Lecture at JML – Irino Institute, Tokyo September 2005by Eva Zöllner

The accordion in contemporary music – an introduction for composers

The accordion is a very young instrument. During the last years it has become well-established and appreciated in international contemporary music life. A lot of composer have been writing important works for the instrument (e.g. S. Gubaidulina, L. Berio, M. Kagel, K. Huber, …). Still, there is an uncertainty among a lot of composers, how to write for accordion and how to use the instrument´s possibilities optimally. This short summary is meant to be an introduction to the accordion and to provide information concerning basic facts about the instrument.

1. introduction and short historical background

A short description of the accordion´s history and development should give you a summary of the most important background information.The accordion is – like the japanese sho – a free-reed instrument, and obviously the sho, or rather its chinese form shen,g is the predecessor of the accordion.

The first harmonica instruments (concertina, bandonion) were invented in the 1820ies in different central european countries and soon found their place in the folk music life of the 19th century. The repertoire was limited to folk music, dances and traditional music. In 1927, the first oringinal composition for accordion was written (by German composer Hugo Herrmann), but was still very close to the folk music repertoire. The possibilities of the instrument were extremely limited though, because it was only possible to play special chords in the left hand manual.

In the middle of the 20th century, new models of instruments were developed. They are called free-bass accordions and cover a big range of single tones also in the left hand manual. This type of instrument has become the “classical accordion”.

The first serious original compositions for accordion were written in skandinavia in the 1960ies. Mogens Ellegard, accordion virtuoso and professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, was the first accordionist getting in touch with composers to get original pieces written for the instrument. One of the first avangarde-compositions for accordion was Anatomic Safari, written by the danish composer Per Norgard in 1967. The piece explores the different sound possibilities of the accordion and for the first time introduces special effects to the instrument. A lot of scandinavian composers wrote pieces for the accordion in the years after.

Also in other countries, composers very soon got aware of the possibilities of the instrument and over the years a lot of new pieces were composed. Composers like Sofia Gubaidulina, Toshio Hosokawa, Mauricio Kagel, Luciano Berio, Magnus Lindberg, Vinko Globokar just to mention some of them, have written important accordion pieces in the end of the 20th century.

Important for the development of the instrument was also a the work of a lot of successfully performing accordionist. Names like Stefan Hussong, Geir Draugsvoll, Mie Miki or Teodoro Anzellotti have appeared at important festivals, played with the most known contemporary music ensembles and inspired composers to write new pieces for the instrument.

To write for accordion is still a certain challenge for composers: What can a composer do when has to write for an instrument whose image still seems quite fixed and one-dimentional, facing a lot of prejudice concerning a history full of banal folklore, polkas and waltzes…? There are different way to deal with this. One can either accept the cliché and play with it to deconstruct it (like e.g. Mauricio Kagel has done) or one can try to re-invent the instrument, discover hidden sounds and find new characteristics. There is a lot of good examples how composers are dealing with this special background of the accordion, each of them finding his own way, mentioning for example Salvatore Sciarrino, Mauricio Kagel, Toshio Hosokawa or Vinko Globokar.

Sound example:Sofia Gubaidulina: De profundis (1978)

2. basic information

a) notation

The two manuals of the accordion are notated in two systems (one for each hand), The notation is similar to piano notationif necessary (e.g. to make musical lines clear) 3 or more systems can be used

b) range

right hand: kontra E up to d flat 5

(the lowest and the highest octave can be achieved by use of either 16foot or 4 foot register) left hand: kontra E up to d flat5

(there is a special 2foot-register for the range from e2 up to d flat 5 in left hand, see “registers”) This means there is the same range in both hands.

It is possible to play two tones with the same pitch at the same time in both hands.

c) manuals

Both manuals have single tones, ordered in 3 rows (chromatic), in right hand two rows are doubled (1/2/3/1/2), which is a help for alternative fingerings etc

right hand: on button-accordion it is possible to play chords with a range of almost 2 ½ octaves

left hand:

free bass manualthe order of the chords is mirroring the right handone has to take into consideration that the accordion left hand can not be as virtuosic and fast as e.g. on piano: the fingering is problematic (because of limited use of the thumb ,which can only reachthe first row) and the left hand also has to move the bellows which means it is possibility to move is limited

chords can be played over 1 octave + quart there is of course also the common standardbass-accordion (traditional chords in the left hand: major, minor, sept. diminished chords). Concert instruments have the possibility to change between the manuals (by registerswitch). There is different ways of notating the chords, see examples of Berio and Lindberg

d) sound

the sound is close to wind-instruments (think the instrument rather as wind than for example piano…). There is no resonance-effect (only for the very deep tones)

e) dynamics

Since dynamic differences are produced by regulating the air in the bellows there is always the same dynamic in both hands. The balance can be adjusted a bit by the use of registers. Lower tones are always more dominant in sound.

