The A to Z of Mechanical Music

Written by David Ward for Mechanical Music Radio

The A-Z of Mechanical Music was inspired by a series of articles, written by the late Dennis Chappell in the early 90’s for the FOPS magazine The Keyframe.

​The instruments you hear on Mechanical Music Radio produce their music automatically, with no aid whatsoever from a human being, once the music has been loaded of course. In order to create their beautiful sounds, the organs, music boxes, pianolas and orchestrions you hear only do so through a series of mechanisms, with each system being unique to the instrument or individual manufacturer in question. Each maker had their own idea of how their instrument should operate and what sort of sound they produce. The result of these ideas was an age of music never to be repeated again. From the fairground, dance-hall, café and pub, to the front rooms of the homes of the wealthy, mechanical music of all kinds had firmly implanted itself within the lives of the people who enjoyed their sounds. 

Going right across the mechanical music spectrum, it is difficult to compile a definitive A-Z of the terms relating to the instruments. However this, we think, lays a good foundation of achieving such a collection of terms. This dictionary is not the bottom line, and we are open to receiving more suggestions of words that can be added along the way so please do send them our way. 

This dictionary will list and define, in the simplest way possible, what each part of the instrument is and what its purpose serves. 

A

-    Accompaniment – The accompaniment section of a mechanical instrument serves the same purpose as it would in an orchestra. This is a musical division which, together with the bass, plays the back rhythm to the music. The section typically plays constantly, without register control and determines the beat or pulse rate of the music played. 

-    Accordion – An accordion can be found on a variety of instruments such as dance organs, café organs and in some rare cases, Dutch street organs. They were commonly found more so on dance organs and in some cases, more than one could be found on the organ. Operated by pneumatic motors hidden behind the keys and buttons, a blast of air is blown over a reed inside and hence, produces the note rather like a harmonica. In the case of mechanical organs, accordion bellows were spring loaded to give the effect of movement when playing. 

-    Acoustic Bass – The acoustic bass is more commonly found in church or cinema organs, however, the larger fairground organs such as the 112 key Gavioli’s were known to have such a device. In this case, it is an arrangement of two simultaneously playing bass pipes, playing a fifth apart, musically but actually sounding an octave below the lower pipe. A form of this system was found in larger German organs known as ‘contra-bass’. Whilst this was advertised as an optional extra on organs manufactured by Ruth and Bruders of Waldkirch, Voight’s were responsible for the later addition of the system to organs as a free-standing extra. 

-    Acorn – This small turned wooden cap is typically found at the top of a pan flute or piccolo pipe on a fairground organ. The tuning wire for this particular pipe is hidden beneath the cap. 
​
-    Arranger – The arranger is the person responsible for the tune produced by the mechanical instrument. Whether an instrument is playing using cardboard music books, a pin barrel or a paper roll, someone has to quite literally arrange the holes and pins in the right place so when the mechanism reads the tune, it plays everything correctly and hence, produces an actual tune and not a cacophony of noise. During arranging, which is traditionally carried out using a large diameter wooden drum called an arrangers drum, the noteur utilises the organs register control and indeed, the organs note range. 

B

-    Band Organ – An American term used in relation to the Fairground Organ. See ‘Fair Organ’. 

-    Baritone – The baritone section of an organ is a member of the clarinet family. However, in this case, it plays at a lower pitch. The baritone rank of pipes is usually only found in fairground organs typically playing on the 89 or 98 key scales. These pipes are usually found in a seperate ‘baritone case’, just in front of the main case of the organ. The baritone is associated with the work of Charles Marenghi of Paris who made much use of it in his VB (Violin-Baritone) organs. 

-    Barrel – The pin barrel mechanism was the system used in mechanical organs and orchestrions prior to the arrival of the pneumatic and book playing system in the late 19th century. The pinning of a barrel is a very time consuming and highly skilled job, with the arranger arranging up to eight or ten tunes per barrel. The repertoire was limited and being a highly skilled job, new barrels or even the re-pinning of old ones was costly. Despite their awkwardness in transportation, showmen did not need to employ “Gavimen” to insert books so long term, it was cost effective for them and so favoured in that regard. 

-    Bass – A musical composition contains a bass line, which is of course very important for the structure of a tune as a whole. Mechanical instruments of course contain a bass section and due to the largeness of the bass pipework, are mitred and mounted underneath the instrument. Bass pipe work is typically, but not always, a rank of stopped flue pipework. Voight, the German organ builders often installed a ‘contra-bass’ system, by which you’ve got two ranks of bass pipes producing a sound an octave lower than the pipe, musically. See ‘Acoustic Bass’ for this definition. 

