Accordion music to fill air at Casa

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on June 8, 2024.

Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman Cynthia Gietz and the rest of the Windy City Accordions are set to perform a concert on Sunday at Casa.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

The Windy City Accordions, a group that has been playing together for over 50 years, will be performing at Casa Sunday to delight their audience with a variety of musical genres.

Cynthia Gietz, a member of the WCA, told the Herald Friday that since people associate their instruments with polka and old time music, this is an opportunity for them to showcase how versatile the accordion is.

“We play everything from classical music to contemporary pop music. We still play a lot of folk and waltzes. It’s funny when people first hear it because the typical reaction is that’s not what they expected,” said Gietz.

She said the concert tomorrow is their annual concert where nine accordionists who range in age between their mid 50s and mid 80s will be performing as an ensemble for the most part with some solos and some duets.

“We have some guests artists who formerly used to play in a group called Bells to Brass with us, so that’ll be kind of fun an it’s at 1:30 at Casa on Sunday,” said Gietz.

Outside of their annual concert people can find the Windy City Accordions performing at local events and on the outskirts of Lethbridge and at senior residences.

“We play a lot of seniors homes to bring music to them and the accordion is always so fun,” said Gietz.

When talking about the level of difficulty that is encountered when playing the accordion, Gietz said the group makes it look easy, almost as second nature as they have been playing since they were little. But recently she realized how difficult it could be for someone just learning, especially as an adult.

“I was teaching an adult student a while ago, she had a bit of a music background but not on an accordion and when I sat down for a lesson, I was reminded of the fact that many things are going on when playing an accordion,” said Gietz.

She explained that while someone plays the accordion they have their right hand playing the keyboard, while their left hand is playing the buttons, the pieces and also their arm is pulling the bellows all at the same time.

“The bellows are similar to if you’re singing a song almost like breathing, nothing happens unless you’re pulling the bellows back and forth, so you wanna do that with some finesse.”

Gietz said that even though it is probably not an easy instrument to play, it brings a lot of joy to many and it is a lot of fun to play.

The concert will have a cover fee of $12 for anyone over 12 years old, as the proceeds will help the WCA to continue perform for free at seniors homes as well as other expenses like rental fees for places to practice.