HMT Guide to Squeezeboxes

Between Heaven and Earth

Accordions

Accordion Tunings	About Straps
Tuning Suggestions	Diatonic Button Boxes
Treble Voices: What the switches mean	Slovenian Button Boxes
Sizes of Piano Accordions	Chromatic Button Accordions

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Accordions

Accordion-type instruments, "squeezeboxes," date from the mid-nineteenth century. Squeezeboxes are played in many styles of music: Irish, Bulgarian, Scandinavian, Mexican, classical, jazz, blues, pop, rock, etc. They are the most international of instruments, found in almost every culture around the world. They were popular in the U.S. from the 1920s to the early 1960s and are now making a comeback with the rising popularity of Cajun, Irish, and other folk styles.

Accordion Tuning: I begin this section with a brief explanation of "musette", since that tuning is favored for so many different kinds of folk music, and that, after all, is what so many accordion players are all about.

A true French musette actually uses three voices (or reeds: the internal parts of the instrument that actually make the musical tones you hear when a key is depressed and the bellows are activated). These are tuned in the same octave: one at concert pitch, one a little flat, and one a little sharp, however, the term is widely employed to refer to a two reed vibrato (wah-wah) tuning, which is far more common in the accordion world. To add to the confusion, the "French" degree of vibrato (lots!) is a term often applied to a 2-reed musette; thus one may hear of an accordion that is tuned "French" - this does not necessarily signify that the accordion has 3 voices in the same octave!

The terms "dry" and "wet" refer to how the unison reeds (if there are any) are tuned, relative to each other (how much vibrato they create when heard together). Thus, there is no need to call an octave tuned 2 or 3 voice accordion "dry" - it is dry by definition, there being only one voice per octave - there should be no vibrato at all, if the instrument is in tune with itself. The proper term for such an accordion is "octave tuned". "Dry" refers to two or more unison reeds (the two or three middle reeds), that are tuned very close together, that is, they are almost precisely in tune with each other. "Wet" means the vibrato is stronger.

Thus, "musette" is generally used to denote 2 or 3 unison reeds that are not tuned at precisely the same pitch. And if the accordion only has one reed in each octave (L/M or L/M/H), there is no musette.

How wet is wet?

I am often asked "how wet is the musette on such-and-such an accordion" or "how wet should the tuning be for such-and-such a style of music". I have heard a number of adjectives used to describe varying degrees of musette, but I am not sure that there is any uniformity among tuners or dealers in using these terms. Nonetheless, I will list them here, with a brief description, for whatever that's worth. This is not a scientific list, by any means. Thanks to Rich Morse of the Button Box for the cents and scale estimates, based on years of tuning requests from customers. Note - I have added a couple of piano accordion tunings to Rich's list.

Rich says: [The following chart is assuming the tuner is] using an electronic tuning meter that is graduated in "cents". There are 100 cents in a semi-tone. If on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being a unison sound or "dry" and 10 being wet as a Bronx cheer, we find that GENERALLY SPEAKING, on a double set of reeds of the same pitch, the middle C reeds would be tuned:

For a more technical approach to this subject, plus the complete text of Rich Morse's post, see Hans Palm's Accordion Tuning page (external link)

Remember what I said earlier about uniformity in tuning terms among dealers and tuners?
In late March of 1997, I received the following tuning chart from Victoria Accordions in Castelfidardo Italy. They offer these tuning options to their American market, and I understand the same tunings are offered by some other manufacturers.

It seems pretty close to Rich's chart, except that I think their Irish tuning scheme is somewhat out-of-date, taking into consideration that many Irish players these days are going for a relatively dry sound, closer to the tunings Victoria calls "giusto" or "American".

Tuning Suggestions

Different styles of music call for different tunings and different voice combinations, and even there, these preferences go in and out of style. For example, about 25 years ago, many Irish button accordion players liked either a very wet musette tuning, or a 3-reed master setting with a wet musette and a low reed. Nowadays a very dry 2-reed tuning is popular, sometimes called "swing" tuning.

