by JamesFearnley Sun Mar 20, 2005 12:21 am
Carmen, I flinch at your enthusiasm about my talents as an accordion-player, but thanks very much. In the world, no. In my head, no. In my room, perhaps.
I started with, what was her name, Jane something's accordion, which was a white-painted Hohner Student, I think, fairly small, maybe 48 bass, can't remember how many keys it had. It was a lovely accordion to play, and sounded bright, like lots of Hohner accordions do (particularly the ones favoured by South and Central Americans, and the Irish - I forget what they're called, but they have a distinctive grille, like - like, what? a dense toast-rack). Whatever. And then,after that, I had another small, handleable, Hohner, a Tango. Any of those small Hohners are good, in my view. I was never keen on any other accordion, though there are legions of accordions and accordion-makers about. I don't know if you're in LA, but, go to Dave's accordion school in Atwater Village (it's Dave's Accordion School in the phone book. I have the number somewhere. If I come across it, I'll post it up here) and ask him about accordions, and he even does lessons there. It's a fantastic place.
If you go out looking for an accordion, just make sure that it's not leaky at all, because it'll be a thankless task trying to learn how to play it if most of the time you're going to be worried about getting the air through the reeds. Just push and pull on the bellows without holding down a note and you'll be able to hear if any air's coming out where it's not supposed to. And then have a listen to it, and - I suppose it's the same with anything - if you like what you hear, and it feels good, take it further.
Good luck. Hope to see you either in Long Beach, or at Molly Malone's where I'm lead to believe the Filthy Thieving Bastards with Spider are playing at the beginning of April.
Carmen, I flinch at your enthusiasm about my talents as an accordion-player, but thanks very much. In the world, no. In my head, no. In my room, perhaps.
I started with, what was her name, Jane something's accordion, which was a white-painted Hohner Student, I think, fairly small, maybe 48 bass, can't remember how many keys it had. It was a lovely accordion to play, and sounded bright, like lots of Hohner accordions do (particularly the ones favoured by South and Central Americans, and the Irish - I forget what they're called, but they have a distinctive grille, like - like, what? a dense toast-rack). Whatever. And then,after that, I had another small, handleable, Hohner, a Tango. Any of those small Hohners are good, in my view. I was never keen on any other accordion, though there are legions of accordions and accordion-makers about. I don't know if you're in LA, but, go to Dave's accordion school in Atwater Village (it's Dave's Accordion School in the phone book. I have the number somewhere. If I come across it, I'll post it up here) and ask him about accordions, and he even does lessons there. It's a fantastic place.
If you go out looking for an accordion, just make sure that it's not leaky at all, because it'll be a thankless task trying to learn how to play it if most of the time you're going to be worried about getting the air through the reeds. Just push and pull on the bellows without holding down a note and you'll be able to hear if any air's coming out where it's not supposed to. And then have a listen to it, and - I suppose it's the same with anything - if you like what you hear, and it feels good, take it further.
Good luck. Hope to see you either in Long Beach, or at Molly Malone's where I'm lead to believe the Filthy Thieving Bastards with Spider are playing at the beginning of April.
