Claudia Kim, who studied with Mosalini in France and has returned to Korea, has started teaching bandoneon in Seoul.
"In collaboration with the AA Bandonionfabrik Klingenthal, she began lending out instruments. Thanks to the teaching materials developed by Europe's leading educator, Yvonne, systematic instruction is now finally possible. The best instruments and teaching materials in Europe are gradually spreading throughout Asia. We work closely with the AA Bandonionfabrik Klingenthal and the Bandoneon4Friends association.
When you hear "bandoneon", you immediately think of Argentina. However, the roots of this instrument lie in Germany in the middle of the 19th century. Today it is hardly known in his country, and little played. For this reason, thanks to funding from the "Bandonion4friends" association, I organised a trip to Germany with three very talented young players from my class at the conservatory in Avignon (France). We were in Berlin and Gotha from 5 to 12 July 2023 and we prepared a very varied programme to show the musical possibilities of the instrument in different schools. Thanks to a fantastic collaboration with the bandoneon factory AA Klingenthal, children's instruments were made available and there were taster sessions for children who wanted to try out the bandoneon for themselves. Our concerts in Berlin and Gotha were successful. The audiences were enthusiastic, but also surprised at how well such young pupils can play. I hope we were able to arouse interest and would be delighted if the bandoneon were also taught at German music schools in the future.
A small series of pictures from Krefeld. Their instruments are played by Charlotte and Valentin, otherwise the workshops Paas from Cologne and Heveling from Wuppertal have provided us with bandoneons. On zeri pictures you can see Valentin with his father Roman Marreck. Mr Marreck is currently deputy headmaster and will take over the management of the Krefeld music school from 1 January 2024, when I retire. The pictures of the final concert show our lecturer Mrs Toma Neill and the Bandoneon Orchestra Essen, which can be seen as a relic of the (workers') culture of the Ruhr area in the 20th century. The old lady is over 80 years old and still plays according to the formerly common auxiliary notation (called clothesline).
Authors: Barbara Steinger & Mario Strebel, Accordion School Aarau
With a chair and a music stand, Barbara Steinger opened her Accordion School Aarau on 14 March 2015, on Milchgasse in Aarau. With the idea of running a somewhat different school, with as many hand-pulled instruments as possible, with an interesting and broad offer.
The school started with the accordion and the typical Swiss folk instrument, the Schwyzerörgeli. As more and more applications came in, she expanded her team with Magdalena Irmann, who teaches accordion. This gave Barbara Steinger a little more freedom and she was able to add another instrument to her range. She started with the licence training on the Styrian harmonica at Michlbauer in Reutte. As she has always been fascinated by the concertina, she bought an instrument and taught herself to play on this small Irish instrument by self-study. In the meantime, the concertina is already another important instrument at her school and her first book "Swiss & German Folksongs for Anglo Concertina" is on the market.
Mario Strebel
With the addition of Mario Strebel to the team, the idea arose to include the bandoneon in the programme.
Trained as an accordionist, Mario Strebel always had the dream of being able to play the wistful melodies of the tango and the great music of Astor Piazzolla on the bandoneon.
Through the Aarau Accordion School, contact was made with the Bandonion4Friends.eV association, which revived the AA instruments in Klingental. Mario Strebel is allowed to play one of these top instruments. After a visit by Anja Rockstroh in Switzerland, she arranged the teacher Yvonne Hahn, with whom he is now in training for the Rhenish bandoneon. Yvonne Hahn is not only an excellent concert bandoneon player, but also a teacher who is constantly developing new methods for learning the bandoneon in a playful and structured way. Yvonne Hahn is the author of the new training method "Bandoneon - Exercises and Games for Beginners", of which two volumes are already available.
With our start into the 8th business year, the Accordion School is now offering new bandoneon lessons. Our first workshop is planned for Saturday 29 April 23 and the first registrations have already been received. We are very much looking forward to taking the beautiful musical world of the bandoneon from Aarau to Switzerland with the support of the Bandonion4Friends.eV association. We would like to inspire not only adults but also children for this great instrument.
