as tips from the diners. What a night! And...I'm out of the closet. Thank you, Branko!

Pictures and Explanations - OBI Midwest Tour 2010

Playing in a band can be a lot of fun, especially if the other folks are like you. Orkestar Bez Ime (OBI) rogaria.com just completed a tour of Wisconsin/Illinois/Michigan. This is me with our bassist, Matt Milller, as we waited in line at the Des Plaines Oasis to buy a cup of coffee. May 13, 2010

Finding a venue for 2010 ATG

Part of the process of planning a festival, convention or any large gathering is find the appropriate venue in which to hold it. The 2010 Accordionists and Teachers Guild, International will be held in the San Francisco Bay Area. This weekend (June 19-22, 2009) I'm looking at hotels in San Jose, not far from San Francisco.

On the left is the view from my room at the Hilton San Jose. I've the privilege have one of the suites in the tower of the building which you can see in the picture at the right. It's beautiful.

Historical TLC for the ATG

Being the new president for the Accordionists and Teachers Guild, International has posed a number of unexpected challenges for me, one of which was the historical filing and storage system of this 69 year old organization.



The 2009 ATG Festival Committee, Mary Tokarski and Michele Boddicker Scheffler and myself, met at the Hilton Airport Mall of America in Bloomington (Minneapolis), Minnesota, May 21-25, 2009. We worked 14 hours a day sorting and filing to discover mementos and statistics from years past. We also set the schedule and worked with the Hilton staff regarding this year's festival 'Accordion Renaissance' presented by the ATG August 13-16 of this year, but that was the easy part of our work week.

Our ATG organizing endeavors unearthed a myriad of findings, from last year's surplus registration desk pencils to a letter from the late Anthony Galla-Rini written in 1940 regarding his views on transcribing orchestral works for accordion orchestra.



The task of sorting through all the storage boxes was an amazing experience. The three of us are proud to look forward into the future of this fine, upstanding organization. The ATG is going to have a great 'Accordion Renaissance' in August at our annual festival and convention.


left to right: Mary Tokarski (CT), Michele Boddicker Scheffler (OR), Dee Langley (MN)

ATG support at NAA in Dallas

Here's a picture from the National Accordion Association convention held in Richardson (Dallas), Texas, March of 2009. It was a wonderful event with lots of good concerts and workshops with the accordion.

Seated on either side of me is the ATG 2nd Vice President, Mary Tokarski and Treasurer, Bruce Lawrie. On the far right is NAA coordinator and ATG board member Norman Seaton.

Other ATG board members in the photo are Esther Lanting, Barbara Scott and Michele Boddicker Scheffler.

AAMS - American Accordion Musicological Society

It's been another great AAMS festival! The workshops were plentiful and well attended, the presenters really out did themselves. There were displays of antique accordions, new and heritage accordion music and merchandise, and there were concerts, competitions and a banquet. But the very finest attribute of this festival is the friendship and openness of everyone, it is truly heart-warming.





This is a picture of the Westmont Philharmonic Accordion Orchestra during the first concert of the weekend. It is conducted by Stanley Darrow. The AAMS festival is typically held the first full weekend in March in King of Prussia, which is nearby to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Mill City Accordions

One of the things I love the most about the accordion are the groups we can form. This is a picture of the Minneapolis/St.Paul based accordion orchestra, Mill City Accordions. It was taken December, 2008.

Wild Hollow

Wild Hollow, December 2008, Audubon Coffee Shop "Tea and the Classics". L to R: Colleen Bertsch, violin; Dee Langley, free-bass accordion; Katrina Mundinger, clarinet

Picture by: John Omorean

ATG Board in Mesa, Arizona

One more "official" picture taken at the Frank Marocco Accordion Event in Mesa, Arizona, January 2009, the ATG Executive Committee and Past Presidents with Frank Marocco.

L to R: Amy Jo Sawyer, Past President; Dee Langley, President; Frank Marocco, honored friend: Bruce Lawrie, Treasurer; Mary Tokarski, 2nd Vice President; Stas Venglevski, Past President.

ATG at Moracco Accordion Event

There's something very special about getting together with people having a good time with music and it was my priviledge to hang out with the accordionists, workshop presenters and guest artists attending the Frank Marocco Accordion Event in Mesa, Arizona. It was also sublime to have so many current, new and returning ATG members present. Here a picture of the ATG members that attended the event......

Of course I like this one of Frank and me

Accordion Festivals - Frank Marocco Accordion Event

It's been a number of months since I've posted and life has not stood still. I'm officially the President of the Accordionists and Teachers Guild, International and I'm very proud of the Board members and fellow Officers as we move this wonderful and historic organization into the computer age. The ATG was founded over 60 years ago, it is an honor to take the helm.

