New Member Introduction / All Groups

[Joe Tierno]

Hello,

I am new to the group and would like to introduce myself.  Learning music has been a struggle for me partly because having been born in 1941, I am not destined to be a virtuoso, but have loved every moment since I began my journey on June 26, 2012.  Technically, that may or may not be accurate.

My first exposure to the accordion was probably in the late 1940s or early 1950s. As a descendant of Italian immigrants my father wanted me to play the accordion at our family gatherings every Sunday at the home of my grandparents.  We had so many people there every Sunday it would now be considered a family reunion, but that is another matter.

My few lessons with a piano accordion were painful; it was nearly as tall as me and was close to my weight. I hated every moment of it but looking back I remember being very impressed by its beauty. I never got past the first line of “Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes”, or something similarly named.  When our group had its first (and my last) concert, I made sure to sit in the middle of all the other accordion students and fake it by pushing the air button and nothing else.  That was the end of my musical education until 2007.

During a trip to the village of our ancestors, Roscigno, about forty kilometers from Salerno, my sister and I witnessed an event that changed my view of the accordion.  A nearby village was having a festival and everyone was dressed in period costume.  Little girls were dancing down the small streets to the accompaniment of about ten little boys playing diatonic accordions. We were choking back tears because it became clear to me that this is what my father was trying to recreate in Binghamton, N.Y. where I grew up.

Later in the day, some of the boys showed up in our village and gave an impromptu concert.  Here is a link if you are interested.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euNS9s6TDp0  Late in the video I zoomed in on the balcony of where my grandmother was raised; you can see why this was such a big deal for me.

Not knowing the difference I bought a few diatonic accordions through the years because that is what got me motivated, plus the size and beauty appeal to me.  Later I discovered the chromatic button accordion (CBA).  My profile picture shows me with a very expensive CBA which I don’t deserve, but at my age I don’t care.  While it was being built I asked the manufacturer about putting a serial number on it but somehow it came out with my name on it.  I was a little embarrassed about that being too pretentious, but I will get over it.

I have done everything to find a teacher but it is nearly impossible.  The closest I have come to an accordion teacher is through a community music program here in Rochester, N.Y.  I have a great teacher who has five decades of teaching mostly voice and piano, but never accordion.  Her father was a world class accordion teacher and she played many decades herself but has not picked one up in many years because of health problems.  Basically, I play something for her and she helps me with my learning of musical performance.  No formal lessons or hands-on show and tell, but I have learned a lot.  I started with her on June 26, 2012 but now, June 12, 2017, I have found the structure I need with this online program.

I am looking forward to learning as much as I can.

 

–The following video is intended to demonstrate my capability at the beginning of the online course so I can use it as a benchmark. It was recorded about a month ago.

[Patricia Bartell]

Hi Joe,

It’s wonderful to get to meet you!  Thank you for sharing your story here in the forum.  We all look forward to watching your progress as you go!

Please feel free to reach out if you need anything!

Kindly,

~Patricia

 

[Richard Moore]

Hi, I am new here and wanted to say hello. Here’s my story which I have just written on my profile…

First picked up a Norwich Accordion Band-loaned Accordion just over a year ago – end Sept 2016. Bit rough around the edges and so bought my own first cheap Accordion Oct 2016 to see how I got on with it. Loved it, started with the Norwich Accordion Beginners Band and graduated to the main Band on 3rd Jan 2017.  http://www.norwichac.co.uk

Totally fallen in love with the Accordion and bought my Paolo Sorporani Super 2 in March 2017 which has recently had a service and a tune-up.

My Accordion journey all started because of my 25 year old daughter who wanted to learn the Accordion, thinking it might help with her acting career. She was loaned an Accordion by the Norwich Accordion Club. Well… the Accordion sat in a corner and I looked at it and looked at it and looked at it. I finally said to myself, I am a Grade 8 pianist, I should be able to play that instrument at some level – I am going to give it a go.

Gave it a go and the rest is history.

Our daughters have left home and there is a standing joke in the family that they have been replaced by two Accordions as my wife has also taken it up. She’s a pianist too and the Accordion has re-kindled our past musical background later in life. Fabulous.

Long story short, I am an experienced pianist, frustrated with the left hand’s faffing around on the accordion bass. Tried a local teacher or two, but didn’t get on very well. I don’t think they knew what to do with me! Which is why I turned to Accordion Life and lessons on demand.

