Orchestra members playing "Disney Remembered."
The performers hugged their bellows, and like a sigh of relief, the instrument breathed out its reedy melody. The New Jersey-based all-accordion orchestra, made up of 25 men and women, performed at the Holiday Inn ballroom, in front of fans, family, and fellow musicians at the American Accordionists’ Association Festival, July 8-12. The accordionists swayed back and forth on their chairs — exerting fluid, skilled movements as they fingered their keyboards and pumped their instruments. Their sound met the ear somewhere between the fragile pitch of a bagpipe and the moan of an organ, and produced images of cobblestone streets and handlebar mustaches.
The association, formed in 1938, hosts this festival every year, all across the country. This year’s festival included several orchestra concerts, individual competitions and workshops given by professionals. The association’s president, Mary Tokarski taught a workshop this year. Tokarski has been playing the accordion since she was 7 years old, and competed in her first competition that same year. “It’s been my legacy, my whole life … It’s pretty perfect that now I’m president of this association.”
Tokarski says many of the people in the crowd have been playing and competing with each other since they were very young: “The friends that we make, the camaraderie that we have stays with us throughout our entire lives.”
This bond is what drives the dedication of New-Jersey based orchestra member, Erika Perez. She has been playing the accordion with her sister, Julia Amermaan, since she was 9 years old. Perez’s favorite part of playing the accordion is, “The time that I get to spend with my sister. Not many siblings can say that they do something together.”
The orchestra performed a compilation of songs called, “Disney Remembered,” including “A Spoon Full of Sugar,” “Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo,” “It’s a Small World,” and others.
Tokarski shakes her head with a grin when asked what she loves most about playing the accordion: “I can’t tell you what I like most. I love my accordion, and every aspect of it. It extends my personality. My soul and my heart is in what I play.”