Balg
CR: 98
Year: 2017
Duration: 8′
Instrumentation: Accordion or Bayan

Balg is Dutch for ‘bellows.’ Pressing the buttons or keys of the accordion causes pallets to open, which allow air to flow across strips of brass or steel, called reeds. By compressing or expanding the bellows of the instrument these reeds vibrate to produce sound inside the body of the instrument. The bellows allow for a variety of physical manipulations that have an effect on the speed of the airflow, and, consequently, the sound that is being produced. In this way the airflow can be constant, stop, or change gradually or suddenly.