But not your love for it. So, in 2001, as she turned 60, Todd strapped on an accordion again and began practicing, "just to see what might happen at this point in my life."

What happened is that she discovered there is still an accordion world out there. And it welcomed her back with open arms. Performances in such venues as TAA's National Accordion Convention, the Las Vegas International Convention and the Accordion Festival in Cotati, Calif., received high acclaim; critics hailed her "world-class" appearances.

Even more touching, she said, was that "people remembered me. They followed me around. One man remembered hearing me play in Washington, D.C., in 1960, and told me I changed his life. He went right back to Pocatello and began to practice the accordion." One man had heard her play in Germany; another in Shreveport, La. "They remembered my style."

Todd has recently produced her first CD, a self-titled album that includes folk, classical and popular songs. She's also been selected to be part of the Utah Arts Council's Utah Performing Arts Tour for 2004-05. (For information visit www.janettoddmusic.com).

Accordions are making something of a comeback, she thinks. Cajun zydeco music is popular. More and more pop and folk groups use them. Still, it is nothing like it was in the 1950s. Even now she looks back on those years with some amazement. "Before I got married, music was my whole life. I'd spend 20 hours a week in music lessons, some six hours in the Accordion Symphony and another four to six in straight practice."

Stereotypes aside, it was five years before she learned her first polka. "My teacher taught only classical music: Bach, Mendelssohn, Stravinsky. But I had a good ear, and I could pick up the pop songs."

But she learned early on that "there is a side of music for the musician, and one for the audience." She remembers at age 14 playing at the prestigious Pasadena Playhouse, and playing her own arrangement of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," a difficult piece.

And then Myron Floren came on, and he played the "Pennsylvania Polka." Polkas, Todd notes, only use three chords for the left hand and really aren't very challenging. "But the audience went wild; they loved it."

Polkas were so popular in those days that there was even a "Polka Parade" TV show, and she could have had a part in it, earning $450 a week — a lot of money then. "But my teacher threw a fit. 'If you start playing polkas now, you'll not play anything else,' he told me." And so, even though "polkas are wonderful," she said, "I've always wanted to give the idea that there's more than that to the accordion."

She doesn't know how far this comeback will take her — it's not like she's an aspiring artist hoping for a big career. But, she said, "the phone's been ringing, people asking me to play."

The accordion has brought music back into her life. "It's revived my deep love of music, a love I had buried for other important things."

---

E-MAIL: carma@desnews.com