An accordionist's blog on music, art & life

In Dulci Jubilo performed upon the Hohner Musette accordion

12/26/2014

A Latin Carol and German melody performed upon my Hohner Musette accordion, a 4/5 reed instrument in LMMM configuration. Published by Edition Melodie, Anton Peterer Music & Books, Zurich, Switzerland. The title of this volume is "Weihnachten mit meinem Akkordeon," with all selections collected and arranged by Heinz Dunker.

I believe that John Rutter has performed this melody with his Cambridge Singers on one of his popular Christmas albums. This is a favorite song at this time of year and often appears in local choral concerts as one of the highlights of the afternoon or evening December concerts. In Arizona both the Phoenix Chorale (formerly known as the Phoenix Bach Choir) and the Sonoran Desert Chorale have performed this composition, sometimes with organ or other instrumental accompaniment. Here I have used the bass section of the accordion as a musical drone, imitating the sound of a hurdy-gurdy or a basso continuo instrument. This composition sounds especially atmospheric when performed upon a pipe organ in a reverberant church or large concert hall.

0 Comments

Pat-a-Pan on the Hohner Musette Accordion

12/24/2014

0 Comments

A French Christmas Carol in Burgundian dialect written in 1700 by Bernard de la Monnoye (1641-1728), a French lawyer, poet, philologue, and critic. First published in "Noel bourguignons" in 1720 under the title "Guillo, Pran Ton Tamborin" (Willie, Bring Your Little Drum). Performed upon my Hohner musette accordion, 4/5 reeds in LMMM configuration.

This Hohner has 13 treble voices with 4 repeats, giving a nice variety of both wet (musette) and dry (concert) sounds. The bass section features 7 different registers, allowing the player to chose from a nice assortment of bass textures and fundamentals. It is fun to play music which radiates a lot of rhythmic energy and forward momentum such as this French Carol.

0 Comments

A Memorial Tribute to President Abraham Lincoln (1865)

9/22/2014

1 Comment

This American song is a memorial tribute to President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), with words written by Edwin S. Babbitt and music composed by L. B. Miller. Originally published in 1865 by Root & Cady in Chicago and marked "Quartette," for mixed voices (4 parts) with piano. The sheet music I am using is published by Hal Leonard under the title "A Treasury of Civil War Songs: 25 Songs of the Union and the Confederacy," collected, edited and arranged by folksinger Tom Glazer. Performed upon my vintage 1930's Hohner Regina VI accordion, a 4/5 reed instrument in LMMM configuration.

Folksinger Tom Glazer (1914-2003) collected many Civil War era songs and published them under the title "A Treasury of Civil War Songs: 25 Songs of the Union and the Confederacy," issued in 1996 through Hal Leonard. From this collection I found the haunting hymn-like tune entitled "The President's Grave," with words by Edwin S. Babbitt and music by L. B. Miller. I love vintage accordions and find that they often impart a culturally rich resonance to songs of a bygone era, helping modern ears to hear anew historical treasures which may have inherently special character. This tune is written in the key of E flat major, with some chords in G minor and F diminished, under the notation to play the song "Solemnly." The reeds on this particular Hohner sound very much at home in this key, lending a sense of noble purpose and reflective solemnity as the music draws us closer to the heroic life and tragic death of President Lincoln. There are certain sounds and tonalities heard on a vintage accordion which seem to accentuate the resonances of the music as it is written and received, especially when the subject matter is as historically powerful and significant as this truly remarkable song.

The hat I'm wearing is a reproduction of a Union Officer's kepi with the military rank of either Captain or Major, made of dark blue wool and lined with cotton and leather. The gold stripes and overall form of the hat's shape are derived from the French pattern, often seen in the French Army and the French Foreign Legion. This particular kepi was procured via eBay from a store called "Under the Southern Cross," maintained by owner/ proprietor Finandel.