I loved Fred’s Technique lessons and started Accordion Life Piano Accordion lessons at Level 2. Been loving it and the lessons are about right for where my left hand currently is. The Deschamps Technique is a challenge to apply, but I can testify that it certainly works and things I was struggling with before in terms of technique, I now find much easier.

I have found Norwich Accordion Band a challenge as I am playing with people who have been playing the Accordion for 4 decades or more and I’ve only been playing one year. I’ve managed to get up-to-speed by recording all our current pieces and practicing a lot, albeit playing only the right hand as we are a full 6-part orchestra, including Bass and Drums. But this has got me playing a wide range of music and has greatly helped me develop my bellows control.

I have performed at 4 concerts in 2017 as a Second Accordionist in Band and I help out the beginner’s band with some of their sing-along concerts in old people’s homes. Everybody likes music and it’s great to see the older folks in life singing along.

I now want to progress my left hand by following Accordion Life and develop a solo repertoire.

I have also discovered a liking for arranging music and have started my own arrangements on a variety of poplular music pieces with the focus on a 6-part Accordion Band. My software is the freely available Musescore. I am treating it like a backing band (PC generated from software), playing along to my big stereo at home, with me as the solo Accordionist. This is huge fun and very rewarding. Playing the Lead Accordion part to a full 6-part Accordion rendition of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody is an absolute blast.

My Accordion is teaching me a lot about life and I love it to bits. Thank you for reading.

[Patricia Bartell]

Hi Richard!

Thank you for sharing your story and your journey with us!  Glad you are enjoying the resources we have.  We are currently working on a course that focuses ONLY on the left hand so you will be among the first to be notified when it is released.

In the Community section for Piano Accordion of our website – some have commented on your story.

Look forward to following your progress.

Please feel free to reach out if you need anything!

 

Kindly,

~Patricia

[robert utterback]

Hello, My name is Bob Utterback.  Just turned 65 in 2017.  While I still run my business from home, I’m a snow bird. Spend the winters in Sarasota Florida and the summers in New Richmond, Indiana.  My story is very much like many that I’ve read online. I start playing when I was young and stopped. I started practicing scales a few years ago.  Like many of you have suggested, finding a teacher for the accordion is very difficult. I really like Accordion Life’s  teaching style. I think it could be a solution to my music quest.

My first objective is to review all the basics and get my music skill to a much higher level.

My second objective is to get good enough playing some songs so I can comfortably preform at the local accordion club in Sarasota. They meet once a month and have some really professional players. Bottom line: Right now I cannot keep up with them, but I hope to get there.

My third objective is to decide what style of music to focus on. Along with this comes the question, how specialized of a midi-accordion does one invest in?

So the adventure starts, I wonder how far it will take me?

[Patricia Bartell]

Hi Bob!  Welcome to Accordion Life!!  I love that you have your 3 objectives!  It’s easier to know how to map out your journey when you have some destinations!

I look forward to following your progress.

Please feel free to reach out if you need anything!

Also know that Skype lessons are available as you get farther along and want personal feedback.

Kindly,

~Patricia Bartell

[Alans]

Hi my name is Alan and I am a student of the accordion in Toronto. I had the great pleasure of meeting the wonderful Patricia Bartell about five years ago

at the American Accordion Association convention in Hershey Pennsylvania. Not only is Patricia a wonderful human being with the most positive energy, she’s incredibly passionate about the accordion. I joined this site when I first heard about it in the beginning but I haven’t followed the developments and now

that I’m trying to become more involved with the practice of the instrument I need to check out the available resources and see what I can start to use.

I studied clarinet for about sixteen years and then met a woman who taught accordion and I told her I was always in love with the accordion but it was too daunting and she said no it isn’t, so I joined her class and studied with her for a while. Then I studied for five years with a woman who had been teaching accordion in the same school for over fifty years-she just retired last year because there aren’t students anymore. She was amazing but I felt I needed to move on. I haven’t had a regular lesson in over two years and I miss it so bad. And I’ve been stuck at Palmer Hughes Book Four for maybe four years now

and I so desperately want to move on to book five-it just drives me crazy.

I haven’t really looked through this site yet but I will over the next few days. I believe there is no greater and more beautiful instrument than the accordion-it will make you want to  sing and it will make you want to cry. My most favourite type of music is classical music on the accordion and one day I hope to

be able to learn the free bass. Now I just need to start practising again. Hi Patricia, thank-you for this site and I will look into becoming an official member

and seeing what the site has to offer. The accordion is the best-it’s just that my progress has been sadly very slow.

