[ACCORDION4COMPOSERS]

Beta Version

Luca Piovesan
www.lucapiovesan.it
 NOTES
Dear composers and accordion lovers, this pdf book and all audio samples are
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To have the audio samples: please write me an e-mail at info@lucapiovesan.it
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All this work is protected by a Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC-ND 2.5.
You’re free to download, study, print, share (please do it!) this work, but
REMEMBER:

- You must always attribute this work to me

- You may not use this work for commercial purposes.
- You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.

Notes on recordings:
I recorded all audio samples with 2 mics (in stereo ORTF position, coincident
capsules) one meter far from my accordion in frontal position. There's no
compression, no volume change between takes, just a bit of reverb.
The difference in volume between a fortissimo cluster and the pianissimo air
sound is proportional to the live one.
My purpose was to give you a clean sound from a frontal position, not a fake
studio-balanced sound.

I ask you please:

- give me feedbacks and help me emproving this work, I’ll take care of your
suggestions on next release (consider that this is still a beta version!)
- if you appreciate this work please consider donating a small amount on my
paypal account (on info@lucapiovesan.it) or buying a disc of mine (contact
me for details). This work means hundreds of hours thinking, writing and
recording... and years of experience. I’ll be very grateful for your help.
- and... spread the voice to your composers and musicians friends!

Gratefully dedicated to my accordion teachers

and all the composers who I worked with.

A special thanks to Davide Ianni for giving me

many opportunities to expose and improve this project.

2
 INDEX

p. 2 Notes
p. 3 Index
p. 4 1 - General aspects
p. 7 2 - Sound production
p. 10 3 - The right hand keyboard and its registers
p. 15 4 - The left hand keyboard and its registers
p. 21 5 - The bellows
p. 25 6 - Microtonal techniques
p. 28 7 - Noises
p. 30 8 - Notation
p. 39 9 - Miking techniques and electronics

3
 1 - GENERAL ASPECTS

The accordion is a quite well-known instrument often related to popular and

folk music. Over the last 30-40 years it has been used in a big amount of
contemporary pieces, from solo to chamber music.
Composers such as Gubaidulina, Berio, Kagel, Hosokawa, Furrer, Nordheim,
Sciarrino, have written pieces for this instrument contributing to create a new
and important repertoire and to increase the interest in the accordion.
Its peculiarity is the possibility of creating lots of different sounds, quickly
varying in timbre, pitch (even with bending), registers, note repetition,
dynamic, chords and so on.
I think that the best way to describe the accordion to a composer is thinking to
a wind poliphonic instrument controlled by two keyboards.
It is some sort of small organ plus lots of agility in terms of speed, sound
control and dynamic.
The bellows pushes and pulls the air through the reeds, and the keyboard
buttons select the notes and how the notes start and end.
The two hands move on two different keyboards, so they never cross and
they’re more free than being on a single one. The left hand also constantly

4
pushes and pulls the bellows. This means that even if we play just one note on
the right hand our left hand is already working to control air and so dynamics!
Playing the accordion is a very demanding activity: supporting the weight of
the instrument (about 16-17 chilos), pulling and pushing the bellows and
performing all the techniques requires a high amount of energy.
Please also remember that we can not see the keyboards: we orientate using
some tactile signs (usually on all Cs and Fs)

The accordion is attached to the body of the performer by a couple of straps.

There are mainly two models of straps:
- two vertical straps, the most common ones (often the two straps are also
linked by an horizontal one behind the shoulders of the performer)

- the now spreading “Ergonomic Straps” (by Claudio Jacomucci)

5
In this way the base of the instrument is secured to lower back by the lower
belt. The upper straps distribute the pressure of pulling and pushing the
bellows in four bands.
They’re intended to avoid the most common pains of traditional straps:
shoulders pushed forward and down, chest compressed down, floating ribs
squeezed, pulling-down of the sides of the chest, sinking down in the hip,
“getting heavy” in the lower back.

One of the main problems in composing for accordion is the huge amount of
differences within keyboards (at least 3 models per hand), registers, range.
They vary a lot depending on brands and even single models, being often
custom made following the single performer’s requests.
I’ll try to be the most general I can. Of course this guide is more focused on
the button accordion in C griff, the model I use, which is honestly the most
common within contemporary performers.

6
 2 - SOUND PRODUCTION

The sound in accordion is produced by the air pushed and pulled through metal
free-reeds. There are two reeds per note in each register, one for the opening
bellows and one for the closing bellows.

