It's a small world

Now that I had a bee in my bonnet about getting an accordion, I was ready to research. I never dive into anything without giving it careful thought and attention. And wow, there was a lot more to the accordion than I thought.

My first search was to see if there were accordion lessons available anywhere nearby. Yep! There was - two miles from where I work! Then I looked to see if there was anywhere local to buy used accordions. Same place as lessons - 2 miles away. Wow...this was beginning to feel like fate! (and I don't believe in fate!)

The local store didn't have much in stock, but they did have a few. They had several piano accordions and some funny looking thing with a row of buttons. Off to google that. Oh, that is called a button box accordion, or diatonic accordion. In the UK it's called a melodeon - interesting.

So I google more. What I learned is that in the US, diatonic accordions are rarer, harder to find instructors to teach, but easier to learn to play. A downside is that they only can play the one key if they are one row melodeons, two keys if they have two, etc. With that information I ditched the idea (for now). I didn't want to be limited by what key I play in, but "easier to learn to play" did stick in my brain.

I went back to the site that was selling accordions locally. That site also had a link to another online site called, Reverb. It's where people sell new and used musical equipment. I started to look up accordions that were affordable. I found one almost immediately. It really piqued my interest because this one was being sold by a refurbisher of accordions which was important because I had learned in my googling research that a lot can go wrong with an accordion. Something may look pristine on the outside, only to be completely falling apart inside.

But here was an accordion that sounded perfect. I decided to contact the seller to ask a few more questions. I went to click on the "contact seller" button and saw it said, "Cedar Falls, Iowa" for location. Whoa! Really? I'm from Cedar Falls and that is half way across the country! This was becoming like it was meant to be. To find lessons right near work and an accordion from my home town that has been professionally refurbished and the accordion is being sold for a good price? It's fate! (whatever that is!)

I wrote to the seller and in the end of that message I mentioned I was from Cedar Falls and listed some musical teachers I worked with there. When I sent it, I took note of the last name of the seller, but decided not to ask about it as I knew someone in the town with that last name. It's a slightly unusual last name, but I've met others with that last name too, so it was probably no connection.

The seller wrote back about all kinds of info about the accordion and also said he worked for 32 years at Holmes Jr. High with a teacher I mentioned. Well then I knew that this seller was the person I knew. Mr. Uhlenhopp! I never really knew his first name, even though it was right there in the yearbook I dug out later. 

Me the beginning of 9th grade.

Mr. Uhlenhopp as I remember him.

Ron Uhlenhopp was my 8th grade math teacher (and a really good teacher at that). I knew he taught math, went fly fishing, and in summers did roofing, (and had his own roofing company) but what I didn't know was that he was a life-long accordion player! In retirement he plays 32 gigs a month and for a hobby restores old, high quality accordions. How cool is that?

I sent him a couple of photos and we exchanged a couple more emails and he gave me some very good information on what to look for in old accordions and some pointers in what to do for starting. Here he is recently.

Now, in the end, with all my googling, I decided not to buy a piano accordion and there were a few reasons for that. More on that tomorrow!
_________________________

I'm adding an addendum to this post. Today (will be) the inauguration of Donald Trump. I work in DC. I work for a humanistic organization where we work to make the world a better place and we fight against injustices and meet on Sunday's for community, enlightenment and to help our children question that which they are told and to fight for justice. I'm the Director of Lifelong Learning. Last night I was part of a vigil all up and down 16th Street in DC for "lighting our way for justice and our planet". You can see our building across the street. While you cannot see the name of the organization, the Washington Ethical Society, it makes me happy you can see the Black Lives Matter banner and the bottom edge of the Rainbow Flag.

How is this related to the melodeon? This election result and what it means for our country and perhaps the world has added a heap of stress to my life. It put the exclamation point to let me know I needed to find something joyful - like music. And writing now and googling melodeons the last month has taken my mind off things I cannot change. Though, I do resist and fight for the oppressed and will continue for the rest of my life.