As a violinist learning to play the anglo concertina, I am constantly questioning bellows direction.
We are trained on the violin to use a downward (pulling) bow motion on the first note of a bar (very generally speaking, as there are lots of exceptions). An upward (pushing) bow motion is used on the upbeat of a bar, again very generally speaking.
With the concertina, the opposite appears to be the case (generally speaking), where the push is the first note of a bar, etc.
How is it that the instrument was designed this way? Is it inherited from other reed systems?
Has anyone tried an alternate, like reversing the reeds on each note? (violins can be reversed for left-handed players).
Curious.