French Button Accordion
No experience is necessary to attend Vickie’s diatonic accordion technique class at French Camp. Written music will be supplied, but learning by ear is also encouraged. The tune list is appropriate for beginners, but all levels of players are welcome. Coordinating left and right hand skills will be addressed according to individual students’ needs. More complex tunes, styles of left and right hand keyboard use, harmony, and methods of cross-fingering on two or three melody rows will be covered for intermediate and advanced students.
About Vickie Yancy
Vickie grew up playing piano accordion starting at age seven, and later played flute and piccolo in concert and marching bands. As an adult, she has concentrated on playing concertina and button accordion with bagpipes, fiddles, horns, and hurdy gurdies. She has 40 years of experience performing and teaching diatonic accordion method, French dances, and playing in French, Oktoberfest, Irish, and Klezmer bands. Vickie has been a teacher of deaf children and adults for over 35 years.
In addition to appearing on friends’ albums, Vickie’s band produced Tour de France. An eclectic chronicle, the CD repertoire of the northern California band also contains two original tunes by Vickie that were inspired by the many years of teaching French dance at Lark Camp in the great camp halls with wooden plank floors, perfect for dancing! (Vickie is the painter of Michel’s Mazurka at the bottom of this website’s homepage.)