For the second consecutive year provincially-renowned accordion player Stan Pickett attended the annual Accordion Festival as both a performer and teacher.
Last year, Pickett, from Bonavista Bay, began teaching group accordion lessons at the festival, and continued those this year.
“Last year I was teaching what I would consider to be intermediate, and this year they were basically all beginners,” said Mr. Pickett before playing a show at Chucky’s Seafood and Wild Game Restaurant in Happy Adventure last week. “I was pleased with that, and I’ll do it again next year. The teaching that I do out here is a different kind of teaching, because I’m teaching a group as opposed to the private lessons that I do. I would not attempt to do that unless I knew all of the people in the group had the accordion in the same key. In order to teach a group, they all need to be playing the same key. I made sure of that last year, and I made sure of that this year.”
Four people took part in this year’s lessons — three from Gander, and one from St. John’s. Mr. Pickett currently teaches private accordion lessons, and said whether it’s an individual or group, everyone has to grasp the basics of accordion playing.
“Whenever I start a new student or group, I spend time developing a playing position, and the position I advocate is playing without the thumb strap, which means they have to use a shoulder strap on their accordion,” said Mr. Pickett.
“There’s also a finger position on your right hand that I promote, so these kinds of things are new to a lot of people. For those that have been playing, this is a change. In order for them to develop, they have to really concentrate a lot on it, and in order for them to concentrate, I start off by not having them play pieces, because if they’re trying to play a piece of music, all of their concentration is on that piece of music, and not on their fingers or thumbs. When I do that for private lessons, the student works on that for the first week.”
“It’s a good festival, and is one the people around here enjoy.” - Stan Pickett
Mr. Picketts’ classes went from Monday to Friday, for two hours a day last week. Although those in his class never had more time to learn from a gentleman who’s been playing the accordion for more than 50 years, Mr. Pickett said everyone did okay.
“This was just four days. The participants were really good, but in terms of practice, which accordion playing is built on, they really couldn’t get much chance,” he said. “They all wanted to take part in other festival activities, but they did well, and they were pleased with what they learned. There were a couple who had not played at all, so they’re well on their way now.”
Mr. Pickett, who claims he’s been playing the accordion longer than he can remember, grew up on an island in Bonavista Bay called Fair Island, which was resettled in the 50s. He started playing for square dances in his community when he was about 12 years old, and hasn’t looked back since.
He’s no stranger to music festivals, and said he books time off just to come to the Accordion Festival that’s held in the Eastport Peninsula.
“It’s a good festival, and is one the people around here enjoy. There’s a lot of people in the area who play accordion, and they’re pleased other accordion players are coming in,” said Mr. Pickett. “There are a lot of people who come from away to hear all of this accordion music. Every year that I’ve been here, the festival has been sold out.”
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