The pump organ or
harmonium is a type of
reed organ that generates
sound with foot-pumped
bellows .
More portable than pipe
organs , reed organs were
widely used in smaller
churches and in private
homes in the 19th century,
but their volume and tonal
range are limited, and they
generally had one or
sometimes two manuals ,
with pedal-boards being
rare. The finer instruments
have a unique tone, and
the cabinets of those
intended for churches and
affluent homes were often
excellent pieces of
furniture. Several million
reed organs and
melodeons were made in
the U.S. between the 1850s
and the 1920s. During this
time Estey Organ and
Mason & Hamlin were
popular manufacturers.
The melodeon is another
reed keyboard instrument,
usually housed in a table-
like casing, that predates
the pump organ. In
reference to the music of
India , melodeon usually
refers to a concertina
accordion, while
harmonium means the
smaller hand-pumped
variety.
History
Christian Gottlieb
Kratzenstein (1723–1795),
professor of physiology at
Copenhagen, was credited
with the first free-reed
instrument made in the
Western world, after
winning the annual prize in
1780 from the Imperial
Academy of St. Petersburg.
[1] The harmonium's
design incorporates free
reeds and derives from the
earlier regal . A harmonium-
like instrument was
exhibited by Gabriel Joseph
Grenié (1756–1837) in 1810.
He called it an orgue
expressif (expressive
organ), because his
instrument was capable of
greater expression, as well
as of producing a
crescendo and diminuendo .
Alexandre Debain improved
Grenié's instrument and
gave it the name
harmonium when he
patented his version in
1840. [2] There was
concurrent development of
similar instruments.[3] A
mechanic who had worked
in the factory of Alexandre
in Paris emigrated to the
United States and
conceived the idea of a
suction bellows, instead of
the ordinary bellows that
forced the air outward
through the reeds. The
firm of Mason & Hamlin , of
Boston, in 1860 made their
instruments with the
suction bellows, and this
method of construction
soon superseded all others
in America. [2]
Beatty's Parlor Organ
1882
Harmoniums reached the
height of their popularity in
the West in the late 19th
and early 20th centuries.
They were especially
popular in small churches
and chapels where a pipe
organ would be too large
or too expensive.
Harmoniums generally
weigh less than similar
sized pianos and are not as
easily damaged in
transport, thus they were
also popular throughout
the colonies of the
European powers in this
period not only because it
was easier to ship the
instrument out to where it
was needed, but it was also
easier to transport
overland in areas where
good-quality roads and
railways may have been
non-existent. An added
attraction of the
harmonium in tropical
regions was that the
instrument held its tune
regardless of heat and
humidity, unlike the piano.
This "export" market was
sufficiently lucrative for
manufacturers to produce
harmoniums with cases
impregnated with
chemicals to prevent
woodworm and other
damaging organisms found
in the tropics.
At the peak of the
instruments' Western
popularity around 1900, a
wide variety of styles of
harmoniums were being
produced. These ranged
from simple models with
plain cases and only four or
five stops (if any at all), up
to large instruments with
ornate cases, up to a dozen
stops and other
mechanisms such as
couplers. Expensive
harmoniums were often
built to resemble pipe
organs, with ranks of fake
pipes attached to the top
of the instrument. Small
numbers of harmoniums
were built with two
manuals (keyboards). Some
were even built with pedal
keyboards, which required
the use of an assistant to
run the bellows or, for
some of the later models,
an electrical pump. These
larger instruments were
mainly intended for home
use, such as allowing
organists to practise on an
instrument on the scale of
a pipe organ, but without
the physical size or volume
of such an instrument. For
missionaries, chaplains in
the armed forces, travelling
evangelists, and the like,
reed organs that folded up
into a container the size of
a very large suitcase or
small trunk were made;
these had a short keyboard
and few stops, but they
were more than adequate
for keeping hymn singers
more or less on pitch.
The invention of the
electronic organ in the
mid-1930s spelled the end
of the harmonium's
success in the West
(although its popularity as
a household instrument
declined in the 1920s as
musical tastes changed).
