Study Highlights about the Converter System on the Contemporary Accordion Performance in the Second Half of the XX Century

The article pretends to research the evolution path of a singular musical instrument, its fundamental history aspects and social impact in the society. Throughout the body of the article, some references are included to the main brands, composers and pedagogues, as well as to the basic techniques that involve the mechanism in the performance.In the second half of the XX century the accordion experienced significant changes that would change the instrument's destiny, its practice, sound range and potential. One of these changes was the creation of a converter system that opened doors to performance on this instrument, such as: hands independence, polyphony realization, new compositions, technical and artistic development of the performers skills. Just like the Boehm system for the flute invented by Theobald Boehm between 1831 and 1847, Vittorio Mancini invented in 1959 a system for the left hand mechanism that led to the appearance of the accordion in large concert halls, in large auditoriums with orchestra, in chamber music and in the syllabus of higher schools and universities. This article seeks to study the impact of the converter system on the evolution of an instrument with traditional and popular roots that has been increasingly asserting itself as an instrument with transversal capabilities to interpret any genre of music from popular to contemporary.