Philosophy of my accordion lessons

Winning 1st prize at the International Chamber Music Competition in Val Tidone (Italy) in 2001 marked the beginning of my career as a classical accordionist. This was followed by concerts worldwide with with my brother Frank Nebl as the duo "Nebl & Nebl", as well as numerous invitations to universities and conservatories conservatories to teach accordion and chamber music to pupils and students. 2003 I started working at the Trossingen Conservatory. Since then, my students have won numerous 1st prizes at national and international competitions, both as soloists and in ensembles. ensembles. This has been followed by invitations from various German and international associations organisations to act as juror at important competitions.

What fundamentally distinguishes my pedagogical work as an accordion teacher from others is a very multi-layered view of musical cultural life. Whether in classical chamber music, in jazz, in folklore formations, in avant-garde concepts - to this day I am still music-making in my various phases of life to date, I have always been immersed in a real and real and very lively musical environment. As a young accordion player growing up accordion player, I experienced the Slovenian-Austrian folk music world intensively and performed and performed semi-professionally for years with a quintet in German-speaking countries. Although I learnt music music from my teacher at the time, we transcribed all the pieces in this ensemble. transcribed all the pieces and listened to them from CD recordings. Through this and transcribing, we were able to recognise the personal qualities and characteristics of different and characteristics of different players, formations and styles. I realised for the first time what it means to experience music "between the lines". With just pre-printed printed music this would have been unthinkable. It was a very fortunate experience, especially for a very fortunate circumstance - non-methodical, true to life.

Later, during my "jazz phase", there were numerous "jazz freaks" among my friends, some of whom some of whom went on to study jazz at various music academies. We played semi-publicly in pubs and publicly in concert halls the "Real Book" up and down, and I made numerous arrangements for various ensembles, including the big band. It was also It was a matter of course that we knew the latest recordings of the "big names", and we were crazy enough to crazy enough to sing along to the solos of these role models with their recordings in to sing along "in detail". This great music with its freedom to improvise and its alternative alternative world view was very formative for me during this period of my life.
And even today, after studying music for over two decades within the classical cultural scene with numerous concert appearances, e.g. at the "Würzburg Mozartfest" (2014) or the "International Bach Academy" (2015), the fascination of getting to the bottom of music to get to the bottom of music remains unbroken. Permanent engagements at the Karlsruhe State Opera, the regular concert tours to Japan with my wife Naoko Nebl (née Takeuchi) are very inspiring fields of activity for me to confirm my principle of lifelong learning again and again. again and again. Music by Bach, Scarlatti, Haydn or Mozart became a symbol of aesthetic fulfilment. for aesthetic fulfilment. Composers such as Hosokawa, Gubaidulina or Tiensuu strengthen in me the belief that the accordion repertoire does indeed have sustainable artistic artistic perspectives for the accordion repertoire. And in general, while searching for traces of the important composers composers, it became very clear to me that it is fundamentally important in this classical field to analyse the scores in great detail for an adequate interpretation!
Although I have come to know the "accordionist" convictions of the main global university and music school and music school pedagogues, I still lack the so-called "accordionist glasses" - and I am not "accordionist glasses" - and I'm not unhappy about it. Because one principle was of my life as a musician: it can't primarily be about the accordion - but about the music! but about the music! Even my most important teacher was not really an accordionist from my point of view. "accordionist" - Hugo Noth was above all a great musician and renaissance man for me during my studies. and renaissance man with a fantastic education, depth, intuition and foresight. Familiarising myself with the piano repertoire at the age of thirteen made me wonder for the first time what the the "norms" of musical content and the closely related pedagogy of standard chord playing. pedagogy of standard accordion lessons. The concept of the quality of music-making a turning point for the first time. As a teenager, a new musical dimension opened up, especially in the emotional a new musical dimension.

In my own playing and also in my pedagogy, musical expression is the most important goal. goal. It grows through working on a good, colourful sound, as well as through the formation of clear artistic artistic ideas. Accordion playing is always about saying something, and not about going off the beaten track, to demonstrate perfectly practised movement patterns to people. That flatter the ego from time to time, but in terms of the musical message it is not at all unifying. not at all unifying. I also don't believe that technical mastery and a good sound are ultimately are only media of a musical intention, and can therefore only be partial goals on the way to only partial goals on the way to genuine personal musical expression.
I therefore endeavour to teach my students as many of the many musical languages as possible. languages, and to show my students again and again that a merely beautiful tone can still be very can still be very boring and should therefore not automatically be accepted if it cannot be if it cannot be placed in a clear linguistic context. Music as a whole must be not just its obvious partial aspects. To reduce music to its pleasant beauty basically means losing sight of it.