-    Bass Drum – Acting as an essential member of the percussion section of a mechanical instrument, the bass drum is the larger of the drums used and is usually of the marching type. However, on dance organs, especially those with full drum kits, the bass drum is less shallow. The bass drum is struck by an actuating mechanism. The small bellow is inflated at all times and quickly exhausted and deflated in order to strike the drum. Powerful springs enable this action to be carried out more quickly. 

-    Baxophone – A type of reed pipe, similar to that of a saxophone pipe, however, in this case the double length resonator is closed at the top and the opening is instead found halfway up. Baxophones were more commonly found in dance organs.

-    Bellows – Before the days of electric blowers, no conventional mechanical instrument could function without its wind supply, such is an essential provision when it comes to wind instruments, this was supplied by bellows of one form or another. Bellows are operated by a crankshaft which pumps a pair of double acting feeders, both of which are pumping air in to an above reservoir under pressure. The volume of air required in order for the organ to play at the right pitch and volume depends on the instrument in question. Fairground organs, because they had to compete with the noise of the fairground rides and booming crowds, were far louder than dance organs for example, which only needed to provide music indoors in dance halls or cafes. 

-    Block – Found on flue pipes, the block is found towards the bottom of the pipe and makes up the bottom of the ‘mouth’ or flue of the pipe. On a reed pipe, the block is the central part in which the shallot and tongue, tuning wire and resonator are mounted. 

-    Blower – The modern day counter-part to the original bellows system, a centrifugal blower provides a constant pressure to the organ. Thusly, the organ is essentially holding the same amount of pressure at all times, even if the outlet is restricted. 

-    Book – Invented by the Parisian organ builder Anselmo Gavioli in 1891, the perforated cardboard book revolutionised mechanical music. Longer pieces of music and musical compositions in their entirety could now be arranged for a mechanical organ. The music was also easier to arrange, making it a faster and less costly way of obtaining new music for the organ. It is made up of hard laminated cardboard which is folded in a zig-zag fashion. Music books for keyed organs are cut with square holes and lacquered to make them more hard wearing. Music for keyless organs is cut with round holes. 

-    Boot – The boot is a protective shell, in a sense, for the actual reed part of a reed pipe. It is in to the boot that air enters in order for the pipe to speak, as wind is blown over the reed. 

-    Bourdon – The bourdon is a form of stopped flue pipe. It is mainly used in the bass section of all organs and commonly in the main melody section of Dutch street organs. One rank of the latter is tuned sharp to produce an undulating beat and therefore produce the sweet melodic sound for which the DSO’s are known for. The top of the pipe is blocked off with a stopper which is adjustable for the purpose of tuning. The word is of French origin and can be translated as ‘bumble bee’. 
​
-    Button – This small addition to organ actions keep the disc valves in position on their threaded wires. They can be turned when adjustment is necessary. 

C

-    Café Organ – A small dance style organ of Belgian origin, these organs were yet again slightly quieter than their larger counterparts due to the small and more enclosed venues they played in. Makers such as Mortier and Bursens manufactured a number of café organs, playing on the cardboard book system but also a number playing on paper rolls and using a suction action.

-    Calliope – More commonly found in the US, the calliope contained whistles as opposed to actual organ pipes. Some of these instruments were played mechanically via a paper roll, however, most were played manually by an organist. Whilst many played by wind, a greater number were powered by steam which perhaps lends itself to being another reason why mechanical organs were called steam organs. These high pressure steam instruments were said to have been heard from some 15 miles away. 

-    Cancel – The cancel refers to both the cancel key and cancel register on the register box. The setting of the cancel register shuts off any open registers and hence, silences the organ in its entirety. The cancel can also be known by its French title ‘Delanche’. 

-    Cap – This part of the flue pipe is essential to the voicing of the pipework and covers the actual flue of the pipe. 

-    Carillon – Originally, carillons are more commonly found on the continent in Europe, especially in the bell towers of Holland. These small, high-pitched bells are played manually in the same fashion as a church organ. However, in relation to mechanical organs, manufacturers such as Mortiers applied such a concept in the form of a two rank register containing a rank of stopped pipes and a small rank of open pipes, voiced two octaves higher. Played together, they imitate a bell like effect. 

-    Case – This is the box into which a mechanical organ is fitted. Smaller organs are typically contained to one unit, however, larger organs have side cases bolted on to either end of the main case. The side cases typically house percussion or even pipework. It is to the case that the organ front is bolted. 

