[Harp-L] harmoniums and bandoneons



Rick Dempster writes:

"You've probably played a harmonium,"

I would bet the number of people on this list who have played a true harmonium is zero. Possibly some of our European subscribers, but even then I would doubt it's more than ten.

" if you've ever tinkered with a small
church or domestic reed organ,because that's what it is."

Not usually. The broad category for all of these is "reed organ", the harmonium actually refers to one of two specific forms of reed organ. The first is the historic instrument developed in France in the 19th century. This was a pressure instrument which had very specific features and was usually aimed at the highest end of the market. These were never very common, and are fairly rare outside of Western Europe (and not that common there). The second instrument called a harmonium is the modern Indian one which does not share the most distinctive features of the 19th century instrument. I'm not sure of any direct connection between the two, though there were smaller, more portable instruments built by the same companies which made the larger art-harmoniums, so that may be the connection.

Most reed organs one finds in churches (especially in the US, though also in much of Europe) will be suction instruments with distinct tonal and construction differences from a harmonium. It's a bit like the differences between a piano and a clavichord. Or perhaps, between a harpsichord and a spinet. Well, somewhere in-between those two. The differences are quite significant for anyone wanting to play harmonium music (such as that by Karg-Elert and others), since the way the stops are lain out and the way the instrument can be controlled are not the same.

" The bandoneon
is just a type of button accordion, particularly popular in tango music,
but widely used elsewhere as well."

Actually, no. The bandoneon is a type of concertina, not an accordion at all. The main differences are twofold. First, the way the buttons are oriented to the body of the instrument (accordions, with one exception, have their keys/buttons arranged perpendicular to the body, concertinae parallel). Second, the fact that concertinae don't have buttons which play a chord, thus the origin of the name "accordion".



()() JR "Bulldogge" Ross (who should have bought that neat concertina on eBay last month, and who will one day finish restoring his two manual reed organ before he gets the one with bells)
() ()
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