The button accordion is a traditional instrument, but its popularity is as strong as ever. There is a wide variety of styles and forms of accordions. Piano, chromatic and diatonic accordions are just a few of the most popular types. The button accordion is another important branch of this family tree, used since it was first developed in the late nineteenth century.
The button accordion is an adaptation of an older and more basic instrument known as the melodeon. The button accordion has a unique physical characteristic, with an extra row of buttons that have been pitched a semi-tone above or below those of the melodeon. Using the bellows, the musician can actually create two notes from one single button. This manipulation gives the button accordion more fingering economy and articulation.
With the family of button accordions, there are some variations. The widest array can be found within the areas of tuning, action and basic construction of the individual instruments.
One of the most notable styles of button accordion is the diatonic. On a diatonic accordion, there is a melody-sized keyboard that is limited to the notes of diatonic scales. These notes are provided through a small number of keys, or even just one key. It is worth noting that the bass side of the diatonic usually contains the principal chords of the instrument's key, including the root notes of those chords.
Diatonic button accordions are generally bisonoric, meaning that every button produces a couple of notes. One note is produced when the bellows are compressed, and the other is produced when the bellows are expanded.
However, there are few diatonic button accordions that are unisonoric. For instance, each button on the garmon produces the same note, regardless of the direction of the bellows. Other still have a combination of the two styles.
The chromatic is another well-known variation of button accordion. On this instrument, the melody-sized keyboard is composed of uniform rows of buttons. These buttons are arranged so that the pitch increases chromatically along diagonals. The bass side keyboard of this instrument is typically the Stradella system, which is one of many converter or free-bass systems.
There are some instruments in this class that are known simply as andquot;chromaticandquot; accordions. Other types, including the piano accordion, can also be fully chromatic. Ever since the chromatic buttons were introduced, this type of accordion has become the choice of many classical music performers. The treble keyboard is denser than that of a piano accordion to provide a much greater musical range.
The accordion is popular around the world, and various cultures have developed their own versions of modern button accordions. These unique inventions have been adapted to suit their unique traditional styles of music. Russia alone has many styles, including the Garmon, Saratovskaya Garmonica, Livenka and the very popular Bayan accordion.
If you love the unique sound that an accordion lends to traditional and popular music, pick up a button accordion and try your hand at playing this age-old and ever-popular instrument.

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