-    Celeste – Refers to a rank of violin pipes tuned sharp to the violin register, thus producing an undulating effect. In this case, the lower notes in the rank are less sharp than the higher ones on a graduating scale. In the case of the bourdons found on a Dutch street organ, they too are tuned celeste. Two ranks of stopped flue pipes, with one rank tuned sharp and creating the same undulating effect. 

-    Cello – The cello rank is of the violin family, however, this rank is pitched lower than the violin rank. Physically, they are larger than violin pipes but make up part of the accompaniment section on counter-melody and not the main melody section. 
-    Chest – The chest is an essential part of any pipe organ as this is what the pipework sits on. Not only so, but contained within the chest is some of the action necessary to make the pipe speak. This action works from impulses received from action tubing further back within the instrument. 

-    Chorus – This is a very effective way of building up a tonal ensemble in an instrument. In order to achieve this, a number of pipe ranks are sounded together and are brought in by register changes. The ranks in question have been voiced accordingly. 

-    Chromatic – The term chromatic indicates the following of the musical scale through each of the twelve notes, be that in an ascending or descending order. For example, a chromatic bass section of an organ contains the complete twelve notes and not the more conventional eight or less notes. 

-    Cipher – A cipher is usually caused by a fault in the organs action and not as a result of a fault in the pipe itself. The consequence of this fault is the continuous playing of a particular note or pipe. 

-    Clarinet – The clarinet is a reed pipe, found typically in fairground organs it is a box type reed when made from wood and cylindrical if made from brass. Clarinets are usually found in the melody section of the organ. When the term ‘clarinet mixture’ is coined, it refers to multiple ranks, the reed included, playing as a chorus. 

-    Contra-bass – See ‘Acoustic bass’.

-    Conveyancing – This is the tubing, typically made of cardboard or plastic, which takes wind from the pipe chest to the pipe. In order to avoid any unwanted turbulence, the tubing should have smooth walls. 

-    Counter-melody – With the exception of the smaller organs, all mechanical organs contain a counter melody section. It can be used in a way to beef up melody section when required. In the larger organs, this can be hugely effective. Counter melody scales can consist of from sixteen, right up to twenty notes in compass and are chromatic. With the exception of the older fairground organs such as 89 or 98 scales. 
​
-    Cymbal – The cymbal is the brass percussion instrument found in most mechanical instruments. Sometimes, it is connected to the bass drum and both play simultaneously. In a lot of organs, however, the cymbal has a separate beater from the bass drum and hence, the popularly named “boom-tish” effect can be achieved in order to liven arrangements up. 

D

-    Dance Organ – Found primarily in Belgium, the dance organ was the main source of music in dance halls, Spiegel tents and cafes across the country. Dance organs were built to be portable and were easily broken down in to manageable sections in order to achieve easy moving and transportation. These instruments mimicked a dance band with pipework taking place of saxophones and trumpets and boasted other pipework such as jazz flutes and sometimes a carillon rank. As music tastes changed, so too did the dance organ and Decaps of Belgium produced semi electronic dance organs with a Hammond organ creating the sound instead of pipework. Self-playing accordions were a feature on many dance organs, as well as a dummy saxophone and a dance-band drum kit providing accompaniment to the music. 

-    Delanche – A French term for register cancel. See ‘Cancel’. 

-    Disc Valves – An aspect relating to organ building, this is a form of valve used in the action of a mechanical organ and is typically mounted centrally on a threaded wire. Unlike its counterparts, it does not rely on a return spring to return to its original position but relies on gravity alone. 
​
-    Division – This term refers to the section of the organ in question. Divisions on a mechanical organ may include bass, accompaniment, melody, counter melody and piccolo. 

E

-    En Chamade – En Chamade refers to the horizontal mounting of pipework, aiming the sound toward the listener. It’s not a common feature on mechanical organs but it has appeared on some of the organs produced by Johnny Verbeeck such as the 115 Key Centenary Organ or the 118 Key “Victory” Concert Organ. 

-    Exhaust Action – You hear about key and keyless organs on MMR. Well, the exhaust action refers to the keyless system. This is a form of action whereby wind is exhausted to the atmosphere by the keyframe pallets when the notes are in play and charged once again when they are no longer playing. The keyframe does not have metal keys reading the music, but rather holes on the tracker bar. This system is very popular in the present day on smaller organs as it cuts out the tedious efforts to manufacture the small parts found on a ‘keyed’ keyframe. 

