Hi Group,

Tomorrow I'm off to the National Accordion Convention held in beautiful downtown Richardson, Texas; just north of Dallas.

The convention is held around this time every year for the past 2o years. This will be my fifth.

Perhaps the economy has affected the line-up this year, I don't see any "big name" performers comming, however, ther will still be some fantastic players.

This year the focus is on electronic, reedless, and midi accordions. Sometimes this subject rubs the "pureists" the wrong way, but I'm glad to see that the convention planners have finally moved into the 21st century.

Featured, will be the Roland V digital reedless accordion and also the Concerto. The Conceerto is an acoustic accordion with very elaborate electronics. It has its own onboard sounds, which can be layered and played with or without the acoustic reeds, It can also be used with an external arranger.

Both Roland and Concerto (International Accordions Inc.) are sending factory reps and there will be lots of hands-on opportunities.

I am disappointed that no one from SEM Accordions will be there to demo the SEM CIAO, which is also a reedless electronic accordion. I happen to own one of these and would have loads of questions for a factory rep!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to whole shebang!! If you're in the area, stop by.

Don P

Don take pictures for us & have a ball!!
I love those Roland FR7- V Accordions...
http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.aspx?ObjectId=673
http://www.roland.com/products/en/FR-7/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aELx76u9dVw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TjaRzpugwY&feature=related (one of my favorites)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUjCfBo-R38&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8xZ4tmUkDY&feature=related (this is hilarious and creative!)

One of these days, I GOT to learn that button system in the RH. It seems so easy to pull off stuff that would be close to impossible on the regular piano accordion...

Diki,
My favs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfKFGEgePtg&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jfJJOdWsAQ&feature=related

Uwe is a hell of a player!

There's someone a few miles north of me my piano tuner friend tells me has a Roland FR piano accordion. He is trying to get us in touch with each other and hopefully sometime soon I can try one of these puppies out! No dealer anywhere near to me has ever stocked these...

The direct comparison video was interesting. Seems they pretty much nailed the sound of the reeds, but acoustically the button noise and general airiness of the real one didn't QUITE come through. Perhaps those are parameters you can adjust..

I wish that Roland would make an ultra light one, maybe 48 bass or 72. And awful lot of what I use the accordion for (playing with full bands, cajun and zydeco or alternative folk pop) doesn't really need that extensive a LH side...

ACCORDION ... my first LOVE !!! ...

Diki ... the 'you tube' you labeled 'one of my favorites said "no longer available"

Jerry ...The first one you posted reminded me of Art Van Damme, one of my all time favorites ... the second one you posted said "no longer available" ...
???

t.

Try again Tony.

It just came in fine on my computer. Still up...

Anyone see Tony Lovello any more? He was general manager at a hotel in Lexington I played called the Campbell House. He was with the Three Sons for years, and his brother was a Hee Haw producer. Tony even appeared on the show at least once, which was a little strange.

He used to do special events (New Year, etc.) at the hotel...elaborate floor shows...a little over the top for my tastes, but professionally done.


Good, respected player, though, and I heard he's doing some demos.

Last I knew, he was using Ketron modules for dance gigs. He got them from Petosa Music in Seattle, a good source for accordion players. I got my MS-60's there years ago.


R.

[This message has been edited by captain Russ (edited 03-12-2009).]

hey Don....so how was the convention?

Don, Is the American Accordionists Association out of New York City still involved in these conventions? thnx ...

Can anyone just explain to me the 'note' configuration of the right hand keys?
thnx.
t.

This sounds like April Fools!!
Hi Dnj and Tony,

The convention was great. Attendance was down about 10%, so, not too bad!

Some Great Performers!! And good mix of accordion cultures.

Thursday Night:
Accordion Fusion, Nick Ballarini: Musical Variety Show.

Brian and the MetroTones: Rock 'n Roll with a touch of C&W.

Dee Langley and the Accordion Band:
Popular tunes and dance selectons.

