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Hello to all you beautiful people! On Thursday, March 21, we had a very special guest come to PNC to play some music. This wasn’t just any ol’ musician that played for our residents - this was Matt Hodek playing his accordions! It was three different types of accordions… did you even know there was more than one type of accordion? I didn’t!!! Anything I do know about accordions and polka music came from John Candy when he played Gus Polinski in the movie “Home Alone”. Although Gus Polinski claimed to be the “polka king of the Midwest”, I dare say after hearing Matt Hodek play, I think he could strip that title away from Gus with ease! The first accordion that Matt played for our residents was his piano accordion. For those of you who don’t know much about the different types of accordions, this particular one is an accordion with a little piano attached to one side of it. I bet you never would have guessed that! Anyways, he also played a button accordion which has buttons instead of piano keys. The final accordion that Matt played for our residents was the concertina. This one has buttons on both ends of the accordion. This last one Matt played was extra special because it was handmade by Christy Hengel. Hengel was a well-known German-American concertina maker from New Ulm, Minn.
So what did Matt do before he became proficient at accordion playing? Well, Matt was born and raised on his family’s farm southwest of Lankin, N.D. A fun fact is that he still lives on that same farm to this day and farms the land with his two brothers, Mark and Mike. Many of the early settlers of Lankin were of Czech descent, and polka was their style of music. So, Lankin has always been known for its polka bands. Matt took a liking to the music and always thought it was fun to see everyone playing music, dancing, and having a great time. He always liked watching how music brought people together and made them happy.
It was Matt’s mother that got him started playing music by having him take piano lessons from the local music teacher, Rose Pic. His first interest in playing accordion came from a 12 bass accordion they had in their house. He always thought it was fun to take it out of its case and look at all the different parts to it. It was in high school where Matt learned how to play the trumpet. Since every good polka band has a tuba, he decided to learn how to play that as well. After he learned those instruments, he thought to himself, “Why stop there?” He went on to learn how to play all the different 3-valved brass instruments along with the piano accordion. Since not every polka band used a piano accordion, he decided he better learn the button accordion and the concertina as well.
Musically, Matt always looked up to his neighbor, Laddie Pecka. Laddie not only could play just about any instrument by ear, but he also could play two trumpets at once! You read that right, TWO trumpets at the same time! As someone who has absolutely no musical talent, this really impressed me! Up until I learned this little tidbit, I felt pretty good about the fact that I could still play “Hot Cross Buns” on a recorder.
In May of 2004, Matt started a fourpiece band called “Matt Hodek’s Dakota Dutchmen”. This is their 20th year of playing. However, over the years, the band has grown to be six or seven pieces. They have played all around the United States.
As Matt put it, “We have played wherever they are willing to take a chance on us.”
Recently in Arizona, the band had 12 people playing about 30 different instruments on stage, blending harmonies and instruments to make a big full sound. Matt said he enjoys playing for people because “when the music starts everyone forgets their troubles, and it’s a cheerful time.”
The band has made numerous friends across the States that continue to follow the band and their success. Their website is http://www.dakotadutchmen. com if you would like to learn more about them. Thank you, Matt, for blessing us at PNC with an afternoon of your wonderful music, plethora of accordion knowledge, and cheerfulness!