The Air Button

[PeterT]

How do you use the air button "constantly" without affecting the volume of the note being played?

Hi Cary,

 

I use the air valve in exactly the same way as Frank E.

 

The short answer to your question, is practice. Initially, your thumb will feel very sore in the joints, but this will recede when the air button use becomes automatic.

 

Yes, it does alter the volume of notes being played, and this is another reason for using the air valve; it enables you to introduce more "light and shade" into your playing. In fact, with practice, it is possible to play quite softly, yet smoothly; very useful if you provide song accompaniment. For "soft", you increase the pressure on the air button, for "loud", you reduce the pressure. But, the thumb is always there, in place, ready for use. In time, you will find that this is much easier than trying to remember, in advance, that the air valve will be needed during a particular part of the music.

 

The other factor is bellows control; I would estimate that I normally have the bellows between 35 and 70% open whilst playing. Note: I take 100% open to mean fully extended, but not putting any strain on the bellows. It is worth noting, that I play across the rows to a large extent, which also helps to reduce bellows movement.

 

Regards,

Peter.

[Chris Ghent]

them while playing, and I don't think it's even clear how Harry Boyd used them or whether any other performers ever did. There doesn't seem to be any need for or even benefit from them while playing an English. The idea that such "bowing valves" would be helpful in using the bellows to imitate the bowing patterns of a violin appears spurious, since the violin has no corresponding aids, and so any pattern of reversals -- bellows or bow -- that would exceed the limits of the bellows should be expected to go beyond the end of a bow, as well.

 

Suspect the bowing valve was aimed at duplicating the ability of the bow to influence tone rather than directional patterns.

 

Chris

[CaryK]

How do you use the air button "constantly" without affecting the volume of the note being played?

 

Yes, it does alter the volume of notes being played, and this is another reason for using the air valve; it enables you to introduce more "light and shade" into your playing. In fact, with practice, it is possible to play quite softly, yet smoothly; very useful if you provide song accompaniment. For "soft", you increase the pressure on the air button, for "loud", you reduce the pressure. But, the thumb is always there, in place, ready for use. In time, you will find that this is much easier than trying to remember, in advance, that the air valve will be needed during a particular part of the music.

 

 

Regards,

Peter.

 

Thanks, Peter. I thought the only purpose of the air button was to keep the bellows at proper "fill" while playing. I'd never thought about it having a purpose in creating the expressiveness one might want in a tune. I will try to adopt this in my own playing.

[hjcjones]

[

This has been one of the most difficult techniques for me to learn. How do you use the air button "constantly" without affecting the volume of the note being played?

 

To add to Peter's reply on this, when you're using the air button at the same time as playing notes you only need to let a small amount of air in or out, just enough to adjust the position of the bellows as required. Like Peter, I also play across the rows, which also helps to keep the "balance". Try to avoid having to make huge gasps in between phrases.

 

It's hard to imagine when you start, but it does become automatic. You are constantly adjusting the air pressure to get the bellows to the position you need to be in to play the next phrase, but playing the air button just becomes part of playing the tune - it's just another "note" to finger.

 

My first instrument was so leaky that I had to develop good air-button control to play anything!

[Charlotte]

It's hard to imagine when you start, but it does become automatic. You are constantly adjusting the air pressure to get the bellows to the position you need to be in to play the next phrase, but playing the air button just becomes part of playing the tune - it's just another "note" to finger.

 

When you practice (scales etc) do you also practise using the air button or does the use of it come naturally by itself?

[Mark Davies]

On my newly acquired Crabb concertina Geoff Crabb has replaced the usual air button with an air lever that is operated by placing the thumb on top of the lever(its actually a button connected to a lever)and gently pressing.This operates a standard sized pad to release small amounts of air.Press the lever down fully and a completely separate lever and a larger pad is operated and a much more air is relased.The mechanics for doing this are very ingenius.The drone on the left hand side again is again operated by a similar lever,which can be locked into place.

 

Initially,as I have always played anglos with air buttons,this didn't seem easy.The more I played the instrument the easier it became to use the air lever and the drone lever.With this system you cannot rest your thumb on the lever as this will cause it to permanently operate so your thumb must either hovver over the air lever,rest on the fretwork to the right of the lever or rest on the end of the handle to the left of the lever.

 

On a 32 key Dickinson Wheatstone I play, in addition to the standard air button on the right hand side, there is additional button on the accidental row at the thumb end of the concertina on the left hand side which looks like a additional note but is in fact an air button.This is very useful as its enables you far easier in a phrase of music to release air.

[hjcjones]

When you practice (scales etc) do you also practise using the air button or does the use of it come naturally by itself?

 

I never practice scales, I just practice tunes.

 

When I'm arranging a new tune, working out the bellows direction and use of air button etc is just as much part of learning a tune as the actual notes. It's like learning a song - as well as knowing the tune and the words you have to find out where to breath.

 

If I'm in a session playing a tune I don't know very well, I can usually pick up the tune quite quickly, and the air button just seems to come naturally, just as the notes do. I don't usually have to think about it too hard - but that's probably due to experience.

[richard]

Here's my 2 C.ents

 

After figuring out a fingering that serves the tune well as far as phrasing and pulse, my use of the air button is really determined by subconcious muscle memory. My arms sense a maximum and mimimum gap between them and that "sensor" tells my thumb to respond.

 

There are more subtle aspects like using it to control volume etc, that seems to develop into intuition over time.

 

Richard

[Chris Drinkwater]

I was wondering how the air button is used on the English concertina? Could anyone explain? Does it have uses other than opening or closing the bellows without making a sound? Is it used in the process of actually playing tunes on the instrument?

I have a 1937 metal-ended Wheatstone English treble which has an air button on the right-hand side at the top in front of the thumb strap. Whilst I agree that its main use is to facilitate the silent opeing/closing of the bellows, I can see that it can come in useful to open the bellows while playing certain types of tune where 'attack' is used on a note to give the tune a bit of a lift (i.e. the need for a greater volume of air to increase the loudness of a note). Attack is best done on the close of the bellows, so if the bellows at that point in the tune happen to be almost closed, the air button can then be used to open the bellows sufficiently to provide enough volume of air to play that particular note to full effect, before reversing the bellows direction to carry on with the rest of the tune.