T-Richard and the Zydeco Stringrays: Zydeco with a touch of jazz.

Texas FolkLife Accordion with Shelia: Folk music.

Friday Nighe:
Sound Connection: Polka festival music
(Good Band from Houston).

Chris Rybak: Texas Dance Music (strolling)

Fourth Generation: Tex Czech dance music

Chris Rybak: "Strollin' with the Roland"

Pivovar Trio: Cleveland Polkas

Saturday night:
Gene Van Accordion Orchestra & Entertainment Showcase
(This guy does wonders with an accordion orchestra)!!

Joe Natoli, Mary Tokarski, 2Accordions Duo

I went specifically to get a first-hand look at the Concerto Accordion made by Accordion's International of Salt Lake City. Spent a lot of time with it. It is one fantastic instrument!! It is a top-of-the-line acoustic accordion with state of the art electronics. SORRY, no auto rythms. YET?

All you Ketron Audya guys listen up. Price range for the Concerto from $10,000.00 to 16,500.00! Yep, thats why I don't have one.

Tony, don't know about the American Accordionest Association. This convention is sponsored by National Accordion Association, Formerly the Texas Accordion Association. They do get good national coverage.

About keyboard configuration, you must be talking about chromatic? I havn't a clue.

Don P

Don, perhaps you can help me...

Several years ago, I read about an accordion manufacturer (I think they said it was American) that was making good accordions out of lightweight composite materials, considerably lighter than traditional ones. I think the article was in Keyboard magazine, to boot. But I no longer have it, and am having fits trying to track this down..

Do you have any idea about this product?

I think accordions make great fire wood. Any accordion player playing "Lady of Spain" should be shot on sight.

Tom

[This message has been edited by Tom Cavanaugh (edited 04-01-2009).]

GOSH, TOM!! Such violence on the ZONE.
I'll take "Lady of Spain" out of my repertoire; IMMEDIATELY. Sure would hate to get shot for my second best performance! I play TICO TICO much better.

Dicki, I'm not familiar with the material or the article to which you refer. I am not an aficionado of accordion history in the US, although, there were several compainis here. Excelsior and Imperial for sure.

The quest has always been for lighter weight. A first-rate acoustic accordion will weigh between 22 pounds for a stroller, and up to 30 pounds for 4/5 piano accordion.

Of course the reedless accordions are much lighter; SEM CIAO at 14lbs. and Roland at about 18lbs.

Don P

Don... I would like to know what the accordion orchestra played ... Back in the day the accordion orchestra I was part of played primarily classical music - Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Rossini, - Mussorgsky's Night on Bald (Bare) Mountain was a favorite - We played a concert in NY's Carnegie Hall featuring Tchaikovsky's Capriccio Italien ....

Hopefully there is someone out there who can explain the chromatic set up to me ...

And Tom ... I USED TO consider you a friend ...

t.

Diki,

Check out the FR-1 (new cheaper model) looks like just the ticket for what you want.

Thing is, as much of a fan of electronics as I am, there's still nothing QUITE like the real thing...

I simply remember some article about a REAL accordion, where the manufacturer was using modern space age composites, hence it not being really a historic accordion. I love my 120 bass monster, but not if I have to stand and stroll for long!

I'd be happy with a nice light 72 bass model...

And Don, don't worry about the anti-accordion angst... in all fairness, most people hate bad arranger players at LEAST as much as bad accordionists!

Speaking of accordions, and sorry for sidetracking the topic, but could any of you tell me the value of an Imperial Lindo C30 with hard shell case in excellent condition? The body is pearl white and the sharps/flats as well as the two tabs on the bass section are pearl blue.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Dave

------------------
Wm. David McMahan
LearnMyKeyboard
JazzItUp Band

I think you can find some real nice accordion patches on certain keyboards. Here is an example of an accordion patch on my Fantom G7..

Paris in the Summertime

Doesn't quite compare to the real thing but - Ooh La La!! Not too bad for a keyboard in my humble opinion.

