Exercises for bellows technique

[stickista]

I’m asking this in regards to bandoneon, but I imagine its an issue that all accordionists have to deal with.
When I watch recordings of my playing I’m appalled by the phrasing and dynamics of my sound due to changes in volume with bellows direction changes.
I’m sure the primary solution to this is to plan out all direction changes the same way a violinist incorporates bow direction, but as a jazz player, that kind of calculation is anathema to me.
But in addition to that, are there any known exercises or methodologies that deal with overcoming that drop in volume that results from a bellows change?
(In the meantime, I use a crap load of compression to hide it a bit, but that results in a loss of any intentional dynamics.

 

[JerryPH]

That's a pretty fair question and not one that is found with a lot of answers. Fortunately, the BEST way is the same method that is used throughout most accordion evolution... practice.

We are discussing 2 branches of the same tree here... proper bellows control for volume dynamics and proper bellows control so that you change directions in an appropriate part of the end of a musical phrase. One of the ways that can help is to over-emphasize the dynamics of a song on purpose while practicing it. Play F (forte) parts as if they were FFF and play P (pianissimo) sections as if they were PPP that way you learn the range of loud to soft and then learn to control (via PRACTICE) for a smooth transition from PPP to PP to P to M to MF to F to FF and finally to FFF. These are NOT set values, indeed that transition should be as "adjustable" as a radio dial from minimum to maximum.

Learning when to change direction of the bellows is easier... choose the END of a phrase that is not so far along that you have your hands spread super wide (unless it is absolutely demanded by the music of course!).

Now, all that said... this is an ACCORDION forum and this advice is meant for accordion players. I am not a bandoneon player and indeed those may require incredibly and vastly different technique, up to and including the use of the air button to pre-open or pre-close the bellows for proper song interpretation (something that you won't ever see an experienced, properly trained accordionist do very often at all).

 

[JeffJetton]

I’m sure the primary solution to this is to plan out all direction changes the same way a violinist incorporates bow direction, but as a jazz player, that kind of calculation is anathema to me.

That fine. There's no need to plan in advance. After all, a jazz saxophonist/trumpeter/vocalist can perform an entire, multi-chorus solo, without planning out before the gig where they will take their breaths. Same for accordion players and bellows, and (I would imagine?) for bandoneonists and their bellows.

But in addition to that, are there any known exercises or methodologies that deal with overcoming that drop in volume that results from a bellows change?

First, unless you're doing it on purpose for effect, you never want to change bellows direction when you're holding a note. It has to happen between notes. A "drop in volume" is merely a drop in bellows-driven air pressure, and who cares if there's a drop in pressure if it's in a place where you're not playing anything?

And ideally, as JerryPH pointed out, whenever possible (and for unisonoric instruments it's almost always possible), you should put the bellows changes in between musical phrases.

It's is true that beginners are usually taught to changes bellows on the bar line at first. Say, every two or four measures or something. Which is fine, because the phrases of those beginner's tunes usually fall on the bar line anyway. But in short order you need to learn to switch bellows at some point within the measure.

After all, you don't take breaths exclusively on bar lines when you sing. No one does this: "Hap-py [GASP] Birth-day to You___Hap-py [GULP] Birth-day to You....!!!!"

Your bellows "breathing" must be informed by the musical sentence you're speaking.

 

[godgi]

can I stir the pot here!
when I listen to a piano I cannot hear a "bellow change" all I hear normally is a separate continuum of individual notes played as required ie softly/delicately/forte etc. I do not know how a piano plays a legato passage perhaps the pedal is used to link one note to the next to create a legato illusion. I do not know how a wind instrument creates a note but i cannot hear a "bellow change". I am thinking that a saxophonist for example creates his notes by puffing controlled amounts of air ( perhaps bursts)stored in his lungs in a separate continuum until he reaches for another breath to begin again. Therefore perhaps bellow change on an accordion can be less of an issue as we think - unless we are playing a legato passage where bellow change is obviously important. And as an extra thought these essential legato passages occur less than we think. Perhaps someone who plays a wind instrument can enlighten us on how notes are created and as another concept the accordion is a wind instrument not a keyboard instrument
Godgie

 

[stickista]

Thanks for a lot of helpful thoughts here already.
One simple one (JeffJetton) about not changing direction in the middle of a note seems so obvious yet I now need to check videos to see if that isn’t exactly what I’m doing. ?
While I do pull a lot of material off of the written page, the bulk of my actual playing is memorized or improvised, so I usually don’t have the safety net of sheet music in front of me to show direction markers. I ‘feel’ bar lines more than ‘see’ them.
So. things striking me already…
1) I need to see if I can train myself to be aware of when I have no buttons pressed, i.e. moments that are by definition not in mid note. I think the goal here is not to identify them in advance as much as to feel them happening and be able to “grab a breath” on the fly.
2) it occurs to me that accents could be a handy place to change directions.

Appreciating the group mind here.

 

[losthobos]

The real spanner in the works is do you want the pulse or left hand to be totally strict so to dancers don't drop a beat or the melody to be really strict so whoever is singing along doesn't drop a line ....?

 

[stickista]

Just found this post on a similar question from a couple of years ago from Paul…

1) Play long notes with a rhythmic bass and concentrate on how the long notes sound. Despite the rhythm you should try to keep the pressure on the long notes constant. You can easily hear variations in volume of the long note and learn to eliminate them.
2) Do a right-hand-only exercise to play a series of slow notes, changing bellow direction between the notes, trying to make them almost legato, thus trying to eliminate any gap in between the notes. You cannot make the gap disappear 100% but try to make it almost unnoticeable. When this succeeds, repeat while playing a rhythm on the bass side along with the slow notes.

 

[godgi]

NB: If you are in the US try and get to the CNIMA seminar.
Godgie