Lessons in those days were given in music studios where Ben was employed as an accordion teacher. Back then the accordion had a strong following mostly I believe because of the immigrant family backgrounds of our parents and grandparents. There were still strong ties to the homeland.

Upon arriving at the music studio, I was viewed to be yet another youngster who's parents were forcing them to take accordion lessons. There was a lot of that going on back then.

However, little did my new teacher, Ben Agazzi know that I had waited TWO years to see him.

My first lesson was a real downer. I was told I would not even touch the accordion for several weeks. There were other things to learn first. Things like, how to read mucical notation, learning the keyboard and the base buttons. This period was simply torcher for me as I wanted to PLAY the accordion and make sounds that could be recognized as song.

Mr. Agazzi was correct in keeping me out of the starting gate. I was choppin on the bit to get the race started but there was preparation that had to be completed.

Lessons were 30 minutes in the sound room with the studio where I was simply one of many. You could here the god awful sounds being made by others as students attempted to play the pieces they had been given to learn. This was a real production line. The music studios back then were focused on bringing in new students who would pay for lessons once a week and need to purchase accordions.

As I look back at this process it is no wonder why the Accordion has not gained full recognition in the musical arena. The goal back then was not to enhance the instrument and display its capabilities but rather to turn a buck by taking advantage of parents desires to keep a link to their homeland.

Several months past. Suddenly I found myself strapping on a Twelve Base Accordion. My fingers were so small its all I could handle at the time. Some time pasted, I realy don't know how long, when my teacher advised my parents I would need a full 120 base accordion that was shrunk down to my size. Fortunately for me, my parents agreed and purchased a black small accordion of which I still have today.

This accordion served me well for many years as my body continued to grow. The amount of songs I learned on that accordion was staggering. Many I still play to this day. It was on that small 120 base accordion where I was introduced to Charles Magnante accordion arrangements.

Somewhere along this process, my teacher left the music school. Why I don't really know to this day. He retained his student base and instead of going to see him, he came to see me. He traveled from student to student giving private lessons in the home.

I recall playing ball in the school yard. Knowing it was getting close to my lesson time. I would continue playing ball until I saw his car round the corner and I would dash home to take my lesson. Lessons were $3 for a 30 minute session. In my case however, Mr Agazzi was staying a full hour. When I was prepared for my lesson, the hour flew by. When I wasn't, which was many a case, the hour seemed like an enternity.

On one such lesson where I was not fully prepared because I had blown off practicing, my teacher became VERY irritated with me. He was frustrated that I was not tapping into my talent as I should. He knew I could do better and was demanding that I deliver the goods. I can still hear his voice asking me why I haven't been practicing. You see, my father unknown to me or Mr. Agazzi had tapped my hour lesson by placing a microphone behind a picture on our brand new Zenith Space Command Television set.

I still have this recording and listen to it every now and then. It is my reminder that practice can always improve your skills. This recording while embarrasing at the time has come to be one of my most prized posessions.

Time went by. Family functions always included the accordion. My grandfather always asked me, after rubbing his 5 o'clock shadow on my young cheeks, how the accordeen was coming along. That's what he called is "the accordeen". Suddently I found myself fumbling on this small accordion. It was time to move into the big leagues and play a FULL sized accordion. This actually occurred somewhere around the age of 13-14. My parents purchased a used accordion. Ugly as sin. White with gold keys. But.....it was full sized and now I had to adjust my playing with every song I had learned to that time because the distance from one key to the other had changed.

I simply hated this accordion. The keys were not very responsive, and it simply sounded terrible to me. After a couple of years with this accordion, I purchased a brand new Philharmonic Accordion. I had wanted an Excelsior with a Tone Chamber. But.....that was out of the budget. I finally selected this beautiful black and white full sized accordion that was a dream to play as compared to what I had been using. I paid $900 for the Philharmonic in 1969.

With this accordion my sounds improved. My fingers could move faster and I was playing songs that were challenging.

My brother of two years younger had taken up the guitar. While that was certainly the fad thing to do in the mid 60's because he had listened to my music for so many years he was able to apply the guitar to my repetoire. Once we had a few songs under out belt, we now needed a drummer. Some friends of my brother ended filling the bill. I say friends because we ended up with a vocalist and a drummer. Low and behold.....we had ourselves a band.

For about a year we played weddings and had a ball. Here we were, a bunch of teenagers playing up on stage for a bunch of old farts of 25 years old.

The band held together for a year, when Uncle Sam advised me my lottery number was 89. Oh shit......I had to do something. So I enlisted in the Air Force and that put an end to the band. Upon my discharge four years later, everyone had gone off in their own directions. However, while we played professionally for only one year, we had a blast. We were each making $90 for a few hours of playing (I won't call it work because it was far from that). Good money for those days.

The accordion began to slip away during my military service. I didn't ship it all over God's creation as the Air Force saw fit to move me around.

Upon completing my military obligation, college was the next goal. Here I began to play more again as the accordion was an excellent method for relieving stress associated to the many exams.

One day, in 1996 I realized I was now 45 years old and I had not been playing the accordion at all. I would pick it up, strap it on and discover my skills had further deterioriated. I had two choices. Bag it or get back into it.

I recalled my father playing and me hearing the accordion for the first time. I recalled having to wait two years before I could take lessons. My parents wanted to make sure this was something I really wanted to do and so they had me wait the two years. Well, these thoughts spurred me to pick it back up and I have not looked back.

I decided to purchase a new accordion as I had always wanted a "tone chamber" for a more mellow sound. After some research I decided upon a Petosa AM1100. This accordion, while not the Excelsior I had always dreamed about, I am sure would be played today by Charles Magnante if he was still with us.

After waiting almost a year to recieve the accordion after ordering it, upon its arrival I began to practice 3 hours each night. My skills improved but I noticed mother nature was already telling my I was not 18 anymore. Certain fingers would not move as effortlessly as they once did. The improved performance of the accordion itself helped overcome some of this deficiency but not all.

As I practiced and practiced, I yearned to modify music to my liking. This meant rewriting some of what I was playing. But I was lacking in the formal musical theory area. With my wifes prodding, I took 3 consecutive college level Music Theory courses at a local community college. As it turns out, this was one of the best things I have every done. Understanding the mucial theory suddenly INCREASED my skills and I am now able to play things I only stuggled with years ago. When coming upon a difficult passage in a song, I do not study the song note for note anymore, but rather I now analyze the music structure and once that sinks in I am able to play more fluidly and without having to read EACH and every note. Music has become much more enjoyable.

Today my practice time is up and down. I have recorded several songs as I strive to make my first audio CD.

It has been a long rode ...... but I could not have made it without my trusted friend, the Piano Accordion. While others may scoff at this instrument, they do so and display their ignorance of the instrument. The accordion when you really look at it, is a mechanical device designed to mimick the human voice. There are some that sound horrific.....and then there are some that grab your attention wanting you to listen for more.

The 40's and 50's have turned out too many in the horrific class. Those that kept with the accordion now have people's attention as they are the true accordionists and can make the accordion sing through her bellows.