You NEVER know what each new day will bring.
I live on an island with much bounty and a fair degree of cultural famine.
I accompanied my friend D to a party in Manoa Valley a few days ago.
I knew no one. There were some musical folks there, and we sang and danced a bit.
And to my astonishment, one of the revelers whipped out...
I kid you NOT...
A Roland V-Accordion!
OMG! These honeys have every single possible accordion tuning known to man available to the player! The latest from Roland, maker of my Juno-G synth. The V-7 has french musette, zydeco, Cajun, Slovenian, Tex-Mex, Polka, Irish, French Canadian...and you can even create your own tunings. I LOVE a nice wet musette!
From the Roland site...
"Because it doesn’t depend on moving parts for sound generation, the V-Accordion is always in tune, and both keyboards can be transposed to play across a wide range of octaves. For sound output, the V-Accordions can plug directly into a sound system, recording device, or plug in a pair of headphones for silent practice. These amazing new instruments must be squeezed to be believed."
These are expensive pieces of technology, but worth every penny.
I'm a weird guy. I'd love to be able to play my accordion at 0400 in da am, but it wouldn't make my partner all that happy (or the neighbors). F is mostly amused by my accordion, though he can't resist making jokes about it all the time. But to be able to play in the morning...mit der headphonen on...
Anyway, this guy plays all my favorites. I'm sitting on the floor, looking up at him like an enthralled 5-year old as his fingers literally tickles the keys. Good accordion players make it look so easy.
They he says "Do you want to play it?"
Gulp. "Uh....SURE!" I said, and I strapped it on. It's about the same weight as my 120 bass Hohner, but the feel of the bass keys (the little black rounded ones) is decidedly different. Less valve like, although Roland has added valve sounds to mimic an acoustic accordion. Neat.
I played for awhile to get a feel for the instrument. There are like, 3 accordion players on this island, and I've met them all. One I ran across playing in a restaurant, another somewhere in Aloha Tower at Oktoberfest, and now this fellow.
I asked him - "Do you teach?" And he said "Yes."
Whee! I just so happen to love an instrument that few people play here, and noone teaches. I never expected that this party would introduce me to a potential accordion teacher. I had just about given up.
Life is good.