Olin College of Engineering

DigitalCommons@Olin 2006 AHS Capstone Projects

AHS Capstone Projects

4-1-2006

Managing the Accordionist's Identity in America: A Labeling/Interactionist Perspective Jerzy Wieczorek Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, [email protected]

Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.olin.edu/ahs_capstone_2006 Part of the Anthropology Commons, and the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Wieczorek, Jerzy, "Managing the Accordionist's Identity in America: A Labeling/Interactionist Perspective" (2006). 2006 AHS Capstone Projects. Paper 4. http://digitalcommons.olin.edu/ahs_capstone_2006/4

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 Managing the Accordionist’s Identity in America: A Labeling/Interactionist Perspective

Although the accordion was one of the best-selling musical instruments in the United States between the 1930s and the 1950s, nowadays it is frequently portrayed as “nerdy” and “cheesy.” In American popular music of the last few decades, the instrument is rarely heard and almost never seen unless to draw a laugh. Nonetheless, there are many accordionists who still choose to play the instrument despite its reputation. If this once-popular instrument, its music, and the musicians who play it are so marginalized in popular culture today, how do accordionists deal with their marginalized status? This paper begins to answer this oft-overlooked question through the labeling/interactionist approach pioneered by sociologists Howard S. Becker and Erving Goffman. The result is an analysis of how accordionists present themselves to others in light of their understandings of the cause and nature of the accordion’s unpopularity. Because attitudes towards the instrument are not uniform throughout American society, even accordionists in the same geographic location can choose to respond to their stigmatized status in different ways. Several interviews with accordion players indicate that these musicians may attempt to Avoid the stigma by playing only in settings where the accordion is accepted; they may attempt to Overcome the stigma by challenging the assumptions that they believe the audience holds about the accordion; or they may attempt to Flaunt the stigma by drawing on stereotypes about the accordion, usually for humorous effect. These different identity management strategies sometimes produce contradictory effects and thus appear to play a role in the persistence of the stigma. The assertion that the accordion is “stigmatized,” “marginalized,” or “deviant” in America means that it deviates from today’s mainstream American norms regarding what constitutes an appropriate musical instrument for use in serious or popular music, and that the general population treats it as illegitimate or abnormal. This paper discusses the accordion’s deviance from the standpoint of labeling/interactionist theory as promoted by Becker and Goffman, who argue that stigma is in the eye of the beholder and becomes defined via interaction between the offending group and the offended one. According to Becker, “deviance is not a simple quality, present in some kinds of behavior and absent in others. Rather, it is the product of a process which involves responses of other people to the behavior” (p. 14). Thus,

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 instead of asking what is wrong with the accordion that makes it inherently deviant, Becker and Goffman would phrase the question differently: how have interactions between accordionists and the rest of society caused the instrument to become labeled as deviant by so many Americans? Of course, such a question is extremely broad. This paper merely focuses on the matter of how accordionists respond to the deviant label and how these responses may be affecting the label in return. Naturally, not all of American society holds such a negative view of the accordion. Ethnic groups whose music is strongly accordion-influenced, such as Cajuns, MexicanAmericans, or Slovenian-Americans, treat the instrument with more respect than it receives in American popular music because it has been incorporated into these minority cultures as an authentic part of their traditional music. Furthermore, at the height of the accordion fad in the 1930s-1950s, many Americans (even those without specific ethnic ties) enjoyed the accordion enough to take lessons in accordion studios and join large accordion clubs, some of which still exist around the country. Finally, many ethnically unaffiliated Americans today are starting to see the instrument as something unusual or exotic rather than deserving of derision. This may be linked to the increasing commercial popularity of “world music,” which has been heavily marketed only since a group of record labels and musicians, meeting to discuss how to sell this kind of music, classified it as its own genre in 1987 (Frith 2000). The accordion is fairly common in world music, leading one beginner accordionist to tell me that any tune “feels international” when she plays it on the accordion (Jentgen). However, whenever most other Americans mention the accordion at all, they tend to deride it. Some humorists use it as a comic prop so obviously ridiculous that it requires no explanation to get a laugh. A typical example: in response to an article about an accordionist being mauled by a tiger, one person commented, “I think the tiger should have received some sort of medal for removing at least one accordian [sic] player from the world” (“Wait Just A Darned Minute”). Humorous cartoons, like the 2002 Garfield example in Figure 1, often imply that accordion-playing is shameful in normal society (Davis). Even a 2004 newspaper article intending to show the instrument in a good light seems to smirk, as if the author expects that readers will not take it seriously: “Case-wielding pilgrims have besieged the mecca [an accordion festival in Boston], a place that's free of jokes about the Stomach Steinway, where a 10 a.m. seminar on ‘The Art of the Bellow Shake’ doesn’t draw snickers, and where ‘I’ve got a

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 $7,000 Borsini in my trunk’ sounds dangerously close to a come-on” (Smiley). Clearly, much accordion humor relies not on any observations about the instrument’s inherent qualities, but rather on the assumption that the audience already understands that accordions are not to be treated seriously.

Figure 1. Garfield cartoon, Apr. 3, 2002, by Jim Davis.

Of course, since this stigma is known to the American public at large, accordionists themselves are very aware of it as well. As this paper will demonstrate, their understanding of the source and nature of the stigma often affects how they present themselves to others. First, the next section of this paper will provide some necessary context via a few notes on the history of the accordion. This history will be followed by a discussion of several theories used by various accordionists to explain the cause of the stigma. Finally, this exploration will prepare the way for an investigation of modern accordionists’ behavior in light of labeling/interactionist theory. Through a discussion of written sources and personal interviews with several accordionists, I will explore how an awareness and understanding of the stigma figures in accordionists’ choices about how they present themselves and where, with whom, and for whom they play.

