The contestants who perform in the Kimberley International Old Time Accordion Championships each year are judged according to their ability to play their selections of accordion music in a truly distinctive OLD TIME style. This is the unusual and unique feature that makes the annual festival such a popular event.

Many of the contestants experience some difficulty in choosing a suitable selection of "OLD TIME "and in performing the music in an appropriate manner and style. The rules of the Kimberley International Old Time Accordion Championships state that for the purposes of the competition, "Old Time" accordion music refers to the manner and style in which the selection is played, not the selection itself, its age or its ethnic origin. It has been fittingly described for the purposes of the competition as the style and tempo that has been predominately and successfully used for dancing the Polka, Waltz and Schottische throughout a broad section of Western Canadian communities during the past century.

The competitors are judged on a combination of the technical merit and the danceability of the "Old Time" accordion music that they play. Their selections must not be just music you can dance to – but music that you would want to dance to.

The term "International" that appears in the name of the event does not refer to the type of music or style of play, but rather it is intended to denote that it is an International competition open to accordionist from any nation.

Joe Morelli is a well known and accomplished accordionist and adjudicator. He has been associated with the Kimberley International Old Time Accordion Championships for a number of years.

The June 1992 edition of the Accordion World Magazine featured an article he wrote entitled "An Adjudicator’s Advice on "Old Time"". In this article he provided his interpretation of the meaning of the term "Old Time Accordion Music" as it relates to the KIOTAC event. A condensation of this article follows, which may help the reader comprehend this difficult subject.

As an adjudicator numerous times for the contest since about 1986, I have always looked forward with great anticipation to being a piece of the action. In short, it is a joy for me to participate, rub shoulders with all of my friends in Kimberley, strike up new acquaintances and to listen to the myriad of accordion playing styles.

The festival is growing each year as is the number of contestants and the talent and calibre of these contestants continues to escalate ever upwards making the task of adjudicating more demanding. There is no time for relaxation for an adjudicator having to listen to such a wealth of talent which brings me to the point of this article, an aspect which concerns and confuses some contestants.

I have been approached by contestants after the awards that were bewildered as to why their marks did not reflect their playing. These people had literally played their hearts out with their own compositions and or arrangements, each a work of art. They displayed brilliant technique, very exquisite and harmonic creativity, embellishing their pieces with great taste and sensitivity.

In short, we heard some of the finest accordion playing ever to grace a stage, but these few bewildered contestants missed the very essence of this contest.

The Kimberley International Old Time Accordion Championships refers to OLD TIME.

This was the intention of its founders and I feel certain that everyone, contestants and visitors alike, would agree that it should remain as such. In divisions where the Waltz, Polka and Schottische are requisite pieces, it is essential that a feeling of "OLD TIME" be maintained and conveyed when vying for top marks.

It became evident that some pieces as played were, if not out of context, then certainly too elaborate in technical displays and harmonic chord clusters, all bordering on musical extravagances!

These types of pieces so arranged, would be more suitable in the Popular division, where danceability is not a criteria. While the pulse ought to be predominately the focus of attention (particularly for the Dance Judges – after all, we are talking about competition not a concert), it (the pulse) has almost been usurped by the wrong element. We are mesmerized by the" flash", as it were, and the dance judges who are straining to feel the pulse that might compel them to dance are overwhelmed by this. It seems to me that OLD TIME MUSIC whose simple, melodic lines (with intelligent use of embellishments), without an overabundance of keyboard gymnastics should dictate the rhythm. Otherwise, OLD TIME becomes defeated, lost in a mess of keyboard gyrations – brilliant on one hand, but falling short on the other.

With every conceivable space filled to the brim with notes, the pulse becomes vague and secondary; not that it isn`t there, but too many of the wrong elements command far too much attention for the dance judges especially, and for the listener in general who would like to relate to OLD TIME music.

In these divisions it is crucial then for the pulse to stand out in relief as does the subject matter of a fine painting. If the canvas is completely filled with images and lacks a sense of space, it becomes difficult for the observer to decide what his eyes should rest upon. Something in the painting must stand out in relief.
One should never have to strain to feel the pulse in OLD TIME music. My advice therefore to these performers is: "Music, like a painting, is painted (played) on a background of silence (space). "What will you do with the silence? How will you use it?

I feel there is a great lesson to be learned in listening to those contestants who play in the Golden and Silver Age divisions. These players have much to say and much to teach if one would listen. While these artists play their delightfully simple (I don`t mean simplistic) and rhythmic melodies, one never loses sight of the pulse or the beat, nor does one have to strain to feel it.

The reason for this is elementary. While they play, each one of them is the pulse. This is what they are caught up in. The pulse is their subject matter and rightly so, because isn`t this what OLD TIME is all about. These performers understand space and they know how to use it. Further their music is never too fast, never too slow.

They don`t make the tempo, they find it.

They know that an intelligent use of space with just the right amount of notation will produce for them and the dance judges, a very fulfilling sense of the dance. One might as well ask anyone of the old-timers to move Mount Findlay to Alaska as to expect them to lose sight of the pulse, or play their pieces too fast or too slow. True, some may not have spent hours each day working on technique or studying harmony or theory, but they do have the one element the judges are looking for.

Those little button boxes (or whatever type of accordion) in the more than capable hands of these performers say it all, and while they play, the music is saying "Come Dance!" I am willing to bet that each of these people can dance the Waltz, the Polka and the Schottische. I asked the competitors who spoke to me of their dilemma if in fact, they dance at all. They said "No." I said, "Learn to dance and you will find the pulse!"