All the best,
Mike

http://acclab.com/accordionlab/mall/preown/lindo/lindo.htm

I am reminded of the Gary Larson Far Side cartoon. It showed a split pane, on the top half St. Pete says "welcome to heaven here is your harp." On the bottom pane it shows Satan saying "welcome to hell here is your accordion."

Thanks Donny,

That one is an upper model of what I have; mine has two sets of reeds on both the bass and treble sections. The treble section has three tabs and the bass section has to tabs. But at least that gives me some idea of what mine is worth. I really wish I could/would take the time to learn the bass buttons but the reality is that I know I never will, so I would like to sell this to someone who will appreciate and enjoy it.

Dave

------------------
Wm. David McMahan
LearnMyKeyboard
JazzItUp Band

That's NASTY ... FUNNY, but NASTY ! ...
quote from Diki:
And Don, don't worry about the anti-accordion angst... in all fairness, most people hate bad arranger players at LEAST as much as bad accordionists!

... and some of those bad accordionists ARE those bad arranger players ...

t.

I remember my accordion days very well..great instrument...I used to call it the original roving synthesizer.

I had several, and sold the last one, a really nice pearl finish Salanti 41/120 with three registers and custom made reeds to get enough money to buy a Polymoog Synthesizer...not one of my better decisions, I'm afraid, but it did get me plenty of gigs(when it worked).

Ian

I'll trade you my accordion for your Polymoog.

------------------
Wm. David McMahan
LearnMyKeyboard
JazzItUp Band

Dave,

Nowadays it would be a cool retro instrument and apparently parts still can be found, but I sold it to my keyboard technician at the time, and bought a mint Roland Jupiter 8, which I still have, and which turned out to be a much better decision than the one concerning the Salanti.

The Polymoog had about the best analog strings and brass (on par with the Jupiter, but different) and even had full polyphony and touch sensitive keys, but it's unreliability taxed my patience once too often, and sell it I did.

Last I heard, it resides in a small church in Lunenburg Nova Scotia, where it is still played using it's pretty decent pipe organ preset....a good thing because it was not really meant to be moved around.

Ian

That Larson cartoon needs to be updated...

Welcome to Heaven... Here's your harp.

Welcome to Hell... Which song would you like to sing, off of our karaoke list?

Well the top part would be easy.



I'll let you fill in the bottom.

-mike

Don P If you are interested ...
Here is a link to the American Accordionists Association, apparently now located in CT http://www.ameraccord.com/
... you may be interested in their annual festival to be held in July in Memphis TN ...
If you look you will see the name and photos of a fellow named Frank Busso ... he studied at the same studio and in high school we were best of friends ... UNfortunately, we've had no contact fro decades...

Here is a link to the web site of a fellow who was one of the closest friends of my accordion teacher ... http://www.carmencarrozza.com/
He was featured soloist when our accordion orchestra played Carnegie Hall ...
I found this site today while looking up info about accordions ... I had no idea he was still active ...
His site lists program covers from many of his concerts... included are concerts with the Ettore School of Music (that was us )at Wagner College in Staten Island NY ...
It was very interesting for me to look through his gallery and see many of the people that I 'knew' back in the day ...
THE ACCORDION RULES!!!

t.


[This message has been edited by tony mads usa (edited 04-02-2009).]

Thanks for links Tony,

Just so happens that I will be near Memphis at the time of the AAA festival; might check it out.

The classical accordionest are amazing. AT our convention Mary Tokarski's performance was outstanding.

You ask earlier about which songs the orchestra played: I may be a little confused about it because there were two different orchestras and I'v misplaced the program. But mostly they played old standards, Under Paris Skies, Our Love is Here to Stay, and some Broadway tunes including a medley from The Sound of Music.

Don P

OMG! I have that dream every night!

How did you know?

[This message has been edited by Diki (edited 04-03-2009).]