The Hammond organ could
imitate the tonal quality
and range of a pipe organ
whilst retaining the
compact dimensions and
cost-effectiveness of the
harmonium as well as
reducing maintenance
needs and allowing a
greater number of stops
and other features. By this
time, harmoniums had
reached high levels of
mechanical complexity, not
only through the need to
provide instruments with a
greater tonal range, but
also due to patent laws
(especially in North
America). It was common
for manufacturers to
patent the action
mechanism used on their
instruments, thus requiring
any new manufacturer to
develop their own version;
as the number of
manufacturers grew, this
led to some instruments
having hugely complex
arrays of levers, cranks,
rods and shafts, which
made replacement with an
electronic instrument even
more attractive.
The last mass-producer of
harmoniums in the West
was the Estey company,
which ceased manufacture
in the mid-1950s. As the
existing stock of
instruments aged and
spare parts became hard
to find, more and more
were either scrapped or
sold. It was not uncommon
for harmoniums to be
"modernised" by having
electric blowers fitted,
often very
unsympathetically. The
majority of Western
harmoniums today are in
the hands of enthusiasts,
though the instrument
remains popular in South
Asia.
↑Jump back a section
Acoustics
Two reeds from a reed
organ.
The acoustical effects
described below are a
result of the free-reed
mechanism. Therefore,
they are essentially
identical for the Western
and Indian harmoniums
and the reed organ. In
1875, Hermann von
Helmholtz published his
seminal book, On the
Sensations of Tone, in
which he used the
harmonium extensively to
test different tuning
systems:[4]
Using two manuals and two
differently tuned stop sets,
he was able to
simultaneously compare
Pythagorean to just and to
equal-tempered tunings
and observe the degrees of
inharmonicity inherent to
the different
temperaments. He
subdivided the octave to 28
tones, to be able to
perform modulations of 12
minor and 17 major keys in
just intonation without
going into harsh
dissonance that is present
with the standard octave
division in this tuning. [6]
This arrangement was
difficult to play on. [7]
Additional modified or
novel instruments were
used for experimental and
educational purposes.
Notably, Bosanquet 's
Generalized keyboard,
constructed in 1873 for use
with a 53-tone scale. In
practice, that harmonium
was constructed with 84
keys, for convenience of
fingering . Another famous
reed organ that was
evaluated was built by
Poole .[8]
Lord Rayleigh also used the
harmonium to devise a
method for indirectly
measuring frequency
accurately, using
approximated known equal
temperament intervals and
their overtone beats .[9]
The harmonium had the
advantage of providing
clear overtones that
enabled the reliable
counting of beats by two
listeners, one per note.
However, Rayleigh
acknowledged that
maintaining constant
pressure in the bellows is
difficult and fluctuation of
the pitch occurs rather
frequently as a result.
In the generation of its
tones, a reed organ is
similar to an accordion or
concertina, but not in its
installation, as an
accordion is held in both
hands whereas a reed
organ is usually positioned
on the floor in a wooden
casing (which might make
it mistakable for a piano at
the very first glimpse).
Reed organs are operated
either with pressure or
with suction bellows.
Pressure bellows permit a
wider range to modify the
volume, depending on if
the pedaling of the bellows
is faster or slower. In
North America and the
United Kingdom, a reed
organ with pressure
bellows is referred to as a
harmonium, whereas in
continental Europe, any
reed organ is called a
harmonium regardless of
whether it has pressure or
suction bellows. As reed
organs with pressure
bellows were more difficult
to produce and therefore
more expensive, North
American and British reed
organs and melodeons
generally use suction
bellows and operate on
vacuum.
Reed organ frequencies
depend on the blowing
pressure; the fundamental
frequency decreases with
medium pressure
compared to low pressure,
but it increases again at
high pressures by several
hertz for the bass notes
measured. [10] American
reed organ measurements
showed a sinusoidal
oscillation with sharp
pressure transitions when
the reed bends above and
below its frame. [11] The
fundamental itself is nearly
the mechanical resonance
frequency of the reed. [12]
The overtones of the
instrument are harmonics
of the fundamental, rather
than inharmonic,[13]
although a weak
inharmonic overtone
(6.27 f ) was reported too.
