Cajun accordion
The Cajun accordion is a simple, small, diatonic button accordion that allows you to play melodies with accompaniment. It is an important instrument in Cajun music .
history
German immigrants brought the German melodeon to Louisiana and the Cajun Country around 1880 . The melodeon was then quickly integrated into the music around 1920 after switching to the keys of C major and D major, which were better suited to the fiddle used in Cajun music as another main instrument , because it was virtually indestructible. In addition, it was loud enough for the weekly dance events in the barns and halls as there was no electrical amplification of the instruments.
Structure and functionality
On the right is the fingerboard with ten buttons on which the melody is played. When a button is pressed , a different tone sounds when the bellows are pulled and when they are compressed . So twenty different notes can be played. The tuning of the notes depends on the basic tuning of the accordion, i.e. it corresponds to the C major scale , for example .
The instrument has four rows of reeds that can be individually adjusted; H. for each button there are four reeds that generate sufficient volume. When a button on the fingerboard is pressed, the associated air flap is opened via a spring, whereby the air from the inside of the bellows (or the outside air when pulled) flows through the reeds and makes them sound. The four reeds each belonging to one note are slightly out of tune with one another. On the top, above the reeds, are the four registers with which you can open or close a row of the reeds in a vertical direction. This allows the tone and volume to be regulated.
On the left is a fingerboard for the bass and chord buttons. With these two buttons the music played on the right is accompanied rhythmically. On the back there is another button on the left that is operated with the ball of the thumb. It is used to breathe in or out without sound when playing, if, depending on the opening of the bellows, more or less air is required to play the melody.
