Bob Donovan is product manager for Siemens and performs with the accordion as a hobby. Bob grew up in northern Kentucky and recently moved to Nashville TN in 2018. Bob plays multiple instruments such as drums, guitar and piano, however his favorite instrument is the accordion. While Bob has only been playing the accordion for 10 years, he has quickly grown his skills to compete in the Rocky Mountain Accordion Society competition.

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Bob then focused his efforts on becoming a professional performer. Bob both sings and plays as a performer and performs both as a solo performer and in bands and ensembles. Bob has performed at the Hofbräuhaus Newport KY, Cincinnati Oktoberfest, Covington Oktoberfest, Louisville Oktoberfest, Wilmington Oktoberfest, and Nashville Oktoberfest, and Wilmington Celtic Festival. Bob enjoys finding ways to bring the accordion to more contemporary music, venues, and audiences. Bob has performed in several bands featuring the accordion with various genres such as Rock, Pop, Country, Zydeco, Blues, and TexMex.

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Bob's performances feature either a Roland FR-8X or a Siwa & Figli Grand Musette with a Limex MIDI system. Bob’s solo performances also included the use of an arranger to enhance the audience experience with more instruments to make the experience more authentic.  Currently Bob is using the Ketron SD-90 and has also used the V3 Desktop and Roland BK-7m. Bob has experiences in recording in his home studio, writing music, creating backing tracks using Studio One DAW, and creating sheet music scores for his performances using Notion.

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Bob will be teaching the Tech Level 1 class for the Roland FR-8x as well as the Ketron SD90 arranger class.  IDEAS welcomes back Bob as part of our Faculty this year and we are thankful for his many contributions throughout the year to help us get ready for this fabulous Symposium.