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Accordions |
The Cajun Accordion
For long years, Cajun accordion has been well-known throughout the world as one of the interesting, fun to play type of reeds. Stories have been told that this instrument is actually by origin and definition as “melodeon”, meaning an instrument with fundamentally melodic potential, incompletely supported by tow simple harmonies. This is also the reason that many people call it the Melodeon.
The History
The Cajun accordion or melodeon is actually a small diatonic accordion initially manufactured in Germany in the second half of the nineteenth century. It has been commonly noted that the first instruments available during that time carried the trademarks Bruno, Lester, and Pine Tree. These instruments had the inconvenience of being pitched in A or F, which are keys practically impossible to accompany on the fiddle. Then, it wan not until the dawn of this century that Buegeleisen & Jacobson of New York brought in the Monarch and the Sterling in C and D. The Cajuns then nicknamed them “Tits Noirs” meaning “Little Blacks” on account of their size and color. These later on became the Cajun accordions and they required a great reputation, justified by the quality and reliability of their reeds.
Physical Features
As a small diatonic instrument, the Cajun accordion is features a one row keyboard with ten buttons on the right hand treble side. Each button controls two notes according to the motion of the bellows, whether they are pushed inwards or pulled outwards. The Cajuns call this as the “single action”. Aside from that, the Cajun accordion also has four stops on the right hand casing which bring into action four banks of reeds tuned in octaves associated to each other. It is important to note that the different banks of reeds in Cajun accordion are tuned in perfect octaves known as “dry” tuning.
On the left side of the Cajun accordion is a keyboard in the form of a hand-grip. This keyboard has two buttons giving respectively two bass notes as well as two chords. Other than that, the keyboard on the left side offer an air button for the thumb which enables the rapid opening or closing of the bellows during the playing.
Strengths of Cajun Accordion
Compared with the fiddle, the Cajun accordion is highly noted for its superb reliability and robustness. It has four reeds for each note, so even some of them were broken there are still others that are enough to make music. What’s more, this is also the only instrument which could endure the humidity of any region. The Cajun accordion only need the minimum maintenance and was easily repairable. Lastly, it was fully in tune and ready to play while the section of the basses efficiently backed up the melody and offer a fullness as well as resonant power which could not be matched by the fiddle.
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Accordion Music Memories
It's every kid's dream to play the accordion in a local talent show, right? OK, well, maybe not so much a dream as something that seems like fun at the time, but a memory that will make you cringe in horror years later when you look back at the pictures.
This story is a memory and tip / warning for accordion players everywhere. Actually, it is a valuable tip for anyone playing a musical instrument on stage where a spotlight will be in use during the show.
We started having meetings and rehearsals for the local talent show about a month and a half before the scheduled date of the show. The organization putting on the talent show had to rent the spotlight so they planned to only get it in time for the dress rehearsal, which was the day before the actual show. Therefore, during all the other rehearsals, we only had the regular fluorscent lighting in the room and the general stage lighting.
On the night of the final dress rehearsal, the person in charge of operating the spotlight could not get it to work so we went through the rehearsal without it. I had been practicing my accordion faithfully and played a medley of several songs flawlessly during the rehearsal.
The next day, on the night of the actual talent show, the spotlight was working properly. When it was my turn to perform, the audience applauded as I walked out on to the stage with my accordion strapped to my chest carrying my accordion sheet music. I sat down and placed the sheet music on the stand. The general house lights dimmed and the spotlight came on.
That's when I realized it was time to panic. Stage fright, you think? Not at all, I loved being on the stage with an audience of hundreds. The reason for panic was because the spotlight was so strong that it shone right through the sheet music! I couldn't see any of the notes on the pages.
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