Busking in the sun
The rains had stopped, the clouds had parted. I was walking on that wintry day, feeling good about the cold. The grass had turned green, the frost melting into morning dew. As I walked down Sidney Street, I noticed a musician, on an accordion playing a soulful tune. I contemplated the skill necessary to play the accordion. Like a piano, it is played with two hands, but more challenging as the two hand not only play different tunes but play keys of different types, also each hand playing in a different style. The accordion is a unique instrument. It sounds like more than one instrument. A guitar has one set of strings which can be manipulated using two hands. The violin is similar. The piano is also one set of strings which can be manipulated using two hands with keys that all obey the same rules. The accordion on the other hand has two sets of keys that look and work very differently from each other, and to produce the desired effect, one must play both sets, by learning their indivi...