Accordion help please

Subject: Accordion help please
From: GUEST,Ima Clown!
Date: 17 Jan 07 - 07:35 PM

Hello Mudcat folks!
I am a professional Clown who is always looking for fun ideas for new routines. I use alot of Music in my clowning, so was getting very big eyes when I saw in a couple of Clown supply catalogs a mini accordion for about $25, a couple of different button styles. I then looked at Lark in the Morning, & they have some that look just the same for about the same money, a kids "cajun" 12 key one for about $5, and also a 17 key piano accordion a little bigger for $57.
I play piano & some other instruments, so I know lots of songs. I would use it for occasionally accompaning myself singing, as I already do with a Ukulele, but I'm really thinking that it would be great for walking around clowning with people, possibly sound effects so it would have to be as light as possible. The local alley (group of professional clowns) would like to start a band, & I think a tiny accordion would be terrific for a Clown band!
   Do they actually work ok-are they really playable? Sound ok? Are they really extremely lightweight so that a weenie arm gal with weak wrists (due to occasional bouts of arthritis & carpal tunnel) could play it while walking around?--I realize that there is no strap around the body as it is too small for that. I'm not interested in getting a larger one, as I know it would be too much for me, & also much more than I can spend. But I allow myself to buy one really nice clown prop each year for $25-$50 & this seems like a great idea.
Do any of you have one of the above mentioned? Is there something else out there with about 1 1/2 to 2 octaves & 2-3-4 bass keys so as to be able to play most songs? It sure would be great to have the I IV & V7 chords.
I also saw that one Button accordian had only 7 or 8 keys on one side, & 2 bass keys on the other, but it is supposed to play 2 octaves--how does that work?
I appreciate all of the advice you can give an old clown! Thank you!

Subject: RE: Accordion help please
From: Jack Campin
Date: 17 Jan 07 - 08:39 PM

These cheap Chinese instruments won't last very long (months, not years). That may not be a problem given what you're trying to do.   And their bellows always leak. That is a problem, but fixable - take them apart and paint the inside of the bellow with PVA wood glue. That seals the leaks (obviously, don't close the bellows until the glue's dry and don't get them damp).

Subject: RE: Accordion help please
From: fogie
Date: 18 Jan 07 - 06:02 AM

The button accordion sounds like a primitive melodeon which plays like a mouth organ and may only have 2 chords (bass note and chord) which accompanies the melody cleverly depending on whether you're pushing or pulling. Go and have a try at a melodeon its easy but you're confined to a single key eg. Gmaj and Emin

Subject: RE: Accordion help please
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 18 Jan 07 - 07:17 AM

You may like to read thru The Accordion Permathread.

The tiniest 17 key P/A - the cheapest one that they seem to be flogging all over the place is largely a bunch of crap unfortunately. The next size up that has a few more keys (22 keys) is actually a workable instrument - my 22 key Goodlin is much better quality too.

Yes, the bellows leak - the plastic doesn't flex very well and tends to fall off the very open weave cloth supporting it. I found some "extra flexible vinyl glue" in a 'cheaparium' - designed for repairing blow up vinyl beach balls etc which does a good (but it's a bloody painstaking!) job of sealing the corners of the bellows.

The straps are just rubbish - get an accordion mechanic to fit real strap holders and put a real set of straps on (you only need smallish ones - not the 'elephant super padded' ones! - and you will find that this will lock the little beastie down so you can handle it properly - like a real one!

They are not, in spite of the advertising, a good 'first box', but once you CAN play the PA, they are a brilliant little thing - generically used to be called 'Hero's - for good reason!

They tend to have s 'strangled old Hohner' sound - like a 100 year old foot pumped reed organ, bur you can do all the bellows shake, accentuate each side over the other, tricks etc, within the musical technical capabilities of such a small box.

For what you want they would be brilliant - especially if you were going to use more than one in a group. Buy one, play with it, sort it out (especially in your head!) then, once you are prepared to commit to using them, buy a bunch, set them up, get a tuner to twiddle if needed, then just use them till they wear out - or at least till the bellows start to leak, work on that on while using the next one - they are cheap enough, and you just swap the real straps over anyway - good straps will actually cost new more than the box probably! :-)

I say yes - but not the smallest piano accordion model (17) - get the next size up (22).

A P/A is NOT a piano (a percussive instrument!), but a wind instrument - more like a pipe organ. Get your head around that, and you can get MUCH music out of those little boxes.

And yes, you get only a VERY few bass and chord keys, but you would be amazed at just what they CAN do - if you keep it simple.

As for playing it and walking it around, they are about 5 Kgs or less, and if locked down with REAL P/A straps, are VERY playable. - It's my 'party trick box'. The 22 key one fits inside an airline carry on hand case - with plenty of room for undies and a tooth brush! :-)

Subject: RE: Accordion help please
From: GUEST,Ima Clown
Date: 18 Jan 07 - 02:28 PM

Thank you for the info! I believe I will try the 22 key & see what I I can do with it. I know it won't be anything like the quality of my old Gibson guitar or my old Steinway Pie-anny, the real purpose is to have FUN.

Subject: RE: Accordion help please
From: vectis
Date: 18 Jan 07 - 03:25 PM

If you can play the piano then maybe you should consider getting a 12 bass piano accordion. A newish one should only cost about £100 and you may get one for less. They are light. Play properly and last well. Economically it would work out cheaper (over a year or two)than buying a series of those horrible cheap jobs that are really designed as kiddies toys.

Subject: RE: Accordion help please
From: Greg B
Date: 18 Jan 07 - 03:34 PM

I can recommend the little button accordion. It's fairly
easy to honk out some tunes on one. I have two--- they
have held up okay. Sometimes the valve pads come off,
but if you save them they can be re-affixed with sticky
tape.

The relative simplicity of the button version makes for
less to go wrong, I think.

The bellows on my two don't leak!

You'd be surprised what an advanced player can do with one---
they really reward (and demand) bellows control.

One year at Mystic Mary Morse and I handed out about 40 of
them and taught a church full of people to honk out 'starkle
starkle little twink' in about an hour.

Subject: RE: Accordion help please
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 18 Jan 07 - 08:26 PM

I do agree that these little ones are maybe not going to last long - but they are fun, and VERY portable - some people even take them camping - if damaged, then they are easily replaced.

I have several other 'real' accordions - the problem is that most of the smaller ones aren't made these days - 12, 16, 24, 32 & 48 bass models are around, many only second hand.

My favourite is a 32 bass - an Italian one - the company ceased in the 1960s sometime - but the 22 key ones are VERY useful.

There are a fewer 'miniaturised' models around - intended for smaller hands, ladies, or children. Some are rubbish, but some are quality instruments, lighter to carry.