Chromatic accordion: how can the left hand slide down while pushing?

Question

My accordion method specifies that pushing should be done against the right inner thigh. Hence, this is a upper left to lower right movement, from the accordionist point of view. I cannot see how this can be compatible with my wrist sliding down — once it is down, I can resume the upper left to lower right move, even if it's a little bit more awkward.

I like my method because it has very definite rules ("your thumb should not go further than the ridge of the instrument, the wrist should be snuggly strapped, so that pulling does not really create a space from your hand and the instrument, the fingers should be curved and the articulations tense but soft, the thumb should be outstreched and slide with the hand, …") but this one is an open question to me. "Becoming one with the accordion" is still far.

Thanks for your input!

Answer 1

I'd say your book is a bit obsessive. Now it's true that a lot of accordion players, in particular those playing the accordion as a portable piano, severely underestimate the importance of bellows control. It's like not worrying about bowing when playing the violin. That's where the soul of the sound originates.

To make use of that, you need to have a good control of the accordion, have the bellows pressure correspond directly with force and/or position of your arm. An additional consideration is that you don't want the cardboard part of the bellows move across your thighs since that makes the bellows-protecting stripes to get worn away over time.

To avoid that, you basically have the halves of your instruments poised against your inner thighs and (particularly the right one) a bit of their top (which is where the accordionist curates his hematomata). Which is probably what your method is trying to achieve.

So in a way, that's what you are moving against at the bottom. But that that not mean that your hands are aiming or moving towards those points. They are doing their work on the bellows in a manner consistent with keeping the instrument's bottom parts poised against/on their respective thighs.

The basic effect you want to achieve here is that your left arm is in direct control of the instruments lung in your embrace.

What actually helps a lot towards that goal is a back strap. If you don't have one yet, get one.