07.21.2008, originally uploaded by hills,.
i asked for an accordion for my birthday. that’s all i wanted. i got it. eileen (co-worker and accordion guru) introduced me to the best place for accordions (main squeeze in the lower east side) and that’s where i bought my “sunrise.”
it’s great! it has 72 bass so i can play “all the chords” and the physical condition is tip-top. it has a wonderful sound and allows for five different reed settings.
i’ve been working on learning how to play the buttons and it’s proving to be somewhat confusing though i’m learning quickly and will hopefully be able to accompany myself on standards soon. (let’s shoot for in a month or two, yeah? i’m sure i’ll never meet that goal, but a boy can dream.) i’ve also been working on “breathing.” as most people know, you don’t need to take breaths in order to play the piano. you can just keep going and going and going. in case you don’t know, the accordion requires you to expand and contract the bellows in order to move air and produce a sound. you can only stretch the bellows so far before you have to push them back together making it somewhat like breathing. i need to figure out how much i can really play before i need to “breathe out” or “breathe in.”
all in good time though, all in good time.
okay… time to go to sleep, i mean… practice accordion. we’ll see how long it takes for the neighbors (or alicia) to hate/kill me.