​-    Expression – When pipework in an organ is set behind shutters, it is said to be under expression. More so a common feature on church and theatre organs, some dance organs and in some rare cases on street organs, swell shutters were an addition. Opened and closed in conjunction with register changes on the organ, the shutters can soften or louden the sound of the organ, hence giving the sound a degree of ‘expression’. 

F

-    Face-board – The mechanisms within the chest on which pipes sit may need maintenance from time to time. The face board refers to the removable section of the chest which allows access to the organ builder to carry out the necessary work. 

-    Fair Organ – This is the type of mechanical organ which was, as the name suggests, found on the fairgrounds. Their purpose was to draw the attention of the crowds in a hope that they may enter the fairground and actually go on the rides. They played in the centre of rides such as gallopers, switchbacks and steam yachts and were the sources of live music before the days of pre-recorded sound. In a time when the only music people heard was in church or played by the local brass band, the fairground organ offered a sound completely different to the punters. 

-    Feeders – The actual moving parts of a set of bellows. The feeders move up and down, pumping air in to the reservoir via a crankshaft. See ‘Bellows’. 

-    Figures – The character carvings found adorning the fronts of many mechanical organs. Bandmasters typically move one arm in time with a particular section of the organ, usually with the bass drum and turn their heads on register changes. Bellringers actually play bells with the music and are linked with the bass drum or cymbal. The action is carried out using a small motor, mounted either within the figure itself or just behind the figure and linked with a length of wire. 

-    Flue – The flue pipe is totally different to that say of a reed pipe. In a reed pipe, the sound is reliant on an actual reed. In the case of the flue, the sound is produced by the pipe itself. The flue pipe is the basic pipe type in all organs and a quite satisfactory small organ can be made entirely of flue pipes. The stopped flue pipe can give off a more flute like tone and is tuned by moving the stopper in the top of the pipe nearer or closer to the mouth. The dimension of the flue is extremely important when it comes to the actual voicing of the pipe. 

-    Flute – A flue type pipe which can be either stopped or open and can be of a relatively large scale. 

​-    Foot – This is the part of a flue pipe which is what the pipe itself actually stands on. It is through the foot that the air is transmitted from the chest in to the pipe in order to produce the sound. 

-    Frein – This French term is used to describe the ‘harmonic brake’ on a violin pipe. This brass device is typically attributed to Gavioli’s but was actually invented by Charles Lemaire, a principal voicer employed by Zimmerman, a Parisian pipe maker. The design was actually bought out by Gavioli et Cie. The frein revolutionised the tone of the mechanical organ and gave it more of an orchestral feel as violin pipes could achieve a more truer and richer stringed sound. 

​-    Front – The front is the elaborately painted, gilded and sometimes gold-leafed carved façade on an organ. Many organ companies took great pride in the elaborate fronts they produced for their organs and makers such as Mortier’s adorned their dance-hall organs with fronts up to twenty foot high and containing many beautiful carvings and pieces of art.

G

-    G4 – Some Gavioli built organs are said to be G4 organs. This refers to the 89 key scale Gavioli’s developed just before the turn of the 20th century. 

-    Gaviman – This is an old term coined by showmen back in the heyday of fairground organs working commercially and referred to the operator at the keyframe of a Gavioli organ. Today, it is used in a broader sense, referring to the keyframe operator of any make of organ. 

-    Glockenspiel – A feature on many mechanical instruments, a glockenspiel is a series of tuned bars, creating an almost bell-like sound. They’re struck with metal beaters and in some rare cases, have been known to have re-iterating mechanisms. However, this system is greedy of wind.

​-    Grelotphone – A series of tuned sleigh-bells mounted on the front of an organ, grelotphone is the French name for sleigh-bells. The grelotphone is a rare set found mainly on larger Marenghi organs. They are separately registered on the organ and play with the main melody section.

H

-    Harmonic bass – This is the arrangement of two bass pipes playing a musical fifth apart but sounding an octave below the lower pipe. This concept is employed to obviate the use of ultra-large pipes. 

-    Harmonic brake – See ‘Frein’. 

-    Harmonic flute – This is a rank of pipes found in some dance and street organs. The pipes are drilled with nodal holes in particular positions in the pipework. The nodal hole forces the pipe to speak its correct notes and thusly, preventing it from flying up to a harmonic. 

