I took accordion lessons way, way back in Grade School.
According to this FAR SIDE cartoon by Gary Larson, does that mean I'm going to end up
at the place down below?
Since I know you're all dying to know, here's a close up of the Hohner Accordion Model that I used to play. The expression on my face on the picture at right, tells everything about the joy I felt about learning this instrument.
These vintage ads reminded me of my two years in grade school where I took accordion lessons and played with the Modern American School accordion band under the leadership of my music teacher, Miss Anne Pertack. The highlight of that experience was a performance at a concert hall inside the Palace Of Fine Arts In Mexico City.
I never pictured myself as the Mexican Lawrence Welk although I have to admit I enjoyed The Lawrence Welk Show quite a lot, in a guilty pleasure kind of way.
These ads promise hours of joy and pleasure and claim accordions are IN, which of course,
were slight exaggerations. All I can say is that an accordion, played by a talented musician, makes delightful and very happy music.
My accordion was the Hohner Student VII and it was sold for a paltry amount when my mom died, in 2009.
But I still remember with nostalgia those boring hours practicing the instrument in the full knowledge I would never become a skilled musician.
Years later, I took up the clarinet and learned to play it with some proficiency. I even got to play it on an episode of a local TV sitcom and on a nightclub show.
After that, I wisely left the music in the talented hands of professional musicians like Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw. My real passion is listening to music, not playing it.
And here's a sampling of good accordion music with Lawrence Welk!