A brief history of the accordion Before the historical and sociological analysis of the accordion can begin, the term “accordion” needs to be defined and clarified. The word is sometimes used interchangeably with “squeezebox” to refer to the entire family of bellows-driven free reed instruments. This paper will use this meaning of “accordion” since most non-experts tend to lump all squeezeboxes together under this name and all are treated equally by the general public. However, technically the word “accordion” refers to a particular kind of squeezebox that is distinguished from

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 concertinas, bandoneons, harmoniums, bayans, and others. A more practical distinction can be drawn between the piano accordion (so called because of the piano-like keyboard played by the right hand) and button boxes (most other squeezeboxes including button accordions). The piano accordion became the centerpiece of the accordion fads in the US in the first half of the 20th century (Flynn et al., Winkler, U.S. Department of Commerce). Button boxes, on the other hand, played a much smaller role in the fads, but in traditional ethnic music they have generally been far more common that piano accordions. The distinction is similar to that between the classical violin and the folk-music fiddle. Considering their separate spheres of influence, it is possible that button boxes would have had a different reputation than piano accordions if the public did not tend to lump all squeezeboxes together. However, since the public does not distinguish between the two sets of instruments, this paper will use the terms “accordion” and “squeezebox” interchangeably in the broadest sense, specifying piano accordion or button box only when necessary.

Figure 2. “The Accordion: A Blow to Music” by Honore Daumier, 1865.

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 Whatever they may have been named, the earliest squeezeboxes were developed in the early 1800s in central Europe (Macerollo). The first instrument officially to be called an accordion was patented by Cyril Demian in Vienna in 1829 (Smith). Initially, there was good reason to poke fun at these clumsy, obnoxiously loud, and technically limited instruments. These technologically awkward beginnings seem to have generated a stigma against the accordion rather quickly. For example, as early as 1865, French cartoonist Honore Daumier drew the picture in Figure 2, which depicts a man interrupted at a game of snooker by an accordionist. The cartoon is entitled “The Accordion: A Blow to Music” (Daumier) and the shocked man is saying, “We do not yet have the right to kill the people who play this instrument, but there is hope that we will soon get it” (translation in Winkler). Similar attitudes persisted through several accordion fad cycles, including at least one in 19th-century Europe (Winkler). However, the instrument became incorporated into European folk music because its portability, size, volume, and versatility made it a veritable one-man band in a box that could be heard over a crowded dance hall. Probably for similar reasons, squeezeboxes must have started trickling into the United States very soon. There are records indicating an accordion was built in Concord, NH as early as 1835 (Sredzienski). Starting in the late 19th century, this trickle became a deluge as masses of immigrants from eastern and southern Europe brought the accordion to America in large numbers and spread it across the country. By 1911 the instrument was well-known enough to be mocked by Ambrose Bierce in his popular The Devil’s Dictionary: ACCORD, n. Harmony. ACCORDION, n. An instrument in harmony with the sentiments of an assassin. Nonetheless, the instrument quickly took root in many new local music genres, from Cajun and conjunto to big band polka. At the same time, entrepreneurs took the small accordion repair shops that initially serviced their respective immigrant communities and turned them into large businesses that served middle-class American families as well. These accordion studios were most often focused around the piano accordion. They sold instruments, provided lessons, and organized accordion orchestras, concerts, and festivals throughout the entire country (Winkler). Accordion associations were formed to promote the instrument, make it “respectable,” and

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 encourage classical music conservatories to accept accordion students (Winkler). Flynn et al. assert that the accordion reached significant popularity in America: As improvements in construction kept pace with the demands of professional accordionists and teachers, it attained an unmistakable prominence in the mid-1930’s, and its popularity continued to accelerate through the 1950’s and even into the early 1960’s. During these years (except for the interruption of accordion production occasioned by World War II) anyone visiting a musical instrument store could see row upon row of accordions of various sizes, makes and models on display. There were more accordions than guitars, pianos, organs, wind instruments, violins, or percussion instruments. This was the GOLDEN AGE OF THE ACCORDION. The accordion was KING, and it was just about everybody’s favorite musical instrument. (p. xviii)

Squeezebox imports for consumption into United States

Number imported

200000 1952

1959

150000 Piano accordions Other squeezeboxes Total

100000 50000 0 1947 1952 1957 1962 1967 1972 1977 Year

Figure 3. Squeezebox imports for consumption into the United States, based on data from Department of Commerce reports In order to fully validate Flynn et al.’s claims, it would be necessary to find a record of the total number of accordions sold in the US per year, but none seems to exist. However, the Department of Commerce has kept track of the number of accordions and other instruments imported into this country at least in the years 1947-1980. As Figure 3 shows, the United States imported more than 150,000 accordions in some years during the 1950s. In fact, from 1947 to 1953, the US imported at least as many accordions as stringed instruments, woodwinds, brass, pianos, and

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 organs combined; accordions constituted a full three-quarters of these instruments in 1948 (Department of Commerce). Even without information about the domestic production of musical instruments, these data strongly suggest that the accordion must have been a significant part of the music market in its heyday. Yet Figure 3 also shows that in the later 1950s, accordion imports dwindled. In particular, the piano accordion is the instrument which rose and declined most dramatically, whereas button box imports remained fairly stable throughout the entire timeline of Figure 3 (except for an unexplained spike in 1959). This implies that piano accordions were the subject of a fad that peaked and died out in the 1950s-1960s along with the large accordion studios, while button boxes continued to be used chiefly for traditional music at a lower, more constant rate. These trends correspond with anecdotal evidence that the piano accordion lost ground to the new rock and roll music that became prominent in the 1950s. The majority of the decline in imports occurred between 1953, when Elvis Presley’s first record debuted, and 1964, when the Beatles arrived in the US. This closely matches the account given by accordion studio owners: In the 50's & beginning of the 60's the accordion was the most popular instrument. I had a music school that had approximately 400 accordion students. By 1963 I noticed a slight decline due to rot & roll [sic]. When the beatles [sic] arrived in America (1964) the decline was percepitous [sic]. In my estimation they were the final nail in the coffin. The trend moved towards guitar. […] I now had to hire guitar teachers who were not qualified to teach up to my standards. After a year of compromising. [sic] I sold the business. (rec.music.makers.squeezebox, Aug. 28, 2003) This does not necessarily mean that the rise of rock and roll music or the Beatles caused the decline of the accordion, but simply that they coincided with it. Despite a few early rock and roll bands that included accordionists, the instrument was conspicuously absent from American popular music from rock and roll onwards. The only nationally prominent accordionist after the 1960s was Lawrence Welk, a bandleader whose long-running TV show catered strictly to the same ever-aging audience and became the epitome of “squareness” among youth by refusing to move with the times (“Lawrence Welk”). Only in the past decade or two has the popularity of Latin music and world music begun making the accordion marketable once more; it can also frequently be heard in television commercials. Nevertheless, it is still rarely shown, except to emphasize the humorous awkwardness of a musician like Weird Al Yankovic or television show

