Underappreciated Instruments - Accordion

New posts means new sections.  This one's all about instruments I love that just don't get the love they deserve.  I mean sure trumpets and oboes and violins are cool and all, but there are plenty of instruments out there that have rich and distinct timbres that just get ignored.  This particular post is all about the accordion.

While a popular instrument in bygone eras, the accordion has kind of faded in recent years.  You might occasionally chance upon a track with an accordion feature, but then again you're probably not listening to pop music.  For whatever reason, society has shelved the accordion as an old fashioned sound and it has fallen into general disuse.

For the uninformed, the accordion is part of a class of instruments often called squeezeboxes.  The sound is generated by the bellows, the folded regions which create changes in air pressure, and the buttons which change the pitch of the instrument.  Interestingly enough, there are actually many kinds of accordions, some of which have piano keyboards, likely what we are used to thinking of as accordions in the US, while others have buttons arranged differently, an example being the Russian bayan.  Depending on the construction of the instrument, the direction in which the bellows are moved can both change the volume and the pitch of the instrument which adds another layer of difficulty to the playing of the instrument.  Another fun fact is that depending on the construction of the accordion, it is possible to play a range of notes greater than almost any other analog instrument.

I imagine that one of the reasons why accordion has fallen to the wayside is that it tends to be a bit difficult to incorporate into today's mainstream pop/rock sound.  The distinctive sound of the accordion does not quite lend itself to blending with guitars and drums in a meaningful fashion.  However, it does lend itself well to folk and somewhat ethnic music.  What's sad though is how piano is so popular when as a performance instrument it's kind of boring to watch.  Since the accordion keys face towards the audience it makes for a much flashier and more interesting performance instrument.  Regardless of my quibbles, be sure to check out the links at the bottom for some sweet use of accordion.

Special shout out to the band Of Monsters and Men who are actually the reason for me starting up this particular post.  While the accordion isn't always super prominent, I enjoy the band and the use of the accordion in their music.  Below is a link to their song King and Lionheart where you can get a pretty awesome amount of accordion and a sweet song that I was originally gonna put in Top Tracks but I think this is a more prestigious honor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVacxTInlAU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4wUNdeKcLc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A76a_LNIYwE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ-kXZsUa_w

Enjoy the music, stay tuned and I hope you enjoyed the post.

--CsMiREK