At one time I spent 6 years at a music school playing this instrument. Then I noticed that most people do not distinguish between such instruments as "button accordion" and "accordion". Some don't even distinguish between them with an accordion. I decided to write a cheat sheet especially for such 🙂
Actually, it is easier to look at the three pictures shown here, and it will immediately become clear what's what:
This is an accordion, not a button accordion or accordion
In general, even among professional musicians, there is often an opinion that the accordion appeared in 1829, and, in their opinion, Kirill Demian received a patent for it. In fact, then only the word itself appeared - "accordion". Since then, it has become firmly rooted in Europe. By this word the local musicians call everything keyboard instruments capable of one key and chord - three-part consonance. From the word "chord" the name "accordion" appeared. In Russia, as well as in many other countries, different instruments have their own individual names. In my opinion, it is so logical and correct. Why call different objects with one word?
A real button accordion is a fairly young instrument. It appeared in 1907. There is, however, information that the invention was made in 1891, but I have not found confirmation of this information. But the name of the inventor, Sterligov, is known. His inspirer is also known - Orlansky-Titarenko, a virtuoso musician who until then played the accordion. The emerging instrument was a further development of the harmonica idea - an instrument with two keyboards connected by bellows. The number of rows on the right keyboard was increased to four, and on the left - to five. This design was named "Petersburg". It did not take root, a different scheme became widespread, it generally repeated the previous one, but the number of rows on the right was reduced to three.
But this is BAYAN!What is the button accordion? On the right and left keyboards, he has such round buttons. On the right, these buttons are located in three main rows with complete chromatic scale. Sometimes one or two auxiliary rows are added to the three main ones, which completely duplicate the buttons from the third and second rows, respectively. What for? You can try to explain this, but you still cannot understand in words, unless the musicians will understand after a short conversation. In a word, this is for convenience, but these rows are not required.
But what is the accordion, with which the button accordion is so often confused? Naturally, they are confused only by name, since outwardly they are not so much alike. In fact, there is as much difference as there is between a balalaika and a guitar.
I have not been able to find any information on when exactly the accordion appeared. It is only known that it is an even younger instrument than the button accordion. Its oldest description (namely accordion, and not another instrument of the same name) that I know dates back to the 50s, but the instrument is somewhat older. The earliest evidence of an accordion I saw dates back to May 1945: in one of the black-and-white chronicles of the holiday after the capture of Berlin, I saw a thirty-four carrying troops on armor. I clearly saw an accordion in one of the soldiers' hands.
The accordion is a hybrid of two previously invented instruments: the button accordion and the piano. The accordion inherited from the button accordion the so-called ready (rarely and ready-made) the accompaniment keyboard, and from the piano a few octaves on the right keyboard. In short, the accordion is the piano on the right and the button accordion on the left 🙂 Naturally, nothing good would come of this instrument through blunt synthesis, so the instrument was supplied obligatory registers, usually at least four. These registers allow the accordion to simulate bassoon, for example. But the registers of the old button accordions were rare. In addition, the accordion and button accordion eventually parted ways: the button accordion began to be used for concert performances and transcriptions, and the accordion became an instrument for the public. Unfortunately, modern accordionists rarely find any kind of playing technique, even vibrato or reocking. Today accordionists play only the melody of a piece, often without even accompaniment (left hand). Often a phonogram is added to this sound. It's a good thing not all accordionists have followed this pattern.
The button accordion has its own, original keyboard, which is its main trump card. I don't know how to draw, so I didn't succeed in drawing his keyboard schematically. I'll try to fix it over time. In the meantime, I will give a description that the musicians can understand. The physical distance between the regular intervals is always the same, even if you check it with a ruler! Take for example quart : if you compare the distance between si (small octave) and mi (first), or re (first) and salt (first), or g sharp (first) and c sharp (second octave), it will be the same everywhere. Creative musicians will immediately appreciate the advantage: you can transpose any music on the fly without rewriting notes - move your hand up or down and play! For other instruments, transposition is a problem, because the same melody can be recorded in different keys. The problem arises when you need to play a melody on the fly in a different key than it was learned.