[Patricia Bartell]

Hi Alan,

Thank you for introducing yourself and your kind words!

I remember meeting you at AAA in Hershey, PA.  That was a fun time!

Let us know how we can help you get to book 5!  Our courses go to Level 3 at this point (which is equivalent to book 4 of Palmer Hughes).

There are also private Skype sessions where we tailor the curriculum to your learning style and needs.  We can also teach you Free Bass! 🙂

Look forward to helping you on your accordion journey!

Kindly,

~Patricia

[Sylvie Boisel]

Hello,

All started when I was 7 years old, I think, I had an accordion for Christmas. Probably a kind of toy…ahahah

But it is just about 6 years ago that I  bought a second hand piano accordion in Sydney Australia, on the street, to an accordionist. I still have it in Las Vegas…A Weltmeister 60 bass. Unfortunately I do not have the diminished ..and a little more than 2 octaves.  I have also  a same brand accordion in France, a little bigger but still no diminished chords, ahahaha. Anyhow firstly practicing to see if I am serious and then I will buy something bigger maybe. I believe for what I want to do, it’s ok.

What I would like to achieve. Well many things, lol. I am a singer.

So I would like to: Accompany myself sometimes. or play just a few embellishment notes while playing with my jazz trio or quartet. I dream somewhere to have a button accordion. One day perhaps Apart some Chromatique Bayan B, the other accordions Italian or French are too expensive for me, currently, since its mostly for the pleasure. Hopefully with our courses here, I will play a little better and change my mind. 🙂 and stay with Piano accordion.

Since I couldn’t find a course for accordion accompaniment for singer, I am learning piano accompaniment. Accordion life will help me more to correct things and to do some solo. I am currently reviewing level 1 but I do not do the exercises. I guess I will start really at level 2. It’s good to do all exercises but as a free lance singer entertainer, I have plenty of other things to learn or to do…..like practicing voice, guitar, piano, learning new songs, finding gigs, writing songs, dreaming. So I do not wish to do exercises that I know already…

I do like the ambient in the videos, serious, but with humor. Congrats to the team.

 

 

 

[Patricia Bartell]

A pleasure to have you Sylvie!  Welcome to Accordion Life!  Thank you for sharing your journey of where you are currently and where you want to go.   Accompaniment is a valuable tool to know how to do and the accordion lends itself to it beautifully.

Look forward to following your progress.

Please feel free to reach out if you need anything!

Kindly,

~Patricia

[Anne]

Hello everyone! My name is Anne, and I live in California. I am a long-time woodwind player (saxes, clarinets), and can play a bit of piano and organ, but not very well (and mostly playing chord variations with the left hand). After another trip to Mexico, and the chance to see/hear accordions of all sizes, I decided that perhaps I have found the right instrument for me! I found a local seller of a used Universal brand accordion on Craigslist and took the plunge! He said it was about 35 years old and he got it new as a youth. It is in excellent shape and appears to be a woman’s sized accordion. (I found an identical one being sold by an online accordion dealer which gives its specs as follows: 15 1/2″ keyboard, 41 treble keys, 120 basses, 5 treble and 2 bass registers, 2/4 sets reeds and LM tuning. I don’t even know what those last two things mean, but I’ll figure it out! It does say “made in Italy” and I also found a video of a white version of it that says it was made by Guerrini.)

I signed up for a membership here at Accordion Life to learn how to play! Family members have been teasing me, but my husband is encouraging, so that’s good!  I think I will look into taking piano lessons (we have several keyboards, including an antique reed organ) to help me along. But, so far the educational videos here have been great!

• This reply was modified 5 years, 8 months ago by Anne.

[Dave Rojewski]

Welcome Anne.  I am about 8 months in and close to finishing course 1.

[Corrie Nosov]

Hi Anne! Welcome to Accordion Life!

The LM tuning refers to the sound available in your accordion via the registers (switches) on the piano keyboard side. L = Low. M = Medium. Accordions can have a combination of Low, Medium, or High sounds which is where the LM tuning comes in. 🙂

I hope you enjoy learning the accordion! It’s such a fun instrument!

[Anne]

Thanks, Dave and Corrie (and Dale)!

[Sylvie Boisel]

Hello,

After two months without really playing accordion, moving out, back pain, concert, (I am a pro singer) etc, here I am : back and trying to be a good student :))

I really want to play everyday.  What do you do, guys?   Do you play everyday?

 

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