Many jazz accordion players prefer to use only the low (bassoon) reed by itself. Some classical players never use more than one voice ( a single reed bank) at a time - to most classical musicians, musette tuning sounds "out of tune". (A single reed, makes, by definition, a dry sound - there are no beats because only one pitch is heard.) In much of Balkan music, a dry sound is also preferred, and two main tunings are commonly heard: either a single middle reed, or the low voice coupled with the piccolo (highest) voice - this is the "organ" setting commonly seen on 3-and-4 reed piano accordions. In French musette music, as one might imagine, a very wet tuning is preferred, and usually that would be a three-reed musette, or "true" musette: one reed a little flat, one reed at concert pitch, and one reed a little sharp. To approximate a Cajun or French Canadian sound, a piano accordion player might use a master setting (all 3 or 4 voices) with a fairly dry musette.

Here's what Peter Cashman has to say about Irish tuning, quoted with permission:

"I used to be totally in favor of wet tuning, even though my original Paolo is medium dry. Since I [started playing a drier accordion], I have to admit that the dry tuning has some advantages. It mixes better in a session setting so when I'm following a tune with which I"m not really familiar, I don't feel so self conscious. This box [an old grey Paolo he was selling] really does get a lot of "lift" or "swing" into the tune, but I'm not sure if that's the tuning or the reeds and the box itself.

My favorite recordings are usually old, and the boxes were all wet then. Many tunes that I learned from records by Joe Burke and the older . . . Paddy O'Brien, didn't sound right when I played them [on my dry-tuned box] because they lacked the enormous ferocity that was in the old boxes. I was thrilled then, when I got the Paolo that I'm selling, because it has almost exactly the sound of Joe Burke's box on the album "Tribute to Michael Coleman" with Andy McGann and Felix Dolan. Regrettably, I can't afford to have a different box for each mood, and this new [dry] box has a different feel entirely to the buttons."

Treble Voices: How to Tell What the Switches Do

• Master Switch
• Clarinet
• Bassoon
• Piccolo
• Violin
• Musette

I'll try to make this fairly complex subject as clear as I can, but at some point one simply has to rely on one's ear. A handy piano for pitch reference will make voice identification somewhat easier for the novice. When I refer to a "voice", I mean one specific block or line of reeds (the "speaking" part of the instrument) - these would all be tuned in the same system, i.e. a low C note in that reedblock will be exactly one octave below the C note in the next octave, etc. It is also common to refer to voices as "reeds", as in "a 3-reed accordion". This does not mean that the accordion has only 3 reeds inside it! This accordion would have 3 treble reedblocks: if any one key on the keyboard is depressed during bellows travel, there are a maximum of 3 reeds that should be activated, depending on the register setting.

Nomenclature: Most manufacturers label their treble registers with the names of other musical instruments. This in no way signifies that the switches on an acoustic accordion are able to reproduce the sounds of those instruments - without some very sophisticated electronics, an accordion always sounds like an accordion, never a violin. It's just a handy means of identifying the different voices and combinations available on a given accordion, but it can be confusing, as there are conflicting usages between different makers. I recommend using the terms low, middle, and high, when referring to accordion voices and combinations. Some manufacturers use pipe organ designations: 16', 8', 4', respectively. Using these numbers instead of words is also helpful when there is a language barrier.

Not all possible reed combinations are available on every instrument, even the ones with more voices: some combinations were omitted on smaller instruments to keep the price down, and some were omitted on larger instruments because they simply don't sound very good.

The "master" switch refers to the register that selects all of the voices available on that accordion to play together, whether two, three, or four.

• Clarinet (M): usually refers to a single reed sound, in the middle octave of the 3 possible accordion octaves. This is the concert pitch reed, that is, in this register, the lowest C on the accordion keyboard corresponds to the middle C on a real piano keyboard.
• Oboe (M or MH): some makers use this name instead of "clarinet" for the single middle reed. Some others use it to refer to the combination of middle and high reeds (Titano and others).
• Bassoon (L): the low voice, one octave below the concert pitch reed. When you have the bassoon register engaged, the lowest C on the accordion keyboard should match the C one octave below middle C on a piano keyboard.

