Breaking Air! Mistakes by Self Taught Accordion Players. Ep. 1 

Guy, I'm glad you found it useful. I started a new Facebook group for posting accordion tutorials and other learning resources. It's called Accordion Adventures. Check it out.

Thank you Sagar

Regarding the bellow shake, it's a good exercise as an EXERCISE, literally, because it's quite physically demanding! Do it for 10, 20, 30 seconds without stopping and you will get very tired quickly! So I would recommend that a beginner practice it merely to improve strength and endurance of using the bellows, not even worry yet about being "musical" with a bellow shake, but merely endure it. As I said in my previous comment, I have been playing music for over 30 years, and so the music theory on the accordion is not what slows me down the most, it's actually the ability to physically play it for lengths of time! Using the bellows in the middle really is so much physical work, while the left and right hands are mostly mental work. Something else I want to point out on the subject of the bellows is that whenever you are playing more notes on either hand then you will have to move the bellows more in order to get the same overall volume. Oftentimes the bass chords really steal air pressure and therefore volume from the melody notes on the right hand. I've noticed that I can "partially press" bass buttons in order to get a more delicate sound from them and so that they don't overpower the right side. Thank you again for your video! I just wanted to share a couple of related things as I thought about them!

I realized that midway through the video and thought I'll mention the other obvious meaning for "breaking the wind". I am planning to make more videos for this series. I'm glad you found it useful.

You are absolutely right regarding partially pressing the bass buttons to control both air usage and volume. Bellows shake is physically demanding. There's a book I have for Bellows shake. I plan to work through that book for the purpose of building up strength and also to get more control over the Bellows shakes. Bellows shakes are also so much fun. Another aspect of not getting tired while playing the accordion is economics and fit. When I get the straps adjusted correctly (left strap tight and tight strap loose), I'm able to play my heavier Accordions (30 lbs) for 3+ hours. On the other hand, when I don't have the straps adjusted correctly, I get exhausted in 15 minutes. The trick is to keep the accordion as close to the body as possible. The more it hangs away from the body, the heavier it feels.

Hello Andy, I teach lessons via zoom. If you're interested send me an email at breezybellows@gmail.com

It's called La Partida. It's a Venezuelan waltz.

Sometimes, this happens because pianists aren't used to playing with bellows.

@@BreezyBellows That, I understand, but it would not make sense to have a piano player that wasn't a competent accordion player demonstrating on such a site.

@@tandemwings4733 which one are you referring to? There are several individuals that demonstrate accordions on that site. I've seen a lot of teachers do it. They'll be able to play everything else well except for the bellows.

@@BreezyBellows Yeah, I'll have to look back and find it, (I did leave a comment about it, but looking back I feel that it might have been a bit too negative, so I should delete it if I can 😊). I haven't been on the Liberty Bellows site since I bought my Scandalli Polifonico X, because I no longer needed to be looking for accordion information. I used to look at EVERY video that they put up. But I WILL look and get back to you.

@@BreezyBellows G'day again. I found it - took me an hour & half, but I got it. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-oQD2RwNwIOY.html I believe I watched nearly every Liberty Bellows video for more than a year. This lady made me wince. I'm not condemning her ability to play the accordion, it was just that terrible habit of not controlling her bellows action - I found it most annoying, in EVERY one of her reviews. Considering that she has obviously spent a great deal of time learning the instrument, it's a pity she hadn't realised that she had a problem with bellows control. Also, I have deleted my comment.🎵🪗🎶