Hello. My name is Jim O'Brien and I play the accordion. Actually, I really enjoy playing the accordion but I've only played it 25 years. And those years were not consecutive. At age 13 or so, a traveling accordion teacher/salesperson swept across Eastern Oregon and promised accordion lessons to anyone who wanted them for a slight rental and lesson fee. I was outfitted with a shiny gray 12-bass model and put in a class lesson that I outgrew in about three weeks. Since my family was musical, I knew how to read music and already played piano as well as some of the brass instruments. My teacher suggested I buy a 120-bass model, which my family could not afford at $265. But buy it, my mother did (we picked strawberries and cleaned the church to pay for it!) and I was soon the proud owner of a new Biela, a student model of the prestigious Petosa line. And I played that squeeze box everywhere . . . school rallies, church, county fairs, sunrise services . . until I graduated from high school and went to college to major in music. My professors said: "You play what?" So I concentrated on piano for four years and put the accordion in the back closet, except for family gatherings and off-campus functions. It stayed there throughout most of my musical career, which included five years as a public school music specialist and band director, and then 37 years as a professor of music at three different universities.
However, at The University of Arizona, while teaching one of those huge "bread'n'butter" music depreciation classes to students who preferred to be somewhere else most of the time, one guy came up, after I had demonstrated something on the piano, and said: "You don't play the accordion, do you?" I answered that I had but had not picked it up for years. He was an engineering student but played great violin and wanted a partner with which to do strolling gigs at all the destination resorts here in Tucson. He knew the accordion would work.
So what would I play? My Biela was pretty small for a big guy like me. But by chance, my spouse and I came by a garage sale in Payson, Arizona, and there was a Scandalli for sale. $250 for a big one. It was in good shape. I played it, offered $200, and walked away with a new direction in my life for $225. That was 20 years ago. So back to the accordion and back to having fun gigging with my violin friend. It was good money too!
After a few years, I decided to bite the bullet and buy a Petosa. This was an excellent choice through which I learned MIDI application and even recorded my first CD. The Petosa is an awesome instrument! I practiced pretty diligently and came up with two more CDs. Now that I'm retired, my spouse and I play lots of gigs. She was a church organist for years but decided to take up the accordion 7 years ago. We got a used Petosa and she pretty well taught herself, with just a tiny bit of suggestion from me, now and then. Now we play gigs together and take our accordions on our motor home as we travel throughout the country. Sure, I still practice the piano, but it is the accordion that enables me to play in nursing homes and RV parks and see the joy that music brings to listeners. Pretty cool existence, I'd say.
Here's a picture of Shirley and me playing for the Salvation Army Christmas dinner in San Diego this past holiday.
I've arranged numerous duets for accordion which are sold online as well as several original compositions. This is a real passion and I hope to continue this level of productivity in this neat stage of my life called retirement.
Ciao.