[14] The fundamental
frequency comes from a
traverse mode, whereas
weaker higher traverse and
torsional modes were
measured too. [15] Any
torsional modes are excited
because of a slight
asymmetry in the reed's
construction. During
attack, it was shown that
the reed produces most
strongly the fundamental,
along with a second
transverse or torsional
mode, which are transient.
[15]
Radiation patterns and
coupling effects between
the sound box and the
reeds on the timbre appear
not to have been studied to
date.
The unusual reed-vibration
physics have a direct effect
on harmonium playing, as
the control of its dynamics
in playing is restricted and
subtle. The free reed of the
harmonium is riveted from
a metal frame and is
subjected to airflow, which
is pumped from the
bellows through the
reservoir, pushing the reed
and bringing it to self-
exciting oscillation and to
sound production in the
direction of airflow. [11]
This particular
aerodynamics is nonlinear
in that the maximum
displacement amplitude in
which the reed can vibrate
is limited by fluctuations in
damping forces, so that the
resultant sound pressure is
rather constant. [13]
Additionally, there is a
threshold pumping
pressure, below which the
reed vibration is minimal.
[14] Within those two
thresholds, there is an
exponential growth and
decay in time of reed
amplitudes . [16]
↑Jump back a section
Repertory
The harmonium was
somewhat embraced by
European and American
composers of classical
music. It was also used
often in the folk music of
the Appalachians and South
of the United States.
Harmoniums played a
significant part in the new
rise of Nordic folk music,
especially in Finland. In the
late 1970s, a harmonium
could be found in most
schools where the bands
met, and it became natural
for the bands to include a
harmonium in their setup.
A typical folk band then—
particularly in Western
Finland—consisted of violin
(s), double-bass and
harmonium. There was a
practical limitation that
prevented playing
harmonium and accordion
in the same band:
harmoniums were tuned to
438 Hz, while accordions
were tuned to 442 Hz.
harmonium is a type of
reed organ that generates
sound with foot-pumped
bellows .
More portable than pipe
organs , reed organs were
widely used in smaller
churches and in private
homes in the 19th century,
but their volume and tonal
range are limited, and they
generally had one or
sometimes two manuals ,
with pedal-boards being
rare. The finer instruments
have a unique tone, and
the cabinets of those
intended for churches and
affluent homes were often
excellent pieces of
furniture. Several million
reed organs and
melodeons were made in
the U.S. between the 1850s
and the 1920s. During this
time Estey Organ and
Mason & Hamlin were
popular manufacturers.
The melodeon is another
reed keyboard instrument,
usually housed in a table-
like casing, that predates
the pump organ. In
reference to the music of
India , melodeon usually
refers to a concertina
accordion, while
harmonium means the
smaller hand-pumped
variety.
History
Christian Gottlieb
Kratzenstein (1723–1795),
professor of physiology at
Copenhagen, was credited
with the first free-reed
instrument made in the
Western world, after
winning the annual prize in
1780 from the Imperial
Academy of St. Petersburg.
[1] The harmonium's
design incorporates free
reeds and derives from the
earlier regal . A harmonium-
like instrument was
exhibited by Gabriel Joseph
Grenié (1756–1837) in 1810.
He called it an orgue
expressif (expressive
organ), because his
instrument was capable of
greater expression, as well
as of producing a
crescendo and diminuendo .
Alexandre Debain improved
Grenié's instrument and
gave it the name
harmonium when he
patented his version in
1840. [2] There was
concurrent development of
similar instruments.[3] A
mechanic who had worked
in the factory of Alexandre
in Paris emigrated to the
United States and
conceived the idea of a
suction bellows, instead of
the ordinary bellows that
forced the air outward
through the reeds. The
firm of Mason & Hamlin , of
Boston, in 1860 made their
instruments with the
suction bellows, and this
method of construction
soon superseded all others
in America. [2]
Beatty's Parlor Organ
1882
Harmoniums reached the
height of their popularity in
the West in the late 19th
and early 20th centuries.
