The barrel organ was played in English churches.
A barrel organ is a mechanical musical instrument dating back to the 15th century in the Netherlands. Additionally, barrel organs were known by several different names in the United States and the United Kingdom: street organ, mechanical street organ, fair organ and band organ. The name used depended on the size, use and features of the instrument.
Identification
Housed in a case, usually highly decorated and made of wood, a barrel organ included bellows and at least one rank of pipes. Similar in principle to a pipe organ, a small barrel organ worked by turning a crank. In the past, springs and heavy weights generally powered large versions, and some large models were hydraulically powered using a waterwheel or turbine. The last models of the organ barrel used electrical power.
Music Production
Various tunes were encoded on wooden barrels, also known as cylinders, through the use of metal pins for short notes and varied length staples for long notes. Barrel pinning and stapling was considered an art form, with the resulting music based on the quality of the pinning. In Germany, small portable barrel organs had perforated paper rolls inside that operated on pneumatic systems, which were used for more than 200 years, according to the Barrel Organ Grinder.
Barrel Construction
To insure years of precise alignment, organ barrels had to be extremely well-constructed. Damage, such as warping, directly affected the music produced. Barrel size was determined by the amount of notes in the organ along with the length of the tune. More notes meant a longer barrel and a longer tune meant a barrel with a larger diameter.
History
Popular in Great Britain from the late 18th century to the early 19th century, barrel organs were played in British churches, as well as Canadian churches. Large barrel organs were also used in music halls, theaters, sports arenas and fairgrounds. Organ grinders played on the streets and used the smaller, portable models that contained up to nine tunes. By the early 20th century, organ grinders began to disappear from the streets as copyright laws went into effect.
Additional Names
According to the Argentinian Barrel Organ Museum, the barrel organ was known by different names in different parts of the world. Drehorgel was the German name, and Realejo was the Brazilian and Portuguese name. Organillo was the name in Spain, while in Italy, the barrel organ was known as the Organetto di Barberia.
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