How to join
● Want more information about the Accordion Club of Tucson? Check out www.arts.arizona.edu/ accordion online.
Accordions at a glance
● Accordions are members of the "free reed" family of instruments. Sound is produced by the metal reeds when air pressure from the bellows passes over and causes vibration.
● Forerunners to the modern accordion can be traced back thousands of years. The earliest ancestor was probably the "Cheng" instrument in China, circa 3000 B.C., believed to be the world's first free reed instrument.
● The word accordion comes from the German word "akkord," meaning "agreement or harmony."
● The German-based Hohner and Gabbanelli of Italy are two of the most famous and widely used accordion brands in the world.
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● There are four types of accordions: Piano accordions are by far the most popular and common, but there are also diatonic, chromatic or button accordions, and concertinas. Each varies in shape and operation.
● Many types of music use the accordion, from European polkas to the conjunto movement of Mexico. The domestic range spans from country, folk, the blues and cajun zydeco to rock, rap, heavy metal and funk.
● Nicknames for the accordion include the button box, squeezebox, kanootch and belly baldwin.