  Some junior sized accordions, and even larger 120 bass student models, stop right there, with only those 2 voices available, in octave tuning: Low and Middle.

  All piano accordions have at least 2 voices. If yours has no registers (or even up to 3 registers), it probably only has 2 voices. But, which ones? Chances are, if it's a small instrument with no switches, it has a low reed and a middle reed - that's a standard tuning for student instruments. Here's where you have to rely on your ear. If you can hear 2 different octaves playing together, your voicing is L/M. But if it sounds like the 2 voices are in the same octave, you're in luck: your voicing is M/M, or musette.

  More register names:

• Piccolo (H): the high voice, one octave above the concert pitch reed. With this register engaged, the lowest C on the accordion keyboard should match the C one octave above middle C on a piano keyboard.

  The majority of smaller accordions (80 basses and under) do not possess a piccolo reed. Some smaller sized 120 bass accordions do have a third reed, usually the piccolo reed. These full-featured but compact accordions are sometimes called "ladies' or "spinet" sized accordions. Most full sized accordions have at least the three octave reeds mentioned so far (LMH), but many also have one more, the musette reed (M+). But we aren't done with instrument names yet: now we get to make combinations.
  

• Bandoneon (LM): often used to designate the coupling of the low reed with the middle reed. On a two voice octave tuned instrument, this is the master switch.
• Melodeon (LM): An alternate designation for the low/middle combination.
• Violin (M, MH, or MM): used differently by different makers. Some use it for the single middle reed, some use it to designate the middle reed together with the high reed, others use it to mean the 2 unison middle reeds, whether musette tuned or not.
• Celeste (MH, MM, or MMH): also not consistent in meaning, but usually refers to the middle and high reeds together.
• Organ (LH): consistently used to refer to the low reed with the high reed, no middles.
• Musette (MM, MMM, or MMH): usually refers to two middle reeds with some degree of detuning (sometimes also called "violin"), but sometimes three middles (the "correct" usage for musette) or two middles and high.
• Harmonium (LMH): Some makers use this on 4 reed accordions to show one reed in each octave.
• Accordion (LMMH or LMM): another name for the master setting, but sometimes used on 4 reed accordions to show all reeds except high.
• Other combinations and instrument names are also seen, but these are the main ones you're likely to encounter. Graphic representations of the registers can be seen at How to Check Out a Used Accordion.

tone chamber, called "cassotto" by manufacturers. The tone chamber adds some weight to the accordion, and has the effect of mellowing the tone for concert playing. It is not favored by folk accordionists. One or more reeds may be affected by the tone chamber, as seen in this diagram of a double tone chamber register:

About Accordion Straps

Diatonic Button Boxes | Used Button Boxes for Sale

"Diatonic" is defined in the American Heritage Dictionary as "of or using only the eight tones of a standard major or minor scale without chromatic variations". In plain English, this means the type of scale you get if you play only the white keys of a piano. A diatonic scale can of course start on any note, and thus can use the black piano keys as well, but the relationship between the notes remains constant. On a piano keyboard, the relationship between any key and the key that touches it is a half step. The diatonic major scale consists of:
Home note | Whole step | Whole step | Half step | Whole step | Whole step | Whole step | Half step (one octave above home note)

For more on scales, tuning, and the relationship between notes, see the article "Pitch, Tuning, and the Physics of Musical Tone".

Cajun Accordions

These one row diatonic button accordions (AKA 10 key melodeons) came to Louisiana from Germany. Structurally the instrument is small, about 6" x 11" when closed, and weighs only about 8 lbs. The size, however, is no indication of its sound power. Cajun accordions have 4 melody voices, that is, 4 reeds per melody note are available, and typically three reeds per bass button, which, in combination with the acoustic properties of the instruments themselves, supply them with more volume power than a full size piano accordion. The melody voices are: low, 2 middles, and high, and there are 4 pull stops on top of the accordion that enable the player to select which voices sound and which are silent.

