Issue link: http://saihq.uberflip.com/i/1498727
16 Spring 2023 • sai-national.org Musical Outreach brought the audience an eclectic program featuring folk and jazz tunes. The UMKC Community Accordion Ensemble, of which I am a member, also performed an exquisite classical program premiering a new work composed by Stas Venglevski. Featured performers for our July 2023 Festival will include Grayson Masefield from New Zealand (http://www.accordions.com/ gmasefield/ and a flute and accordion duo from Austria (Das Duo Kollektiv: http:// www.daskollektivduo.com/en/). Throughout the school year, the ATG offers free online workshops twice per month to our membership presenting topics such as "how to form 6 th , 9 th and 11 th chords on your left hand," "what to put in your gig bag," "notation software," "music software," "how to use the new ATG syllabus," historical topics, and much more. We also present occasional online programs of special interest such as hearing from leading European teachers and providing a forum for US accordion teachers to meet and share teaching/ learning techniques. Our most recent addition to our Festival included an "Accordion Petting Zoo" offering the public the opportunity to "try out" an accordion with the help of one of our ATG instructors. It is our hope that this will encourage young people to learn the accordion and return to the pre-rock 'n roll "heyday" of the accordion. All teachers and students can be guided by the new ATG Syllabus, published in 2022, that contains listings of music and theory requirements for students at eight different levels. The ATG Syllabus provides literature suggestions and performance requirements for both stradella and free bass accordions. The stradella left-hand system is what you typically hear when you see the average accordionist performing at a restaurant or in a wedding band or as a street performer. This system has two rows of single bass notes along with four rows of buttons that play pre-formed chords – major, minor, dominant seventh, and diminished chords. The free-bass accordion system "frees" up all buttons to be single notes allowing the accordionist to play any repertoire exactly as it is written. This system works particularly well in playing Baroque music. There are now several different arrangements of free-bass systems that today's accordionists may choose to play. The free bass system is offered on an accordion in addition to the stradella system. Switching between the systems is common and requires a simple gesture of pushing a lever on the bass side of the accordion to activate the desired system. The quality of the accordions has improved over the years, with hand-made reeds and innovative manufacturing to create a lighter instrument. Most accordions of quality are manufactured in Castelfidardo, Italy. Currently, there are ten major manufacturers in the town, making it the mecca of accordion manufacturing. In December, the CBS Morning Show had a feature on Castelfidardo. You can view it on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/y0v- CtSwBak. When I began studying the accordion, students in the United States played piano accordions almost exclusively. Some played free bass, but it was not common. However, in order to succeed at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory, a student was expected to play free bass in order to perform the required repertoire to earn a music degree. Now, many young serious players in the United States have switched to a chromatic button accordion with a chromatic system of buttons on both the right hand and left hand. This has been common in Europe for a long time. Turning our attention to accordion activity in the Chicagoland area, I can tell you with certainty that the accordion is on the upswing again in Chicago. Three years ago, as I began to wind down my law practice, I put the word out that I wouldn't mind taking on a few accordion students again. I taught accordion and piano for eight years after I graduated from UMKC before I entered law school. Today, just a few years after I expressed my desire to teach again, I conduct an accordion group of 18-20 members and teach around 25 accordion students each week. Last week alone, I started six new accordion students! My students range in age from 7-80 and have varied reasons for wanting to play the accordion. Some started because their aunt or grandfather gave them an accordion. Some just love the sound of the accordion. Others play because they want to play tunes of their heritage. I have one student who is a licensed music therapist, and she wanted to learn the accordion to use in her therapy sessions. Of course, this makes sense as the accordion is portable and can play both a melody and accompaniment. The accordion also comes in many different sizes, with 12 bass buttons, 50 bass buttons, 72, 96, or 120 bass buttons. The smaller instruments would work beautifully in a music therapy session or in any situation where a performer might be standing or moving around as on a stage in musical theater. That opportunity is also becoming more abundant. I have received several calls looking Continued on page 23 Mary Ann Covone performed a diverse program at the Welcome Luncheon at the 2022 National Convention in Greensboro Tango Abstraktigo by Adolf Götz Ave Maria by Astor Piazzolla Accompanist: Friend of the Arts Michael Braz Nocturne (for Free Bass Accordion) by Karen Fremar,Tau-Sigma Introduction and Allegro for Accordion and Synthesized Tape by Karen Fremar