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| Central Florida Accordion Club Featured Member for June, 2004 Rod Hall |
| Rod’s very first appearance before an audience happened 4 years ago at his and Bunny’s wedding reception. |
| Jamming with Ron Greytak |
| Playing at his wedding reception |
Besides playing the accordion,
Rod is an avid photographer.
Many photos at our meetings
were taken by Rod. You can
access these from the "Photos"
page.
Rod is an avid photographer.
Many photos at our meetings
were taken by Rod. You can
access these from the "Photos"
page.
| Reaction of the grandkids |
| Rod was born and raised in Manistee, Michigan, a small town on the shore of Lake Michigan. Unlike many of our accordion players, Rod didn’t start playing the accordion until about 10 years ago. He played the violin during his school days, from the age of 7 years until he graduated from high school. He also played the snare drum and timpani in the high school band, and the snare drum in the Michigan State College marching band. With that musical background, he retained an interest in music; but over the years, didn’t play any instrument seriously before the accordion. The first accordion came about as a whim. With a birthday coming up, he saw an ad for an accordion for sale, so he dropped a hint to the family, and ended up with an accordion that had seen better days. It was out of tune, had a couple of bad reeds and several bad leathers, but after fooling around with it for a while, he found that he had an interest in learning to play. A search for an accordion repair facility revealed that none existed in Brevard County, where Rod lives with his wife, Bunny. None of the music stores had any interest in the accordion. It was over 2 years later when he discovered the Accordions & Keyboards store in Clearwater. A visit to that store resulted in an up grade to a decent instrument. Then the search for a teacher began. Again, there were none in Brevard County. A call to the musicians union in Orlando resulted in obtaining a phone number for an accordionist who might know of any teachers around Orlando. That turned out to be Jimmy Bubaloni’s number, so the lessons began…and they are still going on today, 6 years later. Rod’s very first appearance before an audience happened 4 years ago at his and Bunny’s wedding reception. At that time, he had been taking lessons for a couple of years, and several people, including his teacher, urged him to play at the reception. He reluctantly agreed to give it a try, so with Bunny knowing nothing about this, he got up and dedicated “My Wild Irish Rose” to his surprised bride. She must have liked it, because they’re still married. By now, that has practically become his theme song; she has heard him play it hundreds of times during his practice sessions. Rod says it has been quite a challenge, but it has been fun and rewarding (although, at times, frustrating). And it keeps him out of mischief during his retirement years. To make it even more of a challenge, that first “decent” accordion was again upgraded to a midi, complete with sequencer. The CFAC and the FAA have both been a great help to him by providing an environment with so much interest in the accordion. Rod and Bunny have attended most of the CFAC meetings since joining 2 years ago. Having an interest in photography, he has also taken many of the pictures appearing on the club web site. |
