FULLERTON : Accordion Ensemble to Defend Its Title

A local accordion ensemble, which returned this month from performing at the White House, is practicing to defend its reputation as perhaps the country’s best student accordion group.

The nine musicians, who specialize in jazz, spent a recent evening perfecting arrangements they will play at the Accordion Federation of North America’s prestigious competition, which takes place in August. The group from the Martin Music Center here has won the top jazz combo award each year for the last five years and the musicians believe they will win again next year.

But not without practice.

“Sometimes we spend up to four hours a day practicing,” said David Bargender, 23, one of the group’s veterans. “The buildup is always kind of tense but this group is so good, we’re almost always satisfied with our performances.”

White House officials told Sandra S. Martin, who owns and operates the music center with her husband, Randall, that the players were the first student accordion group ever to perform there.

The musicians are “recognized as the preeminent student accordion group in the nation,” Sandra Martin said. “They’re excellent musicians who play all kinds of music from jazz to rock ‘n’ roll, and they excel but they also hold down part-time jobs and get A’s in school. That’s what makes them stand out.”

Bargender, who is studying at Long Beach City College to become an engineer, said he began playing the accordion at age 8 after a door-to-door salesman persuaded his parents to let him take two weeks of lessons free. After that, he was hooked.

Today he plays a $7,000 Giulietti accordion for fun and entertainment.

Lilli Francisco, 20, another of the ensemble, said music is integral to her life.

“It keeps you going,” the Saddleback College student said. “There’s something about it. You just can’t quit. I can’t really explain it but it makes me a whole person.”

Francisco played a classical piece during a recent practice session at the center, using almost all her instrument’s 46 black and white keys and 120 buttons.

When she was done, colleagues Larry Demian, 17, and Michele Greening, 18, took up the beat, playing a lively polka.

The group, which includes a pianist, Debbie Garcia, and bass player, Sherland Suertez, also played music by Miles Davis and Tchaikovsky during the practice session. The other band members are Cassandra Scheier, Christian Buado and Guillermo Alvarez.

“People say we’re the best amateurs in the country and maybe the best in the world,” Bargender said. “You don’t think about that much until you perform at the White House.”