Searching
for Rockordion: The Changing Image of the Accordion in America
By Marion S. Jacobson
For the mod youngster who digs the rock, folk and mersey beat
of the swinging '60s, a Combo 'Cordion called Tiger is stalking the scene.
You're the swinger with Tiger Combo. Combo 'Cordion is excitement.
These words written by Faithe Deffner, publicist for her family's
accordion manufacturing firm, may have been aimed at selling accordions
to teenagers. but they revealed a harsh reality accordion players had
to acknowledge—the latent lack of excitement about their instrument
and, more alarmingly, the decline of the values it represented. Indeed,
to the white, middle-class players and entrepreneurs who promoted and
taught the instrument, the piano accordion had once represented the possibility
of cultural elevation and success. by the mid-1960s, however, the popular
music landscape was changing: the accordion (and the community that supported
it) was no longer central. Although devotees of the accordion knew that
the success of rock had tarnished the popularity of their favorite instrument,
this advertisement held out the hope that rock could be revamped into
something that mainstream Americans could accept.
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