-    Harmonics – This is the term used to describe the natural progression of frequencies based on a fundamental note. The first harmonic is the fundamental, the second is the octave, the third is the twelfth and the fourth is the super octave etc. The string toned pipes of an organ can sound up to twenty or more harmonics. 

-    Hertz – This scientific term merely means the pitch of a musical note as measured in cycles per second. It’s usually abbreviated to Hz. 

​-    Humidifier – A device designed to increase the humidity level within an organ. Hot weather especially can wreak havoc on an organs action and cause playing issues, so slightly moistened air blown through the organs internals can help this problem. This is usually done while the mechanical organ is in play.
​

I

-    Inverted mouth – This is a situation where the chamfer on the top lip of an organ pipe is cut on the inside. It’s not a feature commonly found on mechanical organs.

J

-    Jazz flutes – This particular rank of pipes can be typically found on dance organs. This pipe is a stopped flute pipe fitted with a valve a the back, directly behind the pipes mouth. This valve is operated by a tremulant and therefore gives it a pulsating action. The result of this action is a sound just like a flautist using their little finger to create a trill.
.

K

-    Keyframe – The keyframe of a mechanical organ is the brain of the organ. Once the arranger has arranged and cut the desired tune, it is up to this mechanism to ‘read’ the music. In a sense, it translates the holes in the card into signals in order to produce the tune. Traditionally, this was the frame holding the keys which read the pins on a barrel, however, following Anselo Gavioli’s 1891 invention, it reads the cardboard books or paper rolls. 

-    Keyframe key – This is the one key which is used to silence the organ when the tune ends or the bridge of the keyframe is lifted. 

-    Keyless – This is the term which refers to the cardboard music system whereby the music is read by a tracker bar. Instead of metal keys, the system uses a series of holes, similar to that of a player piano. The holes on the tracker coincide with those cut in the card and hence operate the organs action. Round holes are cut in the card for a more precise reading by the mechanism. A 78 keyless organ will have 78 holes in the tracker bar, a 30 keyless organ will have 30 holes in the tracker bar etc. 

​-    Keys – In the keyed system, the tracker bar isn’t simply a row of holes but is made up of a set of keys which ‘feel’ for the music. As a hole in the card appears over the key, the spring-loaded key pops up and hence operates the organs action. Holes in the card for this system are square cut. An 89 key organ will have 89 keys on its keyframe, a 65 key organ with 65 keys on its keyframe and so on.

L

-    Languid – This is the part of a metal flue pipe which separates the resonating tube from the foot. The front edge of this is precisely shaped in order to form the ‘flue’ and the speech of the pipe is critical to this. 

-    Leather – Leather is used in various parts of the mechanical instrument. A variety of types of leather are used, from paper thin ‘zephyr’ leather (rats intestines, believe it or not) which is used in very small pneumatics to cow hide which is used in the heavier reservoir bellows. 

​-    Lip – The mouth of a flue pipe has a bottom lip which is formed by the block and the cap. The top lop is formed by the lower edge of the pipes front.

M

-    Marker – See ‘Arranger’. 

-    Melody – This is the musical division of the organ which provides the main melody line or tune. 

-    MIDI – ‘Musical Instrument Digital Interface’ – this refers to the standard computer language of musical notation. In simple terms, this is the system by which music can be arranged for and played on a mechanical organ via a computer and not cardboard books or paper rolls. Organs can have MIDI systems fitted as well as a keyframe. However, modern day technology has resulted in a system whereby a box can sit atop a keyframe with the MIDI system inside and play the keyframe like a book of music. The result of this is a less intrusive MIDI system, which does not interfere with the organs originality. 

-    Mitre – Almost an art form in the organ building world, the concept of mitring pipework means that pipework can be angled in order to fit larger pipes in to smaller spaces. Flue bass pipes can be mounted all in the bottom of the case, mitred around each other. Despite some mitred pipes having 45 degree angles, the speech of the pipe is not affected in any way.

-    Mixture – This refers to the multiple ranks of pipes playing together as a chorus. In a traditional sense, mixture ranks break back to lower notes at various intervals in the scale, but as the compass covered in mechanical organs is rarely more than two octaves, this is not done. 

-    Monkey organ – An American term for street organ. See ‘Street organ’. 

-    Motor – In the world of mechanical music, the word motor refers to a pneumatic motor which can be used in the organs action, for the percussion sections or for the figures’ movements. It is formed from two pieces of wood, hinged at one end and covered by a membrane of leather creating an airtight chamber. The chamber is filled with air, thusly inflating the motor. 

-    Mouth – This is the opening of a flue pipe just above the flue. The mouth forms the pipes speech.

