favorite things 06

in the 1930's designer buckminster fuller who is most famous for designing the geodesic dome set out to create what he called a "dymaxion revolution". his ideas were pretty radical at the time and would serve today's environmentally conscious designers well. the idea simply put is to get the greatest output possible from the smallest input. i love this idea in theory, and many things come to mind which represent it, among them are the moped and the toy camera. we can imagine stretching these beyond their original design like riding a moped to south america or chronicling the entire trip with a throw away camera. i could also add to that list my little accordion.
the accordian's roots can be traced back thousands of years to a chinese instrument called "the cheng" which was created to reproduce the sounds of the phoenix. hundreds of years later the cheng was brought to europe and underwent varied transformations until in the 19th century in vienna it came to resemble the familiar oompa producing instrument we know today.
although my squeeze box is much smaller and has just one octave it is my little axe for making music. sadly i wish i were able to make it better, but i must practice. i think everyone should make a little music somehow and having gone beyond learning all of the songs in the little book that came with it i'm beginning to learn a few new ones. so now if i do ever get to make that trip to tierra del fuego, i know what to pack for times around the campfire. minimum input - maximum output.