Video 1: Because It’s Christmas
Video 2: Excerpt from Kernan’s Heroes Weekend
Video 3: Time Is Once Again
This has not been a good year for accordionists, as we have lost so many important figures in the accordion world starting in late 2017, and we have unfortunately lost yet another accordion icon on 5/28/18, Memorial Day. Gene Van peacefully transitioned to his final rest (hopefully filled with music), while his loving family was by his side for every minute of the previous three challenging weeks.
For those of you who may not remember the name Gene Van because he came a little before your time, he was one of those special individuals who had multi-dimensional talents and excelled in every one of them.
First and foremost, he was an incredible teacher who affected the lives of many many students, which is substantiated by the outpouring of love and sympathies on the “Gene Van Accordion” Facebook page as news started to spread of Gene’s 4:15am transition into the next life.
Gene so positively affected the lives of so many students, and they all reiterate that what they learned from Gene in music lessons and orchestra rehearsals is what taught them to appreciate striving for excellence and doing whatever it takes to succeed whether in music, their jobs, or in life.
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Obituary: Passing of Gene Van (1936 – 2018)
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Gene’s teaching abilities are legendary. Hailing from the South Bend/Elkhart/Mishawaka/Granger, Indiana areas, he had a studio from the 1960s through the next 50 years that boasted as many as 600 students at its peak, with many champions emerging from that stable, including his own daughters.
The Gene Van Orchestra also came from that studio and consistently won band championships at the American Accordionists Association (AAA) festivals year after year with Gene’s incredible arrangements and transcriptions. Their precision and flawlessness along with Gene’s meticulous conducting skills made them contenders and/or champions repeatedly.
Additionally, in the 1970s Gene Van started developing his Show Band, which delighted audiences at accordion festivals and other performances all over the world as they traveled to take their talents to standing-room only appreciative audiences everywhere. The Show Band was really where Gene found his niche because it enabled him to showcase his fabulous talents as an arranger, composer, conductor, teacher, musical event organizer, performer, and accordion titan.
Every one of these skills went into creating memorable performances that were precise, exciting, musical and ever so complimentary to our beloved instrument, the accordion, to which Gene remained fiercely loyal to his last day.
Some other interesting accomplishments from Gene Van’s accordion school:
– Performed at Soldier field in Chicago in the 1960s with the Gene Van Orchestra
– Started a full-scale accordion program in all of the Catholic schools in the South Bend/Fort Wayne Diocese
– Built his own Gene Van Studio in Mishawaka in the 1970s
– Developed show bands that included teaching his students to sing and dance as well as play accordion
– Performed at Carnegie Hall with the Gene Van Orchestra as AAA US Virtuoso Ensemble champions in the 1980s
Gene always stressed the important of the “triad” of teacher/student/parent in attaining maximum results with students.
Also, Gene managed to maintain a very successful and close relationship with the famed duo of Willard Palmer and Bill Hughes (Palmer-Hughes) who remained important mentors to Gene as he was developing his own studio.
The real testament to the impact Gene had on his students’ lives however comes with the many concerts he has given for various charitable causes since the 2008 timeframe, often several per summer.
Yet, all of his loyal students would be more than willing to drop whatever they were doing in their personal lives and come to Granger Indiana for nearly a week to rehearse and put on some fantastic concerts.
Here is an example of Gene’s wonderful orchestra arranging skills with “Because It’s Christmas” – video above.
Additionally, one of the most notable of these events was in November 2015 where Gene (who was already not in the best of health) still managed to put together a spectacular program of some of his best accordion orchestral arrangements for a weekend dedicated to performances for the “Kernan’s Heroes” and the Wounded Warrior Project.
There was military pageantry, extremely fine music (as witnessed in the audience member video example provided here (Video 2 above) incredible camaraderie among the performers, and some intensely memorable moments of music, love, and joy that will not be forgotten by anyone performing or attending.
However, in addition to Gene Van’s wonderful accordion orchestra writing skills, we have also attached a more recent video of Gene’s talents as a composer. Gene’s last substantial composition (Video 3 above) is entitled “Time Is Once Again” and is a poignant example of his deep understanding of musical harmony, craft, and taste. It is being performed in this example by Joseph Natoli as a tribute to his dear friend, Gene Van.
The pictures in the video are all from the memories discussed above in that November 2015 Wounded Warrior series of concerts.
God bless you Gene Van. We will forever miss your presence, positivity, musicality, inspiration, and loyalty to the accordion.
Visitation information at Hahn Funeral Homes.
FuneralNoticeGeneVan.pdf
Funeral Service
11:00 AM Fri., Jun. 01, 2018
Location: St. Thomas the Apostle Church
Picture below: Gene Van Accordion Orchestra