The sound in the accordion is controlled by the keys and the fingers (similar to
the tongue for wind instruments).

So we can control in detail the beginning, the evolution and the ending of each
note.

[*AUDIO 2.1: Controlling sounds]

7
Remember that the two manuals act on the same bellows, so this normally
results in the same dynamics on both manuals. However we can emphasize
one hand by using different registers, or playing in octaves, or with different
articulations within the hands.

The accordion is a real stereo instrument: the sound comes from two different
sources.

[Jurgen Ganzer - Phantasie 84]

But one source is still (the right hand) while the other moves continously
pulling and pushing the bellows.
So the general sound of the accordion has a very awkward direction which
could be depicted as in this image below.
So in the real live performance the balance between the two hands is slightly
moving following the bellows opening.

[*AUDIO 2.2: Left hand moving with kept chord]

Playing chords the lowest note dominates: when two or more notes are played
on the same manual the lowest note will normally sound the strongest, as on
the organ. If you want to emphasise the highest note simply put it on the
other hand.
[*AUDIO 2.3: The lowest note dominates]

8
Another important aspect is that playing any amount of notes (at least two)
from niente and then a very slow crescendo, each notes will start at a different
time, because of the different reaction of every reeds. There’s no rule in the
order of the notes, it depends on each instrument.
This can be very annoying, but the only way to avoid it is tu put a very small
accent on the beginning of the chord.
[*AUDIO 2.4: Chords crescendo from niente]

The accordion has no resonance from the instrument itself: the body of the
instrument is not a resonant chamber.
The series of reeds are placed in castles with very tiny chambers (see picture
below).
This means that it is a very “dry” instrument: no resonance, no echoes, not (of
course!) pedal effects. All the sound will disappear as soon as we depress the
keys. So even though the instrument could sound very loud in small rooms,
the sound doesn’t carry so far. Any wind instrument is much more perceptible
than an accordion. And our harmonics tend to fade away in chamber
ensembles.

The tuning of classical accordion is usually 442 Hertz. Note that if we pull any
note to fortissimo the tune tends to lower.
[*AUDIO 2.5: lowering note on ff]

9
 3 - THE RIGHT KEYBOARD AND ITS REGISTERS

Seen from afar there are mostly two systems of right keyboards for accordion:
piano keyboard and button keyboard. Actually the “button accordion” has at
least three types of different models but they are almost identical from a
composer’s point of view. The most commons are named C-griff (the C is on
the first row) and B-griff (the C is on the third row). The third system is the
Finnish one... with the C on the second row!
It has to be clear that nowadays the mayority (more than 90%) of classically
trained accordionists plays one “button accordion”, plus this type of instrument
has been confirmed as the standard from the International Accordion Society
(on 1993). The button accordion is far better in range, hand configuration,
fingering, regularity of the progressions, combinations of the two hands.
From my point of view the C-griff is a small step better, having a mirror-made
disposition of the notes (much more natural) and allowing a more natural
adaptation of the hands.
Piano keyboard system on accordion is really not effective on accordion as in a
piano, where both hands play on the same keyboard. Having two different
keyboards on the two hands has a lot of limits in range, speed, crossing,
mental mapping.

10
So this guide will certainly be about button accordions. The pictures and the
examples will be on C-griff system (the one I use) but as a composer forget
about it. They’re completely interchangeable. The only meaningful difference is
that C-griff has the lowest notes of the left hand on the top (very near to the
air button) while B-griff has the lowest notes of the left hand on the bottom
(very very far from the air button!)

Right hand keyboard map (top side of the instrument on the left):

The right keyboard of the accordion has 105 buttons in five rows, with 3
effective rows. 4th and 5th are repetitions of 1st and 2nd. This gives us great
possibilities in fingering and generally in tonality transposing.
We have a chromatic scale with a considerable range, from the second lowest
E to the highest G of a 88 key piano keyboard (64 notes). This means from E2
to G7.
[*AUDIO 3.1: chromatic scale on the whole right hand]

Within this range we can do anything which a pianist can do with his right
hand: scales, chords, polyphonic playing, glissando, clusters and so on.
Remember that the chromatic keyboard has a minor third glissando (sound as
a diminuished fast arpeggio).
[*AUDIO 3.2: glissandos on different registers]

[Sofia Gubaidulina - De profundis]

11
Furthermore the hand can obtain a huge extension in intervals: we can reach a
three-octaves distance, but only in a largo tempo. We’re quite confortable
within 2 octaves: within 2 octaves on the right hand almost everything is
possible. On larger extension there are some interesting possibilities, but
remember the hand shape! The hand stretches opening the thumb from other
four fingers.
So this chord

looks hard but it’s quite easily performable. While this,

which looks nearer, it’s impossible to play using the five fingers
because 3rd and 4th fingers don’t open so much. We can play it
performing a small cluster with the thumb on the three lowest given
notes. This last chord:

is definitely impossible to perform.

