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Book Review: The Art of Accordion Playing

This book review was first published in the Free Reed Journal in 2002
by Robert Young McMahan and updated in 2022.

The Art of Accordion Playing: Technique, Interpretation, and Performance of Playing the Accordion Artistically. By Friedrich Lips, with Introductions by Ulrich Schmülling and Boris M. Yegoroy. Edited by Ulrich Schmülling, English translation by Willoughbhby Ann Walshe. 4th ed. 2022 Kamen: Karthause-Schmülling Internationale Musikverlag, 2000. [211 pp. ISBN 3-925572-04-X, Only €34 or the US$ equivalent plus postage.]

Now thirty-five years old since its original publication in Russian (see below), Friedrich Lips's book on playing the bayan has become a classic, representing for accordionists of today--whether they play button or piano accordion--what such works as François Couperin's The Art of Playing the Clavecin (1716) or Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments (1753) represented for keyboard players (and other musicians) of the eighteenth century. And like those monuments of keyboard pedagogy, Lips's The Art of Accordion Playing serves a wide audience: the well-trained performer/teacher, for whom it affirms already-formed notions about technique, expression, selection of repertoire, and concert preparation, while also providing pointers about matters still not fully explored; the student, for whom it reinforces the sage guidance already conveyed by a mentor; and the self-taught amateur, for whom it will sound a clarion call to seek good instruction (for it is certainly not intended to be nor could it ever be a substitute for a teacher).

The Art of Accordion Playing was first published by Izdatelstvo Muzyka Moscoin 1985 as a thin, rather lackluster volume with the title Iskusstvo igry na bayane. Though its value to bayan players of what was then the Soviet Union was recognized immediately, it just as quickly went out of print. In 1991, however, it re-emerged in a revised and enlarged form in Germany as Die Kunst des Bajanspiels; and then, nine years later, this book was available to the English-speaking world.

Prof Friedrich Lips

As one of Russia's most distinguished full-time bayan artists (born in 1948 to Russian citizens of German heritage) and a full professor of accordion at his alma mater, the Gnesin Institute for Music Education in Moscow, Lips has earned the privilege to write and publish a work of such significance in his field. The book is clearly the product of decades of performance, teaching, and research. Concerning the last of these, Lips has gone beyond just the accordion and its own literature (from which he draws upon the likes of Lech Puchnowski's Bellows Control and Tone Formation: The New Way to Play the Accordion and Gotthard Richter's Acoustical Problems of Accordions and Harmonicas) and delved into a long list of important works of a similar nature by a number of great pianists and piano teachers, including Ferruccio Busoni, Artur Schnabel, and Heinrich Neuhaus (whose 1969 The Art of Piano Playing seems to be the most frequently visited reference), to name but a few from his three-and-one-half-page bibliography. Lips will often use these pianists' advice regarding one technique or another on that instrument to back up views of his own concerning playing the accordion. Thus after advising the accordionist that it is important “to caress the keys with the tips of the fingers," and not to depress them with "more strength than necessary” (p. 67), he follows immediately with a similar piece of advice from Nikolay Metner's Daily Work of Pianists and Composers (Povsedneunaja rabota pianista i kompozitora (Moscow, 1963], p. 10).

The Art of Accordion Playing is divided into four large chapters:
1. “Creating Tone" discusses “Forms of Articulation"—under which rubric there are sections on “Bellows-Fingers Coordination,” “Keystrokes," “Bellows Techniques” (including, of course, the bellows shake), “Vibrato," and "Performing Various Types of Articulation,” along with their many subheadings--and "Registers and Their Combinations," which deals with “Dynamics,” “Tonal Perspectives," and "Phrasing.".

2. Playing Technique” takes up "Playing Comportment," "Elements of Bayan Technique” (with eight subsections that deal with such items as "Creating Tone,” “Ornamentation," "Chords," "Jumps,” and “Polyphony''),“Fingering,” and “Work on Technique.”

3. “Interpreting a Musical Composition: The Artistic Picture” deals with “Content,” “Tempo,” “Rhythm,” and “Interpretation."

4..“Particulars of Concert Activity," packed with invaluable advice on “Selecting the Repertoire," what to do “Before the Concert," on the "Concert Day," during “The Concert,” and “After the Concert.”