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 characters such as Steve Urkel and Drew Carey. Since the stigma is clearly still in effect today, accordionists continue to argue about where the stigma originated. In fact, the stigma may not have an exact beginning. The fact that Daumier and Bierce joked about the accordion indicates that some form of stigma probably existed long before the piano accordion fad declined. It may be the case that the stigma has simply shifted over time as different groups have accepted or rejected the accordion and as these groups themselves have been treated better or worse by society at large. In particular, note the differences between Daumier’s cartoon in Figure 2 and Davis’ Garfield cartoon in Figure 1. Based on the clothing and activities of the men in the picture, Daumier’s accordionist appears to be a student who has wandered into a gentlemen’s club, probably in the hopes of earning a few pennies (Wieczorek). This suggests that early accordions were primarily a lower-class instrument and thus the stigma was initially related to issues of social class, whereas in Garfield and other present-day cartoons, accordionists tend to be depicted as awkward or socially inept rather than poor or grubby. Hence, one may tentatively propose that the stigma has always existed but that its focus shifted over time from accordionists’ social class to their personalities. If the accordion stigma was indeed originally a class marker, it makes sense that it would have changed as soon as the middle class began playing the accordion in the mid-20th century with the rise of the accordion studios. If the stigma is indeed rooted in the accordion’s earliest days, then why is this running joke so self-perpetuating and adaptable? Why have so many accordionists’ attempts to reverse their deviant status been unsuccessful? The precise mechanisms of such a shift in the stigma are unclear, but they are doubtlessly linked to the strategies accordionists themselves use to manage their identity with regard to the stigma. The application of these strategies, in turn, is determined in large part by accordionists’ beliefs regarding where the stigma came from and how it should be dealt with.

Folk theories about the stigma Accordionists hold many theories about what “went wrong” with their instrument to cause such a stigma and what exactly the stigma is all about. Probably the most commonly mentioned scapegoats are musicians who degrade the instrument’s reputation by playing so much “cheesy” music that the accordion is not associated with anything else. Here the term “cheesy” is used to refer to garish, tasteless music that is usually designed to show off technique

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 but lacks depth and is often (though not necessarily) played poorly. The two other major explanations are that the public considers accordions to be either a “square” instrument associated with accordion studios and older generations (unsuitable for popular music) or an “unrefined” folk/ethnic instrument (unsuitable for classical music). “Square” implies that accordionists are dry, awkward nerds, unable to adapt to popular culture, while “unrefined” refers to some classical musicians’ allegations that the accordion is simply not capable of the same musicality as other, more established instruments. Each of these theories will be explained in turn. First of all, critics of “cheesy” music often invoke the flashy tune “Lady of Spain” and the nationally televised bandleader Lawrence Welk. Many accordionists claim that “Lady of Spain,” an overused recital piece requiring more bellows control than most students could manage, has been played so poorly so often on the accordion that audiences have stopped associating the instrument with any other kind of music (rec.music.makers.squeezebox). A similar charge is brought against accordionist and bandleader Lawrence Welk, whose self-styled “Champagne Music” was indeed pleasant and bubbly but is generally regarded as devoid of expression or depth, like a more energetic version of “elevator music.” Even accordionists who play the same repertoire dismiss Welk’s performance style as “old fart hokiness” (Vallone). Admittedly, Welk was a solid musician within his particular genre and a fantastic salesman to boot, with a total of twenty-four records in the Top 40, though all before 1966 (Whitburn). Furthermore, Welk’s regular television show made him America’s most prominent accordionist for several decades. Older audiences appreciated his steady and familiar style of music with nostalgia. However, many youth found him to be extremely “square” and could not relate to his outdated style. Some argue that if a younger, more modern accordionist had reached the same national visibility as Welk, the instrument would not have been associated solely with Welk’s obsolete music. As it is, accordionists contend that without Welk the instrument could have merely faded from public view like any other fad, whereas Welk forced it to stay visible for years in an unflattering light. This explanation has some merit; ever since Welk’s show ended, young generations have not been learning to associate the accordion with his cheesy music (Sredzienski). Many accordionists blame the instrument’s “square” reputation not only on Welk but also on the advent of rock and roll music and associated societal changes in the 1950s-1960s. Few

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 rock accordionists reached any significant prominence in the 1950s or 1960s—certainly none to match (much less to counter) Lawrence Welk’s prodigious output and cultural influence. Bill Haley and His Comets, one of the earliest mainstream rock and roll bands, did include a pianist who doubled on accordion, but few future bands followed their lead (Sredzienski). It is not immediately clear why so few major rock bands of the 1950s included an accordion player, considering the multitude of skilled accordionists available at the time. Some musicians argue that the accordion is not naturally well suited to rock and roll’s rhythmic style (rec.music.makers.squeezebox), but in the 1956 movie The Girl Can’t Help It, a scene with contemporary rock & roll band “The Chuckles” shows an accordion that fits in very well. Even today, rock bands such as Moxy Früvous or The Serfs manage to incorporate an accordion, which means that it could not have been impossible to match this instrument to that music. In addition, there were many precedents for changing a musical style to allow it to incorporate a squeezebox. For example, Cajun fiddle music changed drastically when the accordion was heavily incorporated in the 1920s (Comeaux), and it is commonly known that the arrival of the German bandoneon in Argentina had a profound impact on the development of tango music. If accordionists in the 1950s were not able to effect a similar change in the instrumentation of rock and roll bands, it may be because the music industry had become more centralized than ever before (Greene). Before the advent of recordings and radios, there was a plurality of different kinds of music all around the country. All music had to be performed live, so each locality was able to have its own taste in music. However, this began to change with the spread of phonographs, radios, and televisions. When the same recording could be played repeatedly in the same way in progressively larger regions, local variations began to disappear. Finally, by midcentury recording companies and radio stations became capable of affecting public taste on a national scale by marketing the same small set of commercialized popular music across the nation (Greene). Local music had difficulty competing with the heavily marketed hits that received national airplay, and it seems that the accordion simply did not make the cut. Thus, it is probable that so few accordion-centered rock bands were successful in rock’s early years not because of a lack of effort on the part of accordionists but because of choices made by the music recording industry. If industry executives decided not to record and market accordionists, then it is no surprise that accordionists were not able to become major players in rock and roll or the popular music that followed. Furthermore, it is not surprising that the initial market for rock

