h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: RF Stevens Ltd - Folding Organ Specialists - A87932569
Author: SashaQ - happysad - U9936370

As requested by DG, here is an Entry about the history behind a little organ I saw when I was on my holidays recently.

I appreciate feedback, as this is not my area of expertise, so that I can do proper justice to this subject.

There was a bit I didn't quite follow.
So Harmoniums are a keyboard instrument that makes notes using reeds, similar to accordions and harmonicas.
'The Melodeon or American Organ improved on the sound quality of Harmoniums by introducing a suction mechanism to draw air past the reeds - this gave the instrument a more pipe-organ-like sound' – I thought a Melodeon is an instrument similar to the accordion, but instead of having a keyboard has buttons making it similar to play to a concertina and each button plays a different note depending on whether expanding or contracting?

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It's both, BB - melodeon can refer to a button squeezebox or a kind of harmonium.

This is wonderful! Thanks for taking it on.

Once you explained it, I realised that I have played this kind of organ before. I was nine years old. We kids from the church used to go over to the old-age homes, as they were called then, and lead the folks there in hymn sings. They enjoyed it more with kids, I think, even though we weren't exactly the Vienna Boys' Choir.

Anyway, we hauled one of these organs around on the back of somebody's pickup. Two of the deacons carried it in for us. I couldn't play and push the pedals at the same time, so I had helpers....one kid stood on either side of me and pumped the pedals while I played. We must have been a sight.

If it's obscure, musical, and from the late 19th Century, it probably ended up in the South. I've played some very elaborate 'pump organs' in farmhouses, as well.

Here's a terrific performance on a 1925 Bilhorn. I really question that description: 'Easy transportation from venue to venue'? Srsly? I think it was a bit heavier than the Yamaha.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgiL5_PtnGM

You might explain how the organ folded up - it isn't just the lid. The part with the pedals and the sides fold up, as well. Folded, it looks like a large suitcase:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5eoHHkVF5Y

Thanks for reading <BB< - I added a footnote on Melodeon

Thanks DG

Wow - that must have been fascinating for the audience to see little young you playing a Folding Organ with the aid of two helpers on the pedals The Christmas singing sessions in old-people's homes that I participated in were never that sophisticated, but even so the audience did enjoy seeing us children, so that was the main thing

Thanks for those videos - impressive sound produced by it, even though the organ is small! Fascinating to see the folding mechanism, too - when I saw the start of that video, I couldn't imagine how the organ had been fitted into the small box! Not all of the RF Stevens folding ones can do that, but I can now tell that the Folding Organ I saw in the Submarine Museum would indeed fold down into a suitcase-shape, so I have added more detail

Great! I hadn't thought about these for a long time. Now I realise why they were useful in the days before electronic keyboards.

Great Entry!

I would reword footnote 3 to
''Melodeon' is also the name given to a type of accordion with buttons INSTEAD OF KEYS that play a different note depending on whether the bellows are being pulled apart or squeezed together.'

Because every accordion has buttons on one side. (There are also button accordions which are not diatonic by the way, meaning they play the same note all the time.)

Thanks Tav

I updated the footnote

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Is the nearest smiley to a keyboard the ?

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Thank you