The Bellows Shake is a musical effect used by accordionists, whereby the player uses his left hand to vibrate the bellows whilst they are only very slightly open, by small rapid rocking movements to and fro with the bass end. This can be particularly useful to imitate train sounds or for sudden dramatic effect. I have used the bellows train sounds particularly in my sessions with one young boy, with autistic spectrum disorder, for whom the theme of trains was both important and interesting. This accordion effect, along with my vocalising, seemed to motivate and help him to feel secure enough in sessions to begin to participate in musical interactions and eventually to move on to other themes and musical ideas.
My first encounter with the accordion
Susan Greenhalgh
I grew up in the Dockland area of Liverpool, and as a young child I was frequently taken by my mother, father and sisters to evangelical open-air meetings held in the streets where I lived. It was here that I clearly remember the piano accordion being played and it being (as well as the preacher!) the star of the show. The piano accordionist would robustly, energetically and with colossal volume, lead the singing of the hymns and without a doubt required no electronic amplification. These visits to the open-air meetings are indeed happy memories for me.
I trained as a music therapist some years ago and my principal instrument is the piano. I also use the violin, guitar and a variety of other instruments in my therapy work, which is mainly based in schools and mental health settings.
A few years ago and in total contrast to the musical quality (and volume) of the accordionist at the evangelical meetings of my childhood, I was to discover the beautiful and more sensitive aspect of the accordion when I heard a colleague play some lovely French tunes. This became my inspiration to start playing the accordion, and subsequently I began using it in school assemblies, in bands I belong to, and eventually in my mental health groups and individual casework. Although a relatively new instrument for me, the amalgamation of my own positive emotional experiences with the piano accordion was what led me to being able to use it in my work. The following case vignette demonstrates how an instrument that provided me as a music therapist with new, positive and happy experiences could also be shared with my clients to generate interest and emotional well-being for them.
Case vignette: Joshua explores dismantling and putting back together before finding the accordion and ultimately, himself
Susan Greenhalgh
I worked with Joshua in his school. At the time of referral to music therapy he was 14 years old. He had recently been taken into care and separated from his three younger siblings, who were still living with their mother. Joshua had become extremely withdrawn, his behaviour was disruptive in the classroom and he was often isolated in school. He found it difficult to concentrate on any given task and was finding it unbearable to remain in any school lessons. It was felt that he might benefit from music therapy intervention, where he might learn to trust another adult and begin to express some of his feelings of loss and anger within a safe and contained space.
Joshua began attending music therapy on a weekly basis. Initially he found it difficult to come into the therapy room and he would often stay outside the door for at least ten minutes. As time went on, he seemed to feel a little more confident, and slowly he began to explore some of the instruments in the room. It became immensely apparent that Joshua was interested in how the instruments worked. He began to dismantle the hi-hat and to question and investigate how the violin and guitar strings are attached and how the sounds are created. He also began to delight in plugging in the electric violin and guitar and seeing how loud he could set the volume. He was developing the ability to ask me questions about the instruments in the room. However, it was still difficult for him to stay focused on an instrument for more than a couple of minutes without becoming anxious and looking sad.
During these first three months of therapy it was brought to my attention that the one school lesson that Joshua would occasionally find motivating was design and technology, where he would be able to learn how to dismantle objects to see how they worked and learn how to put them back together again. His fascination with both the tactile and constructional element of objects had also become very apparent in his music therapy sessions. In addition, I had noted his attraction to varying gradations of dynamics. However, although these seemed to be the two things that did motivate and engage him, it was still very obvious that he struggled to stay focused, even on something he liked. Joshua had still not found something in the room that would capture his interest long enough to enable him to feel settled.
It was at this point that, after much consideration, I decided to introduce the piano accordion into Joshua’s session. This would be something very different from the instruments in the room already. Would the aesthetic quality of the accordion, its tactile and varying dynamic elements, capture his attention? Would the instrument enable him to feel safer and be the means of developing an increased sense of trust with the therapist?
It was Joshua’s 13th music therapy session. He entered the room, immediately spotted the accordion sitting proudly on the floor and smiled at me as I had never seen him do before, an expression I will not forget. It was joyous to see how just the mere sight of the accordion had captured his immediate attention.
Joshua immediately lifted the accordion off the floor and began to try to work out how to produce the sound. He asked how to put on the straps and could not get it on quickly enough. He became totally absorbed in experimenting with the keys and the buttons and soon learnt that the bellows were the heart and soul of the instrument and its main means of expression.
Over the coming months in therapy Joshua began to express some of his intense sadness in the course of his accordion playing; he played long bass drone sounds and I would support him musically with similar sounds on the lower register notes of the piano. When we were engaged in this type of sustained playing, Joshua would become so absorbed and calm that he was able to start verbally to articulate some of his sad and lonely feelings in between our improvisations. Joshua began to sustain his concentration for longer periods during his accordion playing, and what became very apparent was that his anxiety began to decrease during our shared musical improvisation.
His music was still reflecting his intense feelings of being lost and sad, but very quickly he began to discover how to express some of his more positive feelings on the accordion. He had initially been unable to feel positive about anything in his life, but occasionally he was demonstrating a small spark of happiness through his accordion playing.
For the subsequent two months in therapy, Joshua continued to use the piano accordion as his stabilising object in our sessions. Initially, it was the only instrument he chose to play, until eventually he became strong enough to start using some of the other instruments too.
Joshua attended music therapy for three years. The piano accordion had become the turning point in music therapy that had enabled him to take huge steps forward and start to feel better about himself.. He started attending some of his school lessons again, gradually stopped blaming himself for what had happened to him and began to like himself again. He started to make friends with his peers and he became less isolated and more able to cope with some of his difficult feelings.
Social and cultural aspects of the accordion
Dawn Loombe
The unique timbre of the accordion and its history has some cultural connotations in many countries and communities and can have particular resonance with certain social groups. The relevance of accordion music in a variety of communities could be considered socially and culturally important music, described as ‘community music therapy’ (Ansdell 2002; Pavlicevic and Ansdell 2004; Ruud 2004).
Harriet Powell (2009) has described her use of the piano accordion in multi-cultural groups in Hackney, encompassing older people from Italy, Poland and Latvia and from diverse social and cultural backgrounds. Powell has also noted that the accordion often evokes memories of happy social occasions:
Many would not have been able to afford a piano in their home and might have an accordion instead.