Unfortunately, in the USSR they did not pay due attention to electronics and we practically do not have electronic button accordions. When you want to electronically simulate sound differentinstruments, or even the sound of an electric guitar, then they use a synthesizer with a piano keyboard, which is not very convenient (the keyboard is "worse" there, it is impossible to pick some chords, fingers are missing and stretching).
Recently, new electric accordions have appeared, usually foreign ones. A little about the prices for button accordions and accoreons can be found, for example, (link will open in a new window). Unfortunately, accordions are quite expensive. Naturally, I do not consider second-hand "logs" made in the USSR, because most of them are already suitable only for museums. The low popularity of the button accordion itself also plays a bad role - among the unenlightened, this word rather, it is associated with an accordion and playing ditties on holidays. Many do not even know about performances at concerts with a button accordion. Something similar was observed before in the history of the guitar - before the advent of electric guitars, few people could have imagined its modern electronic sound and the ability to play so many classical works (especially organ music).
It looks like an accordionIn conclusion, I would like to say a few words about accordions. Now they have already lost their popularity, only a dozen and a half models are produced around the world. Different models have one to three rows of buttons on the right keyboard. When stretching the bellows of some models, one button emits a sound of one pitch, and when compressed, a different frequency. In Russia, the most popular is "chrome", most of its copies were released in Tula. This instrument is extremely simple - only three octaves of pure notes of the scale (22 buttons) and the three most used semitones in playing (G-sharp, E-flat, G-flat) on the right keyboard. The left keyboard is represented by three rows - major, minor-seventh, and bass.
And what then did Cyril Demian patented if not the accordion? It was just an improved version of the accordion ... And the word "accordion" itself, of course. The exact same time of appearance the first the accordion remains unknown.
By the way, here's another manufacturer: http://bayanjupiter.ru/. Somehow I'll buy a new one, otherwise the old log cannot satisfy all needs потребностей
P. S. Anecdote not in the subject:
A nightclub cleaner, wiping mixers and consoles, accidentally got into the top 100 DJs in Russia!
Accordion by its sound it is practically a musical orchestra. On the right keyboard of the instrument, the notes of the solo melody, all kinds of variations are played, while the left one is intended for the bass part and ready-made accompanying chords. You can play major, minor, and seventh chords by pressing one button on the left keyboard.
Models button accordions there are many. Well, their cost, of course, is different. The most expensive instruments are made by high-class craftsmen on an individual order for professional accordion players who are actively involved in concert activities. They have a multi-row, right and left button keyboard, all kinds of register switches that allow you to achieve the polyphonic of the instrument. Usually such button accordions called concert, and abroad button accordions.
Nowadays, they have become quite popular ready-made button accordions, also aimed at professional musicians. Their difference from the usual ones is that the left keyboard can switch to the right voice keyboard mode and work exactly like it. Such a button accordion device makes it possible to play simultaneously two solo parts of a piece of music. Of course, this requires the musician to have specialized technical skills to operate the converted keyboard.
For bayan players - amateurs, for those who only learning to play the accordion, accordions are produced easier and, naturally, cheaper. They differ from each other in the number of buttons on the right and left keyboards. The simplest ones are half-bay... They have a minimum number of octaves on the right keyboard and a minimum number of rows with ready chords on the left keyboard. The weight and dimensions of such tools have also been significantly reduced.
Outwardly, they look like an accordion, and they are easy to carry with you in a special case or on shoulder straps. Such button accordions are perfectly adapted for fun and have a sonorous voice with overflows, similar to the sound of an accordion or accordion. Such a specific harmonic sound is achieved by a slight detuning of the reeds of the vocal plates. The result is a vibrating and iridescent sound.
Abroad, musical instruments are not divided into folk and non-folk. There is no such thing in the world as a button accordion. All instruments of this kind are called accordions. There is a button accordion (at the suggestion of the Russians, we call it a button accordion) and a keyboard accordion.
