accordion

Local name: harmonia ciągana (pulled accordion, hand accordion)
Classification: 4 Aerophones / 41 Free aerophones / 412 Interruptive free aerophones / 412.1 Idiophonic interruptive aerophones or reeds / 412.13 Free reeds / 412.132 Sets of free reeds / 412.132-62-8 Sets of free reeds with flexible air reservoir, with keyboard
Maker: Nabe Alfred
Date: begining of the 20th c.
Village / Town: Warsaw
Region: Mazovia
Country: Poland
Owner: Museum of Folk Musical Instruments in Szydłowiec
Inventory number: MS/236
Description: an accordion; called "white"; chromatic; three-row keyboard (17+18+17 keys) and 24 basses (buttons)
Decoration: body embellished with engraved and colored floral motives, open-work with floral motives and lyre
Measurements: 390 x 362 x 200 mm
Materials: wood, metal, cardboard, plastic
Inscriptions: A Nabe Warszawa
Sound compass, tuning: different scales depending on the type and specimen; usually the melody keyboard is arranged in minor-third rows composing the chromatic scale B♭ – b♭''', while the bass side is arranged in the chromatic scale C – b, which makes it possible to get all major triads
Performance practice: after World War I the accordion became a popular component of folk bands (together with the violin and the drum); the "pulled" type being especially popular in Mazovia on the left side of the Vistula river (the areas of Łowicz and Rawa Mazowiecka) and in north Lesser Poland (the areas of Radom and Kielce)
Catalog card by: Paweł Wdowczak / Zbigniew J. Przerembski


<< Back