| Name | Image | Tradition | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accordion |  | North America | The accordion is played by compressing and expanding the bellows, while pressing buttons or keys to allow air to flow across reeds, thereby producing tones and chords. The accordion's basic form was invented in Berlin in 1822 by Friedrich Buschmann. Various types include piano and button keyboards, and chromatic and diatonic tunings. Accordions are played worldwide, being especially popular in North America. |
| Bandoneón |  | Argentina | The bandoneón is a free-reed instrument particularly popular in Argentina. It plays an essential role in the orquesta tipica, the tango orchestra. It is played by holding the instrument between both hands and either pushing in or pulling out the instrument while simultaneously pressing one or more buttons with the fingers. |
| Bayan |  | Russia | The bayan (Russian: баян) is a type of chromatic button accordion developed in Russia in the early 20th century and named after the bard, Boyan. The differences in internal construction give the bayan a different tone color from western instruments, especially the bass has a much fuller sound. Because of their range and purity of tone, bayans are often the instrument of choice for accordion virtuosi who perform classical and contemporary classical music. |
| Concertina |  | England | A concertina is a small free-reed accordion instrument from England, usually hexagonal in shape. It has a bellows and buttons typically on both ends of it. When pushed, the buttons travel in the same direction as the bellows, unlike accordion buttons which travel perpendicularly to it. Also, each button produces one note, while accordions typically can produce chords with a single button. |
| Flutina |  | United States | The flutina is an early precursor to the diatonic button accordion, having one or two rows of treble buttons, which are configured to have the tonic of the scale, on the "draw" of the bellows. There is usually no bass keyboard: the left hand operates an air valve (silent except for the rush of air). A rocker switch, called a "bascule d'harmonie" is in the front of the keyboard. Many of these "Flutina" (see image) accordions were imported into the United States and were common photographers' studio props. |
| Garmon |  | Russia | The garmon (Russian: гармонь) is a Russian button accordion. It is a free-reed wind instrument. A garmon has two rows of buttons on the right side, which play the notes of a diatonic scale, and at least two rows of buttons on the left side, which play the primary chords in the key of the instrument as well as its relative harmonic minor key. Many instruments have additional right-hand buttons with useful accidental notes, additional left-hand chords for playing in related keys, and a row of free-bass buttons, to facilitate playing of bass melodies. |
| Melodeon |  | England | A melodeon or diatonic button accordion is a type of button accordion where the melody-side keyboard is limited to the notes of diatonic scales in a small number of keys (sometimes only one). The bass side usually contains the principal chords of the instrument's key and the root notes of those chords. There is some geographic disagreement over the terms button accordion and melodeon. In England a bisonoric (different note on push and draw of the bellows) button accordion with one, two or three rows of buttons on the right hand (melody) side is likely to be called a melodeon. In Ireland a melodeon refers only to one-row instruments, while in the southern United States even these are called accordions. |
| Organetto |  | Italy | The modern organetto is a popular folk instrument used in Italian folk music. It is a free reed instrument, allied to the accordion. |
| Piano Accordion |  | Italy | A piano accordion is a type of accordion having a right-hand keyboard similar to a piano. It may have any of the available left-hand keyboard systems. In Italy a chromatic piano accordion is called a fisarmonica. |
| Schrammel Accordion |  | Germany | A Schrammel accordion (German: Schrammelharmonika) is an accordion with a melody (right hand) keyboard in the chromatic B-Griff system and a twelve-button diatonic bass keyboard. It is named for a traditional combination of two Violins, Accordion and Contrabass known as Schrammelquartett, the music being performed was called Schrammel music, in the Vienna chamber music tradition. In most cases, it has two or three sets of reeds tuned in unison configuration. The sound is quite different or special, when compared to modern chromatic button accordions. This is because it is much smaller and lighter than modern CBAs. The handmade reeds used may also contribute to its sound. |
| Trikitixa |  | Spain | Trikitixa or eskusoinu ("hand sound") is a two-row Basque diatonic button accordion with right-hand rows keyed a fifth apart and twelve unisonoric bass buttons. Trikitixa is reportedly known since the early XIXth century, when it was imported to the Basque Country from Italy through the port of Bilbao. Other sources suggest that this kind of diatonic accordion was brought in by Italian railway workers. Currently traditional style ensembles consist of a pair playing trikitixa, tambourine and voice. Players typically use a highly-ornamented and swift style, along with staccato triplets. |
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