ACCORDION CLASS

Jazz improvisation course on accordion
Two cycles: language and style
Improvisation on the accordion is above all a matter of practice. To date, no method truly addresses how it is actually performed in real playing situations. The instrument is perfectly suited to a musical world rooted in vocal practices, guitar playing, brass, and later piano. By cleverly working around what may seem like a rigid bass system, the accordion can easily achieve harmonic combinations often thought to be reserved for the piano or orchestra. This approach still carries a craftsman’s touch and remains a field to explore with passion.
This class offers a progressive path through an engaging and playful practice, where creativity remains central while relying on essential technique.

LANGUAGE
Melodic scales
Phrase structure and phrasing, breathing and rhythmic phrasing, accents and ghost notes, movement over harmonic cadences, second voice, harmonized melody, drop-two voicings.

Harmonic structure
Anatole, turnarounds and other cadential structures.
Development of modal or one-chord structures.
Building chord progressions, analysis of themes and standards, blues and its development.
Bass lines and their variations depending on style and ensemble.

Chord construction
Triads and inversions. Combining chords on the bass keyboard, voicing on chromatic bass.
Exploration of harmonic superstructures, substitutions, bitonality and polytonality. Modal harmony, quartal harmony, slash chords, and contemporary developments of tonal harmony.
Creating coherent chord progressions based on a given melody.

Rhythm
Different contexts: ensemble playing, solo playing, accompaniment. Coordination between left and right hands, bellows control (dynamic nuance), imitating models (brass, guitar, piano, bass). Left-hand patterns: swing and ternary feel, binary and funk.

STYLE
Accents
Work on different meters: 1-beat, 3-beat, 4-beat. Binary and ternary feel.

Genres
Characteristic playing styles: Latin rhythms, funk, jazz, small ensembles, big bands with brass, accompaniment styles.

Application of language elements
Development of ensemble and solo playing according to style. Work on tone, use of registers, and chromatic bass playing.

The workshop will run with a minimum of 5 participants.

The class is also open to other string instruments !

If you play the violin, mandolin, double bass, you are welcome...

Marcel Loeffler

Marcel was born in Haguenau into a Manouche family of musicians, part of a tradition that has produced many great talents such as the Reinhardt and Schmitt families. Encouraged by his father, a guitarist, he began playing the accordion at a very young age, despite losing his sight at the age of five, and started performing at dances as a child. Influenced by both Manouche music and American jazz, he developed a strong musical sensitivity early on.

After a period playing electric bass and later experimenting with synthesizers, he gained solid experience in dance bands, which shaped his versatility. In the 1990s, he established himself as a composer and recorded his first album Vago in 1996, revealing a personal, open, and coherent musical universe.

Highly sought after as a sideman, he has collaborated with many musicians and taken part in numerous projects, while remaining deeply connected to live performance. Curious and eclectic, he draws inspiration from jazz, classical music, world traditions, and French chanson.

Always exploring new musical paths, he has led various projects, including a big band in 2013, and has been teaching jazz at the Strasbourg Conservatory since 2016. Renowned for his elegant and expressive style, Marcel Loeffler favors a sensitive approach to music, where virtuosity always serves emotion.

https://marcel-loeffler.fr/