Here is a picture from my cell phone taken at the airport in Phoenix as I waited for my luggage. I was bored and really wanted to be on my way to my first outing as ATG President to the Frank Marocco Accordion Event.

And this is one of those self-portaits we all attempt with our cell phones. It came into existance because I like to send a picture home to my family when I travel. This was taken right before I went to play some folk songs for Joan Grauman to teach dance mixers to the wonderful accordionists attending this event.

Timeless Accordion Music

One of the perks of having a long association with American accordion activities is the wealth of music in my files from the past 100 years. Most of this music is unpublished now but some still available for sale. The original music written for the accordion is a treasure trove of history, the picture to the right is a scan of the cover for Trieste Overture with a copyright date of 1916 by O. Pagani Bro., New York.

Trieste Overture has been widely used by teachers and performers and is still for sale from Deffner Publications. http://www.accordions.com/deffnerm/solo/solo_tp_tz_1.html

Shelves of Accordions

I've been asked many times how many accordions I own. At one time, when I had my studio/store open I would have said 200 or so as I had a nice stock of new and used instruments for sale. Now the answer is four. A Titano Bass accordion (for ensembles) that I personally rarely get a chance to play, a Pigini B-system chromatic 4/5 reed musette that I adore playing and use in teaching, a Titano Cochran Emperor 4/7 with free bass, pedal tones and extended right hand for concert work, and the work horse of my team a Titano Grand 3/5 from the early 60's - no frills - just a hefty reed sound great for folk music. If I had my way and money be of no object I'd have more instruments to choose from.

The picture to the above is from the Pigini accordion factory, the instruments on the shelves are not complete but waiting for their bellows and bass sections. Oh, to have a private shelf of completed accordions to choose from!

On the Far Side of Accordions

If there's one item that keeps reappearing in my life it would be this cartoon which says, "Welcome to heaven, here's your harp. Welcome to hell, here's your accordion." This Gary Larson bit of humor has been emailed to me, handed to me in person at gigs and come via the post. It's also showed up on my honeymoon from an annonymous source. I have to admit, if there's one thing that comes in handy as a person who chooses the accordion for both their vocation and avocation it's a sense of humor!

More next week, until then keep your bass strap tight and don't forget to open your bottom bellows snap.

Accordion factory - Pigini

How an accordion is made is fascinating to me, these pictures are from a visit to the Pigini accordion factory. The man in the left hand picture is working on a keyboard, the person below may be working on the bass section of an accordion. Note the reed blocks in the lower right hand corner of the picture, each reed was hand tuned and waxed into place.

Horns on an accordion

Accordionists are well aware of the terms bellows, buttons, and keys but not all accordionists know or care about tone chambers.

A tone chamber changes the timbre (pronounced "TAM-ber") of the instrument and is used to apply tone color to the sound. The most common tone chamber is a wooden box inside the accordion that houses one rank of reed blocks. Sometimes it is a cover that slides into place over the air holes under the grill of an accordion.

The picture to above has examples of two early experiments in tone chambers for the accordion. If you look closely at the accordion picture you can see that early prototypes had the sound box (tone chamber) on the outside of the instrument. One of the additions resembles the bell of a trombone or tuba, the other is a hollow box used as the grill of the accordion. I suppose one could be called a tone chamber and the other a horn, verbiage aside the intent is the same, to change the timbre.

Although I can't say for sure how these instruments sound it is my guess that the open bell would project the sound, like a Stroh violin (see picture to right) and the enclosed box would give a hollow and muted tone.

World record smashed....all for Madonna!

This link and text was just sent to me by one of my favorite former students. It's an excellent example of how most people don't even know they are listening to an accordion.......

Australian radio station Nova 919's pseudo-German Hans is a devoted Madonna fan and will do anything to get a personal birthday wish to the Queen of Pop. That 'anything' culminated in him breaking the Guinness World Record for Marathon Accordion playing last Thursday. Not only that, but he broke it by playing Madonna songs ONLY. That was no mean feat as he was not allowed to repeat a song a four hour time block and he played for 29 hours 30 minutes and 17 seconds! Let's just say, Madonna's full catalogue of work was explored. Hans' attempt to break the record and grab Madonna's attention even made it as a story on to Today Tonight. Nova 919 know that Madonna is an outrageously busy woman, but they are doing everything they can to make her aware of this story in the hopes of an acknowledgement from her - even just a sentence - it would answer Hans' (and everyone at Nova 919) prayers! The full story detailing his 29 hours 30 minute on the accordion can be found at: www.nova919.com.au