[*AUDIO 3.3: big extensions on the right hand]

In writing very large and hard chords please remember that we can’t see the
keyboard. This means that some dense chords series can be really hard to
perform (I mean, finding the right notes position) and require probably more
studying time than on a piano.
This is very hard:

[Davide Ianni - Testo]

12
The right hand registers (see also chapter “Notation”)

The right hand has the possibility of changing the octaves combination using
registers, as for the organ.
We have one low voice (16 feet) whose result is to obtain a sound one octave
lower than the pressed key (so we can arrive to the lowest E of the piano, and
our right keyboard will range from E1 to G6).
The 16 feet register is always in “cassotto” (see explanation below).
[*AUDIO 3.4: 16’ feet register]

Than two central voices (8 feet), real pitch register.

The two 8 feet registers are very different in timbre: the one usually draw on
the right is very sharp; the other one (“cassotto”) is more muffled.
“Cassotto” in italian means “box”: this means that these reeds are into a
wooden or metallic box which makes the timbre much more soft.
[*AUDIO 3.5: 8 feet registers]

The high voice (4 feet) moves the keyboard one octave up (actually not the
complete keyboard because the highest reeds are too difficult to build and
keep tuned, so they usually stop to C#8. Some accordions just stop around B
flat 7). This register has also some kind of “third sound” in the very last notes
and at high volume.
[*AUDIO 3.6: 4 feet register and third sound]

So 8 feet with cassotto and 16 feet both have a sweet, mellow sound, whereas
8 feet without cassotto and 4 feet have a brighter, sharper sound.

These registers can be combined in all the possibilities, so we have 15

registers changing pitch and tone timbre. Standardised register symbols are
used in the scores.

13
In registers combining different octaves, it is always the lowest octave that
defines the resulting sound
[*AUDIO 3.7: different registers combinations]

Seven of these fifteen register are selectable with the chin. These are the most
common ones within the accordion models:

This means that we can change them very easily and quickly, with no need to
move our right hand to select them.
Usually changing a register with the hand takes some portions of a second (it
depends on how far it is from the notes we’re playing), while this possibility is
really instant.
[*AUDIO 3.8: switching register by hand and by chin]

Actually I’d suggest not to struggle with the registers subject in the initial
stages of composition but to propose to the player some color as dolce, tutti,
metallic, nasal, flute, bassoon etc; the accordionist will choose a suitable
registration for that.

[Toshio Hosokawa - Melodia]

14
 4 - THE LEFT KEYBOARD

The left hand of the accordionist is always tied to a strap to pull and push the
bellows in order to obtain sounds and to control the dynamics.
Plus, it control the left keyboard, 120 buttons distributed within 6 rows.
There are three common system for the left hand:
1) C-griff: is the equivalent of the right hand system, mirror made;
2) B-griff: the “Russian” version, with lowest notes on the bottom;
3) Finnish: mirror made to the right hand Finnish system.
Again, there are no big differences for the composers, except for the position
of the air button which is on the top of the body, so near to lowest tones on C-
griff and Finnish; near to highest tones on B-griff.
One other important thing is that if you want us to use the left thumb (for
larger interval) this will operate on C-Eb-F#-A on C-griff and on B-D-F-Ab on
D-griff.

The extension of this keyboard goes from E1 to C#6

[*AUDIO 4.1: left hand range]

15
This is the map of the left hand keyboard (C-griff)

As you can see the effective “chromatic” rows are only 4. The two internal row
do not vary between this keyboard and the “Stradella basses”, the old “zum-
pà-pà” keyboard. (See below for details)
These two rows are arranged by fifth order and cover the lowest octave of the
instrument. By using these bass tones there is no limit to the spacing between
lowest note and upper notes, but please check on the picture how far it is!
[*AUDIO 4.2: first and second rows]

[Winkel Holm - Troglodyte]

The 4 row chromatic keyboard is very similar to the right one (as I said it’s
mirror-built) but is very less flexible mainly because the hand is strapped
under the bass-strap (for pushing and pulling the bellows) and we mainly can’t
use the thumb.

