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Old 25th Nov 2021, 10:41 am   #21
Radio Wrangler
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Default Re: Chord organs

A schoolboy prank was to go into Woods music shop in Huddersfield and ask for a copy of the sheet music for Je t'aime (ma non plus) and watch the shocked reaction. As the BBC had banned it, it had to be good!

Played on an organ bedecked with ecclesiastical flourishes, it sounds rather good. Anyone who recognises the tune will get the joke. It's quite innocuous without the 'vocals', rather melodious in fact.

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Old 25th Nov 2021, 7:13 pm   #22
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Default Re: Chord organs

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Je t'aime (ma non plus) It's quite innocuous without the 'vocals', rather melodious in fact.
Yes, a nice tune - I have the original record.

My harmonium 'party-piece' is (was) 'Nights In White Satin' with my extended version of the flute solo in the middle!

My other recommendations for the harmonium are 'Streets Of London', specially arranged for harmonium by me

Also, 'Let It Be' and perhaps 'Amazing Grace', all good on the pedal organ!

I'll have to start playing it again sometime - I haven't touched it for several years and may have got very out of practice and forgotten how to play, although I'm sure it'll soon come back to me once I loosen up the old fingers once again. With those above titles, you'd find it hard to believe that I was once a lead guitarist in a heavy metal band back in the 70s - a 'failed' lead guitarist unfortunately, but still good at thrashing out the likes of Sabbath's 'Paranoid' etc. Those were the days
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Old 25th Nov 2021, 8:21 pm   #23
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Default Re: Chord organs

I 'swapped' something for a chord organ off a mate when I was a kid. A 'rosedale'; a rather old-fashioned looking thing. I remember it had a rotary knob for the mains switch, which came off very easily to expove a live contact underneath. Luckily I recognised the fault and replaced it with something more robust. The fact these things were aimed at children was dismaying.

One of the keys also had a cigarette burn, but that was probably a reflection on my mate's favourite pastime (he was about 8).

I was struggling to remember the exact period but then realised I learned to play Jona Lewie's 'Stop The Cavalry' as it was in the charts at the time. (circa 1980).

Nowadays I can play 'je t'aime' with more authenticity as I have a hammond tonewheel.
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Old 25th Nov 2021, 9:22 pm   #24
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Nowadays I can play 'je t'aime' with more authenticity as I have a hammond tonewheel.
A real Hammond, I have to rely on more modern sample based instruments to recreate anything like that (I have a couple of samplers (S330 and S60000) and a couple of workstations (GEM S2 and Motif XS7), did have an FM based Yamaha HS8 organ but it had a few issues and I got rid of it a few weeks ago, did have aftertouch on the pedals which was novel.

I have played a proper pipe organ which is a nice thing to play, it was a relatively small dual manual model that is in the old prison church, St. Peters, on Portland, was still working a few years ago with very few issues.

Naturally being a synth guy the ultimate "organ" is the Yamaha GX-1, Gammal Fäbodpsalm from ABBA give a good example of the sound, as does the strings on Pastime Paradise and sound on some of the ELP stuff.

Last edited by dglcomp; 25th Nov 2021 at 9:27 pm.
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Old 17th Dec 2021, 12:49 am   #25
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Default Re: Chord organs

I used to have a Magnus chord organ, I remember my brother and I bringing it home from the shop on the bus and getting some strange looks! It only had 3 octaves and the white keys had number labels 1 to 22, then there were the 12 chord buttons which were Bb F C G D and A with white buttons (major) and with black buttons (minor).