It cannot be said that this or that accordion is better or worse. Each has its own characteristics of sound. However, a button accordion is more promising, as it has a wide range of sounds. The accordion player can perform almost all compositions intended for other instruments on his instrument. Whereas they would have to be adapted to the keyboard accordion.
They made their adjustments primarily in musical instruments. Now both the button accordion and the accordion are of a completely different quality than in the recent past. They are full of various modifications and systems that help the performer to achieve high results. There were no such tools before. I remember how people stood in line for two, three years to get a good button accordion or accordion. Now there is no such problem, there would only be money.
There are also private craftsmen who cope with this task. Many musicians have the means to purchase a musical instrument abroad. Italian button accordions and accordions are popular. 
Accordion - Russian, a traditional instrument, this is a manual harmonica of the chromatic type, sometimes it is also called a mini organ - because of its mighty, slightly similar sound. A musical instrument has several rows of round buttons on the right (usually 3 or 5 rows) - for playing with individual notes, and there is also a keyboard on the left. The instrument is made according to the type, so on the left you can most often see the so-called “ready chords” with bass, although in some cases there is a switch - for playing with lower notes than on the right.
There are only two types of left keyboards:
- ready-made (basses and chords are already prepared) - usually this is ideal for beginners and often starts with such in music schools - usually this 3-row;
- ready-to-use (there are already complex switches) - often this 5-row.
The button accordion is actively used by various musicians and occupies an important place in the orchestra of Russian folk instruments... There are corresponding classes in the music school, college, conservatory.
Design
Bayan is one of the most advanced pneumatic keyboard instruments, which has a 12-step scale, is made in an equal-tempered key. The tool consists of two parts, which are connected by fur, this is the name of the chamber that serves to inject air. Celluloid linings are glued to the surface, and the fur chamber is pasted over with granite composition, cardboard, reinforced with metal brackets, corners of chrome steel. The number of keys on the right keyboard can vary from 51 to 61. There are small buttons on the left case, there can be up to 120 of them. Shoulder straps allow you to hold the tool in weight and at the same time control the movement of the fur.
What is the difference between a button accordion and an accordion? - almost everything is the same, only the latter has a piano keyboard on the right side, otherwise everything is the same.The metal tongues, called voices, are sound-generating elements and are tuned in unison. Frames with tongues are called strips, the whole device is called a resonator. The volume depends on the amplitude of the reed vibrations, and the intensity can also be controlled during the performance of a musical composition: you need to press harder on the fur or more intensely. The size of the resonator chambers, materials, voice profiles and many other nuances can also vary. As a result, it turns out that each instrument is unique, no two accordions are alike.
Sound and pitch
Accordion has a fairly wide range and rich sound, so it can solo, that is, play without accompaniment. Probably, thanks to this versatility, it has become popular not only in the domestic space and abroad. The instrument can compete only with the accordion, where instead of buttons on the right keyboard, some musicians find it more convenient, but there is no single vector here - and so far both instruments are in demand. Accordion It has class: pneumatic reed tool; line: evenly tempered.
Girls play as easily as boys:
Origin story
He was the first who patented an instrument similar to the modern button accordion - G. Mirwald, a German from Bavaria, he improved the design of the classical manual harmonica, which came to Europe from the East; it was 1891. The debut did not interest his colleagues in Germany, but in Russia its modification was accepted with enthusiasm. The system was three-row, push-button, right keyboard, the range was expanded to 4 octaves. Ready-made major and minor accords were presented.
In Moscow, similar instruments began to be made in the XX century: F. Zakharov, P. Vatutin, etc. The right keyboard was improved, a roller mechanism was used, bent levers were tested, which showed themselves from the best side. Three-row modifications, which were written out above, began to be manufactured at a factory in Tula - "The Brothers Kiselevs".
