BingBumpier
BingBumpier
Accordions are a family of free-reed instruments that produce sound when air pushed through small metal tongues makes them vibrate. The instrument is older than you might guess — the modern accordion family traces back to the 1820s in Vienna and Berlin — and has spread into more musical traditions than almost any other portable instrument.
The two big branches are the piano accordion, with a right-hand keyboard that looks like a small piano, and the button accordion, with rows of buttons instead. Within button accordions, the diatonic models play different notes when you push versus pull the bellows, which makes them louder and simpler at the cost of flexibility. Chromatic button accordions play the same note in both directions and cover all twelve tones, which makes them more capable but heavier and harder to learn.
Concertinas and bandoneons are close cousins. The bandoneon is the soul of Argentine tango. The English concertina shows up in sea shanties and Irish trad sessions. The Anglo concertina, like the diatonic button accordion, plays different notes on push and pull.
The bellows is the lung. Squeezing it forces air through reed banks inside the body. Each reed is a thin strip of metal that vibrates at a specific frequency, tuned by its length and thickness. Pressing a button or key opens a small valve that lets air reach the reed for that note. Multiple reeds can share a button, which is why an accordion can sound rich and chord-like even on a single note.
Norteño and tejano music from Mexico and the US southwest. French musette in Paris cafes. Cajun and zydeco dance halls in Louisiana. Polka bands across the upper Midwest. Argentine tango. Russian folk. Klezmer. Forró in Brazil. The accordion travels well because it is portable, loud without electricity, and capable of holding down rhythm, melody, and harmony at once.
If you are starting out, a small 48-bass or 72-bass piano accordion is a good general-purpose entry point. Used Italian instruments from the 1960s and 70s are widely available and built to last. Expect to pay two to six hundred dollars for a decent used starter, more for one in good tune. New student instruments from Hohner and Weltmeister run six hundred to a thousand. Always play before you buy — leaky bellows and out-of-tune reeds are common in cheap old accordions and expensive to repair.