Ling Shien Bell of Helm demonstrates the accordion for the Gilded Serpent

Ling Shien lives in Fairfax, California. She is part of the musical group Helm along with her husband Mark Bell and others. She came to the Gilded Serpent studio to tell us how she has modified a standard western made accordion to be able to play the quarter tones required in many of the Arabic modes. She shows us a row of reeds that is normally inside an accordion and how they work similar to a harmonica. She plays parts of songs from Armenia and Afghanistan. She also plays a song in the key of bayati. Ple