​-    Mutation – This refers to a rank of pipes speaking a pitch other than the unison or an octave. In mechanical organs, this occurs mainly in the melody section of German organs whereby they from part of the mixture and play when the forte register is enabled.

N

-    Nodal hole – See ‘Harmonic flute’.

​-    Noteur – See ‘Arranger’.

O

-    Open – A pipe is said to be open when its top is open to the air. Flue pipes can sometimes be open pipes, when there is no stop present in the top of the pipe.

P

-    Pallet – This is a flat air valve found in many mechanical organs whereby a leathered surface is extended at one end to form a hinge. When dealing with mechanical organs, it is essential that all pallet faces have a perfectly flat surface.

-    Pan-flute – This flue pipe is usually made of brass, but some examples have been turned out in wood. The air is passed across the bottom of the tube in order to produce the sound. The tuning is accomplished by adjusting the position of an internal stopper which is fixed to a tuning wire held by the pipes acorn shaped cap.

-    Paper organ – A term coined to the mechanical organ playing off cardboard music books. See ‘Book’. 

-    Paper roll – Some of the larger German built fairground organs were operated on a paper roll system instead of cardboard music books. The keyless action was used with this system as the keys would too easily tear the more fragile paper music. The downside of this system is the necessity of winding the roll back up after play, however, some larger organs had two roll systems so as one roll re-wound, the other would come in to play and hence provide a continuous play situation. 

-    Pianola – A mechanical derivative of the piano, this self contained instrument became popular across the globe as a source of live music in the homes of the wealthy and in the public houses in towns and cities. The pianola plays via a paper roll, of 88 notes and uses a suction system. It is operated by pumping two pedals, however, fitted with a vacuum, the instrument is free to play without the need for someone to pump the pedals. 

-    Piccolo – This type of pipework is used to play what is part of the melody section of an organ, especially on the larger instruments such as an 89 key Gavioli. This section comprises of open flutes and pan flutes. 

-    Pipe chest – This term applies to a chest used as an auxiliary, distinct from a main windchest of an organ. This would be used for register control where pipes have to be on a separate chest for each register with a ventil controlling the wind supply. 

-    Piston – A French term for trumpet. 

-    Pitch – While there is an international standard pitch in music, mechanical organs rarely match this pitch and instead organ builders opt for a pitch two or three semitones shaper. This also helps in making musical scales easier for arrangers.

-    Pneumatic – While earlier barrel organs used a ‘tracker’ system as a means of communication between the barrel and the pipes. However, the pneumatic system uses the organs actual wind supply as a power assistance for a notes action. The 1891 invention of the cardboard music book involved the fresh idea of the keyframe, which was only possible because of the pneumatic system. 

-    Pouch – This membrane of leather provides movement once the organs wind pressure is supplied to it. It can sometimes be fitted with a direct valve or can be remote with a threaded wire. 

-    Pressure – In terms of mechanical organs, a certain amount of wind is required to upkeep the organs volume and in order for the pipework to speak properly and for the percussion to operate more fluidly. Wind pressure is measure by water gauge pressure.

-    Primary – The primary action of an organ is the first in line of action components running from the keyframe to the actual pipe chest. The smallest of organs have merely one action within their mechanisms. Larger organs will have a series of action, resulting in greater power within the organ. 

-    Proscenium – While all organs come with a decorative front to give themselves a better aesthetic, larger organs such as the dance organs manufactured by Mortiers came with a proscenium. These tall ‘upper levels’ of the organs front consisted of carvings, artwork and sometimes figures. The prosceniums were typically easily dismantled for transportation. 

​-    Puff – See ‘Pouch’. 

Q

-    Quint – This is the eighth note in a series on a chromatic scale. It comes from Latin and the English equivalent to this word is ‘fifth’. 

​-    Quintaton – This is a stopped pipe, so voiced that it sounds its first harmonic along with the fundamental or ground tone. This harmonic is the twelfth or ‘quint above the octave’.

R

-    Rank – This term refers to a complete set of pipes, each of a slightly different size, for each note in a given register. The pipes run through the scale from bass to treble within a particular section of the organ. 

-    Reed – This is the collective name given to the second main type of pipework to be found in organs of all types. As opposed to a ‘flue’, the reed operates by vibrating a tongue against a shallot. 

-    Register – Equivalent to the ‘stop’ on a church organ, a register is a particular pipe section of an organ which produces a particular tonal effect. The section can be turned on or off, depending on how and when the arranger cares for it to play in the arrangement. 