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 accordion may have been expected to be small, considering the incompatibility between the accordion studios’ proclaimed values and the values encouraged by rock and roll. The accordion fad of the 1950s, aiming to establish the instrument in middle class homes and classical music, was in many ways a conformist plea for respectability, whereas rock and its descendants have been treated as signs of youth rebellion against “respectable” ideals. As a symptom of this discrepancy, there was a significant shift from accordion music’s “wholesome” and clean ideals to rock’s direct sex appeal. Since accordion orchestras were heralded as a way to “reduce maladjustment” among teenagers and to minimize “juvenile delinquency,” it is not surprising that so-called delinquent juveniles across the country began to detest the accordion and universally consider it to be extremely square (Winkler p. 74). Thus, perhaps the accordion’s “square” image results from a combination of rock and roll’s new aesthetic trends and the larger ideological and cultural changes occurring in American society in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Additionally, accordionists like Sredzienski argue that the business models and teaching practices of the accordion studios played an active role in causing the instrument to become labeled as “square.” Many leading accordionists of the day either did not realize the extent to which rock and roll would influence popular music or simply chose to ignore it. Instead, they built large, strictly accordion-centered associations and studios whose goals were to promote the respectability of the accordion and to make money while doing it. Unfortunately, some accordionists’ entrepreneurial schemes undermined others’ attempts at respectability. Of course, the existence of extensive studios with large numbers of students did produce many skilled accordionists who could populate conservatories and fight for the accordion’s role in classical music. However, the methods used to create such large studios were sometimes dishonest. For instance, pushy door-to-door salesmen would sell families a small accordion and a set of lessons for the children; after a few lessons the studio’s teachers were expected to feign surprise over the youngsters’ progress and try to sell them a larger, more professional accordion (Winkler). In addition, teachers were told to discourage the purchase of any other firm’s accordions (Winkler, Sommers). This process meant that some conned families, as well as many classical musicians, lost trust in the accordion studios’ integrity and professionalism. On the other hand, laws passed against door-to-door sales eventually cut off the studios’ largest source of students (Sommers). Finally, rapid expansion meant that there were not enough qualified teachers to meet student demand and teaching quality suffered as a result. Thus, by the time the fad for accordion studios

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 faded away, the overeager businessmen in the accordion community had adversely affected the possibility of getting the instrument treated seriously by classical musicians. At the same time, these rigid business organizations appear to have been effective in keeping accordionists from playing rock and roll on their instruments. Instead of holding on to students and teaching them the new music, they refused to teach this wild new rock music on principle, so students began to drop the accordion in favor of guitars and other instruments whose instructors would be more rock-oriented: “The studios at the time took a stand and said you will not play rock and roll on our accordions and the kids said if I can’t play my kind of music I’m not going to buy it from your studio… they killed their own business” (Winkler p. 135-136). According to Winkler, one musician did try to modify an existing accordion school to incorporate newer music and “concentrate on Be-bop,” but appears to have failed (p. 115); it is unclear whether this was a bad idea or merely faulty implementation. It is tempting to investigate whether the emerging youth movements of the new rock era contributed to students’ initiative in taking a stand and demanding their own kind of music; perhaps in earlier eras students were more likely to continue lessons for as long as their parents demanded. On the studios’ side, they may have been more likely to respond to student demands for new music before the rock era, after which the studios took on the conservative role of protecting students from the newly discovered “juvenile delinquency” (Winkler). Authoritarian accordion orchestras were also too rigidly structured for the process of making music and forming identities via “collective improvisation” like rock bands do (Frith 1992). In short, the evidence suggests that the accordion’s “squareness” results at least partly from the strategies accordion studios employed in attempting to bring respectability to the instrument. On the other hand, accordionists who believe today’s stigma comes from a perception of the accordion as “unrefined” recall nostalgically how many of the best accordionists in the first half of the 20th century chose to pursue classical music in the hopes of convincing music conservatories to treat the accordion as a serious instrument. In alliance with the accordion studios, their plea for respectability was temporarily successful—in 1969 at least 23 schools, including respected universities such as Yale, recognized the accordion as a major instrument (Smith)—but the accordion never became a fully conventional conservatory instrument (Winkler). Classical musicians would have been justified in rejecting the earliest squeezeboxes, which were too loud and clumsy to be appropriate accompaniment for, say, a string quartet.

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 However, already in the 19th century Tchaikovsky and other composers had written several compositions involving various squeezeboxes, although many of these pieces used the accordion only for humorous effect or to evoke street musicians and burlesques (Doktorski). By the time accordions began to gain popularity in the 1920s and the American Accordionists’ Association was formed in 1938 “to gain recognition for the accordion, to help the instrument become more accepted in musical circles, and to work for accordion standardization” (Smith), there was no real reason to challenge the instrument on technical grounds. But standardization of instruments and teaching methods was long in coming, and it is not clear exactly when the piano accordion reached its position as the most prominent member of the squeezebox family in the US. In particular, the nature of the standard layout of the piano accordion’s bass notes may have delayed classical musicians’ acceptance of this instrument. On “free-bass” accordions each bass note can be played independently, but far more common was the “Stradella” accordion, in which many of the left-hand buttons correspond to a preset chord. This system made folk and popular music easy to play but it was anathema to many classical musicians: “Considerations that kept me away from writing for the accordion … were the inversions of chords of the left hand. Since I have a keen ear about inversions of chords … they are fixed on the accordion in such a way that I didn’t use them” (composer Paul Creston interviewed in Kantorowski). Even optimistic accounts place the “victory of the professional concert accordion with free bass manual” no earlier than 1950 (Macerollo), at which point it may have been too late since the accordion fad was already peaking and about to fall. Finally, the dearth of classical music written specifically for the accordion was another hurdle that appeared surmountable at first: “It used to be when I was a teenager growing up in the late 40s and early 50s that everyone in the accordion field was saying all we needed was music of our own and places of higher education which would accept the accordion for degree work” (Winkler). Yet these two requirements were clearly not enough, as most conservatories slowly phased out their accordion programs after the 1960s. A downward spiral began when the accordion fad died out and the large accordion studios stopped outputting vast numbers of students: fewer and fewer accordionists each year became talented or skilled enough to want to attend conservatories, while most of those who did graduate with degrees in accordion performance or instruction had to find other employment because there were not enough students to support them as teachers (Sommers). Ironically, the opposite problem had plagued classical accordionists earlier, at the peak of the fad: eager studio owners accepted more

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 students than their qualified teachers could handle. As a result, the studios churned out masses of poorly-taught accordion students who only strengthened the public perception of the accordion as an inferior, unsophisticated instrument. Thus, many classical musicians still consider the accordion to be unconventional if not improper, though many avant-garde compositions do exist for the instrument. Ultimately, American accordionists’ understandings of the accordion stigma lead to these three sets of fears about how potential audiences may respond to their music. An accordionist can be afraid of appearing cheesy, square, and/or unrefined. Nonetheless, many musicians still play the accordion despite these worries. How do they employ their different understandings of the stigma in choosing where, with whom, and for whom to play? In other words, how do accordionists manage their identities in the face of their deviance?

