Sue Sitter/PCT Alex Meixner, left, and Rory Hoffmann play a polka tune on their accordions onstage at Rugby’s Tilman Hovland Auditorium, April 23.

A small but enthusiastic audience braved an icy evening wind on April 23 to enjoy a lively musical performance by Alex Meixner and Rory Hoffmann at Rugby High School’s Tilman Hovland Auditorium.

The concert was a part of the Heart of America Concert Series, which will wrap up in May.

The duo combined talents developed by classical training and natural learning to bring music from accordions, brass instruments, guitars, and a piano to the local stage.

Before Meixner and Hoffmann became a duo, they had each built successful careers of their own. Meixner played his accordion on “The Tonight Show”. Hoffmann has made numerous appearances on the Grand Old Opry stage.

The musicians shared humorous observations of Rugby’s wintry mix of rain and snow in April with the audience.

“According to the calendar, about a month ago, the seasons changed,” Meixner said. “And it says ‘springtime,’ at least on my calendar.

“We got into Minnesota the other day and it did not feel like springtime,” Meixner added. “And here in Rugby, North Dakota … “

“It does not feel like springtime,” Hoffmann said, finishing Meixner’s sentence.

Musical childhoods

Both members of the duo said they came from musical families and began playing as preschoolers – Meixner at age four and Hoffmann at age three. Meixner, who grew up in Pennsylvania, received his training at Ithaca College in New York, where he studied the trumpet. He said he and his family now live in New Braunfels, Texas.

Hoffmann said he was “from Lemmon, South Dakota.”

“We had a South Dakota mailing address and a North Dakota phone number, because our ranch property was across the state line into Adams County, North Dakota,” Hoffmann said.

Hoffman, whose family formed a gospel band called Roland Hoffmann and the Believers, grew up surrounded by music. Although Hoffman was born blind, he learned to play musical instruments at age three. He said he had always been drawn to music, and overcame challenges caused by his visual impairment to explore different instruments and build his talent.

After their humorous onstage chat about North Dakota weather, the duo played “The Springtime Polka” on accordions to spark thoughts of warmer weather on the blustery evening.

Their concert featured a variety of music styles ranging from traditional polkas to Western Swing.

Meixner and Hoffman showed impressive versatility, switching from accordions to guitars to the trumpet, trombone, and flute.

Hoffman said his flute had been modified to be held and played more like a clarinet because he had learned to play it as a preschooler “and my arms couldn’t reach the length of the flute held to the side.”

Hoffman sat at the piano to accompany Meixnar as he played Louis Armstrong’s “When You’re Smiling” on the trumpet.

Next, they switched back to accordions for a tribute to Lawrence Welk with a rendition of “The Champagne Polka.”

Humor

brightens show

The pair kept the mood lively for their small audience with more jokes. Meixnar brought out a unique instrument he said he fashioned from a hose and a funnel called a “hose-a-phone.”

“This isn’t something to be used for drinking,” he quipped. “It’s a musical instrument.”

The makeshift instrument produced a good sound, with the help of a mouthpiece.

During intermission, both said they were happy to be in North Dakota.

“Rugby’s a cute town,” Meixner said. “I didn’t realize I was coming to the center of North America. I pulled into town and I almost took a picture (at the Geographical Center of North America Monument), except the wind was blowing me over.

“But the people here have been super sweet and it’s a wonderful auditorium and it’s just wonderful to be up here to play for you all,” he added.

“I’ve been to North Dakota before once,” Meixner said. “I’ve played in Lisbon before and I was supposed to play in Crosby tomorrow, but (the weather) has definitely curtailed that, so we’re heading down to Lemmon, South Dakota, which is right next to lime.”

Dakotan roots

Hoffmann said, “It’s kind of good to be back in the homeland in general – in the Dakotas. I actually know a lady who lives here, Louella Gupman, she used to live in our part of the country and lives here now. I was hoping to see her tonight.

“But we had a good time,” he said. “We ate at Dakota Farms tonight and had good burgers and delicious coconut cream pie. And we had knoephla soup. I haven’t had knoephla soup since I left the Dakotas. You don’t get knoephla soup in Nashville.”

Hoffmann said, “I didn’t have a first instrument I learned to play as a child.”

“In the family band, I played drums when I was five years old,” he added. “But I was teaching myself other instruments all along.

“That’s why I play guitar the way I do,” he said, explaining why he played the instrument on his lap. “Because I started guitar around when I was three years old, and I couldn’t wrap my hands around the neck. It was too big. But I could lay the guitar on my lap and play overhanded, so I just started developing that.”

Hoffmann said the fact he had sight impairment “gave me a little more focus because I didn’t get into sports, so I got in music instead. I depend on my other senses maybe more because I’m blind, but it allowed me to focus more on the thing I enjoyed the most, which was music.

“Music is the ultimate auditory experience,” he added. “Music is about using your ears. So, for me, it was push a key on the piano and see what sound it made. Push the next key and see what it made – oh, wow, those two go together – and it was just figuring out. It was the same with drums and the guitar. Pick the strings and see what they do. It was kind of figuring it out by listening.”

Hoffmann said he spends most of his time in warmer states since his childhood in North Dakota.

“I like it here, despite the cold,” he noted.

“I grew up in North Dakota winters. It doesn’t scare me too much, but I wasn’t expecting this quite in April,” he added, referring to the blustery April weather.

After an April 29 comedy performance by Kenny Ahern, the series wraps up on May 10 with an appearance by The Sons of the Pioneers. For more information on the series, call 776-5443.