They were especially
popular in small churches
and chapels where a pipe
organ would be too large
or too expensive.
Harmoniums generally
weigh less than similar
sized pianos and are not as
easily damaged in
transport, thus they were
also popular throughout
the colonies of the
European powers in this
period not only because it
was easier to ship the
instrument out to where it
was needed, but it was also
easier to transport
overland in areas where
good-quality roads and
railways may have been
non-existent. An added
attraction of the
harmonium in tropical
regions was that the
instrument held its tune
regardless of heat and
humidity, unlike the piano.
This "export" market was
sufficiently lucrative for
manufacturers to produce
harmoniums with cases
impregnated with
chemicals to prevent
woodworm and other
damaging organisms found
in the tropics.
At the peak of the
instruments' Western
popularity around 1900, a
wide variety of styles of
harmoniums were being
produced. These ranged
from simple models with
plain cases and only four or
five stops (if any at all), up
to large instruments with
ornate cases, up to a dozen
stops and other
mechanisms such as
couplers. Expensive
harmoniums were often
built to resemble pipe
organs, with ranks of fake
pipes attached to the top
of the instrument. Small
numbers of harmoniums
were built with two
manuals (keyboards). Some
were even built with pedal
keyboards, which required
the use of an assistant to
run the bellows or, for
some of the later models,
an electrical pump. These
larger instruments were
mainly intended for home
use, such as allowing
organists to practise on an
instrument on the scale of
a pipe organ, but without
the physical size or volume
of such an instrument. For
missionaries, chaplains in
the armed forces, travelling
evangelists, and the like,
reed organs that folded up
into a container the size of
a very large suitcase or
small trunk were made;
these had a short keyboard
and few stops, but they
were more than adequate
for keeping hymn singers
more or less on pitch.
The invention of the
electronic organ in the
mid-1930s spelled the end
of the harmonium's
success in the West
(although its popularity as
a household instrument
declined in the 1920s as
musical tastes changed).
The Hammond organ could
imitate the tonal quality
and range of a pipe organ
whilst retaining the
compact dimensions and
cost-effectiveness of the
harmonium as well as
reducing maintenance
needs and allowing a
greater number of stops
and other features. By this
time, harmoniums had
reached high levels of
mechanical complexity, not
only through the need to
provide instruments with a
greater tonal range, but
also due to patent laws
(especially in North
America). It was common
for manufacturers to
patent the action
mechanism used on their
instruments, thus requiring
any new manufacturer to
develop their own version;
as the number of
manufacturers grew, this
led to some instruments
having hugely complex
arrays of levers, cranks,
rods and shafts, which
made replacement with an
electronic instrument even
more attractive.
The last mass-producer of
harmoniums in the West
was the Estey company,
which ceased manufacture
in the mid-1950s. As the
existing stock of
instruments aged and
spare parts became hard
to find, more and more
were either scrapped or
sold. It was not uncommon
for harmoniums to be
"modernised" by having
electric blowers fitted,
often very
unsympathetically. The
majority of Western
harmoniums today are in
the hands of enthusiasts,
though the instrument
remains popular in South
Asia.
↑Jump back a section
Acoustics
Two reeds from a reed
organ.
The acoustical effects
described below are a
result of the free-reed
mechanism. Therefore,
they are essentially
identical for the Western
and Indian harmoniums
and the reed organ. In
1875, Hermann von
Helmholtz published his
seminal book, On the
Sensations of Tone, in
which he used the
harmonium extensively to
test different tuning
systems:[4]
Using two manuals and two
differently tuned stop sets,
he was able to
simultaneously compare
Pythagorean to just and to
equal-tempered tunings
and observe the degrees of
inharmonicity inherent to
the different
temperaments. He
subdivided the octave to 28
tones, to be able to
perform modulations of 12
minor and 17 major keys in
just intonation without
going into harsh
dissonance that is present
with the standard octave
division in this tuning. [6]
This arrangement was
difficult to play on. [7]
Additional modified or
novel instruments were
used for experimental and
educational purposes.