The name "bayan"
The instrument got its name thanks to an ancient Russian storyteller named Boyan, he is mentioned in chronicles, for example, in the "Tale of Bygone Years". From the end of the 19th century, diatonic harmonics began to appear, which began to be called button accordions. The instrument is distinguished by the unison tuning of the reeds, because the analogs have them tuned "in filling". It was also called "clarinet harmonies".
Bayan Sterligova
The famous master P.E. Sterligov lived in St. Petersburg, who was engaged in tuning and making various musical instruments, including wind instruments. Once he received an order to make a harmony for the musician Y. Titarenko, who has already begun to use the name button accordion on his posters. They say that this is due to the fact that the cruiser of the same name was being manufactured at the shipyard at that time. The master came up with the idea of \u200b\u200busing a duplicate bass row, this layout became known as "Petersburg" or "Leningrad". In 1913, the master made a button accordion with two rows of bass buttons, which was as similar as possible to the modern one. A more convenient layout became known as "Moscow". The master brothers Generalov took over the baton. Currently, it is very popular, which is distinguished not only by excellent sound, but also by high reliability, durability, since it is made with high quality.
Manufacturers and brands
Let's list the common types of domestic button accordions, most often you can find the classic "Jupiter", produced in Moscow, there is a modification for children, weighs 10 kg, has 5 rows and 2 voices, has no registers. You can also find instruments of the following factories: "Krasny Partizan" (St. Petersburg), Tula accordion, "AKKO" (Voronezh), Kirov factory, Rostovskaya - they also produce button accordions of various brands.
Look in our online store:,
Video
Play accordionMix (MIX)
Film voice acting
Electronic
Electronic2 - deeply-modernized
Girl professional in the subway
Folk songs to the accordion
1. Mix - Darkie
2. The guys sing beautifully - you say chamomile, you tell Natasha, does my beloved love ...
3. Popular build
4. Some are self-taught - self-taught - I will not brag sweetheart
5. Chastushki
6. White roses
Button accordion, accordion, harmonica ... For inexperienced people, far from music, there is no difference between these instruments: it’s an accordion, and this is an accordion. Such people can calmly come to a musical instrument store and, pointing to the accordion, ask: "Give me this accordion!" They confuse accordionists with accordionists, and those and others with accordionists ...
And yet there are differences, and quite significant ones. But to understand how the button accordion differs from the accordion, you need to say a few words about their common ancestor.
Harmon is a cousin of the jew's harp
All accordions, as well as button accordions and accordions, belong to reed musical instruments. Since they have a keyboard, they are simultaneously considered keyboards, more precisely, pneumatic keys. But still, the main feature that distinguishes any accordion is the tongue, a flexible steel plate, when vibrated, sound is produced. The tongue is driven differently in different instruments. For example, the jew's harp is played by pressing it to the teeth and simultaneously hitting the tongue with your fingers, and the mouth serves as a resonator here. Opening it narrower or wider, you can get sounds of different timbre.
How does an accordion work?
In the accordion, the tongues vibrate in the flow of air, which is pumped by the performer, squeezing and stretching the fur. They are fixed on metal strips with slots through which air passes, and come in different sizes: some are more massive and larger - these reeds give lower sounds, others are lighter and smaller - here the sounds are higher.
Each strip has two tabs on both sides, separated by a leather flap in such a way that when the fur is compressed, only one of them vibrates, and when the fur is stretched, the other. Accordingly, there are also two slots that overlap the tabs.
To amplify the sound, air chambers are used - resonators to which the strips are attached. These resonators are wooden (usually spruce). Together with the strips, they are assembled into blocks that are installed inside the accordion body on the deck - a special partition with holes. The resonator blocks are located on the side of the deck, which is closer to the fur, and on the side of the body there are valves for air supply. These valves are connected to buttons and covered with a grill.
When the buttons are pressed, the valves open, air flows through the deck, and the reeds vibrate, creating a sound.
Sometimes the size of the reeds on the sound bars, which means their musical tone, can be different. Therefore, all accordions are divided into two large groups: in one the reeds at the "entrance" and "exit" are the same, the most famous accordion of this type is lame. In the second group, these reeds differ, which gives sounds of different heights. This type includes such accordions as a talianka (distorted "Italian").
