Footnotes

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(free reed) - A free reed is a thin blade, usually of spring metal, held in a frame, where under the influence of air pressure it vibrates without striking anything. In contrast, single reeds -- e.g., in clarinets -- strike against a fixed base (the mouthpice), while double reeds -- e.g., in oboes -- are paired and strike against each other. Here is a typical concertina reed (click to enlarge):

(rows) - The arrangement of the notes on the two ends is such that if the two ends were laid side by side, a row could be considered continuous across both ends.

(bisonoric) - This is possible because concertina reeds sound for only one direction of air flow. Since separate reeds are needed for push and draw of the bellows, they can be tuned to different notes..

(unisonoric) - This is achieved by having the reeds for the two different bellows directions tuned to the same pitch.

(hand-held) - That some people prefer to have additional support -- e.g., playing in a sitting position, with support from a leg -- and why they prefer that, is a separate topic, which I'll deal with elsewhere. The fact is that there are players, including many of the most noted performers, who do support their instruments only with their hands while playing.