Notably, Bosanquet 's
Generalized keyboard,
constructed in 1873 for use
with a 53-tone scale. In
practice, that harmonium
was constructed with 84
keys, for convenience of
fingering . Another famous
reed organ that was
evaluated was built by
Poole .[8]
Lord Rayleigh also used the
harmonium to devise a
method for indirectly
measuring frequency
accurately, using
approximated known equal
temperament intervals and
their overtone beats .[9]
The harmonium had the
advantage of providing
clear overtones that
enabled the reliable
counting of beats by two
listeners, one per note.
However, Rayleigh
acknowledged that
maintaining constant
pressure in the bellows is
difficult and fluctuation of
the pitch occurs rather
frequently as a result.
In the generation of its
tones, a reed organ is
similar to an accordion or
concertina, but not in its
installation, as an
accordion is held in both
hands whereas a reed
organ is usually positioned
on the floor in a wooden
casing (which might make
it mistakable for a piano at
the very first glimpse).
Reed organs are operated
either with pressure or
with suction bellows.
Pressure bellows permit a
wider range to modify the
volume, depending on if
the pedaling of the bellows
is faster or slower. In
North America and the
United Kingdom, a reed
organ with pressure
bellows is referred to as a
harmonium, whereas in
continental Europe, any
reed organ is called a
harmonium regardless of
whether it has pressure or
suction bellows. As reed
organs with pressure
bellows were more difficult
to produce and therefore
more expensive, North
American and British reed
organs and melodeons
generally use suction
bellows and operate on
vacuum.
Reed organ frequencies
depend on the blowing
pressure; the fundamental
frequency decreases with
medium pressure
compared to low pressure,
but it increases again at
high pressures by several
hertz for the bass notes
measured. [10] American
reed organ measurements
showed a sinusoidal
oscillation with sharp
pressure transitions when
the reed bends above and
below its frame. [11] The
fundamental itself is nearly
the mechanical resonance
frequency of the reed. [12]
The overtones of the
instrument are harmonics
of the fundamental, rather
than inharmonic,[13]
although a weak
inharmonic overtone
(6.27 f ) was reported too.
[14] The fundamental
frequency comes from a
traverse mode, whereas
weaker higher traverse and
torsional modes were
measured too. [15] Any
torsional modes are excited
because of a slight
asymmetry in the reed's
construction. During
attack, it was shown that
the reed produces most
strongly the fundamental,
along with a second
transverse or torsional
mode, which are transient.
[15]
Radiation patterns and
coupling effects between
the sound box and the
reeds on the timbre appear
not to have been studied to
date.
The unusual reed-vibration
physics have a direct effect
on harmonium playing, as
the control of its dynamics
in playing is restricted and
subtle. The free reed of the
harmonium is riveted from
a metal frame and is
subjected to airflow, which
is pumped from the
bellows through the
reservoir, pushing the reed
and bringing it to self-
exciting oscillation and to
sound production in the
direction of airflow. [11]
This particular
aerodynamics is nonlinear
in that the maximum
displacement amplitude in
which the reed can vibrate
is limited by fluctuations in
damping forces, so that the
resultant sound pressure is
rather constant. [13]
Additionally, there is a
threshold pumping
pressure, below which the
reed vibration is minimal.
[14] Within those two
thresholds, there is an
exponential growth and
decay in time of reed
amplitudes . [16]
↑Jump back a section
Repertory
The harmonium was
somewhat embraced by
European and American
composers of classical
music. It was also used
often in the folk music of
the Appalachians and South
of the United States.
Harmoniums played a
significant part in the new
rise of Nordic folk music,
especially in Finland. In the
late 1970s, a harmonium
could be found in most
schools where the bands
met, and it became natural
for the bands to include a
harmonium in their setup.
A typical folk band then—
particularly in Western
Finland—consisted of violin
(s), double-bass and
harmonium. There was a
practical limitation that
prevented playing
harmonium and accordion
in the same band:
harmoniums were tuned to
438 Hz, while accordions
were tuned to 442 Hz.
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