16
Moving the hand under the strap needs a bit of time, and sliding it slowly while
keeping notes (e.g. on the right hand) often causes pulsations or vibrations on
the sound.
[*AUDIO 4.3: vibrations in sliding left hand]

The finger possibilities could be compared to that of a pianist’s left hand

playing with the palm touching the body of the piano under the keys and
without thumb... so we have these limits:
- No thumb: (as said above the only exception is the first row, different from
system to system) we feel confortable playing whithin one octave interval. 3-
notes chords are ok; not all 4-notes chords are possible. Arpeggios on several
octaves are very difficult.
[*AUDIO 4.4: limit range and arpeggios]

- No quick jumps over 1 octave, we need some pause for moving the hand and
remember that we can’t see the keyboard at all!
- No prestissimo passages: we can play confortably fast in one position but
problems come in when we need to change the hand position. So is better to
avoid fast virtuosistic runs. Or put some pauses or fermata to slide the hand
under the strap.
- No glissandos: the shape of the buttons is not flat as in the right hand, so the
hand doesn’t slide confortably. You can partly simulate a glissando on the left
hand with a fast legato chromatic scale or a small cluster moving within the
fingers except for the thumb.
[*AUDIO 4.5: left hand glissandos]

17
The left hand registers (see also chapter “Notation”)

The left keyboard has less register possibilities than the right one and there
are often wide differences between the single instruments.
The most common combination is the one above on the left: two low reeds
(similar to the 16foot for the right hand) from E1 to C#6 plus one very high
(from E3 to C#8).
Actually the lowest octave (E1-E2) has a low voice and one voice one octave
higher. This is for building reasons, they cannot fit inside the left body of the
accordion.
This first registers combination has great advantages: powerful bass notes and
wide range (the same as the right hand!!). And of course you can choose
withing the different combinations of registers.

The second possibility is the picture above on the right: one low reed (E1-C#6)
plus one central (E2-C#7) plus one high (E3-C#8).
This model in my opinion is a bit worse: less powerful and effective.

Sadly, as I said, there are considerable differences within different accordions.

So for example my accordion has only the two lowest reeds, no high register,
so I can only play within E1-C#6. The good point on my accordion is a better
control on the key pressure and the fact that I can use a “sordina”, a thin
metal foil which slides and gives me a softer and mellowed sound.
Furthermore I have no possibility to play with just one reed, I always have the
two of them... this unluckily means NO bending on the left hand for my
accordion.

18
The Stradella Basses

One important feature of all the accordion left sides is the possibility to swich
between the free basses keyboard (“Bariton basses”) and the “Stradella
basses”.
The “Stradella basses” (or “standard basses”) have two rows
for single bass notes and four rows for fixed chords.
In order to switch to this keyboard we press on a long
register named “converter” which acts on the four external
rows, turning each button into a chord selector.
The converter is quite long and very well reachable from
every position on the left keyboard (picture on the right).
The standard notation for “free basses” and “stradella basses”
is BB (bariton basses) and SB (stradella basses).
Also remember that this key is quite noisy.
[*AUDIO 4.6: converter noise]

Remember that you can’t use the two keyboards (free basses
and Stradella) at the same time!

The bass notes are simply the full lowest octave of the instrument (usually
starting from the lowest E of the piano). They are disposed for intervals of fifth
(C-G-D-A-E and so on), following the popular origins of the instrument.
[*AUDIO 4.7: bass and counterbass]

Every bass note has four dedicated fixed chords: major, minor, seventh and
diminished. The chords are notated with these symbols:
Major:M Minor:m Seventh: 7 Diminished:d
[*AUDIO 4.8: chords and Stradella basses patterns e.g. waltz, tango,
polka, beguine...]
19
So it becomes very easy to accompany traditional melodies but this keyboard
can be explored also in a more creative and contemporary way:

[Luciano Berio - Sequenza XIII - Chanson]

[Salvatore Sciarrino - Vagabonde blu]

20
 5 - THE BELLOWS

The bellows is a paper and silk extensible element which links the right and the
left bodies of the accordion.
It is the lung of the instrument, the one that pulls and pushes the air through
the reeds to produce sound.

