tony I was talking about the masses......hes a small minority for sure.
Donny ... I agree ... the accordion was really becoming popular as a band instrument when I started playing - circa 1954 (WOW ... did that just roll off my tongue???)- because club owners wouldn't take care of the pianos, and more often than not they were out of tune ... with the advent of electronic and digital instruments people were able to carry a 'piano' with them to a gig ...
When I was studying and teaching accordion the studio I worked at had 3 full time teachers and one part-time teacher (me, as I was going to college) ... the full time guys were busy from about 2 in the afternoon to 10:00 - 10:30 at night 5 days a week and from 8:30AM to 6PM on Saturday ...
While there ARE still studios teaching accordion, it's not like it used to be ... but then NOTHING is ...
BTW ... Eugene Ettore who developed the technique Mark is using, was the older brother of Tony Ettore, who I studied with ...