Managing identities Becker’s and Goffman’s approaches to labeling/interactionist theory provide a useful framework for analyzing how accordionists’ explanations of the stigma affect their behavior. Howard Becker’s classic of sociology, Outsiders, explains that individuals who break a societal rule and become labeled as deviant are often discouraged from participating in normal life and consequently find themselves drawn to the fringes of society; rarely do rule-breakers succeed in throwing off the deviant label once it has been applied to them. It is difficult to transcend or overcome others’ hostile expectations, and a failed attempt to transcend the stigma is likely to lead to further derision by the other party and strengthening of their negative expectations. After several embarrassing failures to overcome the stigma, deviants may find it easier to deal with “normal” people by accepting or even flaunting their deviance, since being criticized by another person is often more hurtful than disparaging yourself. This tension between challenging and accepting a deviant label applies to accordionists as well. Their instrument has been restricted from classical music and post-1950s popular music, so in Becker’s terms we might say that accordionists are deviants or “outsiders” by rock/pop and classical standards. Thus an accordionist auditioning for a spot in a rock band or music conservatory typically has to cross additional hurdles in order to challenge reviewers’ assumptions that he or she is a stereotypical cheesy accordionist and that the accordion is not as capable as other instruments: in short, that he or she does not belong in rock or classical music with “normal” musicians. After running into

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 such assumptions repeatedly, the accordionist may tire of challenging them and choose instead to accept the “outsider” label by finding performance opportunities that present the accordion as something unusual, exotic, or goofy, such as a gypsy-punk band or a comedy routine. This tension is explored in a similar way by Goffman in the book Stigma when he discusses the strategies stigmatized people use in “mixed contacts,” i.e., when interacting with “normal” people. There are tiresome attempts to transcend the stigma: “during mixed contacts, the stigmatized individual is likely to feel that he is ‘on,’ having to be self-conscious and calculating about the impression he is making, to a degree and in areas of conduct which he assumes others are not” (Goffman p. 14), like the accordionist auditioning to a music conservatory. On the other hand, there may be exaggerated acceptance of the stigma: “the stigmatized individual may attempt to approach mixed contacts with hostile bravado, but this can induce from others its own set of troublesome reciprocations” (Goffman p. 17-18). For instance, a musician who constantly proclaims his or her “accordion pride” may be treated as a nerd who takes the instrument far too seriously. Additionally, the individual may respond with “defensive cowering” (Goffman p. 17), but for accordionists this is rarely a necessary tactic because here at least they are in luck: unlike most of the attributes Goffman describes, playing the accordion is not a permanent, always-visible attribute, such as a physical handicap, that always colors one’s interactions with other people. People who know how to play the accordion can generally choose whether or not to present themselves as accordionists. Therefore, instead of cowering, they can simply refrain from mentioning their accordion skills when it might be inopportune to do so. Of course, there are exceptions, such as children who choose to play accordion even though their peers know about it and make fun of them for it; as one musician put it, “I got my ass kicked [as a child] for playing accordion” (Sredzienski). However, Goffman points out a very important resource that Becker skims over: the communities of “the own and the wise.” The “own” are those who share the stigmatized attribute (other accordionists) and the “wise” are those who do not share it but respect it nonetheless (nonaccordionists who admire the instrument). Accordionists are not limited to performing only for audiences who have negative assumptions about the accordion since many people do love the accordion, particularly certain ethnic groups in which the accordion is seen as an authentic and traditional instrument. Becker and Goffman focus mostly on how deviants and stigmatized people interact with “normal” society, as if people who choose to stick to interactions with their

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 in-group are uninteresting or merely escapist. However, as the following discussion shows, the decision to intentionally limit one’s audience can provide accordionists with a life just as rich and a career perhaps even more successful than they would have in society at large. Overall, labeling/interactionist theory suggests three main ways in which accordionists could relate to the stigma. Accordionists may Avoid the stigma and perform only in contexts where it is not a major concern; they might attempt to Overcome the stigma by showing that they are not stereotypical accordionists or that the accordion is not as bad as most people think; and sometimes they may Flaunt the stigma by acting in a stereotypical manner or making fun of themselves outright. Note that these are not three kinds of accordionist but three tools accordionists use to help themselves succeed in a world where their instrument is sometimes heavily stigmatized. Each of these three strategies may be used at times by the same musician. Likewise, the same strategy might be used in different and even contradictory ways by different musicians, depending on the performance context and what they think the source of the stigma is. As it turns out, these three strategies predicted by Becker and Goffman line up with the actual tactics used by five accordionists I interviewed during the course of this study. The goal of the interviews was to hear several diverse accordionists’ accounts of why they started playing accordion, when and where they perform or play the instrument, what they think about the stigma and its causes, and what their part of the accordion world is like. Each interview lasted between 30 minutes and 2 hours. They took place at the accordionist’s home, at their workplace, or in a public setting such as a cafe. I took extensive notes during all of the interviews and I was able to tape three of them. I chose the five interviewees for my study based on the diversity of their backgrounds (amateurs and professionally trained, beginners and experts, active and dormant, classical and jazz and folk) and their availability for personal interviews (near Boston, MA or Lawrence, KS and willing to talk). •

Joan Cochran Sommers is a respected classical accordionist who has led the accordion program at the music conservatory of the University of Missouri in Kansas City for many years.

