Scandalli Accordion

Fest, what a fine looking accordion! I hope you have a lot of fun learning to play it. You can serenade Bobbie and Scruggs with accordion music -- it can be very soothing to animals.

By the way, that Ebay description is spot on! My family was living in Riverside, CA, around 1970, when one day, this guy wearing a suit and carrying a 'suit' case rang our door bell. Usually, my dad got rid of door-to-door salesman real fast, but for some reason, he liked this guy. The salesman had a tiny 12-bass (kid size) accordion in the 'suit' case and may have played a song for my dad. I was in another room at the time, so I don't know what all went down on that porch, but the next thing I knew, my parents had signed my 9-year-old little sister up for 10 weeks of beginner lessons. As the Ebay description says, the students (along with their parents and long suffering siblings) were stuffed into a tiny, hot (this was SoCal, after all) lesson room. Little Viking Sister turned out to be a good student. In my family, we didn't listen to pop music or rock 'n' roll, so we had no dreams about playing surf music on electric guitar. We thought accordion was pretty cool! Our family even went out to the Date Festival in Indio one year to hear Myron Floren, the accordion player on 'The Lawrence Welk Show'. Actually, I would have liked seeing Merle Haggard or Marty Robbins more, but Myron was okay, too.

During Little Viking Sister's lessons, I was sitting in the back of the room with our parents and brother, paying close attention to what the teacher, Mr. Mercier, was saying. Then we would go home and LVS would let me practice that week's lesson on her accordion. Mom and Dad noticed and bought accordions for both of us. We continued with lessons for several years. We got musically corrupted from listening to music by Queen, Elton John, and the Beatles in our teenage years and decided to give up accordion. We both still have our accordions and all of our Milton Mann books. When I was 21, LVS and I decided to start a punk band, so I bought a G&L electric bass, which I also still have. I never got too far on bass, as other things got in the way, plus I have no musical talent, but my bass teacher encouraged me to take a basic music theory class at a local community college. During the class, I was surprised at how much theory I had learned in accordion lessons.

LVS and I have talked from time to time about pulling our accordions out of the 'mothballs' and playing some Christmas songs, or maybe trying to learn some zydeco/Cajun songs (we both LOVE Zachary Richard). Who knows if it will ever happen?  However, to this day, our little brother hates the accordion because of all the hundreds of times he was forced to sit through his sisters' lessons. Uff da!

What a great story Cali! That is so funny, just like the ebay description haha! I am encouraged to hear that you and your sister, at such young ages, could learn to play accordion. This one I bought is so big and heavy...do you think I can handle it?! I only weigh about 110 lbs. That's why I need to get the strap(s) either replaced or repaired - no way I can hold it without them. I played piano as a child and am taking a music theory course now that covers chord progressions and such, so maybe I won't suck too bad at it. I know it's not a cajun/zydeco style accordion but I'd still like to learn some of those songs. I've never heard of Zachary Richard, but I love what you posted and he sounds like a cool guy too. Thanks!

"Cultural activist, environmentalist poet and singer-songwriter Zachary Richard's roots are deeply planted in his native Louisiana. Inspired by the various styles of the region, his songs go beyond the limitations of any particular genre. Zachary's style is uniquely his own."

Fest, I think you'll be okay with being able to hold your accordion. Yours is a 120 bass, as was my sister's and mine. Mine was a little bit bigger and heavier than hers, which was okay because I was bigger and heavier than she was (and I still am!).  We were 9 and 11 years old, small for our age and not particularly strong, but were still able to play our accordions without any trouble. We mostly played in a sitting position rather than in a standing position. You definitely need to get that strap fixed or replaced -- I hope it will be an easy and inexpensive fix.

Since you have experience playing piano and know some music theory, I wouldn't expect you to have much trouble transitioning to accordion. One thing that is so important and that I've seen done incorrectly so many times on YouTube is bellow control. It drives me nuts! You are supposed to change bellow direction at certain specific places, usually at the end of a musical phrase, where there is kind of a natural split-second break in the music. Some people erroneously tend to change bellow direction in the middle of a phrase, causing a kind of awkward, bumpy sound.

You know, it would so cool to add accordions to the Yodeling Pirates of the Jungle Yacht. It would be interesting (and original) to yodel to zydeco music.