I was first introduced to the accordion when I was six years old. The instrument I would lug around like a boulder became a part of my childhood for years to come. Alas, poor Dennis was a nerd, long before anyone had used the word "nerd."
During the baby boomer generation, the economy was growing and children were offered a host of experiences their parents never had when they were kids. Many children were taking music lessons and I too wanted to play a musical instrument. As a six year old boy, I was clueless that the instrument I would be practicing and playing would be part of a dying breed. Although the term “nerd” wasn’t coined or used in the 1950s and 1960s, I am sure I fit the definition while lugging around an accordion and case that felt as if they weighed as much as a boulder.
I was so excited when my mom took me to downtown Syracuse, New York in her quest to find the right musical instrument for me to learn and play. Salina Street was and still is the main thoroughfare in Syracuse and the second floor of an old building was filled with rooms of music teachers giving lessons in guitar, piano, violin, clarinet and accordion. I wanted to play guitar so bad, but being slight in stature for my age I was told my fingers were too small. The same answer was given for the violin and clarinet. I never did get in to see the piano teacher. The yellowed painted door was ajar to the studio of Joe Stanley, Accordion Instructor. His office had a tiny waiting room adjoining his music room, as he invited my mother and me to come on in. I would “come on in” to Mr. Stanley’s office for the next seven years of intense one on one musical instruction.
Due to my size and age, my parents had a custom petite accordion made in Germany, that would fit my small frame. “Bass, cord, cord….bass, cord, cord,” were my early lessons. The first song I learned to play was a 1616 poem, turned to song, titled, “Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes,” because it followed the basics of bass, cord, cord. Eventually I moved on to play more complicated pieces and soon I was a fairly accomplished accordionist. My teacher was a perfectionist and wasn’t happy with me just learning the notes or how to play a song, but he wanted showmanship as well.
Mr. Joe Stanley knew all about showmanship. His studio walls were adorned with pictures of him and his accordion, sharing the limelight with famous stage acts and one of the famous acts were the Three Stooges. It should also be noted that a piano accordion has 41 keys and 120 basses, along with a total weight of 23 – 28 pounds. It is not an easy instrument to learn to play, but Mr. Stanley had the patience of Job with me. I learned how to move my fingers like a ballerina doing a pirouette on a mirrored music box. I had become not just an acceptable student, but an exceptional one, due to the perseverance of my mentor. Mr. Stanley was a star in his demeanor, teaching ability and his knack for detail. He was a man who quite naturally exhibited a soft kindness and he left an impression on me of how nice, stern and disciplined a person in authority can be without noticing any of it happening. Soon my mother and grandmother were carting me off all over the northeastern United States in music competitions and I was winning. I played on television and I won first place in a 4th of July parade. Not unlike many who play this apparatus, “Lady of Spain” was the song of choice and I could play it marvelously, thanks in large part to my instructor.
I kinda enjoyed this Bio-docu-short story– a different pace and refreshing read… thank you for sharing it 
Frank
My Dad still has his accordian and gets it out when he’s had too much to drink LOL. It’s a pity you don’t have yours any more… ever get the itch to buy a new one? 
Awww…you should not have stopped playing the accordion. So what if it appears nerdy? I think it’s cool though. So do you know how to play the guitar now? You have seen those little kindergartens in one of my recent articles. There’s really nothing you can’t do if you put your mind to it.
another thing that I have learned about you…indeed you are a man of experience..I too got the chance of playing an accordion but I didn’t pursue it since all i learned was just pushing all those buttons at at the same time keep it stretching it while playing.
I didn’t use the keyboards because I don’t know how to play piano
just the buttons my friend just the buttons, however I was able to play church hymnals just the same
Thanks for sharing one of your fondest memories, don’t be sad about leaving it behind, we all have to do it sometime just like the way i did with my passion with painting
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