Nihad Hrustanbegovic © 2010
The accordion is a musical instrument that belongs to the Aerophone family. The sound of the accordion is created by the vibration of striking metal reeds. The principle of the origin of the sound of the accordion dates back 5,000 years ago to the Chinese musical instrument the Cheng, a type of mouth organ that was invented by Ling Lun, on behalf of Emperor Huang Ti. The Cheng was a gourd with a wooden mouthpiece and 12 to 24 bamboo pipes of varying lengths. Behind the mouthpiece was a floating tongue, through which the air was blown. Because the Cheng uses a resounding reed, this instrument is seen as the predecessor of the accordion. In 1777 the Cheng made its debut in Europe after a missionary, Amin, sent a copy of the Cheng to the Ministry of the Arts in Paris. A little later the instrument was also sent to Russia and Denmark. Some other instruments that can also be mentioned as predecessors of the accordion are the portative, the positive and the regal. These three European instruments date from the 12th, 15th and 16th centuries and have the characteristics of a portable organ. Instead of reeds, these instruments had pipes and bellows, which were operated with the left hand. The keyboard was played with the right hand. So there was also a predecessor of the accordion in Europe, but it was only after the arrival of the Cheng from China that interest was shown in making a new instrument. Plenty of experiments were conducted that led to the creation of many instruments in the 19th century.
It started with the Handaeoline in 1822 It started with the Handaeoline in 1822 by Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann, then with Accordion (diatonic – with chord buttons on the bass side and by pushing and pulling the bellows a different sound was produced by pressing the same button). In 1829, Cyril Damian applied for a patent on the name and the instrument, which expired in 1834, Concertina in 1829 by Charles Wheatstone, bandoneon in 1854 by Heinrich Band, and in 1850 the Viennese musician F. Walter created the first accordion as we know it. now know designed (same tone when pushing and pulling the bellows with the press of a button or key). In 1870 the bayan was introduced, by Nicolai Ivanovitch Beloborodov (a Russian variant of the accordion that sounded so good that well-known Russian composers immediately started using this instrument in their compositions, such as Tchaikovsky in 1883), and finally in 1897, by the company of Mathaus Bauer in Vienna, built the first accordion with melody bass, the predecessor of the concert accordion, which was later further developed in Russia, Germany and Italy by various accordion builders around 1920.
Damians Accordion developed into the Wiener model, an instrument with 1, 2 or 3 rows of buttons that is still widely played, especially in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Buschmann’s Handaeoline also continued to develop. The result of this is the German harmonica, also called the harmonica. The development and improvement of Damian’s Accordion by F. Walter was so important that it led to the production of the first piano-keyboard accordion in 1852 by the Bouton company in Paris. In Toula, 150 kilometers from Moskow, Tonla, Timofei, Vorontzof and Sizov had started developing a diatonic accordion; This led years later to the creation of impressive accordion factories such as Jupiter. After the launch of the first accordion factories in France and Russia, the German Matthias Hohner started an industry in harmonicas and later also with accordions in Trossingen in 1857.
In Italy, a stronghold of accordion factories grew up around Castelfidardo in the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1850 Bonacina started in Lecco, followed in 1860 by Chiusaroli in Recanat, in 1963 by Paolo Soprani in Castelfidardo who did so well that his brand’s accordion became a household name all over the world. In 1876 Dalappe & Figlio followed in Stradella, and finally Pigini launched an accordion factory in 1946 whose instruments now produce the most impressive sound for classical, modern and even world music. Thanks to the best technical components, Pigini has proven to be an absolute standout. Because of its melody bass, which offers many possibilities for stereotypical playing, these instruments are played by thousands of students and concert musicians all over the world. Pigini’s secret: collaboration with many accordion artists who delve into the accordion sound, such as Mogens Ellegaard and Peter Soave.
The accordion eventually became an instrument composed as a combined system of resounding metal reeds, bellows and buttons (bass side), and keys (or knobs) side. The sound of the instrument is created by the vibration of metal reeds. This is done by blowing air in and out with the bellows. To change the sound, it was decided to use registers, just like with the organ. There are four types of registers: fundamental registers, consonant registers, dissonant registers and mixing registers. The basic registers consist of 8 foot registers (sounds like notation), 16 foot registers (sounds one octave lower than 8 feet) and 4 foot registers (sounds one octave higher than 8 feet). Consonants, dissonances, and mixing registers are the combinations of all possible mixtures between 4 feet, 8 feet, and 16 feet. The registers are present on most accordions on both sides. After all, there are two types of accordions; accordions with standard bass and accordions with standard and melody bass – or the concert accordion.