•

Gary Sredzienski is hired to perform all kinds of accordion music throughout the US and present concert-lectures on the instrument’s history. He may be best known for spinning a weekly polka radio show at the University of New Hampshire, but his greatest passions

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 are preserving early Polish-American music from the 1920s-30s and performing with his surf rock band. •

Richard Vallone was brought up in the Italian accordion tradition of Boston’s North End and paid his way through the New England Conservatory by playing the instrument at nursing homes, but lately he is too busy with work to keep up with music.

•

Marianne Cygnel is a Finn who taught herself accordion to participate more fully in the Finnish-American community and who now plays with many different ethnic ensembles in the Boston area.

•

Camille Jentgen is an NEC-trained jazz pianist and composer who picked up the accordion a year ago and has slowly begun incorporating it into her jazz performances.

•

I will also refer to my own experiences with the instrument. I was initially drawn by the mystique of Eastern European accordion music, but I also use the accordion for popular music and in comedy skits at my school’s open mic nights.

This paper could benefit greatly by incorporating interviews with several more important types of accordionist. I have not interviewed any accordionists who use the instrument primarily as a joke. I also did not have an opportunity to talk with accordionists in communities where the instrument is widely respected and where there are large studio-based accordion clubs. On the contrary, four of my interviewees consider themselves more like part of a dying breed while the fifth is a beginning accordionist in a nascent community. Finally, I did not interview any accordion salesmen, repairmen, or studio owners, though it would have been interesting to get a first-hand account of how the studios were run during the height of the fad. Still, these five informants are representative of many important parts of the US accordion world. Thus, so is the following discussion, though naturally it is not comprehensive. The rest of this paper describes in further detail each of the three identity-management strategies suggested by Becker and Goffman and shows how it is illustrated by the interviews I conducted. The interviews also demonstrate ways in which these strategies, though beneficial for the individual accordionists, may be contributing to the persistence of the accordion’s stigma. First, the strategy of Avoiding the stigma is in some ways the simplest and most basic approach. At some time or other, practically every accordionist wants to be able to just enjoy their music without thinking about the stigma or dealing with jokes about their instrument. Presumably most people play accordion because they love something about the instrument itself.

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 Often this is the instrument’s sound, but Jentgen also mentions its portability and its international associations; Sredzienski cites its connection with old traditions; and Vallone appreciates the ability to sound like an entire orchestra at once. The stigma-avoidance strategy allows accordionists to focus on what they like about the accordion without having to put up a false front or worry what others are thinking. This technique is exemplified by Cygnel, who strictly plays ethnic and folk music, thus limiting herself to audiences and musicians who do not act as though the accordion is out of place. This may seem restrictive at first, but as I understand it Cygnel actually plays in more bands than any of my other interviewees. A great many ethnic bands in the Boston area call for accordionists: Scandinavian, Celtic, klezmer, Yugoslavian, and contradance bands, just to name a few. With such a range of options, Cygnel says that she does enjoy classical music but prefers to use the accordion to play ethnic music, because “there’s so much beautiful accordion music that needs to get out there.” Since as a folk accordionist she has nothing to prove, she is able to participate in many groups even as a self-taught amateur musician. This strategy helps her feel the sense of community she missed when she first came to the United States by giving her opportunities to jam with musicians in impromptu sessions who celebrate the philosophy of “the more, the merrier.” Jentgen is another amateur who also picked up the accordion partly because she was missing out on impromptu jamming and gigs, though for a slightly different reason. She loves its portability: other jazz musicians can just carry around a horn or guitar and play it on a whim, but as a pianist she could never join in unless an instrument was already there. “I always wanted something that I could take with me and play anywhere. People can always just have their instrument and pick it up and play, and I can never do that.” Now she can bring her accordion anywhere, and she says that jazz musicians today are not prejudiced against the instrument. In fact, the recent trend of mixing world music with jazz has made the accordion a desirable jazz instrument in some ways. Likewise, Sommers notes that in her experience jazz musicians are more open-minded about the accordion than most classical musicians. However, Sommers believes the accordion is a great community-building instrument in a very different context: accordion orchestras. Whereas a normal orchestra has to deal with problems of balance (too many trumpets will overpower the strings, for example), her orchestras can always incorporate yet another accordionist. The mass of similar instruments also helps to muffle mistakes. Thus, older players who would otherwise quit practicing on their own can still have the chance to continue playing music without being “put on the spot” as much as they

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 would be in a smaller ensemble. Furthermore, bringing so many people to play music together gives them a new venue for forming supportive relationships that can buffer them against rough times at home. Sredzienski, on the other hand, grew up with accordions in the home. As a child he played the accordion with his family and a vaudeville group, and nowadays he works on preserving the old tradition of weekend house parties with accordion and fiddle music. Clearly, for many accordionists, using the instrument in non-stigmatized contexts is an excellent way to connect with family and friends and meet other musicians, although Vallone reminds us that the accordion is also a versatile solo instrument which can be rewarding to play as it provides melody, harmony, and rhythm all in one convenient package. In short, accordionists can choose to spend most of their time Avoiding the stigma and still have fulfilling musical careers, whether solo or as part of a community. However, accordionists occasionally wish or are forced to interact with other musicians and audiences who do not necessarily see the instrument in the same positive light. One frequent response accordionists have is to attempt to Overcome the negative assumptions and misconceptions about the instrument. For musicians like Cygnel who usually Avoid such situations, this may be as simple as taking care to play well with the other musicians, in order to avert a fiddler’s fears of being overpowered by a brash accordionist. Furthermore, nearly all Overcomers agree that the “cheesy” stereotype of Welk and “Lady of Spain” needs to be challenged. However, many accordionists still choose to approach audiences with contradictory ideas about the stigma’s source (“unrefined” or “square”?) and the necessary remedy. Unfortunately, this confusion can lead to conflicting attempts to achieve similar goals. For example, Sommers is currently one of the few musicians still teaching classical accordion at a conservatory. She hopes to be able to re-establish a good curriculum for the study of accordion that will help students develop musically instead of just learning to play individual pieces. She has also worked hard to bring the Coupe Mondiale, the accordion “world cup” competition, to the United States to help publicize the accordion and showcase the skills of young performers from around the world. She does not feel that ethnic music such as Cajun or conjunto can provide the kind of uplifting musical experience that will “make the instrument last for ever,” so she attempts to present the accordion as a respectable instrument and to distance it from appearing to be a simple folk toy. Sommers notes that Cajun accordion is “taught by osmosis” instead of through the disciplined and organized path she seeks to encourage. On the opposite