Remember that we have one bellows for two keyboards, this means that the
air flow is the same for both hands.
The accordion has a large dynamics spectrum from niente to fortissimo, but it
is important to bear in mind that the air pressure produced by the bellows
influences both the manuals with the same power. A fortissimo in the right
hand means automatically a fortissimo in the left hand as well.
It’s not possible to play pianissimo on one keyboard and at the same time forte
in the other hand!
Either, playing on one manual, it is not possible to emphasise one note
dynamically above the other played notes.
It is possible to compensate to some degrees for this limitations of the
instrument through registers, octave-doubling and articulation.
[*AUDIO 5.1: same dynamics for both hands]

The changes in opening and closing the bellows are totally different from the
movement of a bow. If we open a certain amount of air we’ve to close exactly
the same amount, we cannot at all lift our “bow”, move it in silence to the
opposite side and then play again!!

21
The amount of air needed changes a lot depending on:
- volume
- number of played notes
- register
so we can play a single pianissimo note up to 2 minutes, but a huge cluster
with both hands will end the air in less than a half second. This means that we
need to change the bellows direction and the notes will sound as re-
articulated.
[*AUDIO 5.2: long single pp note - very short clusters]

Bellows shake

In facts we have no endless tones! The accordion “breathes” like a wind-player

or a singer: if you change (reverse) the bellows direction, while playing a note,
the tone is interrupted and re-articulated. This is because there are two reeds
per note: one for opening bellows, the other one for closing it.
This re-articulation by bellows lead us to a very interesting technique: “bellows
shake”. Bellows shake basically means to re-articulate the note not by the
fingers but by the bellows, opening and closing it. The fingers are free to play
single notes, chords, scales, clusters, anything!
We can use this to obtain an effect similar to a string tremolo, with wide
possibilities of sound, chords, volume, note change, speed and so on.
The bellows open and close but we can put accents in any rythmic patterns:
2-3-4-5-6 and so on. Of course even patterns will be much easier.
Please remember that our left hand moves a 8 chilos bow... so there’re limits
in duration and volume, the more fortissimo and fast it will be the more tiring
it will become. We’re quite trained to it but please do not exaggerate!!!
See the chapter “notation” for some tips on how to notate the bellows shake.
[*AUDIO 5.3: Bellows shake examples]

Ricochet

In the accordion ricochet is similar to the ricochet of a bow.

It’s obtained by bouncing the left body of the instrument on the almost closed
bellows (about 1 or 2 cm open).
Please always remember that our “bow” is very heavy... Actually ricochet is
much less tiring than bellows shake.
22
It’s possible in duplets, triplets and quadruplets. Some crazy folks can play it in
quintuplets...
The difference with bellows shake is that in ricochet the stress position is very
evident while in bellows shake notes are much more regular and detached. In
triplets is the best, and also considerably fast.
[*AUDIO 5.4: Ricochet examples]

Vibrato and impulses

The accordion can easily vibrate the sound and in lot of different ways: by
moving the hands in contact with the instrument’s body, by shaking the left
knees, by vibrating the left hand near the bass strap. The oscillation can easily
vary speed and rhythm.
Actually any touch or movement on the accordion generate a variation on the
regularity of a sound kept, unluckily (and very often) even the movements we
make not on purpose.

The vibrato is much more effective and controllable on lowest dynamics.

And if one hand is free (not playing any note) we can use it to perform a very
high quality vibrato.
[*AUDIO 5.5: Vibrato with one hand]

The strongest the sound will be, the slowest and hardest the vibrato will
become: if we emphasize the dynamic contrast we obtain some very evident
impulses.
[*AUDIO 5.6: Vibrato and impulses]

The vibrato of the accordion is a variation in volume, differently from strings,

the pitch doesn’t change at all.

Very beautiful transitions can be obtained within vibrato - impulses - bellow

shake - ricochet - finger rearticulation.

23
[*AUDIO 5.7: transitins within different ways of re-articulating notes]

[Krzysztof Olczak - Pantasmagorien]

See chapter “Notation” for more tips about the vibrato notation.

Air button sound

Originally born as a “polite” way to close the bellows without playing
any note, the air button sound has today a great role in
contemporary writing for accordion as it sounds almost like a human
“breathe”.
To make it audible the performer has to pull and push fortissimo but
the resulting volume is piano (maximum mezzoforte).
Very important: it must be used alone, if associated to any other accordion
sound it can’t be heard. It totally disappear in ensemble.
In many accordions his sound varies between opening and closing.
[*AUDIO 5.8: air button and his volume]

Beautiful transitions can be performer between air and one single pianissimo
note.
[*AUDIO 5.9: transitions air - notes]

The air button is located in the top side of the left keyboard, so for C-griff and
Finnish system it is nearby the lowest tones. Our left hand is located nearby
the lowest octave, so we need time to move to other octaves.

