Accordion Lessons

Elliot and Tani jammin' on their accordions

This past March Tani started taking accordion lessons from Elliot Seif, who we'd met last Simchat Torah when he was playing with the Dorshei Derekh/Mishkan Shalom musicians. When Tani was four years old we were at the first Germantown Jewish Centre (GJC) young family retreat. One of the children had brought a toy accordion - Tani found it almost immediately and carried it around the entire weekend. So when Tani saw a real accordion last October, he went up to take a look and talk to the musician (who was Elliot). We asked him if he'd be willing to give a few lessons to an eager then five-year old and he agreed. In March Melissa, Elliot and Tani went downtown to Liberty Bellows to rent Tani an accordion. Melissa rented it for $100 for three months but was required to leave a check for an additional $300. If she returns the accordion in June she gets the check back. If not, the accordion is ours. Looks like we'll be keeping it as Tani has been enjoying the lessons. He's learned "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Dreams Come True" and is working on a third piece called "Flying". It's fun to watch him play. BTW, we're heading to the third GJC family retreat this weekend!