Spending a life with an accordion and accordionists may give me an
interesting view of the world. Interesting to others or not, I find it
fascinating because no matter how much I learn there is always something
that intrigues me to learn more. This Russian accordion ensemble plays
familiar music, but the instruments are largely unfamiliar. I call it
one normal B-system chromatic accordion and friends. When put through Google Translate their name means "Russian Voice", I think they may have been headed toward something like "The Sounds of Russia". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOzi6gilQoE
I've
been spending time looking through my videos and still pictures from Amala
School in Serbia. I am reminded how very comfortable I was at the compound and
how very strange everything was. Here are three pictures I really like.
Grandmother
Three
generations were staying in the houses on the cul de sac up in the hills of
Valjevo, this is the grandmother who spoke not one word of English but always
said hello somehow. She would sometimes meet me at the gate and talk with me as
we walked up the drive to the houses. I never understood a word but that didn't
bother her. She would smile and wave as we parted ways. I personally adored
her, and her whisk broom.
Purple Room
This
is the room I stayed in for the first week of school. There was no filter used
on the photo, it was this color and I loved it! What you can't see in the
picture is that the temperature was mostly around 100 degrees with no air
conditioning. At night it cooled down to around 75-85 degrees but the windows
really didn't open to let the cooler air in. Quite an experience for this
Minnesota girl who sleeps with the window cracked open all winter.
Cousins
These
young people were staying in the neighborhood and came to visit us during the
days at the compound. They spoke a little English and German and were
delightful. It saddens me that I did not get their names before they left the
area, I think their eyes tell an amazing story.
I receive a publication each month as a member of the Twin Cities Musician's Union, Local 30-73. It has news from all genres of professional musicians and orchestras that keeps me connected at an International level.
I was so pleased to find this article today, Cory is a friend and has agreed to be my jazz coach during the NE 2 NE Accordion Expedition. I think I chose wisely.
When it comes to mainstream music, Cory Pesaturo of Local 198-457
(Providence, RI) does not currently consider the accordion to be part of that
mix. As an independent musician who books all his own gigs, even potential
agents tend to scratch their head, wondering where to place him
“It’s been a problem,” he says. “It’s kind of caused me to do all this
innovation and to keep pushing, which is why I have a flame-painted accordion
with lights in it.”
In his early days, Pesaturo played folky European ethnic styles with vast
arpeggios and riffs. With influences ranging from Igor Stravinsky to Art Tatum,
Freddie Hubbard, and Stevie Wonder, today he strives to create a sound unlike
any accordion player he has ever heard.
He says he found his passion in improvisation. “When I found jazz, is when I
really started to love playing the accordion, because it fit so well on the
instrument,” Pesaturo explains.
In 2002, Pesaturo was the youngest person to win the National Accordion
Championship, and in 2011 he won the Primus Ikaalinen World Championship as the
first American contestant. He is one of only four accordionists in history to
win a world championship on both acoustic and electronic accordion.
Part of the NE 2 NE Accordion Expedition is about performing on the AAMS Friday night concert in Whipanny, New Jersey.
Although my workshop will be Rroma, I've been asked to provide a
program of French music on the concert. I've been researching and soul
searching to see which tunes (old and new) make my heart shine since I
believe the best concert is given with music from your heart.
I
have been particularly taken with French musette "Valse Merovingienne"
written by Andre Verchuren and Georges Ghestem ca. 1955. The chord
structure is more Celtic than French and the melody is a bit melancholy
while oddly calming.
The name was even more intriguing. With a little help from Wikipedia I learned this:
The
Merovingians were the first Germanic tribe to resettle on Roman land.
Their dynasty came to rule the Franks in a region known as Francia in Latin for 300 years from the middle of the 5th century.
This
is a picture of one of the Merovingian Kings. He reminds me of what the
basic melody of "Valse Merovingienne" sounds like. I do believe I will
enjoy making a new arrangement of the original waltz to play on the
concert!
Often I hear the someone say, "The party has started, the accordion is here!" when I get to a gig. I would love to think they think I'm an awful lot of fun personally, but I believe they are referring to the type of music the accordion plays.
The Friday night concert at AAMS (American Accordion Musicological Society) during the MAMTG (Mid-Atlantic Music Teachers Guild) convention will feature French music. Here one of my favorites, "Jeanette" by Guy Viseur on YouTube.
I just added a couple favorite pictures to my Kickstarter project NE 2 NE Accordion Expedition and thought to share them here. Pledge if you can, you get cool rewards!