4. Special effects + demonstration, notation and examples

a) glissando

Glissando on the accordion tone is the result of a combination of two physical phenomenons. It is produced by high pressure in the bellows in combiantion with a half closed whole (letting the button carefully go half way up) This effect is varying very much between different tones and instruments. It is quite difficult to control the glissando because of physical reasons.

Glissando is working best in right hand with the very deep tones. you can bend down one tone or maximal two by changing the air pressure. changing the pitch up is hardly possible (only with deep tones, if you bend them down first)

In high registers the glissando is bending down just a little (mostly notated as quarter tones), in deeper registers it can go down to four half tones

Sound example: from: Bent Sǿrensen Looking on Darkness

b) clusters

Clusters are notated like on piano, it sounds a bit more compact because of the order of the buttons

c) bellows shake

Bellows Shake is a tremolando with the bellows, changing direction very quickly.It can be used for tone-repetions or as tremolo-effect.

Bellows Shake can be notated as tremolo sign, by the abbreviation B.S. or by the use of bellows signs

bellows out bellows in

The end of the B.S indicated by N.B. (natural bellows)

d) vibrato

Vibrato on the accordion does not mean changing the pitch, but the pressure in bellows (e.g. dynamic)It is produced by a movement of either the left hand, right hand (best to control) or leg, dependent on the speed/amplitude you want to achieve

e) sound effects

As sound effects on the accordion can for example be used keyboard sounds, register clicks, percussion on bellows or air-sound (from air-button)There is no standard way of notating these sounds

Sound example:

Matthias Pintscher: Figura III (2000)

5. Registers

Accordion registers are similar to organ registers. Most of them work as combination of different octave doublings.It is difficult to explain the sound/timbre in words. It is reasonable to add the registers while working with an accordionist on the score.One has to take into consideration, that it always needs some time to change the registers, especially in the left hand.

Following symbols are used in standard notation:

right hand:

in principe there is, like on organ, 16foot (sounding octave down), 8 foot (sounds as written) and 4foot (sounds octave higher) registers and all sorts of combinations between these (e.g. 8 and 4 which means it´s sounding the tone written and the octave above)

On accordion, there is two kinds of 8 foot registers, which have a different timbre (“with/without cassotto”), due to some contruction differences inside the instrument that influence the tone production.

It is possible to combine these two, to have a full sound (which means it´s sounding two times the same tone, with a tiny pitch difference) Registers do not only transpose and enlarge the range of the instrument but also have an important effect on the timbre/sound/coulour of the manual

left hand:

has either 8 foot, 2 times 8 foot (full, louder) or 2 foot (mentioned before) or combination of these the score should always be notated in “exact pitch notation” which means you write the tone which should sound and the accordionist might have to transpose octave up/down, depending on the register

Explanation and demonstration of registers

7. solo works for accordion: sound examples (CD)

- Melodia- Sequenza- Episoden Figuren- Looking on Darkness

8. chamber music for accordion: sound examples (CD)

- Sofia Gubaidulina Sieben Worte (1982) Acc+Vc+strings3rd movement „Wahrlich, ich sage dir, heute wirst du mit mir im Paradies sein“

- Klaus Ib Jörgensen Temperature acc+ensemble- Gubaidulina Silenzio vl, vc, acc- Saunders Quartett (1998) cl, pn, acc, db

- Helmut Zapf Winter (1999) acc, db- Toshio Hosokawa Birds Fragments acc, rec

- Mario Marcelo Mary Las intuiciones de Galileo (1999) acc, guit.

- Igor Stravinsky Petrushka scene1 2acc

9. Questions and feedback

Examples for notation:

Scores to showSolo:

f) Sofia Gubaidulina De Profundis (1978)g) Matthias Pintscher Figura III (2000)

h) Luciano Berio Sequenza XIII (1996)i) Bent Sörensen Looking on Darkness (2000)j) Toshio Hosokawa Melodia (1979)k) Per Nörgard Anatomic Safari (1967)l) Mauricio Kagel Episoden, Figure, (1993)

Chambermusic:

m)Helmut Zapf Winter (1999) for acc. and double bass

n) Sofia Gubaidulina Silenzio acc. Violin, celloo) Rebecca Saunders Quartett (1998) acc, pno, cl, dbp) Mario Marcelo Mary Las intuiciones de Galileo (1999)

acc, guit.q) Birds Fragments acc., rec.r)