Hello Gold Star Squad, and welcome to Tune Up Tuesday!
In my opinion, expanding your horizons and learning something new is always a gold star activity!
So I thought that this would be a fun topic to explore, and I know that my answer to this question is one that not many people would give. Like maybe no one.
Buuuuuut, I would LOVE to learn to play the accordion!
I have no musical training or skills whatsoever. I know that I like to listen to music, but that’s about as far as my musical knowledge goes, ha ha!
So where in the world did this desire to play the accordion come from, how in the world, you might ask? Well, there is actually a “good” answer to this question.
It’s because my grandfather played the accordion! My maternal grandfather immigrated to the United States from what is now Slovakia when he was a boy. My siblings and I called him Dzedo, which means "grandfather" in the Eastern Slovak dialect. He didn’t speak English, so I didn't have many substantial conversations with him when he was alive.
But I know that he loved me, and he often demonstrated that love through music by playing the accordion. On our birthdays, he loved to regale my siblings and me with an accordion version of Happy Birthday, which was one of the few things he knew to either sing or say in English.
Here is a picture of him in action:
And I certainly loved my grandfather! The birthday parties that we would have at my grandparents’ house meant the world to me, and I think that is where the seed was planted for my interest in learning to play the accordion.
If I did learn how to play, I think I would want to learn to play Cajun music instead of Eastern European music like the polka. Or maybe I could even learn to play classical music on the accordion. I recently learned that there is at least one woman in the world who is doing this:
During the last minute of this video, I swear that some of the notes sound like they have to be coming from an instrument other than the accordion. It’s wild!
It's possible that I might start with trying to learn the piano instead because somehow I think that would be easier. I honestly have no idea if it would be less difficult. It’s just my gut feeling.
You may be wondering – Tricia, it seems like you’ve wanted to learn to play the accordion for quite some time. Why haven’t you done anything about it before now?
I guess it’s mostly because I feel overwhelmed anytime I think about trying to learn how to play. For starters, I don’t have an accordion, and I don’t know anything about them, so just the first step of acquiring one feels insurmountable to me. And of course I wonder if it’s realistic to think that I can and will learn how to play it given my age.
But now that I have put this desire out there for the world to see, maybe I finally will do something about it! I would love to get a gold star for learning to play the accordion or the piano! Will it ever happen? I don't know, but, if it does, I will definitely let you know!
What is something you’d love to learn? Are you willing to take the steps necessary to do it? Tell us in the comments!