Performance with The EDT Folk Orchestra
During the FUBAR Omniverse on KFAI radio, photo by Colleen Bertsch
There's always a bit of intrigue and surprise generated by the reality of travel plans.
I
was checking the Amtrak website for the availability of compartments on
my round trip from Minneapolis to Philadelphia (changing trains in
Chicago) and discovered that one of the trains needed was no longer
listed as a connection. The Cardinal line (Chicago-Philadelphia) had
disappeared.
This prompted a phone call directly to Amtrak where I
poured out my concerns to the agent. She was a gem and dug around in
the files until she saw what the issue was. The Cardinal was active but
the Empire Builder (Minneapolis-Chicago, originating in Seattle) was so
consistently late arriving in Chicago that Amtrak no longer considered
it a viable transfer. This must have happened very recently because I
had checked the website two weeks ago and the connection was listed.
Solution: Leave a day early, stay over night in Chicago to catch the Cardinal the next day as originally planned.
All
was good, for the moment, because the trains connected well on the way
home to Minneapolis. One is always ready for an easy trip back to their
home.
Then I got the other bad news, there were no more
compartments left on that train the day I wanted leave for home. To make
matters a little more complicated, the Cardinal line is the only train
leaving from Philadelphia with checked baggage, it only runs three days a
week. You do need checked luggage when you travel with a larger
instrument as a carry on.
For years I've been trying to make people feel better about having to travel with their accordion. I've said, "Oh, don't worry, just carry it on. Not a problem with a soft sided case."
I think something may have changed because I now get so sick to my stomach every time I need to take my accordion farther than a car ride away. Could it be that the airlines have damaged my concert instrument twice already and cost me a couple thousand dollars? Or maybe that I have to argue it on the plane despite my Musician's Union card in hand which should guarantee I can carry it aboard the aircraft? Or maybe it's that sick feeling at the security checkpoints as they take me aside to swab/search the outside and inside of the instrument and/or me?
On Amtrak, my accordion will never leave my side, my meals will be made for me and I can sleep all the way east (1,200 miles) if I want to. Voila, the NE 2 NE Accordion Expedition has been created and should go live on Kickstarter in a couple of days. Hurray Amtrak!
This March I'll be presenting a
workshop telling of my experiences at Amala School in Valejo, Serbia during
the summer of 2012. Amala School is an opportunity to live with Rroma (Gypsy)
musicians and learn music and language. It was an indescribable experience but
I will do my best to pass along the some of the things I learned to others.
Accordion and Clarinet teacher, Amala School, 2012
Here is a description of my workshop:
Play Gypsy (Rroma) Music Today - Dee Langley
Experience the excitement and fulfillment of music at your fingertips while exploring
the rich, mysterious, and romantic melodies of the Rroma people. During the
summer of 2012 Dee attended the Amala School in Vallejo, Serbia where she lived
with and was taught by Gypsy (Rroma) musicians. This workshop is open to anyone
who has a desire to experience world cultures through music and learn more
about what the Rroma people are really like.
AAMS is held in conjunction with the Mid-Atlantic Music Teachers Guild - March
28, 29, - 30 in Whippany, New Jersey.
Katrina Mundinger & Dee Langley represent Bulgaria, photo by Nick Doten
Festival of Nations 2013, Katrina
and I represented Bulgaria during the school mornings at River Centre
in St. Paul, MN. These young ladies only sat for a while and then made
up their own dances to Balkan music. There were more than 12,000 young
people in attendance the Friday morning this was taken.
After a little vacation from blogging I am so ready to run (not walk) into some wonderful new endeavors with the accordion, Balkan and Rroma music and teaching and let you know all about it!
I am excited to announce a new class offered this summer by the Minneapolis Park Board beginning June 3, 2013:
Accordion:
Twin Cities World Ensemble
Experience the excitement and
fulfillment of music through this community ensemble while exploring the rich,
mysterious and sometimes romantic melodies from the Balkans, Eastern Europe,
and the Rroma (Gypsy) people. The Twin Cities World Ensemble offers a look at
our friends on the other side of the world with help from the most time honored
folk instrument, the accordion. TCWE is open to all ages and levels. Ensemble
members should have an accordion in good working condition, a folding music
stand, and a desire to discover world adventures through music.
Instructor Bio: Dee Langley is an award winning musician and composer
specializing in both solo and ensemble works for the accordion. Ms. Langley
teaches at Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC) and is the winner
of the 2012 Minnesota Emerging Composer Award (World Music) from the American
Composer Forum and the 2011-2012 McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians
administered by MacPhail Center for Music.
