Accordion

An accordion is a small portable free-reed wind instrument with a keyboard, the smallest representative of the organ family.

Sound is made by a thin metal ribbon, a reed, that is held at one end and free at the other, like a ruler on the edge of a table top. The reed is fitted inside a holder plate, air is drawn through the hole in the holder, the reed vibrates, producing sound.

It is possible that some ancient civilisation had reed instruments. It has been suggested that they may have existed in ancient Egypt.

Simple metal or wood reed instruments ("Maultrommel", Jews' Harp) were likely precursors.

The characteristics of reeds used today are:

Reeds sound only if air flows in one direction

Metal frame and metal tongue

Activation of sound through air (Bernoulli Effect)

Reed tone pitch is given by the reed itself and not through a resonator tube

Some of these characteristics are true for the sheng and some are true for the Jews Harp but not all are true for all of them.

Reeds with these characteristics were first used in Europe around 1800 AD for organs. It was also a matter of technology at that time as it is today. People used their knowledge and the standard of the contemporary technology to produce reeds.

The Chinese sheng (笙), is mouth-blown. It is thought that a traveler to China in the 1800s brought this idea back to Europe. But this instrument uses resonator pipes and the reeds can sound in both directions, there are more in common with a clarinet as with an free reed instrument today.

The first Instrument using steel reeds with steel frames ware a Querhammerflügel with Aoline, Made by Kasper Schimmelbach, Königshafen Bayern, around 1815 (MIM Kat.-Nr.: 5321) The reeds were all different in dimensions for each tone, Frame and tongue were made in one part like this is still the case with Jews Harps. The reeds were mounted similar to Concertinas on a wooden soundboard.
The first basic "accordion" was invented in 1822 by Friedrich Buschmann in Berlin.
This was a tool used by Mr. Buschmann to have a reference for tuning other Instruments. It had free reeds but not a keyboard and sounded only in one direction.
The first modern accordion was a 10-button accordion, invented in 1829 by Cyrillus Damian, in Vienna, which had the 7 notes of a major scale, and consequently only played in one key [and its related keys]. Similar accordions are still played today and are called many things, Cajun accordions, melodeons, one-row, diatonic accordions, and so on. Still the Demian Instruments ware much smaller, and his first patent had chords sounding for each note. But the Instrument was copied by many people and many variations came into existence in a very short time, most of them were single-action instruments, where as a rule each button produces two different notes, one when pulling the bellows outwards, one when pushing it inwards. The notes are arranged much like on a harmonica.
From 1829 on many different patents ware granted in Vienna and Europe for all kind of modernisation in relation to the accordions, but it is impossible to say the Accordion was patented, the patent always belongs to some parts or some different stile. Even today are every year new patents granted in relation to the accordion.

One example of an patent in relation to the accordion:
A special key layout was patented not in use today, on January 14, 1854 by Anthony Faas.

The accordion consists of folded bellows , to which is attached a keyboard with from 5 to 50 keys. The keys on being depressed, while the bellows are being worked, open valves admitting the wind to free reeds, consisting of narrow tongues of metal riveted some to the upper, some to the lower board of the bellows, having their free ends bent, some inwards, some outwards. Each key produces two notes, one from the inwardly bent reed when the bellows are compressed, the other from the outwardly bent reed by suction when the bellows are expanded. The pitch of the note is determined by the length and thickness of the reeds, reduction of the length tending to sharpen the note, while reduction of the thickness lowers it. The right hand plays the melody on the keyboard, while the left works the bellows and manipulates the two or three bass harmony keys, which sound the simple chords of the tonic and dominant.

Related instruments include the concertina and the melodeon.

The piano accordion was developed in Europe in the late 1800's and has become the most common type of accordion nowadays. Familiar to everyone who has ever seen Lawrence Welk, the right hand is laid out like a piano keyboard, so a piano player could play it, though the keys are smaller than on a piano. The left hand plays an arrangement of up to 120 buttons which play bass notes and various chords. The instrument was named and popularized in the United States by Count Guido Deiro who was the first piano accordionist to perform in Vaudeville. He is credited with making the first recordings of the instrument in 1908, also with making the first radio broadcast of the accordion in 1921 and the first sound motion picture featuring the accordion, for Vitaphone in 1928.

The left hand layout of a piano accordion (and also some other types) uses "The Stradella Bass System". This usually features six rows: the second row buttons are called the Fundamental Bass and are ordered in quints, the first row buttons are called the Counter Bass and are a major third up relative to the second row. The major chords are in the third row, the fourth row consists of the minor chords, the fifth row houses the seventh chord and finally the sixth row has the diminished seventh chords.

The layout can be roughly described by this ASCII Art:

... C G D A E B F# C# G# D# A# F C ... ... Ab Eb Bb F C G D A E B F# C# G# ... ... ab eb bb f c g d a e b f# c# g# ... ... abm ebm Bbm fm cm gm dm am em bm f#m c#m g#m ... ... ab7 eb7 Bb7 f7 c7 g7 d7 a7 e7 b7 f#7 c#7 g#7 ... ... abd7 ebd7 Bbd7 fd7 cd7 gd7 dd7 ad7 ed7 bd7 f#d7 c#d7 g#d7 ... )

Depending on the price, size or origin of the instrument, some rows may miss completely or the layout is slightly changed. In most Russian layouts the diminished seventh chord row is moved by one button, so that the diminished seventh C chord is where the diminished seventh F chord is in this ascii graphic, in order to achieve a better reachability with the forefinger. Common configurations are:

• "12 Bass" accordion: Fundamental Bass goes from Bb to A (the third to eighth column in the picture above), and only has Fundamental Bass and major chords"24 Bass" goes from Ab to A, and has Fundamental Bass, major and minor chords"32 Bass" goes from Eb to E, and has FB, major, minor and seventh chords"48 Bass" goes from Eb to E, and has all six rows"72 Bass" goes from Db to F#, and has all six rows"80 Bass" goes from Cb to G#, and has everything except diminished"96 Bass" is as 80 Bass, but with all six rows"120 Bass" goes from Abb (i.e. low G) to A# - that's 20 columns - with all six rows.

Piano accordions and chromatic accordions are double-action instruments:
each key or button plays the same note or chord, whether the bellows are being
pulled out or pushed in.

Free bass, Bariton bass or Melody bass accordions, favored by classical accordionists,
have a left-hand button board with individual bass notes over several octaves,
rather than the single octave of bass notes and the preset chords
provided by the traditional "stradella" left-hand button system and works exactly the same way the right hand on the chromatic accordion does.
There are "converter" accordions offering both systems in one instrument.

Many folk cultures have their own version of an accordion, including the
Russian bayan, Alpine helikon instruments, North Mexican conjunto accordion, the bandoneon, Louisiana Cajun accordion, Irish 2 row b-c type instruments, Russian Garmon' and others. These can have either a unique note layout, a different sound, or all of the above.

Accordionists