1 Comment

A German Folksong on the Vintage Hohner Regina VI (1938)

9/13/2014

0 Comments

A German folksong performed upon my vintage 1938 Hohner Regina VI accordion, a 4/5 reed instrument in LMMM configuration. The sheet music is published by Edition Melodie in a songbook entitled "Das Grosse Akkordeon-Buch - Volume Three" (Le Grand Album pour l'Accordeon), Anton Peterer Music & Books, Zurich, Switzerland. All of the songs in this collection have been arranged by Herwig Peychaer.

This 1930's vintage Hohner accordion features some very distinctive treble sounds and possesses quite a powerful bass section, even though it is a relatively small instrument with a petite 16 inch keyboard. Internally the accordion displays a very strong wooden frame with good workmanship on the reed-blocks and those remarkable German reeds. My friend Jerry tuned the instrument, provided new wax and leathers, and adjusted the bass mechanism as well as the treble keyboard. Without Jerry's help this instrument would not have been playable. European folk-songs often sound so completely at home on a good vintage accordion such as this one. The external appearance of this instrument is still in remarkably fine condition, featuring a beautiful ivory/cream color, ornate black lettering and decorative details, exhibiting an extraordinary mother-of-pearl keyboard and suffering almost no scratches or missing pieces of exterior trim. The grill section above the keyboard is embedded with sparkling accents of various exotic hues and features superlative carving of the materials used in manufacture at that time. In many respects I prefer the sound of the 1930's accordions to the more modern instruments which came later. One professional accordionist once described such vintage instruments as sounding more like a large harmonica than a typical accordion. That's true, for the timbres sound so alive and thrilling that one might temporarily believe the musician is indeed playing...."a glorified harmonica!"

0 Comments

A Traditional Japanese Folksong on the Vintage Hohner

7/29/2014

0 Comments

Vintage Hohner Regina VI - a beautiful accordion from 1938
I bought this accordion several years ago and had it tuned and restored by my friend Jerry. It is in remarkable condition overall, with only a few small cosmetic imperfections, with almost all of the original trim still intact, one of the finest examples of its kind I have ever seen. The tone is quite wonderful, with a bass richness and resonance which reminds me of a large pipe organ, and treble registers which sing fluently through those distinctive reeds. The Regina features 4 treble reeds in LMMM configuration, 5 rows of bass reeds in the bass section, the typical 41/ 120 treble key and bass button combination, two changes in the treble voices, a rather petite 16 inch keyboard, and a very strong wooden frame. The color is a unique ivory or antique cream with black decorative accents and lettering. The outer part of the bellows appears to be a gold color, with silver as an inner lining. Jerry painstakingly redid the wax for all the reeds, replaced many of the worn leathers, re-aligned both bass and keyboard sections and added some new gaskets to improve compression. I have never heard another accordion quite like this one, although I have heard similar accordions from the 1930's played by other players or demonstrated via the internet. An enthusiast named Edi has restored and tuned many vintage Hohner accordions and posted a roster of models with accompanying sound samples. Edi's site is named "The Akkordeon-Museum" (www.akkordeon-museum.de). The photography and detailed information on each model is simply spectacular. The audio sound samples give an idea of what some of the early and later Hohner models sound like by hearing each accordion play a specific song.

0 Comments

In Dulci Jubilo performed upon the Hohner Musette accordion

Pat-a-Pan on the Hohner Musette Accordion

A Memorial Tribute to President Abraham Lincoln (1865)

A German Folksong on the Vintage Hohner Regina VI (1938)

A Traditional Japanese Folksong on the Vintage Hohner

Author
Glenn Tompkins

Archives

In Dulci Jubilo performed upon the Hohner Musette accordion

Pat-a-Pan on the Hohner Musette Accordion

A Memorial Tribute to President Abraham Lincoln (1865)

A German Folksong on the Vintage Hohner Regina VI (1938)

A Traditional Japanese Folksong on the Vintage Hohner

AuthorGlenn Tompkins

Archives

CategoriesMusic AccordionFanfares and ReveriesPiano Violin OrganEarly personal historyArt Expression GrandparentsMusical texturesPractice & StudyPaintings Tone poemsSongs Film Symphonic Poems LandscapesPainter Artist LightThemes JourneySoundtracksAtmosphere BeautyPortraits Central ParkImpressionism

Author
Glenn Tompkins