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http://www.accordions.com/news.aspx?d=27-Apr-2012&lang=fr&s=5578
http://www.accordions.com/news.aspx?d=27-Apr-2012&lang=fr&s=5578
27-Apr-2012
by Rob Howard
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 Sylvia Marie Barber, born in Indiana in 1938, sang and played the piano and accordion from a young age. By the age of six she was playing for local gatherings and concerts. She won several talent contests on the accordion and was playing professionally before she was a teenager. Her early appearances included Don McNeil's Breakfast Club, two tours with the Horace Heidt Show, Grand Old Oprey Show at Buck Lake Ranch, Indiana, and the Lawrence Welk Show for a summer. Sylvia’s teachers included Jim Dumato, who she described as “a wonderful teacher”, of whom she said, “It took the poor man, half a year of teaching me many difficult selections including ‘Flight of the Bumble Bee’ with ‘Bumble Boogie’ and ‘Carnival of Venice with Variations’, to discover I couldn't read a note of music. He always played it for me first, my ear would pick up most of it, and he'd correct what I didn't hear correctly each week when I brought the song back for lesson. Needless to say, Jim made sure I could read as well as hear the music in short order!”. Sylvia worked as an air stewardess, then married and had a son, Scott. She opened a music studio in the San Francisco Bay area, moved to Los Angeles and began entertaining in a restaurant before working as an accordionist for Disneyland in Florida. Moving back to California, Sylvia continued to perform, appear as a guest at accordion festivals and also to make recordings. Sylvia Marie Barber was held in high regard by fellow accordionists in the USA. She died on April 23rd 2012, and is survived by husband Bob and son Scott. |