Before I ask my question I will cover all angls. Yes, I have the H. Clarke book and have ordered the NPU beginners video 1. I will be attending both the St. Louis and Memphis, TN Tionols. In addition,I am not worried at this time about synthetic reeds… But I am still playing my scales on a regular basis. So now that I have covered the usual. Heres my question:
I have reviewed the H. Clarke book illustrations and some website picks, but would like to know the follow:
**Question:**How high on the arm should the bellows strap be and should the bellows be placed near the belt line or higher? When I sit down to play the bellows swwm to rest at the top oh my hip.
That’s more a question of comfort and girth. If the belt around your middle feels more comfortable higher up, wear it higher up (I do). The strap around your arm should be at or above your elbow (that’s one of the reasons why they’re called elbow pipes).
The thing to watch for is that you can take long draws to open the bellows wide but comfortably, and then press slow and steady to close them - not short, jerky little pumps. The other thing to watch for is that the bellows do not come too far forward around your body, i.e. they should not come around in front of you. Someday you will have drones and regs hanging off a main stock, and you will not want the bellows crashing into them. Learn to keep the bellows at your side.
You may not be able to see the instructors clearly using their bellows during the exercises on the NPU video, but if I recall correctly, they play some bits of tunes, and you can watch how they work the bellows during those.
I’d say put the bellows itself low on the upper arm, i.e. just above the elbow. This will probably place the bellows ‘belt’ somewhat higher than the waist but lower than a brassiere. It’s probably worth adjusting the bellows without the hose/inlet tube attached, to find the optimum placement, before deciding whether the hose/inlet length needs to be lengthened or shortened.
A few players seem to play with the bellows nearly centered over the hipbone, but IMO this tends to be too low and can cause one to ‘hunch over’ the set.
But I am still playing my scales on a regular basis. So now that I have covered the usual. Heres my question: