By the year 1900, the
Stradella bass system had principally reached its current construction with 120 buttons over six rows. However, while that setup worked well for
major and minor music accompanied by many chords, the performer would only have access to about a major seventh of bass notes while playing, or two octaves with a timely shift of registers. The problem was solved in the early 1900s by adding three rows of
chromatically ordered single notes next to the
standard bass. In 1900 in Moscow Russian master Bakanov made a
garmon with piano keyboards for both right and left hands each w/ 30 Keys from C to F. From 1906 the brothers Kiselevs' factory in
Tula began to produce
bayans with the three-row free-bass left keyboard. In the United States, the virtuoso
John Serry Sr. designed and built a working model of a free-bass system to assist in the performance of both classical and symphonic jazz compositions in 1940. It incorporated dual keyboards for the soloists' left hand based upon two sets of reeds which were tuned in octaves. This provided the soloist with a total range of tones which exceeded three and one half octaves. The dual keyboard design is illustrated below and was accessed through the use of a switch mechanism to provide independent access for the performers thumb onto Keyboard #2 and the performer's remaining fingers onto Keyboard #1. Keyboard #2 __F#_G#_A#____C#_D#____F#_G#_A#____C#_D#____F#_G#_A#____C#_ _F__G__A__B__C__D__E__F__G__A__B__C__D__E__F__G__A__B__C__D_ Keyboard #1 ___F#_G#_A#____C#_D#____F#_G#_A#____C#_D#____F#_G#_A#____C#__ __F__G__A__B__C__D__E__F__G__A__B__C__D__E__F__G__A__B__C__D_
Efforts to popularize Thus this
Hohner company decided to enlarge the market for accordions by turning the instrument from its
traditional music roots into an established instrument for orchestras. An orchestra was put together, touring Germany to introduce the new concept. The company also supplied
sheet music for this new type of accordion. helped popularize the instrument and inspire compositions for it. In an interview he describes how the free-bass accordion was still practically non-existent in his childhood (born 1935), but how
composers in his native
Denmark began to write works for him since 1958. In 1968 he arranged the manufacture of accordions with nothing but free-bass layouts to accommodate newcomers, as free-bass accordions would otherwise always include standard bass. In some Russian, Canadian and European music
conservatoires, free bass accordion is considered a serious instrument for study and there is now a large modern repertoire for it. Free bass accordion is taught at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City. In the United States, free bass instruments are much less well known despite attempts to popularize them by Palmer and Hughes and the
Giulietti Accordion Company in the 1960s and 1970s. In Canada, the accordionist
Joseph Macerollo even collaborated on the development of a detailed syllabus for students of the Free-bass accordion while on the faculty of the Royal Conservatory of Music Toronto (RCMT) in the mid 20th century. During this period several American accordionists demonstrated the unique orchestral sound of the instrument through live performances as well as by composing original works which featured the instrument. Included among this group was
John Serry, Sr. whose
Concerto for Free Bass Accordion was completed during the 1960s. (
See Accordion music genres) ==Notes==