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 side, Sredzienski believes that the standard teaching techniques with accordion studios, method books, and competitions are precisely what drove so many young people away from the accordion in the 1950s. Even though he essentially wants the same end result as Sommers – dedicated, expressive accordionists with good ears – he proposes a significantly different path: students should imitate other instruments and learn to play with them, and express their own personality through the music. He also gives concert-lectures about the accordion’s roots and showcases all the different kinds of music that have been played on the instrument. For him, folk music is more real than dry academic compositions or Welk’s “sickly sweet” tunes. It tells a story, showing the full range of life from suffering to joy. Meanwhile, Sredzienski’s surf rock band advertisements and CD covers are designed to distance the band from the dry and humorless accordion studio image. For example, on the CD case for the 2003 recording Cruisin’ The Creek by Gary Sredzienski & The Serfs, he is standing up in a canoe holding an accordion and singing while other band members pretend to paddle the canoe with a guitar and a mandolin. Excited red lettering proclaims “Ethnic / Instrumental Rock / Xtreme Polkas.” The liner notes make it clear that Sredzienski is proud of pushing limits with his rock accordion band: “Where I grew up you didn’t play Rock on the accordion. It was done in secret. […] Today the Serfs draw on a large array of Old World musical traditions to boldly go where few believe the accordion belongs!” Sredzienski wants to make it clear up front that this is fun, colorful music and that the accordion deserves a place in rock music. As Sredzienski and others like him dissociate themselves from the accordion studios’ legacy, Sommers and her peers continue to distance themselves from folk accordionists’ unrefined music and nonstandard technique. Certainly each side is winning some converts, and ideally these two approaches would work in tandem to convince the public that accordion music can be both exciting and sophisticated, but this does not always happen. On the contrary, the extremism of each position—Sredzienski-like nonconformity and Sommers-like rigor—may be just as likely to cause the general public to continue perceiving the accordion as stodgy, tacky, or both. While some people who hear about an “Xtreme Polka” concert or an accordion world championship may be intrigued by the novelty, others will merely snicker and reinforce their preexisting impression of accordionists. Even if attempts to Overcome the stigma in different ways do not confuse the audience, they seem to frustrate accordionists themselves. For example, Sredzienski argues that “competitions killed the accordion” and discouraged him from taking lessons as a

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 child. Furthermore, poor application of this strategy can even alienate an existing audience. Cygnel describes another Finnish folk musician, Veikko Ahvenainen, who became more interested in classical music than in the ethnic music that made him popular. At one point, Ahvenainen gave a concert for a Finnish-American audience, who wanted to hear traditional Finnish music, but he played only classical compositions for the entire night and refused to play folk tunes even for an encore. After the concert, Cygnel told him how disappointed many audience members were. He responded that if she wants to play folk music, she’s more than welcome. She played a few tunes as the audience left and they crowd was pleased. The following year, Cygnel and Ahvenainen were both performing at a music festival at the same time in different rooms. She was surprised to find out later that even though he is more famous and a better player, she had attracted a larger audience because she played the music that they wanted to hear instead of trying to educate them against their will. Overcoming the stigma must clearly be attempted with care, even in a supportive setting. Finally, accordionists occasionally decide that Overcoming the stigma is not practical in a given situation or may just be too exhausting. Instead, in some cases musicians may find it beneficial to Flaunt the accordion’s quirkiness. None of my interviewees see themselves as Flaunters, but I myself have wanted to participate in open mic nights at my college. From my own experiences I know that it is far easier to slap together a humorous skit Flaunting cheesy accordion music than to perform a serious, impressive piece that can Overcome the audience’s expectations. Thus, even though I wish the accordion were more respected, I recognize that it has its uses in comedy and several times I have added an extraneous accordion part to my friends’ skits just to make them more ridiculous. Humor is such a useful tool that even serious Overcomers occasionally Flaunt a little in order to get the audience to laugh and relax. Unfortunately for Overcomers, each use of this technique also reinforces the “cheesy” stereotype of the accordion and sometimes the “unrefined” or “square” label as well. Presumably, the aspects of the stigma that accordionists Flaunt is largely determined by what they believe to be the source of the stigma, just as this understanding affects the manner in which they Overcome. Nonetheless, as long as the accordionist gets a laugh out of the audience, the Flaunting is a success. Some Flaunters enjoy the comedic advantage so much that they take this strategy to the extreme by making complete fools of themselves, like the accordion band Those Darn Accordions or the Spud Goodman Show’s character Accordion Joe. This strategy contributes to a

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 vicious cycle: some accordionists do not want to worry about dealing with the stigma in a serious manner, so they act like caricatures of themselves; but this just increases public visibility of cheesy accordionists behaving just like the stigma predicts, which strengthens the stigma, which in turn makes it even harder for accordionists to deal with it in a serious manner. On the other hand, clearly some people have found that there is a living to be made as an exaggerated stereotypical accordionist. Often these accordionists who use Flaunting as a primary strategy also love to share cartoons and jokes about the instrument with fellow accordion players. When other accordionists become frustrated, Flaunters may respond that these accordionists simply need a better sense of humor. For example, on a webpage showing Gary Larson cartoons about accordions, the site authors exhort the reader: “Remember, if you can't poke fun at yourself, your [sic] playing the wrong instrument!” (De Florio & De Florio). In short, Flaunters realize they are intentionally using a humor-producing strategy, and by their standards anyone who refuses to laugh at accordion jokes must be taking themselves too seriously. This tension between Flaunting and Overcoming shows how the stigma around the accordion might be partially self-sustaining. Given that such a stigma exists, Becker and Goffman explain how people will naturally tend to Avoid it, Flaunt it, or Overcome it. However, Avoiders try to stay out of the argument entirely, which means that the public will only be influenced by the behavior of Flaunters and Overcomers. Flaunters have the momentum to help fuel the jokes that keep the stigma going. Meanwhile, Overcomers who are committed to their work can be portrayed as too serious and “square,” which again helps to fuel the stigma. Furthermore, Overcomers’ different opinions about the source of the stigma can produce tension between those who want to prove they are not square and those who want to demonstrate that they are not unrefined. Their contradictory usage of the Overcome strategy splinters the accordion community into different groups which should be working together more closely if they truly want to eradicate all forms of the stigma.