In my lessons, on the one hand, technical phenomena of accordion playing are developed very intensively but always without separating the holistic gesture of our being. Technique without musical idea is just confused noise and simple emptiness. If we do not learn to understand this or take it to heart, we will always deliver "musical forgeries". In a certain way, this approach is morally intolerable.

Musical expression, musical contextualisation is in many ways related to the physical language of the physical language of actors and dancers. Actors have to create phrasing in such a way so that they are immediately understandable, so that the listener can follow the action. It has to be be emotionally clear, that's the most important thing in my opinion. All utterances must be felt and lived through so that the listener can perceive these feelings and, if necessary, empathise with them. can sympathise with them. Accordionists should therefore also make music with their whole selves. When this happens, there is no room for deception or unanswered questions.

Listening is the origin and fulfilment of good musical quality. It is also the essential level of communication between player and listener. A very careful very careful encouragement of listening is therefore one of the most important basic ideas of my pedagogy. I I also mean listening in the broadest sense of perception. Because as a musician, it's all about to go through life listening, to observe and understand all the resonance of matter in our environment. and learning to understand it. You can only develop a good sound if you listen to yourself yourself well. In fact, musical imagination also makes our work easier - we just have to allow it. We just have to allow it. Through attentive repetition, we achieve this ideal step by step this ideal that already lies dormant in our ear.

A healthy body is a very important and desirable factor when making music. For accordionists in particular, a healthy body, especially a healthy back, is elementary. important. Through sport or yoga, for example, it is possible to achieve significant and improvements for playing the instrument. On the one hand, you have to one hand, you have to activate your body, on the other hand you have to give it up so that it really serves its spiritual, musical purpose. To do this, you also need to release inner blockages from time to time that you may have that you may have picked up during your socialisation.

I challenge and encourage my students to try to discover the musicality of a piece themselves. of a piece themselves. On the other hand, it is also always about helping them to find ways to find the truth about their own inner musical identity, to sound it out. They should learn to direct the music themselves by practising, especially in the areas of receptivity, understanding and intuition. Their physical possibilities, their emotional abilities and their imagination are among the central objectives of my lessons. teaching. In my view, learning to play a musical instrument is also a constant balancing act, including between responsibility for the cause and an "assembly line job". Yes, an assembly line job, because practising for me primarily means repetition - comparable to many spiritual rituals - in order to to be able to move in a "flow" when practising and making music.

I have always found pedagogical theories to be restrictive, even if they sometimes help us to help us to bring organisational order to what we do. My pedagogy very rarely uses ready-made recipes. I believe in the very great sense of reacting directly to what we hear, to the holistic spiritual, physical, mental and emotional situation in which a pupil finds themselves. is in. Regardless of their instrumental skills, I try to make all my students feel that students that I respect them in their humanity and their endeavours to get close to the music. to get close to the music. This gives each and every one of my students a very personal and honest approach to developing their humanity while learning the accordion. unfold.
My lessons are primarily about preparing students to be able to learn independently in later life. later in life. Every now and then I point out that a permanently obedient pupil may not find it easy later on, no matter in which environment he will move, may not have it easy. Because at some point you have to take responsibility for your own lively education. In addition to a certain amount of initiative, this requires above all a healthy balance between self-respect and self-criticism. I am already looking for students who criticise themselves too much I try to point out or convey what has already been achieved and what is good, while others who overestimate themselves situations to compare themselves with others so that they can raise their own standards. to raise their own standards.

Every student takes a different path to their goal. Adolescent instrumentalists should on the one hand accept that training is about mastering established, established styles. mastered. However, as a teacher, you should also help to develop a student's individual potential and set goals in this direction. potential of a student and to set goals in this direction. Because The human being is at the centre of education - not an instrument-related ideology.

