The shape-shifting sounds of the accordion | Maria Telesheva

0:03You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. There might be just one acoustic instrument in the world capable of sounding like a bassoon, a piccolo, or a full organ all in one. And that instrument is the accordion.

0:36That was Maria Telashiva. She's an 18-year-old from Eugene, Oregon, who's been playing the accordion for about 12 years, which is to say most of her life. She moves easily across styles, often in duets with her dad. Now, I love playing music in many different styles, from Bach to Beatles to ACDC, especially in a duet with my father. He is my teacher and a professional accordion player himself. It all started with a small accordion sitting in her family's living room and a simple question she asked her father as a little kid. We actually had this tiny little accordion in our living room and one day I just came up to my dad and said, hey, can you teach me how to play this?

1:22More than a decade later, she's performed everywhere from NPR's tiny desk to now the TED stage. Today, Maria plays works by classical composers and pulls back the curtain on the accordion itself. It's 226 buttons, it's chin switches, the bellows that act like a pair of lungs, and the 35 pounds of it that make a performance as much a workout as a piece of music. And stick around after Maria's talk and performance. TED curator Chloe Shawshabrooks joins us to share how she discovered Maria and the surprising links Maria may have to go to just study her instrument in college. That's all coming up right after a short break.

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4:39And now, our TED performance and talk of the day.

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7:41Thank you so much. And hello, everyone. I am 18 years old, and I am from Eugene, Oregon. I have been playing the accordion for about 12 years, and it is such a pleasure to be here and share the beauty and versatility of my instrument with all of you. Recently, I had the privilege of performing for NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts. Thank you.

8:20And there, I performed the piece that I have just played for you, called the Prelude and Fuke, by one of my favorite classical composers, Jokan Sebastian Bach. Now, I love playing music in many different styles, from Bach to Beatles to ACDC, especially in a duet with my father. He is my teacher and a professional accordion player himself. Now, before I play my final piece for you, I'd like to briefly familiarize you with this instrument. So this is a professional model of a B-system chromatic button accordion, which has 120 buttons on the left side and only 106 on the right side. Not that many.

9:09There are also registers, which I use to change the tone of the sound so I can imitate other instruments, such as the bassoon, the piccolo, the organ, and so on. and they are also duplicated up here, and these are called chin switches, which, as you can guess, I can operate using my chin. And additionally, this middle part here, which I constantly push and pull, is called the bellows, and the bellows act as the lungs of the accordion, since they pump air in and out and control the dynamics. Now, considering this instrument weighs about 35 pounds, I would say it's a bit of a workout as well as an intense brain exercise to handle.

9:56And you may be wondering why I chose to play such a unique instrument. Well, when I was little, we actually had this tiny little accordion in our living room. And one day I just came up to my dad and said, hey, can you teach me how to play this? So I started off by learning a few chords and simple melodies, and I just fell in love with the instrument, even though the first ever accordion I played didn't even have all the notes. So I would say that having a teacher at home living with me also helped me progress pretty quickly, which has brought me to where I am today. And now I would like to play for you Moments Musikauks by composer Franz Schubert.

10:45Thank you.

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12:41That was Maria Telasheva at Play at TED, And now here's curator Chloe Shasha Brooks on the day she first saw Maria play and why working with her was a reminder of just how much music can give a kid. While watching videos of live music shows to find a young performer for Play a Ted, I came across high school student Maria Telesheva on NPR's Tiny Desk series.

13:06Maria Telesheva: She was featured in an episode with a handful of other young musicians, and I watched her play accordion, which was like watching magic ooze out of her fingers. As you've just heard, she's capable of playing classical music pieces that typically require multiple instruments to produce with just her two hands and one instrument. I was mesmerized as I watched her play with so much feeling and grace, her eyes shut and her body swaying on the stool. When I met her and her father, Sergei, on our video call, they were like two peas in a pod. As Maria mentioned, she's been learning the accordion from him, a professional accordion player himself, since she was six years old, and she immediately had a passion and a knack for it.

13:49Maria Telesheva: She's won many awards throughout her childhood, and yet Maria is a humble, relaxed, smiley teenager. On that call, she revealed her seriousness as a musician with her detailed questions about our stage and production, while also showing her lighthearted playfulness through her passionate explanation of why the materials in her particular accordion make it extraordinarily heavy. On the day of play at TED, as speakers and staff were preparing for the audience to arrive, some speakers getting their hair and makeup done, others pacing while rehearsing their talks in a whisper, Maria's accordion music drifted through the hallways as she warmed up for her stage performance.

14:27Maria Telesheva: It made the whole morning feel like a movie with Maria's music as the score. I had never really heard anyone play accordion in this way before, and Maria explained that it's not a commonly taught instrument in the United States. In fact, she told me that there are so few American college programs that include the accordion as a major that she will likely need to convince a music department at a university to create that track just for her. Working with Maria reminded me just how important it is for kids to learn to play music. Music is in all of us, and being able to give other people that gift by playing an instrument is something that can give kids so much purpose and joy.

15:08If you're curious about TED's curation, visit ted.com slash curation guidelines. And that's it for today. TED Talks Daily is a podcast from TED. This episode was produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Lucy Little, Emma Taubner, and Tansika Sungmarnivong. Additional support from Daniela Ballarezzo, Christopher Faze-Bogan, Valentina Bohanini, Banban Chang, Brian Green, and Lainey Lott. Learn more at podcasts.ted.com. I am Elise Hu. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feet. Thanks for listening.

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