There can only be one!

OK kiddies, gather round and I’ll tell you a tale, a tale of how the music started. It was an atypical hot August day.  Not an atypical day because it was hot outside and in, but because there was a weighty decision to be made, one that would change my life forever… OK, maybe not forever, but you never know!

So here we were, Aiden and I, staring at the alien technology in the velvet lined box I had just opened.  It’s strange that I remember the day so well.  With a shrug, I reached down to take the accordion from the case that imprisoned it for so long.  It was unbalanced and heavy and took a bit of shifting to free it.  I sat it on my knees and struggled to get into leather shoulder straps that were suffering from the ravages of time.  The cracked and frayed straps immediately dug into the exposed skin of my shoulders and I regretted the fact that I was wearing a tank top and considered putting the box down right then and there.  Aiden reached out for the black and white keys situated on the treble keyboard, this simple act urged me onward and kept me from putting the heavy beast back in its case.

It was an awkward moment.  I sat there straining to look down and figure out all the moving parts, and where I should be in relation to the parts.  I could figure out where to put my right hand this was the easy part.  I arranged my fingers so that my right thumb was resting on what I assumed was middle “C” and then looked over at the left side of the accordion and became stumped.  I slipped my left hand under the bass strap and strained my neck to look at the little black buttons situated under my fingers.  It was like assessing 120 soldiers in parade formation.  Row after row, 20 buttons across by 6 buttons deep, I was lost and knew I needed direction.  Just for fun, I ran my fingers along the buttons and was happy to discover the fact that one of the buttons had a little indentation.  I pulled the bellows apart while holding the bass button and the treble key.

Fortune and the gods of accordion smiled on that singular moment.  It so happens that the treble key was the middle C, and surprise, surprise the bass button I was holding sounded like a C major cord!  The sound was beautiful, like an organ mixed with a group of miniature cello players all working together to produce this throaty, air filled tone.  The note moved me, vibrating from the accordion and traveling like shockwaves through my chest.  I was not expecting this sound.

I looked over at Aiden, whose wide smile and wider open eyes locked in my choice.  I played a few more notes with Aiden giggling and reaching out for the keys.  Sorry trombone, you’ll have to slide back into your case and back into the garage for now…  There can only be one, and the accordion stays.