to foulestroupe,that surely is true of all instruments,it is the players who bring the instrument to life. hence seamus ennis s, famous remark about the bodhran ,an instrument best played with a pen knife.
    I once met a couple in a pub who said we bought a guitar for our son for christmas ,but it was no good it wouldnt play,They thought it would play itself, plug it in and electricity will do the rest.
    now I gather foulestroupe is a duet player,So he has the excitng prospect ofgoing where few have gone before with irish music , iwould suggest exploring the octave overlap, for unison double stops etc. As regards the english, I THINK THE UILLEAN PIPES ARE A BIG INFLUENCE ON MY OWN PLAYING ,crans , can be executed fairly easily.the sound of the regulators[often first and fifth of a chord]can be reproduced convincingly,cuts      can be used to help rhythmic emphasis, as well as finger attack. I use bellows emphasis ,but its more like abroken slur on the fiddle than reversing of bellows, Often an extra push in the same direction.I dontthink im alone in this.when ive seen Madeline O Dowd[all ireland champion concertinist on the english],her bellows movement was pretty similar to mine. however I accept that there is more than one way to do something and the important thing is the music at the end and there are lots of different ways to bring concertina music to life.