accordion
A portable reed instrument with a bellows, keys, and buttons.
In Depth
The accordion was banned from the concert hall for decades because critics considered it a street instrument. It wasn't until the mid-20th century that serious composers began writing for it.
Related Terms
More in Instruments
Browse allThe accordion family includes the piano accordion, button accordion, concertina, and bandoneon — all free-reed instruments powered by hand-operated bellows.
A guitar that produces sound naturally through its hollow wooden body without electronic amplification.
A Javanese and Sundanese instrument made of bamboo tubes mounted in a frame, shaken to produce notes.
A small, hexagonal free-reed instrument with buttons on both sides, producing different notes on push and pull of the bellows, central to Irish and English traditional music.
A chorded zither with damper bars that mute unwanted strings, allowing the player to strum full chords with one hand while pressing chord buttons with the other.
A wind instrument using enclosed reeds fed by a constant air supply from a bag.
A West African wooden xylophone with gourd resonators, central to the music of the Mandinka people.
A Russian stringed instrument with a distinctive triangular body, three strings, and a bright, twangy tone, central to Russian folk and popular music.