The bayan ( rus, бая́н, p=bɐˈjan) is a type of

chromatic button accordion A chromatic button accordion is a type of button accordion where the melody-side keyboard consists of rows of buttons arranged chromatically. The bass-side keyboard is usually the Stradella system or one of the various free-bass systems. In ...

developed in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

in the early 20th century and named after the 11th-century

bard In Celtic cultures, a bard is an oral repository and professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's a ...

Boyan.

Characteristics

The bayan differs from western chromatic button accordions in some details of construction: * Reeds are broader and

rectangular In Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is a rectilinear convex polygon or a quadrilateral with four right angles. It can also be defined as: an equiangular quadrilateral, since equiangular means that all of its angles are equal (360°/4 = 90 ...

(rather than

trapezoid In geometry, a trapezoid () in North American English, or trapezium () in British English, is a quadrilateral that has at least one pair of parallel sides. The parallel sides are called the ''bases'' of the trapezoid. The other two sides are ...

al). * Reeds are often attached in large groups to a common plate (rather than in pairs); the plates are

screw A screw is an externally helical threaded fastener capable of being tightened or released by a twisting force (torque) to the screw head, head. The most common uses of screws are to hold objects together and there are many forms for a variety ...

ed to the reed block (rather than attached with wax). * The

melody A melody (), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of Pitch (music), pitch and rhythm, while more figurativel ...

-side keyboard is attached near the middle of the body (rather than at the rear). * Reeds are generally not tuned with

tremolo In music, ''tremolo'' (), or ''tremolando'' (), is a trembling effect. There are multiple types of tremolo: a rapid repetition of a note, an alternation between two different notes, or a variation in volume. Tremolos may be either ''measured'' ...

. *

Register Register or registration may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), ...

switches may be operated with the chin on some larger models (also possible with some larger European button accordions). * The diminished chord row is shifted, so that the diminished G chord is where one would expect the diminished C chord in the Stradella bass system. * Converter switches that go from standard preset chords to free bass (individual bass notes) are common on the larger instruments. As opposed to Western conventions, in free bass mode the low notes usually are at the bottom of the instrument and the high notes at the top. * Newer instruments may feature a register where every tone played actually produces a

perfect fifth In music theory, a perfect fifth is the Interval (music), musical interval corresponding to a pair of pitch (music), pitches with a frequency ratio of 3:2, or very nearly so. In classical music from Western culture, a fifth is the interval f ...

. The differences in internal construction give the bayan a different

tone color In music, timbre (), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound of a musical note, sound or musical tone, tone. Timbre distinguishes sounds according to their source, such as choir voices and musica ...

from Western instruments, and the

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

has a much fuller sound. Because of their range and purity of tone, bayans are often the instrument of choice for accordion virtuosi who perform classical and

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is Western art music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st-century classical music, 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 Modernism (music), post-tonal music after the death of ...

. Two Soviet composers of note who wrote compositions for bayan are Vladislav Zolotaryov and

Sofia Gubaidulina Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina (24 October 1931 – 13 March 2025) was a Soviet and Russian composer of Modernism (music), modernist Holy minimalism, sacred music. She was highly prolific, producing numerous Chamber music, chamber, Orchestra, orch ...

. Slovak composer Peter Machajdík composed ''Concerto for Two Bayans and Orchestra'', which was premiered by Acco Duo (Miran Vaupotić & Ivana Levak-Vaupotić), with the Symphony Orchestra of the Pomeranian Philharmonic under Alexander Gref, at the Paderewski Philharmonic in Bydgoszcz, Poland on 4 June 2009. Russian Bayan virtuoso Stas Venglevski has premiered contemporary works by Yehuda Yannay, Anthony Galla-Rini and William Susman.

Citations

General and cited references

* Cherkaskyi, L. (2003). ''Ukrainski narodni muzychni instrumenty''. Kyiv, Ukraine: Tekhnika. .

External links

The Classical Bayan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayan (Accordion) Accordion Ukrainian musical instruments Russian inventions Russian musical instruments

Characteristics

See also

Citations

General and cited references

External links