24
 6 - MICROTONAL TECHNIQUES

[Nildo Sanvido - Due piedistalli]

Note: all this part is played with the right hand.

Pitch bend glissando

By slowly and partially raising the key and increasing the bellows pressure we
can de-tune the note: the tone goes down and then can raise back to the
original note.

There are great possibilities but also some very clear limits:
- It works on one reed per time: this means one played note and single
register. (see below for extras)

- It is only possible to lower a note and stop it or to lower a note and then
bend up to the original position, but we can also start the note in the bended
position (this works best in low registers)
[*AUDIO 6.1: bending down and up]

- The lower is the note the wider this effect becomes: it ranges from half a
tone around the central C to a fourth on the lowest E of the instrument. It’s
still audible around one octave higher than central C (C5-D5), but it is very
narrow and we need to strongly increase the bellows pressure. Actually the
maximum ranges varies a lot from instrument to instrument.
[*AUDIO 6.2: width of bending]

- Remember: slow tempo! Bending needs time to activate, especially on high

notes.
[*AUDIO 6.3: slow tempo!]

- Pitch bend glissando works best on the right hand. On some instruments (as
mine) it doesn’t work at all on the left hand having two active reeds per note
all the time.
[*AUDIO 6.4: no bending on L.H. for some accordions]
25
- For instruments which can perform it on the left hand: the range of the
glissando is increased in lower registers, but even the lowest notes are
usually not able to bend more than a tone. This is because left hand reeds
are usually much stiff to obtain a “solid” tone in accompanying.

- It can be combined in a very interesting way with some static notes of the
left hand, giving origin to beatings or oscillations.

[Arne Nordheim - Flashing]

[*AUDIO 6.5: beatings]

- It’s possible to perform a pitch bend glissando while performing other static
notes on the right or left hand. Remember that while obtaining the bending
we strongly increase the bellows pressure, so this will result in a big
crescendo of any non-bending notes.
[*AUDIO 6.6: bending plus non bending notes]

- It’s in some way possible with two lowering notes, this means either two
played notes or one note with a double reed register. The effect will be quite
uncertain, we cannot control which note will bend down first.
[*AUDIO 6.7: pitch bend glissando of two notes]

- As a result of the previous points, keeping the key half down and giving
impulses with the bellows, the tone will lower and raise rhytmically. This can
be named “microtonal shake”.

26
- Microtonal registers effect: keeping a note and slowly switching register there
will be a crossing point where the old reed will be progressively closed (with a
down pitch bending) and the new reed will be progressively open (with a pitch
raising from a de-tuned note to the real one). This requires slow tempo and
long tones. The effect varies a lot depending on the registers you’re
switching.
[*AUDIO 6.8: microtonal register effects]

[Stefano Trevisi - Breaking a curtained haze

for accordion, sax, guitar and cello]

- Interesting effects can be obtained summing bending and air button

[*AUDIO 6.9: bending plus air button]

27
 7 - NOISES

[Lesley Hinger - In lightness]

The accordion is a very noisy instrument, we have some noise even by just
shaking it.
[*AUDIO 7.1 shaking an accordion]

These noises can be incidental (as the keys noise, register switching noise,
creacks of the bellows) or made on purpose (all the previous ones plus
percussion effects).

This is a list of the main noises we can perform on the accordion:

- buttons noise (as a typewriter)
[*AUDIO 7.2 button noises, right and left hand]

- slapping sound on the bellows (semi-open) - scratching bellows

[*AUDIO 7.3 slapping bellows - scratching bellows]

- knocking on the accordion body (wooden sound)

[*AUDIO 7.4 knocking on the body]

- knocking on the bellows (drum sound, the more open is the bellows the more
effective it is)
[*AUDIO 7.5 knocking on the bellows]

- register switches clicking

[*AUDIO 7.6 registers noises]

- air sound (see chapter on bellows)

[*AUDIO 7.7 air, simple, re-articulated, bellows shake]

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There’s no uniform notation for noises, so you can use the one you prefer. Try
to be very clear in the legenda.
Please notate air sound on the left staff (as it is performed by the left hand).
All the others noises are usually performed by the right hand, so better to put
them on that line. (Unless you want them on the left hand.)

