Accordion · 6 min read

Accordion repertoire, grade by grade

Named pieces for every stage, from first folk melodies through Bach transcriptions to Zolotaryov and Gubaidulina, with what each level is actually testing.

2026-07-24

Grades 1 and 2: the accompaniment habit

What is being tested here is not difficulty but coordination: can the right hand hold a melody while the left keeps a steady bass-chord pattern, and can you change bellows direction without the music stopping.

One thing worth saying at the outset: accordion grading is not as standardised as piano or violin. Trinity and the various national accordion federations each publish syllabuses, and a Grade 4 in one system is not exactly a Grade 4 in another. What follows is the broad consensus about what belongs where, which is more useful than any single list.

Material at this level is folk tunes and simple dances. Traditional melodies like Oh Susanna, Sakura, Russian and Ukrainian folk songs, easy waltzes and polkas, and the first pieces from the graded accordion methods. Simplified Beethoven and Mozart themes appear often and are useful because the phrasing is obvious.

The pieces are short and stay in C, G and F. The examiner is watching your left hand and your bellows, not your speed. Most students at this stage play too loud and change bellows only at bar lines, and fixing both is the real work of Grade 2.

Grades 3 and 4: articulation and character

Now the music asks for different touches: legato lines against a detached bass, accents placed by the bellows rather than the fingers, and registration changes within a piece.

Standard repertoire includes easier Bach from the Anna Magdalena notebook, the Minuet in G and the Musette in D, both of which sit beautifully on accordion. Add Czerny-style studies adapted for accordion, easier tangos, Italian and French waltzes, and the earlier pieces from Zolotaryov's Children's Suites, which are genuinely good music and not simplified anything.

This is also where most students meet their first real tango. A straightforward arrangement of La Cumparsita or an easy Piazzolla setting teaches rhythmic precision faster than any exercise, mainly because it sounds wrong immediately if you are sloppy.

Grades 5 and 6: polyphony and the bellows as an instrument

The jump here is real. Two or three independent voices must stay distinguishable, which means a single reed rank, careful articulation and no hiding behind musette.

Repertoire: Bach two-part inventions, short preludes and fugues, Handel and Rameau keyboard movements, Scarlatti sonatas at the easier end. On the original side, pieces by Vladislav Zolotaryov beyond the children's suites, works by Anatoly Kusyakov, and the standard concert arrangements of Piazzolla such as Oblivion and a properly voiced Libertango.

Bellows technique becomes an expressive tool rather than a logistical problem. Crescendo on a held chord, bellows shake in dance movements, and articulation produced by pressure alone are all expected. If a student is going to hit a wall, it is usually here, and the way through is slow practice at low volume.

Grades 7, 8 and beyond: free bass and the concert literature

At this level a converter instrument stops being optional. Free bass turns the left hand from a chord machine into a second keyboard, and the repertoire above Grade 6 largely assumes it.

Core works: Bach's larger preludes and fugues and the organ transcriptions, the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue, Scarlatti sonatas at full speed, Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition in the accordion transcription. Original concert works include Zolotaryov's Partita and Chamber Suite, Vyacheslav Semionov's Don Rhapsody, and Sofia Gubaidulina's De Profundis, which is a serious undertaking in every sense and the piece most players cite as the moment the accordion stopped being a novelty.

Diploma-level programmes usually pair a substantial Baroque transcription with a twentieth or twenty-first century original work, plus something from the national tradition the player comes from.

A word about difficulty at this level. The hard part is rarely the notes. It is stamina, because a concert instrument is heavy and a twenty-minute programme is genuinely physical, and it is memory, because reading a dense free-bass score while managing two invisible keyboards is close to impossible. Players at this stage memorise almost everything.

Choosing pieces sensibly

Two rules that save years. First, take one piece a level below your grade, one at it, and one slightly above. The easy one is where you learn to sound good; the hard one is where you learn to work. A programme of three stretch pieces produces a player who is never comfortable.

Second, do not skip the folk and dance repertoire as you climb. Rhythm is a skill that degrades if unused, and a player who can manage a fugue but cannot hold a tango pulse is a familiar and slightly sad figure. Our free library at A&G Academy runs to more than 740 scores across all of these levels, so there is no good reason to spend a year on material you dislike.

Frequently asked

What pieces should a beginner accordionist learn first?

Start with short folk melodies and simple waltzes or polkas in C, G and F, played with a steady bass-chord left hand. Traditional tunes and simplified classical themes work well because the phrasing is obvious. The goal in the first months is coordination and smooth bellows changes, not difficulty.

When do accordionists start learning free bass?

Typically around Grade 6 or 7, after several years of Stradella. Free bass replaces preset chords with individual notes, which is essential for Bach fugues, organ transcriptions and most original concert repertoire. It needs a converter instrument, so many students delay it until they are ready to buy one.

Is Bach playable on the accordion?

Yes, and it is central to the serious repertoire. Sustained reeds suit polyphony well, and organ works transcribe naturally because both instruments hold notes indefinitely. Use a single reed rank rather than musette so the voices stay separate. Larger fugues and organ works need a free-bass instrument.


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