Thesis

Michael Bridge received his doctorate in performance from the University of Toronto studying accordion with Joseph Macerollo, with thesis supervisor Wallace Halladay and committee members Lorna MacDonald and Robin Elliott. His thesis is titled: “Expressive Virtuosity on Accordion: The Performance Techniques of Joseph Macerollo, O.C.,” featuring interviews about the innovative work of Joseph Macerollo, Geir Draugsvoll, and Claudio Jacomucci. It is available via library systems worldwide beginning in July, 2023.

Abstract

Since the 1970s, Joseph Macerollo’s accordion teaching has attracted hundreds of students from at least 18 countries, and he has given hundreds of world premieres with an emphasis on contemporary chamber music. A pioneer of using accordion in a contemporary music landscape, Macerollo developed a multitude of precise body techniques for integrating the accordion’s sound into diverse musical environments. His techniques incorporate all parts of the upper body (and occasionally the legs) to achieve superior versatility and awareness in the performer’s production of tone, phrasing, articulation, projection, and the ability to alter how ‘time’ is perceived by the listener—all of which I call collectively Expressive Virtuosity. Macerollo summarizes his method in a four-point model—Time, Tone, Flow, and Space. Examples of his unconventional techniques include playing the left hand ahead of the right, using multi-dimensional bellowing motions, creating rhythmic points using combinations of finger, bellows, and body techniques, and moving around the instrument. These techniques have the potential to revolutionize how accordion is taught at the university level, and the central goal of this thesis is to document and explain Macerollo’s unconventional techniques.

To offer additional perspectives on Expressive Virtuosity, I conducted interviews with renowned European Professors Geir Draugsvoll and Claudio Jacomucci, including in-depth discussions of their work performing as an orchestral soloist and applying the Alexander Technique to the accordion. The recent rise in articles related to accordion performance and pedagogy shows that the academic accordion community is searching for new techniques that will inspire greater creativity in relationships with composers, within pedagogy, and on the concert stage. After a lifetime of performance experience and teaching, Macerollo’s techniques will help raise concert accordion playing to the next level and acknowledge Canada’s most important contribution to date in this field.

Digital Accordion Sound Design (User Programs)

Bridge is a leader in the new field of digital accordion. In 2020, he released a suite of sound sets for digital accordions, now used in 25 countries. A second suite is forthcoming, with development funded by the Canada Council for the Arts. (Learn more…)