Believe it or not several accordion players have been asked to play at the White House three different times in recent years. They have also performed at the Kennedy Center – these are, to say the least, important and prestigious venues.
“I think there are a lot of opportunities for accordions these days,” said Ron Borelli, popular Bay Area accordion musician and music teacher. “More and more people are becoming interested in the accordion and even young kids, when they see and hear it, want to know all about it.”
Borelli plays with The Golden Gate Concert Band on “Italian Day” and often performs solo or with other area concert bands, including the Danville Community Band. He also arranges musical scores to include the accordion with concert band arrangements.
“The accordion is a great instrument and can be used in many different settings, including opera, jazz, ethnic music i.e. French, German and Italian, to name a few,” he said. “The accordion is portable, unlike the piano which is stationary. It’s a keyboard that you can walk around with giving you a whole orchestra at your disposable,” Borelli explained. The new Roland brand accordion is truly electronic with amplified sounds and speakers and is all digital, thus offering many new sound possibilities.
Instrument
The accordion is a portable, keyed free-reed instrument consisting of an expandable bellows worked by the players arm and supplying wind to the free-reeds by pressure or by suction depending on whether it is compressed or expanded. It has melody keys or buttons and bass keys or chord buttons. The left hand plays the base notes or chords and also works the bellows. The right hand plays the melody on the keys.
“What draws so many people to the accordion is the variety of sounds it can produce,” said Randall Martin, noted teacher and conductor of an accordion orchestra.
Many think of the accordion as a “polka music” type instrument. On the contrary, Martin says it is equally capable of varied musical forms like waltzes, ethnic tunes, classical pieces and American band and folk favorites. Rock and roll classics like Johnny B. Goode, Twist and Shout and Jail House Rock are often played on the accordion. The instrument has grown in popularity among classical composers. Tchaikovsky, Charles Ives, Umberto Giordano, Paul Hindemuth and Alban Berg have all composed for the accordion.
Background
The accordion was invented in 1822 by Friedrich Buschmann of Berlin. It was improved upon by Cyril Demian of Vienna in 1829. It soon became very popular in Europe.
The accordion was prominent in pop music from the early 1900’s to the 1960’s. This period was called the “Golden Age” of the accordion. In the 1930’s to 1950’s many accordionist taught and also played for radio. Myron Floren was a popular accordion musician on the Lawrence Welk Show during the 1950’s to 1980. Unfortunately, the late 50’s and 60’s saw the decline in popularity of the accordion in America. Counties where the instrument is still popular are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil and Columbia, among others. The instrument has always been a favorite of folk musicians.
Contemporary Artists
“Weird Al” Yankovic was probably the most famous accordionist in pop music who used the accordion liberally in his albums.
Dick Contino, born in 1930, is without a doubt the most well-known accordionists of the 20th Century. He is originally from Fresno, California and became popular to the American public through his appearances on the Horace Heidt national radio programs. He won first prize on the program and eventually winning $5,000, a considerable sum in 1947. His big break came with a recording of Lady of Spain in 1949. Contino appeared 48 times on the Ed Sullivan Show. From a small town, this talented youth became the “world’s greatest accordion player.” This legendary virtuoso is still very active as a popular musician and showman and now lives in Las Vegas with his wife, Tonia. During his youth the bobby-sox crowd went wild for the young, handsome Italian accordionist. Not bad for a young man who worked as a delivery boy in his father’s butcher shop – but he always had his accordion handy and practiced many hours a day – thus becoming the most popular accordion player in history.
You can contact Ron Borelli at www.ronborelli.com. Please submit your questions and comments to banddirector01@comcast.net.
Visit our website at www.danvilleband.org for up-to-date information about the Danville Community Band.