Position Of Instrument On Leg

[Mark Evans]

At NESI on Saturday afternoon, I happened to pick up my Jeffries "wrong side up" and noticed for the first time how worn the bellows are on the "thigh side". Now, I've not been playing it for more than a little over 3 years, and could not have been solely responsible for the amount of wear, but I took it to Bob Snope to see if I should be worried. He did a great trick- opened the bellows, licked his lips, and held the instrument up to his mouth (no, he didn't kiss it!), testing to see if he could detect a tiny leak at each fold. Nope, it's still nice and tight- but I'm glad I'd already begun practicing holding the instrument at chest-height. It's a heavy instrument to maintain such a position for long (for me at least ) but I'm going to try not to add to the wear any more than I can help.

 

I know a little of the recent history of the instrument, but from the shiny worn leather I saw, I think I can guess it had at least one other owner I'll never know of- probably the original owner, who held it on his (?) right thigh and played a lot!

 

I didn't notice you dragging the bellows in the least when performing at my school. As long as the instrument is ancored on one knee or the other and the bellows allowed to mover freely, it should be good to go. I can't imagine hoisting that beautiful, heavy intrument into the air for any length of time...whew !

 

Your smoothe playing style might suffer, and that would be a shame.

[geoffwright]

Have any skirt-wearers (female or male??) found they have suffered from "worn" bellows?

Would a leather skirt wear the bellows? (Do they make them in my size?)

[Frank Edgley]

John Williams is a great player, although on his video he warns not to play with the bellows over the knee, and then promptly does it. Just an example of, "Do as I say..." BTW, John won All Ireland once on the concertina. He is the only non-irish born player to have won at all, but it was only once. I once saw a concertina, which had been rebuilt professionally, in the possession of Gearoid OhAllmuirhain. The bellows looked fairly new, but worn though on the underside from playing over the knee. This isn't to say he, himself, did it, but that it can be done in little time with a lot of aggressive playing.

[lildogturpy]

I once saw a concertina, which had been rebuilt professionally, in the possession of Gearoid OhAllmuirhain. The bellows looked fairly new, but worn though on the underside from playing over the knee.

 

Luckily Gearoid plays with the bellows on his knee so his trousers blocked the hole up!

[Animaterra]

Would a leather skirt wear the bellows? (Do they make them in my size?)

 

 

Geoff, you need a Utilikilt!

http://www.utilikilts.com/index.php?page_id=13

[JimLucas]

At NESI on Saturday afternoon, I happened to pick up my Jeffries "wrong side up" and noticed for the first time how worn the bellows are on the "thigh side". ... I'm glad I'd already begun practicing holding the instrument at chest-height. It's a heavy instrument to maintain such a position for long (for me at least )...

Keep at it. I find that the more I do it, the easier it becomes.

 

I didn't notice you dragging the bellows in the least when performing at my school. As long as the instrument is ancored on one knee or the other and the bellows allowed to mover freely, it should be good to go.

Agreed.

 

I can't imagine hoisting that beautiful, heavy intrument into the air for any length of time...whew !

 

Your smoothe playing style might suffer, and that would be a shame.

It shouldn't, except maybe temporarily.

 

For me the weight is no problem, since I've been playing even my bass English that way "forever". For me the difficulty has been learning to control the bellows with the handstrap handles, without interfering with my fingers' freedom of movement on the keyboard. But as I say, the more I work at it, the easier it becomes. And I expect the day will come when -- as with the embouchure on the kaval -- I'll wonder why it ever gave me trouble.

 

By the way, the instrument I'm speaking of here is a 38-button, metal-ended, 1.55 kg (3 lb 7 oz), C/G Jeffries.