By Mark Montie
Forty years ago, Darel Conrad shook the floor of the dance hall on First South playing his accordion with a five-piece orchestra.
Now there is a post office where that dance hall used to be, and it''s rare to hear an accordion performance in Provo.
However, Conrad, 65, of Orem, keeps busy teaching accordion lessons as he has for more than 45 years.
Conrad is also an LDS bishop and runs a restaurant and a ranch.
'I love my life,' Conrad said. 'I''ve been retired since I was 23 years old.'
In 1959, Conrad dropped out of BYU and started his first accordion-teaching business at the age of 22, which has since been his main source of income.
Conrad said the accordion is easier to learn than it looks.
'If you can drink water, I can teach you how to play the accordion,' he said.
Conrad has students ranging from seven to 80 years old and who travel from as far away as California.
Andy Hall, 28, from Provo, a graduate student in manufacturing, is a former student of Conrad.
'Darel''s just a friendly guy,' Hall said.
People are usually afraid of the accordion at first, but after three or four lessons, they never want to put it down, Conrad said.
Another of Conrad''s former students, who is 98 and started when she was 80, still plays at retirement homes in Alpine.
'She says if there''s not an accordion in the hereafter, she''s not going,' Conrad said.
Conrad said the accordion is the most versatile instrument in the world.
'There''s not a song you can''t play on the accordion,' he said.
Conrad has played in sacrament meetings and funerals, as well as dance halls.
Amber Taylor, 23, from Tremonton, Box Elder County, a junior in humanities, plays the accordion as part of BYU''s Celtic folk ensemble.
Taylor said people are surprised when they hear about the versatility of the accordion.
'They get really excited when I play the can-can,' said Taylor, who started playing the accordion at eight and has been playing ever since.
'A traveling salesman came and strapped one on me,' she said.
Hall plays every week at Ottavio''s Italian restaurant on Center Street, Monday through Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m.
'The accordion was invented around 1830,' Hall said. 'The restoration of the gospel was in 1830. I don''t think it''s a coincidence.'
Conrad has had as many as 100 students a week, but now only 38.
He cut down on teaching to spend more time with his family of ten children and many grand children.
Conrad said he is more choosy about who he will teach.
'I think people are like sheep,' he said. 'They have to be very interested before I take them on now.'
Although Conrad has cut back, he said has no plans of quitting.
'I''ll be teaching until I put the lid on top of my head,' Conrad said. 'I wouldn''t trade my life for anything in the world.'