MUSIC AND IDENTITY

Chromatic accordion, Paris Tango model France Made by Maugein Frères, Tulle, Corrèze Lent by the Musée de Tulle

     

The accordion originally used in the bal-musette was the diatonic accordion, a hybrid instrument played by, among others, Émile Vacher, the originator of musette music. It became the leading instrument of this new genre. The sound of the diatonic accordion changes as the bellows is expanded or contracted. Another type of accordion appeared at the same time, the chromatic accordion, whose sound remains the same as the bellows is activated. The Maugein chromatic accordion has a right-hand keyboard with 87 mother-of-pearl buttons arranged in five rows. The left-hand bass keyboard has 120 buttons arranged in six rows.