It was a rather noisy instrument to play and too limited for me by its range of only 3 octaves.
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Old 17th Dec 2021, 5:00 pm   #26
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Default Re: Chord organs

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And if you live in the North, there's a harmonium museum in part of the Saltaire mill complex near Bradford.
Sadly not. It died many years ago, It was a brilliant museum in its day and held annual events that I attended, as I have an Apollo reed organ which is almost as big as they get.
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Old 17th Dec 2021, 7:04 pm   #27
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Default Re: Chord organs

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Originally Posted by McMurdo View Post
I 'swapped' something for a chord organ off a mate when I was a kid. A 'rosedale'; a rather old-fashioned looking thing. I remember it had a rotary knob for the mains switch, which came off very easily to expove a live contact underneath. Luckily I recognised the fault and replaced it with something more robust. The fact these things were aimed at children was dismaying.

One of the keys also had a cigarette burn, but that was probably a reflection on my mate's favourite pastime (he was about 8).

I was struggling to remember the exact period but then realised I learned to play Jona Lewie's 'Stop The Cavalry' as it was in the charts at the time. (circa 1980).

Nowadays I can play 'je t'aime' with more authenticity as I have a hammond tonewheel.
Snap!, so do I. I also had an 'American organ', but as others have said, it took up too much room.
So now I have the Tonewheel Hammond (which has a PSU fault, I need to fix) and a Large Yamaha, both with Lesile speakers.

I found the chord organs were a little like a 'flattened-out' accordion, but somewhat lacking in real tonal qualities. Even Woolworths sold them.

David.
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Old 17th Dec 2021, 7:55 pm   #28
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Default Re: Chord organs

Here's something else related but different at the same time, a combination player piano/organ with sound effects, used to accompany silent films.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5nHjCWl_Xg
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Old 17th Dec 2021, 9:25 pm   #29
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Default Re: Chord organs

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A 'rosedale'; a rather old-fashioned looking thing
I had a 'Bontempi' which looked identical to that, brown plastic case and a noisy fan driving the reeds . That was in the early 70's before I could afford a real synth. Still got a Korg707 and an SH101 left from my halcyon synth days of the 80's
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Old 18th Dec 2021, 9:35 am   #30
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A 'rosedale'; a rather old-fashioned looking thing
I had a 'Bontempi' which looked identical to that, brown plastic case and a noisy fan driving the reeds . That was in the early 70's before I could afford a real synth. Still got a Korg707 and an SH101 left from my halcyon synth days of the 80's
I think we had one of those, later on a Sashio electronic keyboard and then a Yamaha PSR-6 before buying my own, I do have a few keyboards and related devices now (taken from my signature on a musical instuments forum),

Generalmusic: S2, Roland: SH-201/U-110/S-330/TR-626, Akai: miniAK/S6000, Yamaha: Motif XF7/DX9, Korg: 05R/W, Alesis: Vortex MK1 WH w/CME WIDI, CME: WIDI, Behringer: Model D/VC340/MS-101/RD-8/RD-9/TD-3/TD-6

Keyboards can be quite the rabbit hole!, wouldn't mind a digital pipe organ of some description or any organ with decent pipe orrgan sounds.
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Old 23rd Dec 2021, 12:27 pm   #31
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Default Re: Chord organs

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still got... an SH101
Me too! But my first keyboard was one of the Rosedale reed organs as discussed earlier in the thread, and I loved it. Moreover, it was polyphonic, unlike the SH-101.

Unfortunately it disappeared in a house move - my mother was quite ruthless and often decided unilaterally that I didn't need this or that any more - that's probably why I have such a defensive hoarder mentality now, thinking if I don't keep things under my direct supervision they will disappear.
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Old 23rd Dec 2021, 5:06 pm   #32
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Default Re: Chord organs

Eeekkk - hope you Mum hasn't 'disappeared' the 101, they're worth mucho dinero these days SH

Off topic but my mate had one of Ringo's stage jacket he left behind after a gig at Lewisham Odeon - his Dad chucked it away ...
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Old 23rd Dec 2021, 5:36 pm   #33
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hope your Mum hasn't 'disappeared' the 101
No, she only did that kind of thing when I was a kid / early teens. I would have been roughly 20 or so when I acquired the 101 (which I still have). Still miss the old Chord organ though, I wasn't able to say a proper goodbye to it.
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