Long forgotten REED ORGAN...........

[tittualex]

Dear All,

Does anyone still remember the REED ORGAN a less majestic but very affordable cousin of our Pipe organ.? I have seen reed organs sold as cheap as one dollar ( through E-bay) does this mean that the reed organs are going to be extinct? But luckily in India there are churches which use reed organs

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=XOLWjPeJxLk&feature=related
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=sQn4xRzOcxA&feature=related

these videos are really shocking????????

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU4AZNe2EFs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ngzi0ZZAJP4

I hope these videos will suggest how sweet the reed organ sounds.

thanks.
Alex.

 

[mathetes1963]

Oh yes! I actually have a very nice CD of harmonium & piano works by Cesar Franck, played on circa 1850 Erard piano and a French harmonium of about the same vintage.

 

[tittualex]

"During the 19th century in Europe the reed organ was regarded as a serious instrument for serious musicians, and harmonium courses were taught at the Paris Conservatoire, at one time by Cesar Franck. Numerous harmonium tutors were published, and such composers as Franck, Louis and Rene Vierne, Guilmant, Dubois, Lemmens, Loret, Merkel, Lefebure-Wely, Leybach, Karl-Elert and Reger wrote original works for the harmonium."
​

 

[jhnbrbr]

I agree the reed organ is vastly under-appreciated today. Their tonal range is limited, of course, but they are phenomenally reliable and require far less frequent tuning than a pipe organ. I have a two manual and pedal model ("American organ" principle) with electric blower (ie "sucker") bought in 1980's which has given me countless hours of pleasure. Recently I saw one like it sold on Ebay for £0-99. It's true I am dabbling in VPO's at the moment, but I shall still keep "Old Faithfull" .

 

[acc]

Oh yes! I actually have a very nice CD of harmonium & piano works by Cesar Franck, played on circa 1850 Erard piano and a French harmonium of about the same vintage.

Is it the CD with Joris Verdin at the harmonium and Jos van Immerseel at the piano? I like that one a lot.

In particular, it is through this CD that I discovered that Franck's Prélude, Fugue et Variation op.18 was not originally composed for organ, but for a piano-harmonium duet!

 

[tittualex]

I agree the reed organ is vastly under-appreciated today. Their tonal range is limited, of course, but they are phenomenally reliable and require far less frequent tuning than a pipe organ. I have a two manual and pedal model ("American organ" principle) with electric blower (ie "sucker") bought in 1980's which has given me countless hours of pleasure. Recently I saw one like it sold on Ebay for £0-99. It's true I am dabbling in VPO's at the moment, but I shall still keep "Old Faithfull" .

hello,

Iam an unlucky fellow as sitting at home (India) Iam crying that these organs are sold so cheap......... and I don't have the opportunity to buy it as thy are not ready to ship it to India....... hopefully someday i will come to US and pick up one from there.........

 

[mathetes1963]

Is it the CD with Joris Verdin at the harmonium and Jos van Immerseel at the piano? I like that one a lot.

In particular, it is through this CD that I discovered that Franck's Prélude, Fugue et Variation op.18 was not originally composed for organ, but for a piano-harmonium duet!

Yes, it's the very same! Nyce, vetty nyce...
Been searching around ever since for van Immerseel's Debussy CD, done on a turn-of-the-century Erard piano too.

 

[methodistgirl]

The old pump organ is a read organ that was small enough for the parlor.
I tried one at an antique shop and they wanted enough for it I could go
to the music store and buy a new hammond at that price and the same
size too!
judy tooley

 

[acc]

Been searching around ever since for van Immerseel's Debussy CD, done on a turn-of-the-century Erard piano too.

That's a nice one, too! And it's still listed as available from several sources on the Internet (in order not to violate the forum rules, I'm sending the links to you by PM, rather than posting them here).

 

[Krummhorn]

The old pump organ is a read organ that was small enough for the parlor.
I tried one at an antique shop and they wanted enough for it I could go
to the music store and buy a new hammond at that price and the same
size too!
judy tooley

Yah, but the Hammond cannot replicate the true sound of the reed organ ... and those cases are pretty ornate, too - you'd be buying a piece of history and a conversation piece - something unique. Anyone can buy a Hammond ... but a reed organ is something special all its own.

There are a few reed organs around my area - mostly in churches, although they have been electrified, still sound the same ... a unique sound, for sure, and a lot more pleasing (to my ears) than a Hammond ... :lol:

 

[jvhldb]

Our church has a reed organ decorating the foyer. It is never used, although it is more in tune than the pipe organ (I played it a couple of times when alone in church). There is a knee lever below the keyboard that push a rod into the organ case. The lever can be latched in this position. Can anybody tell me what it is supposed to do? It didn't sound like anything happened when I engaged it.

 

[tittualex]

Our church has a reed organ decorating the foyer. It is never used, although it is more in tune than the pipe organ (I played it a couple of times when alone in church). There is a knee lever below the keyboard that push a rod into the organ case. The lever can be latched in this position. Can anybody tell me what it is supposed to do? It didn't sound like anything happened when I engaged it.

Hello,

If Iam not wrong that will be the volume control switch which can be operated by using your knee.........

thanks
Alex

 

[jvhldb]

Hello,

If Iam not wrong that will be the volume control switch which can be operated by using your knee.........

thanks
Alex

I thought so as well, but there is no change in the volume. The only differance I noticed was on the bellows. When the lever is latched it feels like the top of the bellows hits something inside the organ every time they reach the top.

 

[Krummhorn]

The right lever on the pump organs I have played moved sideways (towards the outer edge). A portable Army/Navy Field pump organ I played for two years (t'was my first church job) had a knee lever on the left too - I forget what that one did.

 

[jvhldb]

Our Army don't have ANY organs, I had to use a melodica to accompany about 200 voices, talk about being out of breath.

On our pump organ the lever is between your knees, if pressed towards the organ there is a piece of wood that drops down to latch it in place. To release it you have to lift the latch with your hand. According to wikipedia it might be a system to bypass the reservoir so you can control the volume with the pedals, but it doesn't seem to do anything like that either. Until I get it figured out I just hope we don't have a power failure, or if we do the organist is there to bang the piano.

 

[tittualex]

Dear Johan ,
Please look at the image attached . the levers which are marked are the volume controls ........

Alex.

 

[jvhldb]

Thanks for the info. Our organ has only one lever. Since my last posting I found out it activates the bypass to the reservoir. With the bypass activated, the faster you pedal the louder the volume and visa versa, but if you pedal too slowly the sound becomes choppy. Playing through the reservoir it smoothes out the stuttering from the bellows, but you can't control the volume.

 

[methodistgirl]

It's an old antique pump organ. Those things are a good workout while
you are playing music on them. That's why they invented the turbo so
that you can play the pipe organ without all the work.
judy tooley:grin:

 

[jhnbrbr]

I believe the bellows bypass is known as "Expression", a device which gives the player the same sort of control as an accordionist has - perhaps too much! This is a feature of true harmoniums (as opposed to "American organs" (as we call them here in England)) . I have owned a couple of American organs similar to the one in Alex's photo where the LH knee lever was "full organ" ie activating all stops, while the RH one was volume control (operating shutters immediately in front of the reeds).

Interesting point about the work-out Judy - they should have pump organs in gyms!

 

[wljmrbill]

Thanks for bringing back a few memories. In the old days I did hook up a vaccuam cleaner to a reed organ...LOL I cheated.