For over twenty years, I have been involved every summer in the "Accordion Plus" youth course organised by organised by my esteemed colleague and friend Karl Huber. There, year after year year after year, on the one hand I experience exemplary music school work and, on the other, I have gradually realised that music school children, just like students, can be taught musically at eye level, so to speak of course, mostly with easier literature in terms of playing technique - if they are taken seriously as human beings and the level of their basic training is modelled and communicated accordingly in everyday life. is exemplified and communicated. These children and young people, for example, could no longer be given "fake" music lessons could no longer be offered. They would be openly bored.

Chamber music and ensemble playing is another very important area of my pedagogy. of my pedagogy. In my view, it is obligatory. Because ensemble playing is communication with musical bodies and sounds and is therefore of the highest educational, artistic and human, artistic and communicative value. It is always about qualitative togetherness. Because ensemble playing is first and foremost free musical communication, regardless of age and technical ability. People come together with their lives, their musical their musical socialisation, their different instrumental attitudes and skills. and skills. I am particularly fascinated by this discovery process in any collaboration with ensembles. with ensembles.

My credo: if all the players involved are capable of leading and accompanying an ensemble has reached a very high level of quality. Because all possibilities are open to it, to explore a wide range of different colourations. Anyone who has had experience in ensemble playing knows what this can mean in terms of multi-layered personality development within a group. group can mean. The great opportunities in chamber music to get to know outstanding literature are an additional motivation for accordionists to make music in these areas.

Posture at the instrument

The attitude towards the instrument, the attitude towards music, the attitude towards oneself, the attitude towards life are reflected in everything we do. The aim when practising and making music in this respect is a free, ready-to-move posture, on the accordion the so-called "balanced seat". The perception of one's own body sensation is the most important guide. Where does Where does gravity act in the body, where does the uprighting force act in the body? Where are my points of contact with the seat, with the floor, with the body of the instrument, with the straps, with the manuals?

In my opinion, there tends to be an ideal behaviour of individual body regions when playing the accordion:

- Armpits are slightly open
- Arms are widened (wanting to hug the chord!)
- Abdomen as the centre of gravity of the body
- Breast as the light centre of the body
- Hands are slightly rounded
- View is widened (open)
- Feet have broad contact with the earth
- Thighs are horizontal (adjust seat height accordingly)
- Buttocks are in the centre of the chair, between resting and ready to jump
- Back with a revitalised feeling, it rests in the width
- Abdominal region as centre of the body harmonises top with bottom, left with right
- Collarbone and shoulder blades tend downwards
- The body's centre of gravity is below the navel, the so-called Hara area or Dan Tien (Tai Chi)
- Above the root of the nose in the centre of the forehead is a central or balance point, a sensitive zone
between the cerebral hemispheres, which should be open
- The head is connected by an imaginary thread with another imaginary point above it.
(lengthening or straightening of the spine)

The aim of playing is to achieve a state of suspension, safe and free, capable of being moved by the slightest impulse (movement abilities of a marionette)

Another way is the Carpenter effect: it states that you can also achieve body balance through image inspiration. body balance through image inspiration. This is because the body reacts spontaneously to images, demonstrably changing its changes its tone, its attitude, its breath.
Examples: What happens...
- When imagining distance (it widens the eyes, stretches the organism as a whole)
- In the event of a surprising novelty (it puts the body into a higher tone, a more alert alert, more attentive posture)
- Imagining myself growing like a tree, with branches like arms, head like a crown, and sky above
- When I move like a reed
- When hands walk through clouds
- When a breeze passes through the joints

Asian cultures have been on the trail of these "mimetic" experiences for long traditions. remained. There, the differentiated image of an energetic human body has developed, which, comparable to the pathways of the blood, lymph and nerves, is flowed through by energy currents energy currents that form an entire system with main and secondary currents, source and collection centre, so-called chakras.

Conclusion: the accordion as an instrument still has the chance to make valuable contributions to our own "collective memory" valuable and trend-setting contributions. Behind us lies a field full of misunderstandings, misguided paths and clichés. Together with my students, I try to to make a contribution to ensuring that, through the cultivation of this instrument, music in our music can once again be understood as a whole in our extended environment, that the increasing reduction to outward appearances undergoes a counter-movement, and that it is freed from its fractures in the sense of can be accepted as a whole again.