The term squeezebox (also squeeze box, squeeze-box) is a colloquial expression referring to any

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make Music, musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person ...

of the general class of hand-held

bellows A bellows or pair of bellows is a device constructed to furnish a strong blast of air. The simplest type consists of a flexible bag comprising a pair of rigid boards with handles joined by flexible leather sides enclosing an approximately airtig ...

-driven

free reed aerophone A free reed aerophone is a musical instrument that produces sound as air flows past a vibrating reed (instrument), reed in a frame. Air pressure is typically generated by breath or with a bellows. In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, it is number 41 ...

s such as the

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

and the

concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. The ...

. The term is so applied because such instruments are generally in the shape of a

rectangular prism A rectangular cuboid is a special case of a cuboid with rectangular faces in which all of its dihedral angles are right angles. This shape is also called rectangular parallelepiped or orthogonal parallelepiped. Many writers just call these " ...

box A box (plural: boxes) is a container with rigid sides used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides (typically rectangular prisms). Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or v ...

, and the bellows is operated by squeezing in and drawing out. Accordions (including piano accordions and button accordions) typically have right-hand buttons or keys that play single notes (melody) and left hand buttons that play chords and bass notes. The

bandoneon The bandoneon () or bandonion is a type of concertina particularly popular in Argentina and Uruguay. It is a typical instrument in most tango ensembles. As with other members of the concertina family, it is held between the hands, and played ...

is a type of concertina particularly popular in South America and Lithuania, frequently featuring in tango ensembles.Piazzolla, Astor, and Gorin, Natalio.
Astor Piazzolla: A Memoir
'. United Kingdom, Amadeus Press, 2001. 34. Concertinas (including the English concertina, Anglo concertina and bandoneon) play single notes (melody) on both left and right hands. The

Indian harmonium file:Harmonium 20151009 (23914086965).jpg, A Delhi style Bina brand Indian harmonium with a built in suitcase for easy transport and with 9 Organ stop, air stop knobs (stops 2, 4, 6, 8 are drones). file:Kathmandu-21.JPG, Musicians in Kathmandu, ...

remains an important instrument in many genres of Indian music, stemming from French-made hand-pumped

harmonium The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal strips mounted in a frame. Types include the pressure-based harmonium, the suction reed organ (which employs a va ...

s being brought to India by

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Miss ...

in the mid-19th century. The

flutina The Flutina is an early precursor to the diatonic button accordion, having one or two rows of treble buttons, which are configured to have the tonic of the scale, on the "draw" of the bellows. There is usually no bass keyboard: the left hand ...

is an early precursor to the

diatonic button accordion A melodeon or diatonic button accordion is a member of the free-reed aerophone family of musical instruments. It is a type of button accordion on which the melody-side keyboard contains one or more rows of buttons, with each row producing the ...

References

External links

* Accordion {{FreeReed-instrument-stub