[Stefano Trevisi - Breaking a curtained haze,

for accordion, sax, electric guitar and cello]

In the above exemple the noise in the first bar is the scratching of right hand
nails on the bellows; on second bar there’s a glissando with only key click
noises (plus bellows shake on air button); last bar has a trill on two keys of the
right hand, just click sound.

[Arne Nordheim - Dinosaurus]

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 8 - NOTATION

The notation for accordion is similar to the piano: we use two staves, upper
staff is always for the right hand and lower staff for the left hand.
Sometimes the score is notated in more than two staves to be clearer, given
the large range we can play with the right hand:

[Giorgio Tedde - Ballu]

Cross-staff notation is not correct for accordion. In the next example A is much
better than B, provided than all the notes are intended to be performed on the
right keyboard:

[exemple quoted from: “Handbook on accordion notation”

by Geir Draugsvoll and Eric Højsgaard]

For specific indications you can refer to the right hand and keyboard using
R.H. and to the left with L.H.

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On the left manual the code for free basses (bariton basses) is

while the symbol for Stradella basses (chords) is

If you want us to use the two inner rows while on free basses the code is often
the same, or just S.

On Stradella basses the notation is NEVER in real sound, but there’s a

conventional writing:
- the bass note is notated in the lower half of the F key staff.
- the chord (just the root note) is notated in the upper half of the F key staff
- above the chord note goes the abbreviation for the chord color (M m 7 d)

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Real pitch - loco tastatura
As the accordion is an octave-transposer instrument (by mean of registers)
there would be two possibilities in notating the octaves:
- “real pitch” means that you write the resulting pitch and we choose the hand
positioning depending on the selected register. It’s the clearer and actually
it’s now spreading. Please use this one. On the following example (on the
third bar) the written register will effect lowering the perceived sound of one
octave, so the performer will move the hand one octave higher to avoid this.
So pay attention that using registers with a 16 feet root our keyboard will
extend one less octave on high notes. And using the 4 foot register (alone)
we lose one octave on low notes.

[Petri Makkonen - Discotoccata]

- “loco tastatura” means that you write the hand position having clearly in
mind that many registers will effect on the resulting octave. This notation is
very common in Russian literature and in pieces older than about two
decades. On the following exemple the hand of the performer is on the
written octave but the selected register will effect lowering of one octave the
resulting sound.

[Vladislav Zolotaryov - Sonata n°3 - IV movement]

My great suggestion is: use real pitch notation! And write it in the legenda!

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Registers notation
Right hand registers are written as a circle with two horizontal lines and they
must be written above the staff. All our 15 registers are combinations of this 4
main registers:

8 feet with cassotto (mellow sound)

8 feet without cassotto (sharper sound)

16 feet (always with cassotto, mellow sound)

4 feet (always without cassotto, sharper sound) “piccolo”

In registers combining more octaves it is always the lowest octave which

defines the resulting sound.

This is the “tutti” register:

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Left hand registers are written as a triangle or a rectangle with two horizontal
lines and they must be written below the staff.
These are the possible combinations in most common instruments:

8 feet register (actually it sounds as the 16 feet register of the right

hand. They call it 8 because it is the main register for L.H. with real
pitch sounds.)

8-8 feet. In the lowest octave this register sounds actually as a 8-4
(equivalent 16-8 of the R.H) because it is technically impossible to fit
into the left box two 8 feet rows of reeds.

2 feet (actually sounds as the 4 feet R.H. register.) “piccolo”

8-2 feet

8-8-2 feet “tutti”

As said some accordions have different combinations on the left hand:

This is probably the second most common combination.

And this another very common (especially for Russian-built

instrument). Unluckily there’s no piccolo, so much less extension on
the highest notes.

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Bellows notation:
I strongly recommend (unless you really need it for some peculiar effects) to
let the performer choose the most suitable changes of the bellows throughout
the piece. The bellows changes are TOTALLY different from the bows one: if we
open a certain amount of air we’ve to close exactly the same amount, we
cannot at all lift our “bow”, move it in silence to the opposite side and then
play again!!
Our bellows changes depend on the size of the instrument, on the muscular
streght of the performer, on the amount of played notes, on the position of the
bellows at the moment, on very personal tastes and preferences... please let
us choose the best for you.

The bellows can be notated on a dedicated line:

[Davide Ianni, Testo, for accordion and live electronics]

Or (more common) the indications are on the staff (open - close - vibrato -
bellows shake)

[Adriana Hölszky - Miserere]

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Bellows shake can be notated using the signs

for “out” (in some Russian edition this is used for “in”)

for “in” (in some Russian edition this is used for “out”)

or, even better, with the tremolo symbols.

