When writing this book, I had two goals:
first, to devise an interesting world music book
and second, to construct a systematic accordion method book suitable to be used with or without a teacher, a method which would enable a step-by-step development towards a wholistic sense of musicianship.
Many enthusiastic letters – and many sold books later – have let me know that this concept is successful.
For the new edition I have changed one thing in particular: the fingerings for the left hand have been altered to conform with current pedagogical standards. Two practice pieces have also been added. Other than that, everything has been left as it was.
The AMA publishers and I are always interested in feedback from readers. In fact, the number of letters posted to my website is quite astonishing … go have a look!
But first and foremost: welcome to the club of accordionists – I wish you much fun and success!
Peter M. Haas
post@peter-m-haas.de
http://www.peter-m-haas.de

Preface by Lydie Auvray
Thanks
Foreword
CD-Index
What size accordion is best for me?

Chapter 1
Getting to know the accordion
Fastening the instrument
The bellow release button
The bass tone C
The bass tone C – short notes
Notation for fingering
The bass tone C and its neighbors
The bass tones and their corresponding major chords
Alternating between bass tones and chords
How to hold the accordion
The first accompaniments
L’Aventure
The very first waltz
A circus march
Finding orientation on the keys
The registers
Keys and pitch names – “white keys”
The staff
The notes in the treble clef
The very first waltz
The measure and the rhythmic values
L’Aventure
A circus march
Legato and staccato
Little legato exercise
Melodies that everyone knows – 1
I’d like to have a little violin
Someone fell into the well
Hansel and Gretel
Jingle Bells
Dynamics
Loud and soft
A sentimental ballad floats over the courtyard
Squirrel’s evening song
Some gymnastics for the fingers
Hearing quiz: intervals
Right and left hand together
L’Aventure – second version
A sentimental ballade floats by again
The very first waltz – second version
A little barrel organ melody
The very first waltz – third version
Now the barrel organ gets going
L’Aventure – third version
Melodies that everyone knows – 2
I’d like to have a little violin
Hansel and Gretel
Jingle Bells
Handling the bellows
L’Aventure

Chapter 2
New keys and new buttons
New keys and notes for the right hand
The D major chord
The circus march in G major
Things worth knowing about registers
Squirrel’s evening song – second version
New key position and new chord buttons
A new position for the right hand
The minor chords
L’Aventure in D minor
The left hand learns to spring
Hearing quiz: D minor
A new symbol: the quarter rest
A waltz in D minor
Montmartre
Keys and pitch names – “black keys”
Whole and half steps
Sharps and naturals
The flat
Naming the notes
Key signatures
Seventh chords
Exercises for the left hand
La Petite
New finger position
Song for Theo
Hearing quiz: C major and C minor
New techniques for the right hand
Changing positions
A clown unpacks his suitcase
The half rest
When sailors sway to and fro
New melody range for the right hand
New bass buttons – the E row
An afternoon on the Quai d’Orsay
Things worth knowing about the insides of an accordion
Going home in the evening
Fingering: how to use the thumb
The repeat symbol
Autumn wind
Changing positions – 2
The carousel
An unusual position for the right hand
“Guinness” – Melody from Ireland
Listen: five notes in C major which you already know
Fingering – crossing under and over
Going up and down the scale
The A minor scale
Ballad for Micha – up and down in A minor
Accidentals
Key signatures
5 tones and a chord
Eighth notes – more notes for each beat
Tic Tac – for the right hand alone
Tic Tac – with a simplified left hand
Tic Tac – final version
The buggy rolls through the countryside
The carousel – second version, a little faster!
The dotted quarter note or the 3/8 note
Paris-Moscow Waltz: does it sound Russian or French?
Melodies that everyone knows – 3
Jingle Bells
Sur le pont d’Avignon
Kalinka
Accompanying with chord symbols
A waltz for inspector Maigret
Finger training for the right hand
Grace notes: a little ornamentation
Barrel organ piece
Things worth knowing about the history of the accordion
Position of the right hand
Stout beer: Melody from Ireland
New positions and bass buttons
New positions and bass buttons – the B and E rows
Fingering – silent change
From A minor to F minor and back
Transposing a melody
A waltz for inspector Maigret – now in C minor
Some words about improvising and chords
Improv No. 1
Improv No. 2
Improv No. 3
A theme and an “accordion solo”
Constructing triad chords on your own

Chapter 3
Notes for the left hand
The notes in the bass clef and their importance in playing the accordion
A small reading exercise – the very first waltz
The eighth rest
Tango fever in A minor
A little klezmer melody
The alternate bass – more variety with a new bass technique
Alternate bass fingering for major chords
Circus march with alternate bass
Miniature Csárdás
Alternate bass fingering for seventh chords
When sailors sway to and fro - with alternate bass
Alternate bass fingering for minor chords
Montmartre
Exercise in fingering 4-note chords
Things worth knowing about Yiddish songs and klezmer music
Shalom Aleichem
Bigger leaps for the left hand
Night show ‘29
The 6/8 bar
Playing two notes at once
Amore mio … on the beach of the Grand Canal
Exercise for the left hand
A sentimental ballad floats over the courtyard
Notation for dynamics
New positions for the right hand
Two melodies together in one staff
Lydie
Accompaniment for “Yolanda’s Peasant Dance”
Hand positions for “Yolanda’s Peasant Dance”
Yolanda’s Peasant Dance
Changing positions in the right hand
Musette waltz in C major
D’accord!
Things worth knowing about chanson and musette
Melodies for the bass
Chant
Fingering exercises
Day by day blues
The counter basses
Counter basses and major chords
Someone fell into the well
Stepping up and down the scale
A ball in old Berlin
Caribbean joke
Rock the boogie!!!
Triplets
Tic Tac Three
Mango Tango
More about chords:
1. An extension of “D’accord!”
2. Accompanying with chords for “D’accord!”
3. Triads and their inversions
4. Getting to know the hand positions for the inversions
The seventh chord in the right hand
5. New fingerings for “D’accord!”
6. Connecting chordal inversions

Chapter 4
Getting to know the keys and key signatures
The order of the keys
G major and E minor
Sol Majeur
Musette 1001
Irish ballad
D major and B minor
Up and down the scale in D major
New navigation symbols: “Segno” and “Coda”
Viene la noche en Buenos Aires
New button rows – B and F
Mon amant de St. Jean
C major and A minor
… and again a big leap
Hit the road, Joe!
Things worth knowing about Argentinian tango
The “Guinness” Jig
Diminished chords
Chords with foreign bass tones
Choral for Johann Sebastian
F major and D minor
Dandy’s Swing
Tumbalalayka
The buggy rolls through the countryside
B major and G minor
A waltz for the B major scale
Hava Nagila
… and again a big leap
Triads in the right hand
Moscow nights
E major and C minor
Up and down the scale in E major
The minstrel’s buggy rolls into the next village
Sixteenth notes
Footsteps from Bratzlaw
Autumn Bird
Greetings from Romania
Musette 2001
Ways of notating accordion music
Index