Differences between left and right keyboards
The left keyboard buttons are located on the case itself. It is intended for accompaniment. Pressing one button on it opens several resonator chambers at once, and a whole chord sounds.
The melody itself is played on the right keyboard. Here, the buttons are on the neck attached to the body and have metal levers that extend to the valves. They are located in one or more rows (hence the names "one-row", "two-row", etc.). Pressing one button opens only one resonator - and therefore a single, pure musical tone sounds.
First hand harmonics
In 1783, the Czech master Kirshnik, who lived in St. Petersburg, discovered a new (as it seemed to him) way to extract sounds - with the help of metal tongues. In 1821 the Berlin master Bushmann created a harmonica based on this method, and the next year he tried to attach fur to it. In 1829, Viennese inventor Kirill Demian invented an instrument that he called the accordion because its left-hand keyboard was the same as that of modern harmonics - chordal: pressing one button produced a whole chord. However, this instrument did not have a right keyboard yet.
Around the 1830s, the novelty penetrated into Russia, acquired a simple name there - an accordion - and gained great popularity.
From accordion to button accordion and accordion
But the musicians immediately noticed that simple accordions also have disadvantages. For example, they have a limited sound range (few octaves). They usually have only one key, and are either major or minor.
Therefore, the question soon arose about the invention of such a musical instrument that would have the advantages of an accordion, but at the same time would have an extensive scale and an evenly tempered musical scale (that is, such a scale where each octave is divided into 12 mathematically equal semitones). This scale has been used in academic music for several centuries. Its other name is "full chromatic scale".
Throughout the 19th century, various firms and craftsmen in Europe and Russia worked to improve the accordion. The left keyboard was supplemented with the right one, various prototypes of the button accordion and accordion with a piano keyboard appeared - among them the "piano accordion" from the city of Yelets and the chromatic harmonica of Nikolai Ivanovich Beloborodov, created in 1870.
In 1907, the inventor Peter Yegorovich Sterligov made the first three-row button accordion, and in 1913, a five-row one.
Around the same time, chromatic harmonics with a piano keyboard, that is, modern accordions, spread across Europe. They came to the Soviet Union around the 1930s.
Bayan and accordion: similarities
First, as already mentioned in the article, both the button accordion and the accordion are chromatic harmonics, that is, they have an evenly tempered scale (12 semitones per octave) and a wide range of octaves.
Secondly, the button accordion and accordion structure is similar, in particular the left keyboard. It is intended for bass notes (the first two rows of buttons) and for chords (the other four rows are major, minor, seventh, diminished seventh).
Types of button accordions and accordions
When you come to a musical instrument store to buy a suitable harmonica, you need to know that there is one more important nuance.
Both button accordions and accordions are divided into three types: ready-made, elective, and ready-elective. For the ready-made ones, the left keyboard is configured as described above. For the elective, it, just like the right one, is needed in order to extract not chords, but individual notes. The third type - ready-to-use - you can switch between the two modes. There is a special register key on the left keyboard for switching. In the selective mode, the rows with chords turn into a kind of right keyboard of a four-row button accordion, only mirrored.
Professional musicians most of all love ready-made accordions and button accordions, since the possibilities of these instruments are very wide. They are a little more difficult to master than ready-made ones, but you can play almost anything on them - even Bach fugues.
What is the difference between a button accordion and an accordion
In addition to the different body shape (the button accordion is more rectangular, the accordion is more rounded) and the neck shape (the accordion is longer), the main difference between the button accordion and the accordion is the keyboard for the right hand.
The right accordion keyboard has three to five rows of buttons representing a full chromatic scale and covering a range of 5-6 octaves. There are both 3-row and 5-row button accordions, and in the five-row button accordion, the first and second rows of buttons are similar to the fourth and fifth. When played on it, this makes it easier to transition from one key to another.
