Many events in our lives are pivotal and affect us forever. One such moment, for me and many others, was our first accordion lesson! Do you remember yours? How did your first lesson impact your life? Please share this moment with our readers by submitting your thoughts and feelings etc. about your first accordion lesson, your teacher, and how it influenced your life. Jane Christison, well known accordionist, shares her thoughts:

“February 22nd is the anniversary of my very first accordion lesson. It’s an annual reminder of how thankful I am to my parents for making possible the gift of music and for all the people who are in my life because of playing the accordion. To celebrate the occasion, I had two performances for seniors on that day, sharing the joy of music with them. When the man came to our house to give me a free musical test, my Mom told me, years later that she knew by the look on my face when he opened the case and I saw the accordion, that it was something I had to do. I am so thankful that my parents made the time to take me to lessons and accordion band practices, and to somehow pay for new accordions as needed.

If you ever get to see a live performance by accordionist and singer Jane Christison, you’ll be dazzled by her big smile, personality and an enthusiasm for playing the accordion that shines through in every single note. And it seems quite fitting that she advertises as “Music With A Smile®!”

How it all started: Jane grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico. When she was nine years old, her Mom received a phone call asking, “Would you like to give your child a free musical test?” She said, “Sure, come on over.”  Since Jane was the oldest kid in the family, she got to take the test. Jane says that she doesn’t remember much about it other than that the man told her parents that she got a good score. He had a package deal of six weeks of lessons and the rental of a 12-bass accordion and she loved playing the accordion right from the very first lesson.

After the six weeks of lessons were over, she was given another test.  “Oh, Mr. and Mrs. Christison, your daughter is so talented!” Jane says, “I’m guessing that they told all the parents that, because that’s when they sold us an accordion, and I’ve been playing ever since.” Jane moved to Kansas City to study accordion with Joan Cochran Sommers at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree in Accordion Performance.

Touring around the world: As a member of the UMKC Accordionaires, Jane traveled and performed with USO Shows.  She sang and danced in addition to playing the accordion. The first tour took her to the Far East, playing at military bases in Korea, Japan, Okinawa, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Guam. A second USO tour took her to the Azores and Germany. She says “We didn’t get paid very much, but what a fantastic experience!” As a member of the UMKC Accordion Orchestra, Jane has performed in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, England, Scotland, Sweden, Russia, Estonia, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Italy. She feels lucky to have traveled to so many different places because of the accordion.

Becoming a full-time, professional accordionist: After graduation, Jane joined the Musicians’ Union and started playing professionally in the Kansas City area.  She built up a repertoire of old standards, Broadway tunes, German music, Irish, Italian, French and Russian music, along with Christmas music and sing-along songs.  She played for restaurants, country clubs, corporate events, cocktail parties, strolling work, Breakfast with Santa, parties at beautiful homes, bus tours of Kansas City’s Christmas lights and even an Irish wake.  

She was the first woman elected to the Kansas City Federation of Musicians’ Board of Directors. Since November of 2000, Jane has played over 1,500 performances for retirement communities, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, seniors groups and memory care units.  She comes up with programs that make the audience feel like they are actually part of the performance rather than just an audience member politely clapping at the end of a song. 

During her programs, Jane reminisces about different things, depending on the time of year. She has been told that sometimes the residents will talk for days about things she mentioned during her performances. Her favorite compliment is when someone tells her they had fun with the music.

Introducing children to the accordion:Somewhere along the line, while playing all these programs for senior audiences, she started waking up with tunes in her head.  Jane tells people, “I spent four years studying music at the UMKC Conservatory and never wrote a song. I spent years playing professionally and never wrote a song, I never even dreamed I could write a song. Yet, here I was waking up with tunes in my head, and I paid attention to them, working with the melodies and writing words to them.  No one was more surprised than I was when they turned out to be children’s songs.” 

In order to market her award-winning children’s CD, “Come Sing Along with Janie Next Door™,” she started playing for preschools, then libraries and festivals. Jane completed the “Come Sing Along with Janie Next Door™ Learning Guide,” which she is working on marketing.  Using classroom-tested techniques by music educator Debbie Gray, the book connects her children’s songs with reading fluency and comprehension, art, math, language arts, physical education and even a couple of science lessons.  Feedback received from educators has told her that the Learning Guide is a great way to integrate music in the classroom, even if you’re not a musician. 

Jane says, “As Janie Next Door®, I’m having so much fun introducing children to the accordion, and I’m looking forward to seeing where this newest chapter in my musical career will take me!” 

Jane has been featured as a guest artist and workshop presenter at: 

• The National Accordion Association, Inc.
• The Accordionists and Teachers Guild, International (ATG)
• The American Accordionists’ Association
• The Las Vegas International Accordion Convention
• World Accordion Day Celebration, A World of Accordions Museum, Superior, Wisconsin
  She is a member of: 
• The American Federation of Musicians
• Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity
• ASCAP
• The Children’s Music Network
• Kansas City Young Audiences – Teaching Artist

Jane shares, “And I often think about all the many people who are in my life because of the accordion like Joan C. Sommers, my UMKC Accordion family, and of the many places I have been lucky enough to travel to because of playing the accordion. And all because of a random phone call asking my Mom, “Would you like to give your child a free musical test?” I can’t imagine what my life would have been like without the accordion. Thanks, Mom and Dad! “

Rita Barnea shares, “I remember my first accordion lesson. It happened on June 6th. Having shown an aptitude for music, (When I was 4 years old, I filled glasses with varying levels of water and played tunes). My parents, being European Holocaust survivors, and living in a small house, gave me a little red accordion. I do not remember asking for it. My mother just took me to Major Music in Irvington, New Jersey, first to Anthony Listopad and then after a short time, I studied with Eugene Ettore. Every year, on June 6, I think of the importance of that date and of my parents wise decision. And, the rest, as is said, is history. I am sure many of you have fond memories of your first accordion lesson.”

You are invited to submit your story with photos about your first accordion lesson. We are interested! Send to: Ritabelll@aol.com