-    Regulation – This is the act of setting the speech of a rank of pipes so they are all at the same volume and tone. Practically, a metal pipe is easier to regulate as its foot hole is easily adjusted in size for the power of a note. General adjustment of the mouth of the pipe is also considered relatively simple. 

-    Regulator – This device acts on the organs wind supply to stabilise the pressure of the wind. For example, on dance organs, one is fitted to regulate the wind supply to the accordions, which use a great deal less amount of wind pressure than the pipework. 

-    Relay – A relay is a means of bolstering wind pressure after a long run of tubing has reduced it by friction. It is found between the keyframe and the pipe chest. 

-    Reservoir – As covered in ‘Bellows’, the reservoir is the upper section of the organs’ bellows where the pressurised wind is stored. The top of the reservoir is free to rise, but to a certain height only, kept under pressure by springs or sometimes weights. This is to a retain a constant pressure within its confines. 

-    Resonator – This is the tube part of an organ pipe in both flue and reed types. A reed without its resonator can yield a note coarse in tone and weak in power. The function of the resonator is to amplify the sound produced by the reed within the ‘boot’ below. 

​-    Running – This is a problem which occurs in some organs whereby wind can leak in the bar chest from one channel to another and cause the adjacent note to speak. It can be caused by the drying out and shrinking of the timber or by pouch leather moving itself loose.

S

-    Saxophone – As a member of the clarinet family, the saxophone pipe, where fair organs are concerned, is a clarinet but pitched much lower than a clarinet pipe. The resonators on this pipe are not tapered but are square. This section is usually found in the counter-melody section. 

-    Scale – This term can have several meanings. It can refer to the arrangement of notes and registers on the organs keyframe. It can be coined to describe the cross section area of an organ pipe in relation to its length. It can also refer to the progression of the cross section of pipes in the rank in relation to each other throughout the ranks length. 

-    Secondary – Following on from the primary action, this is the next action to be found between the keyframe and the pipe chest. Small organs have only one action, whereas the larger organs could have two or sometimes three. 

-    Shallot – This is the component of the reed assembly against which the tongue beats in reeds. It is tubular in shape and its typically made from brass or wood. 

-    Shellac – This is a substance used in French polishing, however, thinned with alcohol, is painted on to music books to be played on keyed organs. This strengthens the card, which has been weakened following the punching of holes in to it, and gives it tougher wear against the metal keys. 

-    Side case – See ‘Case’.

-    Skiver – This is the leather used for making pouches and other small pneumatics. It is skin split through its thickness and the quality of the skiver is critical and therefore, can be somewhat expensive. 

-    Sleighbells – Technically known as ‘grelotphone’. See ‘Grelotphone’. 

-    Slide – This device is commonly fitted to open pipes and is used for tuning. As the slide is tapped downwards, the pitch raises. And tapping it upwards lowers the pitch. 

-    Slider – Fitted to smaller organs, typically of the German origin, this device is almost like a manual register. Slid to one side, the air can access a particular rank and cause them to speak. Pulled back and the rank is turned off, essentially as the wind supply is cut off once again. 

-    Snare – This is the device fitted to the snare or side drum. Traditionally it was made of gut but the modern equivalent are small wire springs. It is held against the bottom of the drum, at tension and creates an almost rasping sound. 

-    Soundboard – A technical term for bar chest, this component is rarely manufactured today due to its complexity. 

-    Spring chest – Found on German organs, this form of register control is made up of pallets fitted to each note, under spring tension and pulled open as a group by a system of levers. Springs return it to the closed position, hence the name. 

-    Steam organ – Although this type of organ never existed, with the exception of the American Calliope, the English referral to fair organs as steam organs came about because of their power being provided by small steam engines, mounted on the centre engine of a ride. 

-    Sticker – This is the technical term for the push-rod used in some organ actions. 

-    Stop – In mechanical organs, this is reffered to as a register. However, a stop refers to church organs. 

-    Stopped – These are the main group of flue pipes as opposed to open flue pipes. Small blocks ‘stop’ the top of the pipe and they are either lowered or raised in order to tune the pipe in question. 

-    Street organ – In this case, there are two different kinds of street organs, German and Dutch. The German organs are smaller, typically of 20 and up to 46 notes, and are small, hand-turned, four wheeled cart mounted organs. The Dutch variety are much larger, traditionally mounted on wooden three wheeled carts and boasted heavily carved and decorated fronts. Hand turned with a large metal crank wheel, they play from 52 to 90 key music books. 