The book concludes with an Epilogue, a “Biographical Register" of persons quoted or referred to in the text, a “List of Musical Examples," a “List of Names," and a bibliography (“References”).

In all of this Lips looks at the accordion in a well-reasoned and realistic way. In the opening pages of Chapter One he sets the tone by listing both the accordion's strengths (its unlimited harmonic range, "singing tone,” expressive ability to perform crescendos and diminuendos on sustained sounds, polyphonic capabilities, especially via the free bass, etc.) and weaknesses (lack of dynamic differentiation between voices, the physical strength needed to manipulate the bellows, its considerable weight, etc.), all of which can apply to virtually any type of accordion, and recommends that manufacturers find ways to reduce its weight and at the same time add a fifth rank of reeds to the right-hand manual (pp. 34-36). Having said this, he then proceeds to discuss how to get the most out of the existing concert-quality instrument.

Lips offers many invaluable tips on all aspects of accordion playing, most of which are equally applicable to all accordion types as well. Many of his statements and quotations from other sources are worthy of framing and hanging on the walls of accordion studios everywhere. Space prevents choosing more than three examples from scores of equally strong pedagogical gems. Concerning registration, he writes:

The interpreter should not use registers to overwhelm the public. Their purpose is to achieve an impressive artistic result... This skill consists of composing creative bouquets with a few different flowers and purposeful use of color to achieve what otherwise is only possible with a greater number of different flowers and colors... The organ has, of course, a far greater number of registers than the accordion. Nevertheless, organists know how to apply those registers skillfully. Accordionists can learn a lot about the art of registration from renowned organists (p. 77).

Regarding problems of endurance in long and fast passages and/or those which make strenuous demands on the left arm owing to certain bellows requirements, he draws an analogy to the heart:

From the beginning to the end of life, the heart functions ceaselessly. It is not, however, ceaselessly strained. Tension and relaxation alternate with each other in the shortest possible intervals... Everyone should learn this ability to rest for a short period ... [and] should mark in his compositions those points where it is necessary and/or possible to relax briefly (p. 141).

And finally, in the area of selecting repertoire for concerts, this following suggestion is near and dear to my heart: "... the performer should strive to work together with the composer to stimulate the appearance of new works, courageously choose the best of these, and become a trail blazer for our music" (p.177).

In his Epilogue, Lips, ever the practical realist, concedes that there is a lot that he has not discussed in "this small book," and that he "merely wanted to present [his] opinion regarding certain problems of accordion art and share [the] experiences” gathered during the course of twenty-five years of activity as musician, teacher, and concert artist. In this he has more than likely succeeded beyond his expectations.

As an American-bred piano accordionist, I found virtually all of the book, including those parts which refer exclusively to playing the very different button-based, “B-system" manual (right hand) of the bayan, very meaningful, informative, and helpful. I enthusiastically and unhesitantly recommend it to students and professional colleagues everywhere as a “must-read."

I would, though, like to see an expanded edition that would include appendices that provide
(1) diagrams of the various layouts of both right and left-hand manuals of the principle concert-type accordions that are currently in use around the world (including the bayan, the piano accordion, and the bandoneón), since many - perhaps most - professionals are familiar only with the instrument that they themselves play; and
(2) at the risk of asking for too much, complementary sections to those segments of chapters that are devoted exclusively to right-hand techniques of the B-system button keyboard found on the bayan, with these being conceived specifically for those who play piano accordion. Perhaps the publisher could invite guest authors of a stature equal to that of Lips to supply such authoritative "inserts” in future editions of the work.

I can think of little else that would “improve” an already great and established classic of instructive accordion literature.

Robert Young McMahan

The AAA Composers’ Commissioning Committee welcomes donations from all those who love the classical accordion and wish to see its modern original concert repertoire continue to grow. The American Accordionists’ Association is a 501(c)(3) corporation. All contributions are tax deductible to the extent of the law. They can easily be made by visiting the AAA Store at http://www.ameraccord.com/cart.aspx which allows you to both make your donation and receive your tax deductible receipt on the spot.

For additional information, please contact Dr. McMahan at grillmyr@gmail.com