In Russia, the academic study of the accordion means the piano accordion and the study of the bayan means the button accordion. Sadly, what I can see happening as a possible long term outcome is that the piano accordion and the button accordion are categorised as totally separate and distinct musical instruments.

Of course, a great accordionist can be world champion on piano accordion or button accordion. Some accordion manufacturers seem to have accepted that the ideal of 'standardisation' is not a realistic option. I could easily be wrong, but maybe the fact that all systems have stood the test of time means that they have earned their permanent positions. I think the historic, geographical and cultural reasons (including musical styles) might be more important. I do not think the various advantages and disadvantages really affect popularity except for the enquiring few. It's really interesting that in the treble side the most common systems are piano key, B system and C system.

I'm struggling on within my own limitations, but if you want CBA, better to chose C griff for its greater universality. I have yet to find English translations of the Ukrainian and Russian instruction material. Later I did find another couple but, that was it.Īlmost a case of the proverbial 'hens' teeth'!ĭon't go there - C system are a little less scarce hereabouts, but there are plently being traded in Western Europe and the better self instructional books, by L.O.Anzaghi and by father and son Galliano, deal with piano and C system but not B griff. I, also being new to the accordion world, opted for CBA with B griff due to the many recommendations and comments which I encountered on the interwebs which were clearly of the opinion that, if one was not already familiar with the piano keyboard, the B system was the easiest to learn.īeing of advanced age, with little prospect of becoming even modestly proficient in my remaining years as well as intrinsically inclined to the easiest road to travel, I duly sourced a fine instrument in Australia. The reality is that each system has pros and cons but generally CBA has more pros (regardless the system) than PA. In C system C D E is played with 1 2 3 and that felt natural to us. We finally did make the move to CBA but we had also physically moved to an area where C system was and still is dominant (although really, PA is dominant here). But B has some things going for it as already commented (like the uphill versus downhill moves). It initially feels alien to a PA player, because the scale of C starting with C D E is not played with 1 2 3. A friend of us tried to convince us to move from PA to CBA and had we followed that advice we would now be playing B-system, because that was dominant where we were living then. Once you're more advanced the chromatic button accordion becomes interesting.ī or C being the dominant choices, it is mostly a geographic thing which one is dominant (in your area).Īround the year 2000 we were looking for new, better, accordions. For children who learn the very first basics of playing that's a huge advantage. The discussion seems to focus on button accordions, but the piano keyboard also has one good thing going for it: When you play in the key of C all the notes are simply in one row. all of these go with a chromatic accordion (as opposed to diatonic accordions). Whether you have a piano keyboard, uniform keyboard, Kravtsov, C system, B system, Finnish, Belgian 'Do2'. It seems like it's quickly becoming a 'religious' discussion.įirst of all, we're talking here about just a choice of keyboard layout.

Chromatic accordion