In the previous month of the Accordion USA News, it was announced that my series of 21 articles discussing the history and the descriptions of the AAA commissioned works that originally appeared in the annual American Accordionists’ Association Festival Journal from 1997 through 2019 (excepting 2007) would be updated, expanded and made available worldwide through the AAA website. However, this is only part of a larger endeavor that encompasses not only the mission to

1) re-present the articles in greater length and detail along with an increase in pertinent photographs and the new addition of musical excerpts, but also

2) to enhance the AAA list of commissioned works with links to recorded performances by a wide array of outstanding accordionists, and

3) ultimately make scores of the works, whether they are out of print or still available for purchase, available to the public for performance.

This is a lengthy and very involved process which is projected to take at least two years to fully realize; but a surprising amount of progress has already been made during this, its first month of endeavor, the evidence of which is already on the AAA webpage, as follows:

The 1998 article on the first of the AAA commissioned works, Paul Creston’s Prelude and Dance (1957) has been expanded as described above and is now available for online reading at: http://www.ameraccord.com/commissions/creston.htm It is also possible that the revised 1997 introductory article to the series will be available by the time of this publication as well. Regarding presently unrevised articles, scans of the original printed ones in the AAA Festival Journal Issues will be temporarily available until replaced by their revisions as they are gradually completed and added.

The listing of commissioned works at http://www.ameraccord.com/aaacommissions.php on the AAA webpage as of this writing, has links to recorded performances of at least 28 of the present 62 compositions, with more on their way. (Look for them in red in the publishers’ column of the page.)

So if you are interested in the AAA’s role in the advancement of the accordion in the contemporary classical music realm, be sure to frequently revisit the above links. I will report on the progress of this project in future AWW issues. Your comments, views, and input are welcome at mcmahan@tcnj.edu.