Author Description

An A to Z of the Accordion and related instruments by Rob Howard An A to Z of the Accordion and related instruments, written and published in December 2003 by Rob Howard, is the first ever reference book about the accordion and its close relatives to published in Great Britain or Ireland. The book focuses largely on the accordion in Britain and Ireland, past and present, and is intended both as a source of information and as a celebration of the instrument and its leading players. There are almost 300 entries, 256 pages, and the book is available only as a hardback. ISBN: 0-9546711-0-4. Articles such as History of the Accordion, Accordion Lineage, Scotland’s Accordion Heritage and Irish Traditional Music, tell how the accordion developed in Britain and Ireland. The articles Accordion Day, Accordion Champions of GB/UK, 1935-2003, and British Association of Accordionists, trace the story of the competitive accordion movement. There lots of short biographies, including Jack Emblow, Jimmy Blair, Gary Blair, Gerald Crossman, Adrian Dante, Jimmy Shand, Dermot O’Brien, Francis Wright, Rosemary Wright, Larry Adler, Harry Hussey, Toralf Tollefsen, Guido Deiro, Pietro Deiro, Pietro Frosini, Frank Marocco, Charles Magnante, and ace concertina player John Nixon, to name but a few. Another aspect of the book is the inclusion of evergreen archive magazine articles reprinted, written by eminent authorities. These include: Accordion Tunings – Straight or Musette?, Competing at Accordion Festivals, Improve Your Playing and Nostalgia: The Thirties Accordion Scene, all by Gerald Crossman; Training Your Ear, by Adrian Dante; Relaxation and The Mastery of Technique, by Charles Magnante; Be a Better Player and Playing For Others, by Rosemary Wright; Sight Reading, by Trevani; and Looking After Your Harmonica, by Douglas Tate. Other articles include such diverse topics as Accordion Clubs – thinking of running a club?, Advice for the Aspiring Accordionist, Choosing an Accordion, Humour, French Musette, Strange, but true… (true stories), Performing in Public (by Johnny Coleclough), Amplification (by Charlie Watkins), Let’s Play Jazz (by Tony Compton), MIDI (by Peter Whiteley), and The Shand Morino (by Andy Banks). Sequels – volumes, 2 (2005), 3 (2007) and 4 (2009) – are also available.