Asperger's & Autism Forum

Callistemon

Oh, you play organ? How cool.

Gerontius

Not a real spectacular one, just one of the old pump organs they had back in the 1800s. Mine is an 1892 model for which I paid in the neighborhood of two dollars. Lighter than a piano and a lot of fun to play!
I am actively trying to find modern music for it...hard luck.

Callistemon

Modern music for the organ, yes, that's a bit of a tall order, it's such a traditional instrument, isn't it? Two dollars, did you have to fix it or did it work?

When I was a kid my older cousin gave me her practise organ when she upgraded. It was pretty good for playing impromptu funeral marches for dying butterflies, which we kids held funerals for.

Callistemon

But it was electric, not a "real" one like your traditional one!

One of our best memories is when we were on holidays in Tasmania and heard a church organist practising in this old stone church. When we went in he ended up playing us Bach's Toccata& Fugue (the famous one) on this wonderful tall pipe organ - just him, my husband and me and the amazing acoustics in there... <3

O

Owliet

Ok, that sounds epic! The score is amazing and over the garden wall is good choice!

Gerontius

It's going to be awhile as the score is written for piano--and a pump-organ has a much slower "attack" than a piano; the baseline has to be chorded rather than arpeggios. So I'll be at this one for a little while. But the first run through was DEFINITELY recognizable.

Gerontius

@Callistemon the old pump organ is hard to get music for as it's an endangered instrument on the verge of extinction. Almost zero new ones are produced, and the 20th-century music world thought of them as a joke. However they are still hanging on in some parts. The pressure harmonium in Europe is at least fairly well liked.

Gerontius

The suction harmonium AKA American organ/"pump organ" is actually a powerful and highly expressive instrument, but most people have never heard a working one. They aren't meant to sound wheezy and dull. They are capable of a huge range of expression that a pipe organ cannot get.

Gerontius

On a pump organ, you can pedal harder with certain notes--or you can (to get a forte) pump fast. Or you can open the swells & get a brighter, more brassy-sounding forte. Valve them down again and it's quiet. There is a functioning mechanical tremolo on most organs that actually works. And for extra fun, since there's rarely a pedalboard--

Gerontius

--you can pull a bass coupler out, which plays the notes on the left hand an octave further down automatically. (There's a treble coupler as well.)

Pump organs are incredible, versatile little instruments but most of them are ending up gutted for parts, thrown in landfill, or burned for fire-wood. That's what happens when people equate music with autotune and trash.

Callistemon

Gerontius, I've had a comedic thought on modern organ stuff. Doors solos! Well, you know, they're modern compared to most of the classical repertoire...

Callistemon

I am now going to look up pictures of and performances on pump organs! ...if you've got any recommended links to favourite pieces, please post them!

I love music and it's always nice to learn more. Especially about old instruments or unusual things!