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Accordion

The accordion and its cousins are among the most popular instruments associated with traditional music in Scotland. Less widely played, but also important, are the harmonica (also known as the 'mouth organ' or 'moothie' in Scotland), melodeon and the concertina.

Despite the accordion's relatively recent invention in Europe in the 19th century, it is now established as one of the most widely played instruments in Scotland and all over the world. The accordion's repertoire borrows from other traditions such as fiddle and pipe music but many tunes have indeed been composed especially for the instrument. It is a diatonic instrument on which both melody and accompaniment can be played at the same time. The right hand usually plays the tune and the left hand plays a chordal accompaniment. On the piano accordion the tune is played on what looks like a piano keyboard and the chords come from the buttons on the other side. The accordion is a free reed instrument. This means that the sounds are produced by air going through lots of reeds inside the accordion and making them vibrate freely (they are fixed only at one end). The air in the accordion is produced by pushing and pulling on the bellows.

On the piano accordion each note on the keyboard has three different reeds that can be played when the key is pressed. These can be played separately or all together by changing the coupler (see diagram above). The coupler selects whether you are playing with 1, 2 or 3 of the reeds on. The three reeds are slightly different in pitch. One is exactly in tune, one is slightly flatter and the other is slightly sharper. It is this which gives the accordion its distinctive sound.

Here is a recording of a piano accordion. The tunes that the accordion is playing are Mrs MacLeod of Raasay and The Fairy Dance. Both are the same type of tune. Can you guess if these tunes are jigs, reels or strathspeys? If you have already covered the modules based on these dance types, then you should have no trouble.

In Scottish traditional music we have two kinds of accordion: the piano accordion and the button-keyed accordion. Both work in the same way but they do have different sounds. The button-keyed accordion has round keys on both sides not a keyboard like the piano accordion.

Now listen to the recording of the button-keyed accordion Did you notice that the button-keyed accordion has a more staccato sound than the piano accordion? The accordion can also provide its own accompaniment. This is played by the left hand pressing the smaller round keys on the instrument. These keys are known as basses. The inside two rows usually play a bass note and the other rows play chords. Listen to the left hand of the accordion playing a vamp.

Listen again to the piano accordion recording paying particular attention to the accompaniment.

There have been many famous Scottish accordion players. Probably the most famous of all was the late Sir Jimmy Shand OBE (1908-2001), who was largely responsible for the growing popularity of the accordion in the 20th century in Scotland and its gradual supplanting of the fiddle as the main instrument for dance. Shand was from the village of Letham in Fife and renowned all over the world. He had his own Scottish Dance Band and sold many recordings, including The Bluebell Polka, which reached No.1 in the National Pop Record Charts. Jimmy played the button-keyed accordion, sometimes called the “button box”. The accordion is often referred to as simply “the box”.

Bobby MacLeod from Mull was also a great accordion players of the twentieth century. His style of playing was very much influenced by the music of the highland bagpipe. Many of the tunes he played were from the bagpipe repertoire and the ornaments he used sounded almost like the ones a piper would use. He also wrote a lot of his own tunes such as Charlie Hunter’s Jig, Rory Macleod, The Curlew, The Seagull and many more.

Many people associate the accordion with the Scottish Dance Band. Popular contemporary band leaders include accordionists Jim Johnstone (The Jim Johnstone Band)and Freeland Barbour (The Occasionals). There are usually two accordions in such a band, along with other instruments. One plays the melody on the keyboard side of the instrument and the other (sometimes termed the 'second box') plays off beat chords on the keyboard side - both also play chords with their left hands, usually a vamp.

One of the most famous solo accordion players of modern times is Phil Cunningham. Many young players around today would certainly list him as one of their influences. He started his professional career at the age of 16 with a band called Silly Wizard who were seen as quite forward thinking for their time. Phil is also well known through his tours with the fiddler Aly Bain. He has written many tunes on the accordion including The Centenary Jewel, which he wrote for the 100th Mod festival as the theme tune for the television coverage that year. Young accordionists such as Sandy Brechin and Ian Lowthian are experimenting with using more adventurous arrangements, and working with other musicians to give the instrument a new image for a younger generation of players and listeners.