At a recent monthly meeting of the Washington Metropolitan Accordion Society (WMAS) in Falls Church, Virginia, two club members discussed the possibility of mounting an iPAD loaded with over 1,000 pages of music directly onto an accordion without harming the frame.

Both members, Richard (Dick) Dangel and ClaMounte (Clay) Bobrowski, just happen to be engineers. Much thought was given to music readability, ergonomics, non-destructive mountability and aesthetics of the device. Dick, who first thought of this innovation, scanned over 1,000 pages of sheet music into his iPAD. He used basic Adobe software to annotate the music. There are other software programs that can add page turning and scrolling capabilities. A crude mock-up made from a coat hanger and cardboard evolved from this first discussion. This was followed by a prototype, and finally a finished product designed by Clay.

The design used Velcro for the non-destructive mounting of the two-pound assembly. The iPAD is mounted to the treble side of the accordion body, tilted back from the normal vertical at a 55 degree angle and extends outward to the right of the grille. This particular combination of angle and position turns out to be very comfortable for viewing the music.

The device was first shown to the WMAS members at the October meeting, where it was received with great enthusiasm. Members wanted to know where one of these devices could be purchased. Currently, only one is in existence, but plans for wider distribution are underway.

For further information:dickdangel@verizon.net