When you want us to end the bellows shake you can write N.B. (natural
bellows).

Consider that we can rearticulate the notes with the same finger, with different
fingers (even on different buttons for a couple of rows), or with the bellows.
Usually if you write a rearticulation of the same note we’re pushed to go on
finger movement:

[Petri Makkonen - The flight beyond the time]

While the lines of tremolo on one longer note suggest us to move the bellows:

[Lesley Hinger - In lightness]

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Unless you need a accelerando or decelerando as in the beginning of De
Profundis:

[Sofia Gubaidulina - De profundis]

Or unless you need a very specific notation in the division of the beat:

[Vladislav Zolotaryov - Sonata n.3 - IV movement]

But honestly there are lots of different possibilities, this is just a general
suggestion.

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Vibrato notation
Vibrato can be notated as:

Vib.

or: vib. ______________

you can specify the scope of the vibrato using a “action writing”:

[Per Nørgård - Anatomic Safari]

Pitch bend glissando notation

Pitch bend glissando is usually indicated with a descending line.
Remember the range of the bending (see chapter “microtonal techniques”): on
the lowest octave it is suggested to write the the intended arrival note, as we
can bend down for a major third or even a forth.

[Nildo Sanvido - Due piedistalli]

38
 9 - MIKING TECHNIQUES AND ELECTRONICS

These are the possible miking techniques for the accordion:

1 - Two mics on two stands near the two keyboards (remember 3:1 rule! The
distance between the two microphones should be at least the distance between
every mic and the source.)
Pros: detailed sound and not too much bleed
Cons: the left hand moves, so its volume is a bit changing during the
movement.
I suggest to put the microphones approximately in the center of the arc that
the left hand draw.

2 - Stereo middle distance miking (e.g. ORTF position)

Pros: More balance between the two hands; sound much similar to the real
perception of a listener in front of the accordion.
Cons: less detail on the direct sound; more mixing of the two sources (pay lots
of attention to the phasis!)

3 - Mics on clips attached to the instrument, or taped

e.g.: Senhheiser, con foto
Pros: greatest balance within the two hands, very low bleed from speakers and
from the other hand.
Cons: the sound is actually a bit unreal, with the left hand always at the same
volume. And with very sensitive microphones the area near the mic will be a
little at a higher volume than others octaves of the keyboard.

4 - Internal microphones
This possibility has been experienced and it’s actually quite diffused on jazz
and folk instrument (with a jack output). But NO contemporary accordion has
it. It’s very practical and fast-wiring but the sound is actually really too much
“in the box”, not suitable for “classic” sound.

Studio recording: in my recording studio I mainly use the first technique,

sometimes sliding to the second one (ORTF) or adding it (using so 4
microphones)

Live miking: from my experience the most common live miking technique for
contemporary accordion is the first one, it’s the easiest to ask for at the
service.
I have to say that I’m quite sure that the best solution for live performance
and for using of electronics is the third one, but it’s not common for
accordionist to have those mics (I personally don’t own them, I hope in the
future...).

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Accordion and live electronics:
Using a pedal controller and a couple of microphones is the most common
setup for pieces with electronics. There are some limits in our feet movement:
- we cannot at all use our left foot, as it is firmly placed on the floor and
sustaining the whole weight of the accordion
- many movements of the right foot will effect on the sound (vibrations or
impulses), so try to avoid cues on long pianissimo notes! Try to put them on
sudden changes, or on forte material

This is a common use of live electronics: a Max patch acting on live material
performed by the accordionist. So we only need to have the cues notated in
the specific points they have to be set, and there we will press the midi pedal:

[Davide Ianni - Testo, for accordion and electronics]

Next example is a much harder combination:

- accordion
- pedalboard
- expression pedal
This setup opens for great possibilities in the future but I have to admit that
studying the actions with the feet has been almost as hard as studying the
accordion part!

[Lorenzo Troiani - Beta, for accordion and pedalboard]

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Please give me feedbacks and help me emproving this work, I’ll take care of
your suggestions on next release.
If you appreciated this work please consider donating a small amount on my
paypal account (my account is info@lucapiovesan.it) or buying a disc of mine
(contact me for more details).
This work means hundreds of hours thinking, writing and recording... and
decades of experience.
I’ll be very grateful for your help.

Good Music to You.

Luca
www.lucapiovesan.it
blowoutstudio.lucapiovesan.it

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