The right accordion keyboard is a row of massive piano-like keys. As a rule, there are 41 keys on the neck. The right keyboard also has several register switches. With their help, they change the timbre of a sound or its pitch, making the sound an octave higher or lower. Concert accordion models also have switches that you can press with your chin without interrupting your play.
However, the accordion keyboard itself covers a smaller range than the bayan keyboard. As a button accordion-like musical instrument, the accordion (aside from the register switches) can only play three and a half octaves.
And finally, the main difference between the button accordion and the accordion is the sound. In the accordion, the vocal reeds are tuned with a slight inconsistency, the musicians call it "on tap", which gives a more velvety sound. The accordion's reeds are tuned in unison, and the sound is clearer.
S. S. Gazaryan The history of the emergence and development of the button accordion and accordion
In the history of inventions, you can find many examples when long-known things, suddenly connected by someone, in a special way, acquired a completely new quality. So it happened with the manual harmonica.
For almost five thousand years people have known the sounding tongue - a thin metal plate vibrating under the pressure of air. Fur, too, have been known since time immemorial - first blacksmiths, and then organ. And a keyboard was invented even before our chronology. And the age of the manual harmonica, which combines both, and the third, against the background of this antiquity can be considered infantile - a little over one hundred and sixty years.
Born in 1822
You see what different fates musical instruments have! We just talked about the fact that we cannot determine the age of the guitar, even with an accuracy of a century, but here we immediately name the year of birth. We can also name the inventor of the manual harmonica - Friedrich Buschmann.
Friedrich's father was a musician and music master. Therefore, it is not surprising that Friedrich himself began playing some instruments from the age of eight, and at eleven he was already touring with his father and helping him in the music workshop.
In 1822, Friedrich lived in Berlin and worked as an organ and piano tuner. To make it easier for himself to tune the organ pipes, he constructed a special device - a small box into which a metal tongue was embedded. When Friedrich blew air into the box with his mouth, the tongue sounded, emitting a tone of a certain pitch. The pipe was tuned along it. Several of these boxes, which produced sounds of different heights, simplified setup. However, the master did not like that one hand was occupied with this device, and only the other remained for work. Then Frederick stuck each tongue into the fur. Now, during tuning, the master put the device next to him, stretched the fur up and released it. Shrinking under the pressure of its own weight, the fur pushed air onto the tongue, and it sounded. Both hands of the master remained free, and besides, there was no need to blow with the mouth, which also facilitated the work.
Then Friedrich realized that there was no need to make your own fur for each tongue. You can embed all the reeds into one fur, and so that they do not sound at the same time, equip them with valves. Now, to obtain the desired tone, it was necessary to open one valve above the corresponding tongue, and leave the rest closed.
And a little later, Friedrich realized that the structure he had invented could be turned into an independent musical instrument. So the master, making his work easier (now we would call it rationalization), came to a new form of a musical instrument. At that time, Friedrich was only seventeen years old ... However, admiring the ingenuity of the young master, let's not exaggerate his merits in creating harmonics. Friedrich invented a new form of a musical instrument, but not yet the instrument itself, because it was still impossible to play on it: after all, the valve mechanism was intended only for tuning. Friedrich tried to complete his idea and make a manual harmonica, but he had very little time for this. Everything was taken away by the main work, and the harmonica had to be dealt with only in snatches, so in the end he ended up with something like a child's toy.
In technology, one person often submits an idea, and another develops it. For example, an electric light bulb first lit up in the laboratory of the Russian electrical engineer Alexander Nikolaevich Lodygin, but Edison brought it to a workable and industrial look. So it happened in musical technique, so it happened with the manual harmonica. One of the children's toys fell into the hands of a Viennese organ master Kirill Demian ... He perfected it and on May 6, 1829 applied for a tool that he named accordion ... One can marvel at the promptness with which this application was considered and approved: after nineteen days, Demian received a privilege for his instrument. You can also marvel at the efficiency of Demian himself: a few days later, he, together with his sons, began to produce accordions for sale. And soon, in the year of its birth, accordion Demiana became a famous instrument.
