Howdy,
I have just gotten interested in playing zydeco style music and am looking into buying an accordion. I have played the harmonica for over 40 years and just discovered that the cajun accordions work on the same principle!
I want to know if the standard Hohner Panther Accordion will sound good in a zydeco style or will I have to get the Hohner Ariette Cajun Accordion?
The Panther is playable in 3 keys G/C/F whereas the Ariette is only in C.
Please share your thoughts and experiences..
Thanks,
Charlie

Howdy Fran,
Thanks... that is the one I was looking at, and really prefer, but it only plays in the key of C... unless the "treble stops" allow it to be played in a different key??
I thought, that if the Panther had a good zydeco sound, it would be better because my fiddle and guitar players would not be confined to playing only in C (which is not the easiest to play with a fiddle).
Do you play the accordion?
Thanks again,
Charlie

Charlie, like a lot of us, I started out with the accordion..

I guess my thoughts were, if you were doing instrumentals by yourself, the key of "C", would be okay..As you mentioned for the sake of the fiddle player, maybe the model that allows another key would be better..
Can the fiddle player use a capo?

Howdy Fran,
I did a little fiddle playing years back and I never saw a violin capo, although there might be some... anyway, my next question will probably have to go to Hohner, because I want to know if the Hohner Panther (capable of playing in G/C/F) has the same sound and tuning as the Ariette (cajun style).

My last concern is this... Tejano accordion players are a premium here in south Texas... if I could learn to play that style, I would be in big demand and I don't think there is too much difference in the two styles (Tejano vs. Cajun).

Thanks, Fran for your ALWAYS AVAILABLE help!

I'll keep you posted as to how things go.

BTW, did you play a piano accordion (chromatic) or a button type (diatonic)?



Charlie

Charlie,
I don't know anything about cajun/zydeco accordions, but look at the following link ...

The wording in the description of this Hohner model leads me to think that this box is available in 2 different sets of keys, each box playing in 3 keys.

http://www.savoymusiccenter.com/zydeco_hohner_corona.html

They are probably saying that the 1 model is available in keys of G, C, F
and the other model is available in F, Bb, Eb.

[This message has been edited by MrEd (edited 02-01-2006).]

Like Fran, (and Dnj, and others here) I also started out playing accordion (in the mid-fifties if you were going to play a keyboard instrument in a band it just about HAD to be accordion for portability, and the fact that club owners etc. NEVER kept a piano in tune !!! ... no synths or arrangers back then ...) ... I (and I believe Fran) played chromatic accordion ... my grandfather played a diatonic, and WOW !!! I never knew (or gave it a thought) that it may have only played in one key ... I was just always amazed that he was able to play an instrument that if you hit a key and pulled the bellows out, it sounded different than if you hit the same key and pushed the bellows in !!! ...
t.

Keep this in mind, if the Cajun accordion only plays in C, it actually plays in C and in G. G is much more fiddle friendly. Actually for Cajun music this is what they do. Kind of like cross-harping on a harmonica. Take a C accordion and play it in G; this is done often in Cajun music.

Also, the sound of cajun accordion is often different than Zydeco accordion. Zydeco music often uses accordions with unisons that are slightly detuned from one another, while Cajun uses octave unisons. I don't quite know how to explain it in words. Hopefully that makes sense.

Thanks, Guys,
Mr. Ed, I was looking at SavoyMusicCenter at their accordions and Tina Pilione has put me in the right direction.
Also, FAEbGBD, I had never used "cross-harping" but will have to utilize that to play the C Accordion in F and G (and, of course Dm, Am, Em).
Appreciatively,
Charlie