I started my first piano accordion lessons when I was about 10 years old. In Australia in those days, the accordion was re-emerging as a popular instrument in the European cultural tradition, My father was a great lover of such music. In spite of the economic hardships of that time, he considered the financial sacrifice of expensive weekly lessons and the purchase of my first piano accordion, an I. Busilacchio, as a worthwhile investment in his young son's future. ​

 

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One accordion teacher who inspired me, was Mikołaj (Michael) Filipowicz (29.08.31 - 20.07.96). He was also a very gifted accordionist, composer and arranger. I would relish any opportunity to attend local dances to listen to his band "The Continental Trio" perform. He also had a great interest in music technology and amplification and, together with his audience, I would be mesmerised by his virtuosity and the vibrant sounds he could produce with his then state-of-the-art Excelsior accordion.

 

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​At about the age of 15, I joined my first band and started playing at dances, weddings and other functions. Over the next few years I played with a number of other bands. However, my relatively short professional career as a accordionist came to an abrupt end when I decided to concentrate full-time on my other great love - architecture. Although my love of music and the accordion never really left me, it was to be many years before I returned to the accordion.

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Since those early days, music technology has developed to the stage that we now have the "virtual" accordion. My current piano accordion is the Roland FR-7X V accordion, which is the first instrument of its kind to provide powerful digital modelling technology in a traditional accordion design. It combines the familiar sounds and nuances of a traditional accordion with the versatility of modern digital musical instruments. Traditional accordion and orchestral sounds can be combined and played with full bellows articulation. It's such a pleasure to play! I often wonder what Mikołaj's reaction would have been to this marvellous instrument. ​

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