Accordion Teachers Appreciation

We get a lot of questions about accordion lessons and would like to spotlight some of the incredible accordion teachers whose students competed in the Big Squeeze this year!

Kaleb Leday (2021 Big Squeeze Zydeco Champion): Kaleb is scheduling virtual accordion lessons for the summer now! Visit www.lessonsbyleday.com to book your lessons now!

Elena Fainshtein: Elena owns the Musical Expressions Accordion School. Please visit www.elenafainshtein.com to contact her for piano and button accordion lessons.

Aaron Salinas (2014 Big Squeeze Conjunto Champion): Aaron teaches virtual accordion lessons through Conjunto Heritage Taller. Visit conjuntoheritagetaller.com for more information.

Javier Loya teaches students at La Joya Palmview High School and leads Conjunto “La Tradición,” who hosts their own event each year. 

Jaime & Jesus Lozano both teach the students of Los Cardenales de Roma High School

We would also like to spotlight the other school district-sanctioned Texas Conjunto programs that foster the future of conjunto music and whose talented students have competed in the Big Squeeze for many seasons: Los Fresnos HS’ Conjunto Halcon lead by Juan Longoria, Jr, Edcouch-Elsa HS lead by Juan Navarro, Los Fresnos Middle School lead by Santiago Castillo.

Here are some additional Accordion Teachers to look into as well!

Juan Antonio Tapia: Juan is a Conjunto Music Teacher in the RGV area. He will be joining the Region 1 Education Service Center in Edinburg for the 2022-23 School Year to provide Conjunto Music Lessons at various ISDs. You can contact him for more information by phone at 956-579-2936.

Thank you to all the accordion teachers across Texas and Louisiana that help to foster cultural heritage music traditions in the next generation of tradition-bearers! Share any additional teachers we should include on this list at info@texasfolklife.org.