Each weekday at Amala School we will have Roma language lessons in addition to solo and group music tutors.
If I think learning music by ear along with new fingering and scales
will be a good challenge, the Roma language lessons probably will eclipse
everything.
The following text and alphabet were copied from a great website, http://www.omniglot.com/writing/romany.htm. I personally lay no claim to the information since I am totally ignorant about the language of the Serbian/Romani (Gypsy) people. However, Amala School, Veljevo, Serbia, should take care of that.
Romany
Romany, or Romani, is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 5-6
million Roma people throughtout Europe and the USA. The largest concetration
of Roma people live in Romania. In English these people are often called
Gypsies. The language is closely related to the languages of northern India,
particularly Punjabi, and the Roma are thought to have originally come from
that region. Some people consider Romany to be a group of dialects while
others think there are several, closely-related Romany languages.
The Muslim invasions of the northern part of the Indian subcontinent
around 1000 AD resulted in massive movements of populations, probably including
the ancestors of the Roma, who are thought to have moved into Anatolia. In
1300, after the Mongolian invasion of Europe, the Roma moved west into
Europe and took up a mainly nomadic lifestyle.
Romany alphabet (Romani šib)
This is the official standard alphabet for Romany. It was standardized
in 1990 at the Fourth World Romani Congress in Serock, Poland. This alphabet
is used by all the Romany languages/dialects except Carpathian Romany and
Finnish Romany.
In the glittering tradition of American movie grandeur, here's a little memory of how thing might have been in the 1930s and 1940s when visiting a movie theater.
I lived this memory tonight at the Heights Theater in Columbia Heights, Minnesota where a musician performs for a half an hour before the movie begins. I'll be sharing this with the musicians in Serbia because it is just so Hollywood and so American. Especially the part at the end with the organ sinking into the pit as the disco ball swirls during the rousing final chords!
I've been overseas more than a dozen times so I know I'll need some type of voltage converter for my battery chargers and such. Searching for information on what electrical outlets Serbia might provide I came across this explanation:
Type
C
Type C is the most common outlet
used in Europe. It is sometimes called the "Europlug." It is not
grounded and includes two rounded 0.157-inch pins. It is 250 volts and widely
used in all of Europe.
The type C
plug can be used in Type E, Type F, Type J, Type K and Type L outlets. It can
also be forced to work with Type D and Type G sockets.
More confused than ever I checked the images from the search I found this:
Type C Plug
Oh, that one! The proper voltage converter is now packed.
Part of traveling outside of the United States is depending on your feet rather than a car. Walking a mile or more every day has been a great addition to my preparation for enjoying recreation and shopping time after hours at Amala School. These nice hikes in our Twin Cities parks have been fun and
relaxing; this picture was taken today during a short break from walking on a lovely (albeit humid and 93 degrees) afternoon.
Today was the 4th of July in America. Most people had meat on the grill, corn on the cob and watermelon. Knowing that my meal was similar to so many million people living in my own country made me curious as to what a favorite dish of the Balkans would look like.
American Burger
Balkan Pljeskavica
It's nice to know we all share some things in common.
I specialize in both solo and ensemble work on the accordion and have been fortunate enough to perform with the Minnesota Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Ancia Quartet, Minnesota Sinfonia, Minneapolis Philharmonic and Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra. I am a past president of Accordionists and Teachers Guild, International and now enjoy being the President of the Mill City Accordion Association as well as event coordinator for the NE Accordion Festival. I live in NE Minneapolis and am a faculty member of Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC) teaching accordion. A very wonderful thing happened recently, I won the 2011-2012 McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians and if that wasn’t enough the 2012 Minnesota Emerging Composer’s Award from the American Composer’s Forum (Orkestar Bez Ime, World Music). A dream comes true for this accordion kid!
This prompted a phone call directly to Amtrak where I
poured out my concerns to the agent. She was a gem and dug around in
the files until she saw what the issue was. The Cardinal was active but
the Empire Builder (Minneapolis-Chicago, originating in Seattle) was so
consistently late arriving in Chicago that Amtrak no longer considered
it a viable transfer. This must have happened very recently because I
had checked the website two weeks ago and the connection was listed.
All
was good, for the moment, because the trains connected well on the way
home to Minneapolis. One is always ready for an easy trip back to their
home.
Yup, I've changed my mind enough to create a Kickstarter project to raise enough funds to take Amtrak all the way from Minneapolis/St. Paul to Philadelphia to play a concert and give a work shop for the Mid-Atlantic Music Teachers Guild and American Accordion Musicological Society festival this March.
