 A barrel organ player in Vienna, Austria.
 A barrel organ player in Warnemünde, Germany. A barrel organ is a mechanical musical instrument consisting of bellows and one or more ranks of pipes housed in a case, usually of wood, and often highly decorated. The basic principle is the same as a traditional pipe organ, but rather than being played by an organist, the barrel organ is activated either by a person turning a crank, or by clockwork driven by weights or springs. The pieces of music are encoded onto wooden barrels (or cylinders), which in a sense, replace the keyboard of the traditional pipe organ. Download high resolution version (480x898, 89 KB)Barrel organ player in Vienna, Austria in 2002. ...
Download high resolution version (480x898, 89 KB)Barrel organ player in Vienna, Austria in 2002. ...
Image File history File links Size of this preview: 510 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (680 × 800 pixel, file size: 286 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Beschreibung: Drehorgel - Leierkasten Fotograf: Darkone, 5. ...
Image File history File links Size of this preview: 510 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (680 × 800 pixel, file size: 286 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Beschreibung: Drehorgel - Leierkasten Fotograf: Darkone, 5. ...
Hand bellows The bellows is a device for delivering pressured air in a controlled quantity to a controlled location. ...
The choir division of the organ at St. ...
Organ in Katharinenkirche, Frankfurt am Main, Germany The organ is a keyboard instrument played using one or more manuals and a pedalboard. ...
The layout of a typical musical keyboard A musical keyboard is the set of adjacent depressible levers on a musical instrument which cause the instrument to produce sounds. ...
Barrel The pieces of music (or tunes) are encoded onto the barrel using metal pins and staples. Pins are used for short notes, and staples of varying lengths for longer notes. Each barrel usually carried several different tunes. Pinning such barrels was something of an art form, and the quality of the music produced by a barrel organ is largely a function of the quality of its pinning. This complex encoding of music was an early form of programming.
The organ barrels had to be extremely sturdy in order to keep their precise alignment over the years, since they played the same programming role as music rolls and had to deal with more mechanical stress given the greater number of rods and levers involved. Damage to the barrel, such as warpage, would have a direct (and usually detrimental) effect on the music produced. A Music Roll is used to operate a Mechanical organ or Orchestrion and contains the music to be played. ...
The size of the barrel will depend on the number of notes in the organ and the length of the tune to be played. The more notes, the longer the barrel. The longer the tune, the greater the diameter.
Since the music is hard-coded onto the barrel, the only way for a barrel organ to play a different set of tunes is to replace its barrel with a different one.
Operation A set of levers called keys ride against the barrel. Each pipe is assigned its own key, and connected to the rear of each key is a rod which operates a valve. When the instrument is played, the barrel slowly rotates, and its pins and staples lift the front of the key. This activates the valve to allow air from the bellows to pass into the corresponding pipe.
To allow different tunes to be played from one barrel, the barrel can be moved laterally to bring a different set of pins and staples under the keys. Less commonly, the pinning will form one continuous spiral and the barrel will be gradually moved as it rotates so that the pins remain lined up with the keys.
The bellows are usually actuated by the same power source that turns the barrel.
Usage The barrel organ was the traditional instrument of organ grinders. With a few exceptions, organ grinders used one of the smaller, more portable versions of the barrel organ, containing perhaps one rank of pipes and only a handful of tunes. An Austrian organ grinder (locally called Werklmann) with his paper-roll driven Berlin style barrel organ in Vienna The organ grinder was a musical novelty street performer of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century, and refers to the operator of a street organ. ...
There were many larger versions located in churches, fairgrounds, music halls, and other large establishments such as sports arenas and theaters. The large barrel organs were often powered by very heavy weights and springs, like a more powerful version of a longcase clock. They could also be hydraulically powered, with a wheel arrangement giving the mechanical force while columns of water forced greater pressure in the columns of air which sounded the pipes. The last barrel organs were electrically powered, or converted to electrical power. Fairground organ A fairground organ is a pipe organ which is not played from a keyboard, but rather by mechanical means such as music roll or book music, and designed originally to be used on a fairground or in the United States on a carousel or in a dance-hall...
Music Hall is a form of British theatrical entertainment which reached its peak of popularity between 1850 and 1960. ...
A longcase clock with a pine case, c. ...
Combined barrel and manually played instruments Especially in churches, some large barrel organs were built as "barrel and finger" organs. Such instruments are furnished with a normal organ keyboard, in addition to the automatic mechanism, making it possible to play them by hand when a human organist is available. The barrels were all too often out of sight.
At the beginning of the 20th century, large barrel organs intended for use as fairground organs or street organs were often converted, or newly built, to play music rolls or book music rather than barrels. This allows a much greater variety of melodies to be played. Fairground organ A fairground organ is a pipe organ which is not played from a keyboard, but rather by mechanical means such as music roll or book music, and designed originally to be used on a fairground or in the United States on a carousel or in a dance-hall...
A Street organ is a mechanical organ designed to play in the street. ...
A Music Roll is used to operate a Mechanical organ or Orchestrion and contains the music to be played. ...
Book Music is the European version of making mechanical music medium for organs in Europe and it is actually similar to piano rolls, but book music is produced by thick cardboard, with perforated holes, and it is presented and played in a folded zig-zag style. ...
Terminology The term hurdy gurdy is sometimes mistakenly applied to a small, portable barrel organ that was frequently played by organ grinders and buskers (street musicians), but in modern usage the two terms should not be confused. Although the hurdy gurdy is also powered by a crank and often used by street performers, it produces sound with a rosin-covered wheel rotated against tuned strings. Another key difference is that the hurdy gurdy player is free to play any tune he or she desires, while the barrel organist is generally confined to pre-programmed tunes. Drawing of a hurdy gurdy A hurdy gurdy (alternately, hurdy-gurdy) is a stringed musical instrument. ...
Busking is the practice of doing live performances in public places to entertain people, usually to solicit donations and tips. ...
Some also confuse the barrel organ with the steam organ or calliope. Circus calliope, lithograph by Gibson & Co. ...
Australia Fair Grand Concert Street Organ; pipes, drums, brass, etc. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 775 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (995 × 770 pixel, file size: 170 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Australia Fair Grand Concert Street Organ, a Verbeeck style 73 note street barrel organ. ...
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See also Fairground organ A fairground organ is a pipe organ which is not played from a keyboard, but rather by mechanical means such as music roll or book music, and designed originally to be used on a fairground or in the United States on a carousel or in a dance-hall...
A Street organ is a mechanical organ designed to play in the street. ...
A Dance organ is a mechanical organ designed to be used in a dance hall or ballroom. ...
The baroque organ in Roskilde Cathedral, Copenhagen The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by admitting pressurized air (referred to as wind) through a series of pipes. ...
A serinette made after 1877 by Thibouville-Lamy in Mirecourt, France. ...
An Austrian organ grinder (locally called Werklmann) with his paper-roll driven Berlin style barrel organ in Vienna The organ grinder was a musical novelty street performer of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century, and refers to the operator of a street organ. ...
References - Diagram Group. Musical Instruments of the World. New York: Facts on File, 1976.
- Ord-Hume, Arthur W.J G. Barrel Organ: The Story of the Mechanical Organ and Its Repair. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1978.
- Reblitz, Arthur A., Q. David Bowers. Treasures of Mechanical Music. New York: The Vestal Press, 1981.
- Smithsonian Institution. History of Music Machines. New York: Drake Publishers, 1975.
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