Accordionist.org

People of German and Polish descent have been ethnically and historically connected to the accordion, therefore it should come as no surprise that areas that are of predominantly German and Polish heritage have the most experience with acccordians. Wisconsin, having been dominated by immigrating Germans and Poles in the 1800's, has the vibrant and flexible sounds of the "squeezebox" at many festivities.

One such area in Wisconsin is Milwaukee. Known for its baseball and breweries, this large Midwestern city even has its own accordion Club. That's right!  The club plays accordions for fun as well as profit in an attempt to promote this Old World music box.

The club meets monthly to savor the music they produce on their accordions and plan events to showcase what an accordion can really do.  Anyone who's an accordion player or just an accordion enthusiast can join for what it costs to attend a single afternoon of Brewers' baseball, and the membership is for an entire year. 

Their accordion ensemble, which consists of eight members and a conductor,  meet weekly for practice.  (All play piano accordions, which bear a sharp contrast to most traditional accordions, in that they use  a small keyboard in place of the older button or key press accordions.)   They play at all kinds of gigs, but predominantly at weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs, and yes, even the occassional funeral.  They strive to educate today's youth about the accordion, history, and the ancestral connections overall.  accordion music, as they see it, is living, breathing, history.

When they're not playing a gig, they publicize public events of their players and members through regular shows.  When they're not performing for any of the above reasons,  they're there for the biggest German festival of all: Oktoberfest!  No Oktoberfest is complete or legitimate without accordion music and no one knows that better than Wisconsin's Milwaukee accordion Club(MAC)! 

If you check out their website, they list upcoming events and other useful info about the club, the players, and  of course, accordions.  They encourage even non-residents of Wisconsin to join and enjoy the melodious sounds of the accordion.