-    String – This sub-division of the open pipe category, they are commonly called ‘violin’. According to some organ builders, they are the hardest to voice due to their extremely narrow scale. Their speech is stabilised by a frein. 

​-    Suction action – This is a method of playing an organ from paper rolls which require a suction as well as pressure in order to produce the notes read from the rolls.

T

-    Table – This top board of a bar chest is where holes are drilled in order to take wind for each pipe on the chest.

-    Temple block – Typically found on Belgian dance organs, this hollowed out block of wood which plays a tuned sound can be found in groups of three. 

-    Tempo – Quite literally the speed of the music. When arranging, the arranger will have envisaged how fast or slow they would like the tune to be and will therefore arrange it accordingly. 

-    Tibia – Mentioned already under ‘flute’, tibia pipes are found more so in theatre organs.

-    Timbre – Another term for the tone of a singular pipe or a group of pipes. 

-    Tongue – This is the vibrating part of a reed pipe, where the sound originates from. It is tuned by moving a spring wire up or down which effectively alters the tongues vibrating length. 

-    Tracker bar – This is the part of the keyframe of a keyless organ which feels for the music. Instead of a row of keys, the frame is drilled with a series of holes in a row. The music is read as a hole in the card coincides with the hole in the tracker bar. 

-    Tremulant – This constant regular disturbance in the wind supply from an organ as it enters a pipe gives it an almost vibrating effect. An undulating effect on the pipes’ speech, sometimes adding colour to the arrangement of a tune. 

-    Trombone – A member of the reed family, this supplements the bass department during louder passages and carry a tapered resonator like a wooden trumpet pipe. 

-    Trombone chant – Fitted to 98 key Marenghi organs, this is a brass trumpet rank which plays on the main melody section. 

-    Trunk – This name is given to the tubing carrying the wind from the reservoir to the pipe chest in a mechanical organ. 

-    Tubular pneumatic – This term is given to the type of action which uses tubes or either lead or plastic. 

​-    Tuning slide – See ‘Slide’.

U

-    Unda Maris – This two rank register can be found in the larger Dutch street organs, playing on counter melody. Its pipes are narrow scale, fitted with freins and have one rank tuned sharp. This register gains its name from the sound it produces, similar to that of the ‘waves of the sea’. 

​-    Unit chest – A pipe chest which carries pipes not mounted on the main or bar chest or a mechanical organ.

V

-    VB – VB refers to the type of layout adapted by Marenghi’s of Paris for their 89 key organs. The violins instead play on counter melody and not on the main melody section and the saxophone type baritones play the melody section. Most 87 and 89 key Gavioli’s in Britain were converted and adapted to play the VB (Violin-Baritone) scale. 

-    Ventil – This device is employed to control the supply of wind to unit chests carrying pipes which are under control of a register. 

-    Vibratone – This rank of pipework is typically found on dance organs and consists of a stopped flute pipe fitted with a kazoo type membrane mounted on the near side of the pipe. There is also a valve on the rear side, similar to the Jazz flute. 

-    Violin – See ‘String’. 

​-    Voicing – Carried out in the building stages, this is carried out after the pipework is manufactured and enables them to speak the required tone.

W

-    Water gauge – Used to measure the wind pressure in an organ. Pressure is measured in inches of water. Two connected vertical tubes containing water have their water levels measured, with one tube open to open atmosphere pressure and the other connected to the organs wind supply. 

-    Wind – The technical term for air under pressure and used for the organs action and playing of the actual pipes. 

-    Wind chest – The box on which pipes stand. The action necessary for enabling the pipes to speak is contained within.

​-    Wood block – A hollowed block of wood played by snare drum beater style beaters and action. These are often found in larger Dutch street organs.

X

-    Xylophone – This set of hardwood bars is played with wooden beaters. Typically, the xylophone was a feature of indoor organs such as dance organs. It lacks the power and volume necessary for organs such as fairground organs.

Z

-    Zauberflote – This stopped harmonic pipe has been mentioned in the past in organ building circles in regards to some Gavioli organs. Very few organs have been known to have this rank included.

​​-    Zinc – This material is the only metal used for organ pipes capable of withstanding the rigours of travelling. Lead based organ materials are too soft and heavy, whereas zinc is the total opposite.

The A-Z of Mechanical Music was inspired by a series of articles, written by the late Dennis Chappell in the early 90’s for the FOPS magazine The Keyframe, which defined in great detail a number of organ related terms.