Is there a non-specific bellows-break mark?

[micahcowan]

I've seen standard markings for open bellows/close bellows, but does anyone know of a mark commonly used to express a non-specific "bellows break here" mark?

I am arranging and transcribing some pieces I've liked to play, for instance this arrangement of The Sailor's Hornpipe, featured (with added lyrics) in the Disney animated classic Alice in Wonderland. The best place to break isn't at the end of the (sometimes long) musical phrases, but at the eighth-note rests in the right hand. If no one has any pointers, I suppose I'd just use a // mark or the like. I don't really want to dictate whether to be opening or closing the bellows at a particular point, because in my experience it tends to vary too much with the instrument and the chosen registers. Maybe you won't take every single opportunity to switch bellows direction, but I think it's probably helpful to indicate where the choice spots are.

Thanks!

 

[Joakim Monsen]

I don’t think so.
But you could use legato/phrasing lines to indicate bellow changes.
Or write both in/out markings at the same spot, maybe one of them in parenthesis.

 

[saundersbp]

If no one has any pointers, I suppose I'd just use a // mark or the like. I don't really want to dictate whether to be opening or closing the bellows at a particular point

Good idea, I do exactly the same using // when a bellows needs to be planned at a less obvious spot.

 

[debra]

Instead of // it may be better to use a comma. In notation software like Musescore the // signifies a break that takes time, and a comma indicates a "breath" that takes no time.

 

[PhiliGol]

Instead of // it may be better to use a comma. In notation software like Musescore the // signifies a break that takes time, and a comma indicates a "breath" that takes no time.

Exactly right
In AVID Sibelius's Player you could even notice the difference between ' and //.

 

[Ffingers]

Remind us of the meaning of red note please, Ben

 

[saundersbp]

Instead of // it may be better to use a comma. In notation software like Musescore the // signifies a break that takes time, and a comma indicates a "breath" that takes no time.

I don't know musescore. For me its better to use // for bellows change on Flat IO, its also much more visible than a comma. I choose to use the comma to denote a breath in a phrase.

Remind us of the meaning of red note please, Ben

Those are the notes that are too hot to handle!
Seriously though, they are notes I play on the repeater (inner rows). I still need help to remind me of this in harder music. I don't like the circled fingering that is more often used for this, and in any case my bargain basement scoring programme can't run to circled fingering!

 

[debra]

I don't know musescore. For me its better to use // for bellows change on Flat IO, its also much more visible than a comma. I choose to use the comma to denote a breath in a phrase.

...

I know the comma is a "breath", but the // denotes an even longer break... I think the best solution is to just use the symbols for open and close (bellows) and let the player just choose whether to follow that direction or not.

 

[micahcowan]

Thanks very much for the advice, everyone!

Instead of // it may be better to use a comma. In notation software like Musescore the // signifies a break that takes time, and a comma indicates a "breath" that takes no time.

I'm not overly concerned with how MuseScore, etc. will interpret it - I'm already convinced that attempting to make my MuseScore accordion sheets sound halfway decent is an exercise in futility - I'm much more interested in effectively communicating the break to a human musician.

For myself, personally I would be a lot more likely to read a comma as a pause, as the caesura. But I admit it's ambiguous. But I think if I put it above the staff (where one might expect to see bellows marks), rather than in and amongst the notes, its meaning will likely be clear enough.

I don't like the circled fingering that is more often used for this

I had no idea that this was a standard thing, but I had just decided to start doing it for myself. Not certain if I'll actually put it into my scores (where it'd be useless/confusing to anyone not playing C system), but I'm definitely finding it handy as I mark up existing scores for practice.

 

[Joakim Monsen]

Good idea, I do exactly the same using // when a bellows needs to be planned at a less obvious spot.

What tune?

 

[saundersbp]

What tune?

This one

 

[JeffJetton]

But you could use legato/phrasing lines to indicate bellow changes.

This gets my vote. Use a slur. I guess it's not really indicating where the bellows change should be but rather showing where it shouldn't be, but still...

 

[Zevy]

Instead of // it may be better to use a comma. In notation software like Musescore the // signifies a break that takes time, and a comma indicates a "breath" that takes no time.

Ditto. That's what I do to signify a bellows break.