Preventing long-press button function on DFPlayer board

I’m using DFPlayer in stand-alone mode (no Arduino) for a music project. The buttons all have short-press and long-press commands. I want to trigger a short-press command by releasing a depressed normally-closed switch (ie. lifting an object containing a pressure switch.) Since the switch stays closed upon release, it would register as a long-press, but I want the short-press behavior.

Based on my research, it seems like a capacitor-based debounce circuit might allow me to accomplish this, but I can’t make the jump from those examples and my application. I don’t want to involve a microcontroller.

DFPlayer manual:
https://github.com/Arduinolibrary/DFPlayer_Mini_mp3/raw/master/DFPlayer%20Mini%20Manual.pdf

UPDATE 6/19: To clarify the application, here is what we built previously.
Musical Invitation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6qroO5coos

This used a different music player that doesn’t have as good a sound quality, and required prying it out of a plastic enclosure (150 times) so we could modify it to control the lights, but it did have a push button to activate the music. We wired the switch normally-closed, so while it’s in the box, it holds the switch open. As soon as the box opens, it releases the switch and begins playing. But in the new music player, it interprets normally closed as a long press, and depending on which pin I connect to, that will either play a track on infinite repeat, or increase the volume, neither of which are what I want, which is to play the track once and stop. We’re working on a similar project and wish to use a better quality music player that requires less manual labor to assemble.