Though the Cajun accordion has many reeds, it is limited melodically, having a full tonal range in only one key, usually C. A talented accordionist can perform in as many as 4 major keys, but the 3rd and 4th keys are short of many notes. The possible keys are C, G, F, and D major, and the minor keys of Am, Em and D minor.

BUTTON	PUSH	PULL
1	E	G
2	G	B
3	C	D
4	E	F
5	G	A
6	C	B
7	E	D
8	G	F
9	C	A
10	E	B

On the left side of the accordion is a pair of either buttons or old style spoon-shaped keys which play a C bass and C chord on the push, and G note and G chord on the pull.

On the right side of the accordion is a button keyboard consisting of 10 or (rarely) 11 buttons arranged in a major scale. Each button produces 2 notes, according to whether the bellows are being pushed in or pulled out while pressing a button. A Cajun accordion in the key of C plays a C major scale, and has the note arrangement shown at left, with the scale on a 10-key instrument starting on the 3rd button from the top.

Notice that on the 6th button the normal arrangement of "push-pull, push-pull" is reversed and the note B is found on the pull side instead of the push side. This is very important because it establishes a logical sequence of every 4th button being the same (with an octave difference) on the pushing side, and every 5th button being the same (with an octave difference) on the pulling side.

Other One Rows

One row diatonics, also known as "melodeons", are also found in other traditions; in Quebec, the Cajun style accordion is used in preference to any other accordion, but is usually tuned in D instead of C, to play French Canadian fiddle tunes. Other than that, it is the same instrument as used in Cajun music.

One row accordions are found with anywhere from 1 voice up to 4 voices, and in a variety of keys. Older German style instruments had stops and exposed flappers similar to the Cajun accordion, and spoon keys on the left side. More modern styles use an enclosed treble mechanism, behind a grille, and either 2 or 4 buttons on the left side. Some one rows have an extra short inside row with the pull and push notes reversed on 3 or 4 buttons, to enable more fluid playing without as much pumping.

Multiple Row Diatonics

After some genius figured out that if you put another whole row tuned a fourth higher adjacent to the first one, you could play a lot more music, button boxes with 2, 3, 4 and even 5 rows came into being, some with registers for selecting the different voices (from 2 to 4 reeds per note). Eventually another bright person figured out that if you tuned the rows a half step apart, you could play a chromatic scale, and so the Irish style button accordion was born. On some multi-row boxes, the inside rows are stepped up slightly, each on a higher level, facilitating fingering on those rows.

Club System

Helikon or Slovenian Style Button Boxes

These are 3 and 4 row diatonic boxes similar to regular diatonic button boxes, except for the gleichtonig button on the inside rows, and the deep and honking Helikon basses which are favored for the oom-pah music of certain European cultures, especially German and Austrian music. They are very ornate and colorful, rather heavy and larger than regular button boxes, and can be instantly recognized by the little "horns" on the bass side. Because of the brass instrumentation of most oom-pah bands, these accordions tend to be tuned to the flat keys, however in bands with pianos and other C instruments, more common keys are also used.

Chromatic Button Accordions

Also called Continental Button Accordion (CBA), it has from 3 to 5 rows of buttons on the right hand. There are two treble keyboard systems, B griff and C griff. The latter is more common in Western Europe and the U.S. Very popular in Europe, it was THE accordion for French Musette music (C griff). The CBA is widely played in Scandinavia (C in Sweden, B in Norway), in preference to any other kind of squeezebox. A variant, the Bayan, based on a B-system keyboard, is a favorite in Russia. CBA's are rare in the New World but there is a resurgence of interest in them in the U.S., as more people discover this versatile instrument.

The CBA plays the same note on one button in either bellows direction. The basses can be either standard piano accordion style basses (Stradella), or free bass (Bassetti), or both with a converter switch.

You can see the inside of a chromatic button accordion on Hans Palm's Accordion Pages.