My accordion teacher, Joe Zarnich, died on August 25, 2005, at the
age of 90. I began taking lessons with Joe almost a year ago, after
he sold me my first accordion. I always looked forward to these
Saturday afternoons, when he'd tell me stories about his old accordion
studio in the South Side (with an opening-and-closing neon bellows over
the store), or how he used to lug two accordions up and down the hill to
get to his daily practice with the Polish Aristocrats, or the time
he performed "Bubbles" for Frosini and blanked on the coda. When we
weren't chatting about the accordion golden years, lessons were a
constant struggle of me rushing sloppily through pieces against him trying
to get me to slow down. "Think like a bunny, play like a turtle," he
always said. In my last lesson, though, I had practiced his "Steel City
Polka" to a sufficiently unbutchered level that we duetted it.
Goodbye, Joe, you will be missed.
An obituary of Joe Zarnich
appeared in National Accordion
News.
Scan (300dpi) of "Steel City" [1]
Scan (300dpi) of "Jolly Peasant" [1]
[2]
[3]