First of all, Lucky that was a fantastic post! It hit right to the heart of the situation.

As for accordion, I started out at 8 yrs old. To this day I use the concept of the circle of fifths and fourths, alternate bass, key signatures... the whole left hand concept. That's also why the chromatic button system piqued my interest. I know it's been around forever, but I finally saw the artistry of it in those Ludovic videos.

Oh, and one more thing... how can you not credit accordion playing with note phrasing. Piano and its pedals has it nuances, and so does organ with its volume pedal, but the accordion with the bellows going in and out is/was a major factor in how I phrased my songs. Mentally I still do that. When people comment on how natural my phrasing is I always give credit to those early years on the accordion.

[This message has been edited by cassp (edited 06-19-2008).]