The accordion could already be played - however, very simple melodies and only in one key, because it had only five buttons on the right side and five on the left. But it was music, and not annoying children's fun for adults.
Here we should stop and understand the history more precisely. We used to think of the accordion as a much more modern instrument than the accordion, and suddenly it turns out that it all started with it. And besides, because the accordion piano keyboard for the right hand, and there were only buttons on Demian's instrument.
However, we will wait to clarify these questions - they require a separate discussion, and we will return to it soon. In the meantime, let's see how the harmonica got to Russia.
Approximately the same thing happened that is now happening with our balalaikas. They are bought by foreign tourists and taken home as an exotic souvenir. So they brought hand harmonics to Russia - not tourists, of course, but merchants, sailors, artists. However, here she was not destined to remain just a souvenir - very soon the harmonica turned from an exotic instrument into a folk one.
And we owe this, oddly enough, not to musical masters, but to Tula gunsmiths. In the summer of 1830, one of them, Ivan Sizov, went to a fair in Nizhny Novgorod and there he heard a harmonica. Sizov bargained for it, then still quite expensive, and brought it home. Like any inquisitive artisan, the first thing he did was disassemble the instrument and study its structure. Making sure that there is nothing particularly complicated in it, especially for a Tula gunsmith, he took and made the same with his own hands. Of course, the relatives and friends of Ivan Sizov immediately found out about this, and through them others. There were many craftsmen among those who could get acquainted with the instrument - Tula in general was always famous for its craftsmen. Very soon the production of harmonics became a craze in Tula. Now we would call it a mass hobby. Very quickly, the production of harmonics was put on an industrial basis. First, handicraft workshops were opened, and then factories. Ivan Sizov himself also did not limit himself to his first harmonica, but set up their factory production. His outlandish Nizhny Novgorod purchase was still fresh in his memory, and Tula had already produced more than ten thousand instruments a year.
Production spread to other cities, here and there new industries were opened, and the varieties of harmonica multiplied, because in each region it was altered and adjusted to their own tunes. Saratov, Livens, Cherepovets, Kasimov, Yelets, Vyatskaya - you can't even name them all.
But only two decades have passed since the invention Cyril Demiana and less than thirty since Friedrich Buschmann adapted a tongue with fur for tuning the organ. How can you explain such a rapid spread of harmonics?
Firstly, the fact that this instrument, as it were, accompanies itself, having buttons for bass accompaniment.
Secondly, even the first, largely imperfect instruments already possessed a valuable feature: they made it possible to extract sounds from barely audible to very loud, because the air pressure could be regulated by a hand bellow.
Thirdly, I was attracted by the unpretentiousness of the instrument. The harmonic does not require adjustment for years, decades, even if it is stored in not quite suitable conditions. Any hand-held stringed instrument, as you know, has to be adjusted every time before playing.
And, fourthly, it was possible to play not only while sitting and not only standing, but even on the move, also dancing at the same time.
Many other tools have some of these qualities. But the combination of all the features in one instrument makes the harmonica unique.
True, not everyone welcomed the spread of the harmonica. Many spoke about her not too flattering, even called her "a terrible instrument of torture." I must say that there were grounds for such an opinion. The instrument remained imperfect for some time, sometimes with an excessively harsh sound, the playing technique was not as thoroughly developed as for ancient instruments, and most amateurs were so inept with the accordion that musicians with a sophisticated ear could only plug their ears.
But gradually the instrument was improving, acquiring euphony, finding its outstanding performers. The voices of the opponents gradually faded and fell completely silent when the button accordion appeared.
Information source: S. S. Gazaryan In the world of musical instruments: Book. for students of Art. classes. - M .: Education, 1985 .-- S. 33 - 37.
Note. Some researchers argue that there is absolutely no confirmation of the fact that the first accordion was invented by Friedrich Buschmann. Therefore, they give the palm for the invention of this musical instrument to the ingenious master - Kirill Demian.