Squeezebox Circle - 2025 08 06

 

The house is in disarray by late afternoon after the dogs have been hanging out. Adele is perched on the recliner and Eddy is sprawled on the couch. Everything has to have a cover. They love chewing and tearing up paper so I give them recycling to shred before I put it in the worm bins. In the front hall my two new accordions are waiting for me. I have my first collection of sheet music to learn from the Squeezebox Circle.

I am here to tell you, as I tell myself, that it is never too late to learn something new. Perhaps this is our greatest hope in these dark days of authoritarianism and rampant corruption signalling the catastrophic system collapse of the failure of patriarchy, capitalism and religion. We can, and will, learn new ways to organize our human affairs to sustain our lives on earth. 

For me, right now, learning to play the accordion is part of my contribution to the solution.

Last night I went to my first session with the accordion players at the Squeezebox Circle. 

They meet the first Wednesday of the month from 7 to 9 pm at the Longhouse Church here in East Vancouver. 

Alan Zisman leads the group, with file boxes of the music chart library at the ready. There were eight of us in total. I was by far the rank beginner. I cannot play any of the buttons on the left hand, and I have trouble reading treble clef at the best of times. My strategy last night was to play the root of each chord with my right hand. From that starting point, I got to where I could pass from one chord to another with connecting notes. I was not playing the melody or anything that advanced. I could keep the rhythm somewhat, although I am still learning the timing for the bellows action. So far I seem to be pushing and pulling with each chord transition. 

We played a variety of music. Each person in the circle had brought a couple of songs to share. They organize this ahead of time, so Alan had extra charts ready to hand out when a new song was called. There were waltzes, a blues, a couple of klezmer style dances, and some popular music. It was a lovely mix of styles and genres. We even attempted the Beach Boys song, "Nobody Knows". We held it together pretty good at the beginning, kind of lost our way through the middle, but pulled together again to finish together.

I had one song to share, "Donkey Riding" from Canadian folk tradition. I could almost play the melody by ear and the chords weren't too hard to follow.

Noel was there with his little century-old concertina. When he plays we listen. We can't play along with him because his instrument is 1/4 out of tune with concert pitch. It's a lovely sound, all the same.

We all had our own music stands and used the chairs available in the church. I learned that the molded plastic chairs lose their comfort very quickly when you are perched on the corner with a giant accordion resting on your knee.

On this August evening the sun is going down earlier. Through the west church windows the low sun flooded the room with warm, late summer light, until it passed over the horizon.

It was nice to spend an evening with squeezeboxes and music. It was wonderful to make new musical friends. It was an adventure to enter the quirky, passionate world of accordion players.

It is never too late to learn new things. Whatever you have been telling yourself, you can be confident in this, "It is important for me to try something new, to be a beginner, and learn from others who have gone before me."

It is our ability to learn, to put away our foolish pride, and to be humble and make mistakes, that gives us hope for life on our rare earth.

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