DONALD B. SANDERS, CALGARY, ALBERTA

ACCORDION & DBS – part of ‘Music And Religion In My Life’.

Ever since I was quite
young, my life has been greatly influenced & uplifted by live music –
more specifically, by relatives who played musical instruments, in public and
in private, for the enjoyment of many.

The
first influence was my father, who played the VIOLIN. My earliest recollections
go back to when I was maybe 4 years old, with my dad playing the violin at home
after supper; and many-a-night when I went to bed, I was lulled to-sleep
– by Dad playing his violin. Back in those days, Dad also played for
dances at the local ‘one-room country school-house’. But in about
1952, my Dad became a Born-again Christian – after that, no more playing
for dances; instead Dad learned the hymns and played his violin in church once
in awhile. And at home, there was more music than ever – because Mom was
religious and appreciated the gospel music more.

The
second influence was my Uncle Les McNaughton (my Mom’s brother), and he
played the ACCORDION. Every few years our family would spend the summer
holidays at Dunster, B.C., where my Mom had 3 brothers (Les, Don and Stan) and
their families. (Dunster is a hamlet on the CNR mainline between Jasper, Alberta and McBride B.C. just off Highway #16, and along
the upper reaches of the Fraser
River). Les was the
musical one, and we enjoyed many evenings at his place, usually into the wee
hours of the morning, while he told jokes about local hunting & fishing
trips + played his accordion. Of the hunting stories – I suspect that
many were little more than ‘tall tales’ or ‘fishing
stories’. But the music from the accordion - it intrigued me no end.

It
was no surprise, therefore, that I took up the accordion when I was 11 or 12
years old. My music teacher, after school once a week, was Mrs Bert Long, who
had a rooming-house + taught music lessons on several instruments, in the Village of Irma. Along with the regular music
lessons, I had her teach me how to play ‘hymns’, and sometimes I played
my accordion, along with Dad on his violin, at our ‘Alliance’
church. At school, we were fortunate to have a very dedicated music teacher
named Aletha Glasgow, from about Grade 4 through Grade 10 or so.  From Mrs Glasgow I learned at least much
about music, as I did from Mrs Long; but this time in a group setting, with
more theory and singing in parts, etc. (I did not fully realize until 1997,
what an accomplished musician Mrs Glasgow actually was – until I read her
‘Biography’ in the ‘Irma books’ that had been published
a few years earlier.)

Then an amazing thing
happened at our ‘Alliance Church’ in Irma – ‘The Sutera
Twins’ (Ralph and Louis) came to minister as ‘Gospel Music
Evangelists’ about 1957 or so – one fellow played the VIOLIN and
the other played the ACCORDION! Wow! Here is a picture of ‘The Sutera
Twins’ (exactly as I remember them) on sheet music that I discovered at
‘Pilgrim Books’ (used Christian books & music in Calgary) about 2003 :

Meeting these ‘musical evangelist’ fellows in 1957 was great
inspiration for me – ever since then, I have dreamed of becoming a
‘travelling musical evangelist’ – with my own electric/
electronic accordion.

This is Ralph & Lou today. Still
going strong in ‘revival crusades’ all over North
America.

This
dream is still in my spirit – though I am now 60 years old, I would very
much enjoy ‘travelling for Jesus’ with my accordion. My accordion
now is an ‘electronic ZeroSette’ model – and what an
instrument it is! When plugged into an amplifier or p.a. system, this
instrument can sound like a regular accordion or like ‘an orchestra of up
to 20 or so instruments’, complete with ‘thumping base’,
‘Leslie speaker’  and a tambourine-like percussion
instrument!

Here I am with my ‘ZeroSette’
in May 2004. On the front panel of the accordion, to the right of the
‘keyboard’, you can see several dozen extra buttons and switches,
which make this an amazing instrument; and even
without a lot of training, this instrument still sounds amazing in my hands,
with holy spirit unction.

Here
I am about the time I first met the Sutera Twins

For the past few years, I
have asked myself: “Whatever happened to the ‘chord organs’
of the 50’s & 60’s?” Then a couple of years ago, while
searching on the internet, I came across this keyboard.

This
is a modern ‘electronic midi accordion keyboard’.

It has all of the features
of a modern ‘midi keyboard’, along with the ‘bass
buttons’ of an accordion.

By
the grace of God I will have such a machine, very soon, for gospel music &
ministry.

I am a
‘Minstrel4Him’ – making music for Him, wherever I go.

Over the years I have
written many new gospel songs + played my accordion around campfires, leading
worship in ‘home groups’, ‘buskering’ on the streets of
Calgary, and
while giving my testimony in various churches.

The
fact is – I fully expect to soon have my ‘teen-age dream’
fulfilled – of travelling all over the prairies, and elsewhere, with HIS MUSIC.
I ‘figger’ that my best days are still ahead. Thank You, Jesus!

This page added 2004-12-30

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