Summary The labeling/interactionist approach provides an excellent framework for thinking about the different ways in which accordionists respond to their deviant status. Becker and Goffman suggest a natural way to categorize accordionists’ beliefs regarding the nature of the stigma and their response strategies. The Avoid, Overcome, and Flaunt techniques are indeed useful

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 categories of accordionists’ behavior. This approach also suggests why the accordion stigma might be self-perpetuating. Of course, there are also many external factors affecting the accordion’s fate that are beyond the scope of this paper, but the above analysis suggests that individual accordionists do play an important role in determining how the accordion stigma maintains itself or shifts over time. Future research should build on interviews with a more diverse body of accordionists in order to explore precisely how these strategies are used in other contexts. It will be especially useful to interview several accordionists who frequently use the Flaunt technique in order to better understand what functions it serves. Future research should also address the role of the recording industry: did executives decide not to promote rock and roll accordionists, or is there some other reason why so few rock bands with accordion became popular? Another unresolved question involves the early history of the accordion and the extent of the earliest stigma: has the stigma really been shifting continuously since the instrument’s invention, or did it not appear until later? Finally, this paper’s sociological approach could be applied to the study of the accordion in other countries besides the US or to other American instruments with similar backgrounds. For instance, why is the mandolin, another instrument popularized by southernand eastern-Europeans in the early 20th century, not as stigmatized as the accordion? What lessons can be learned from other instruments’ histories to help guide the accordion’s future? There seem to be two possible ways for accordionists to cleanse themselves of their deviant label. Either the Overcomers ought to unite and find a way to fight all the stigma’s sources at once without competing with one another; or all accordionists need to take up the Avoid strategy for a few decades until the stigma is forgotten and the accordion is no longer derided but merely uncommon. However, neither possibility seems likely. Flaunting provides too much immediate benefit for its practitioners to voluntarily abstain, and the individualized Overcoming strategies are solidly developed in opposition to one another. Nonetheless, the end of the Lawrence Welk era and the rise of world music are forming a favorable milieu for the scope of Avoidance to become greater than before. A positive outlook can be projected from the fact that at this time Jentgen feels comfortable starting to play the accordion without worrying about the stigma or getting teased much. Similarly, both Sredzienski and myself have presented the accordion to elementary school children who have no idea that the accordion is “supposed” to be a joke. In this context, perhaps, ignorance is our best hope for the future.

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 Works Cited Alexander, Scott. “The Jungle Band” in The Red Hot Jazz Archive. Available Dec. 19, 2005: Becker, Howard S. Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance. New York: The Free Press, 1973. Bierce, Ambrose. The Devil’s Dictionary: “A.” Copyright 1911. Etext version by Aloysius West, Apr. 15, 1993. Available May 10, 2006: Comeaux, Malcolm L. “Introduction and Use of Accordions in Cajun Music.” Available Dec. 19, 2005: Cygnel, Marianne. Personal interview, Mar. 12, 2006. Daumier, Honore. “L’accordéon.” The Daumier Register Digital Work Catalogue. Available Feb. 28, 2006: Davis, Jim. “The Garfield Vault Strip” for Apr. 3, 2002. Available Feb. 17, 2006: De Florio, Chris, and Neal De Florio. “Accordion Resource Page.” Available May 10, 2006: Department of Commerce. United States Imports for Consumption of Merchandise: Commodity by Country of Origin. Report No. FT 110, Calendar Year 1947. [I also used later editions of the same report for 1948-1953, although in 1949 the name changed to “of Merchandise for Consumption” rather than vice versa.] Doktorski, Henry. “The Classical Squeezebox: A Short History of the Accordion in Classical Music.” Reprint of article originally published in Musical Performance, vol. 3, parts 2-4. London: Harwood Academic Publishers, 2002. Erikson, Kai. Wayward Puritans: A Study in the Sociology of Deviance. Boston: Pearson Education, 2005. Frith, Simon. “The cultural study of popular music.” In Grossberg, Lawrence, Cary Nelson, and Paula Treichler, ed. Cultural Studies. New York: Routledge, 1992.

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 Frith, Simon. “The Discourse of World Music.” In Born, Georgina, and David Hesmondhalgh, ed. Western music and its others: difference, representation, and appropriation in music. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. Flynn, Ronald, Edwin Davison, and Edward Chavez. The Golden Age of the Accordion. 3rd edition. Schertz, TX: Flynn Publications, 1992. Goffman, Erving. Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. New York: Touchstone, 1986. Greene, Victor. A Passion for Polka. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992. Jentgen, Camille. Personal interview, Apr. 10, 2006. Kantorowski, Howard Wayne. “History and Construction of the Accordion, and an Arrangement for Accordion Solo and Wind Ensemble of a Work by Paul Creston.” Master’s thesis for M.A. in Music, San Diego State University, 1982. “Lawrence Welk.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Available Dec. 19, 2005: “Leadbelly.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Available Dec. 19, 2005: Macerollo, Joseph. Accordion Resource Manual. Willowdale, Ontario: Avondale Press, 1980. rec.makers.music.squeezebox. Available Nov. 28, 2005: http://groups.google.com/group/rec.music.makers.squeezebox/ Smiley, Lauren. “A quirky instrument is their main squeeze: Accordion fest brings color to area.” Boston Globe: July 14, 2004. Available Dec. 19, 2005: Smith, Debe. “History and Development of the Concert Accordion.” Thesis for Magna Cum Laude in Music, Butler University, 1971. Sommers, Joan Cochran. Personal interview, Jan. 18, 2006. Sredzienski, Gary. Personal interview, Jan. 25, 2006. The Girl Can’t Help It. Dir. Frank Tashlin. With Tom Ewell, Jayne Mansfield. 20th Century Fox, 1956. Vallone, Richard. Personal interview, Feb. 10, 2006.

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Jerzy Wieczorek—AHS Capstone Spring 2006— Final Draft of Deliverable—May 10, 2006 “Wait Just A Darned Minute.” Available Dec. 19, 2005: Whitburn, Joel. The Billboard Book of Top 40 Albums. 3rd edition. New York: Billboard Books, 1995. Wieczorek, Anna. Personal communication, March 6, 2006. Winkler, Steve. “Accordion Work: Stigma and Struggle.” Master’s thesis for M.A. in Sociology, University of Arkansas, 1999.

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