Talk:Pump organ

[Untitled]

Interesting new addition. Maybe the initial sentence that defines the pump organ as a reed organ shold be changed? Are the portative organs also referred to as "pump organ"? /Habj 09:45, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC) scooby doo

Not harmonium?

Following a link to what I thought would be an article on the harmonium, I am quite surprised to see that is headed with the title "Pump organ". This is not a term I have encountered at all often, and I have always thought that the normal name for the instrument was "harmonium".

Is it one of those things that varies wildly from one country to another, or even between different types of musicians (like different types of violinists may refer to either a "fiddle" or a "violin")? For what it matters, I am in Australia, but I don't think that would have made much difference to the name I hear most often for the instrument, because I rarely hear anyone in person talk about the harmonium, and by far the most references to the instrument, from which I would have inferred its usual name, have been in printed sources or web sites - most of which are probably not Australian in origin.

I don't know enough about the matter of naming to go into it further; but I wonder if anyone who knows about this (perhaps previous contributors to the article) could please respond, and mention the basis on which the heading for this article was chosen. I tried looking to see if there had been any discussion about this, but there doesn't appear to have been. I really would have thought it should be "Harmonium", so would be interested to know why the name "Pump organ" was chosen to head this article. M.J.E. (talk) 16:57, 23 April 2013 (UTC)

I agree that the term "harmonium" is (or was) commonly used in Australia when being specific about what kind of organ is meant. In the 50s and 60s, my family, their friends and their churches, called it simply "the organ", without qualification, since only larger churches could afford to have a "pipe organ". If any adjective was added, it was to call it a "church organ". Only later did various electronic organs, such as the Hammond, become more affordable and common, and as they did so, the harmonium became increasingly unfashionable and less commonly found. (Very few were in private homes; uncommonly, we had a small (12-stop) harmonium at home, which my mother and I loved to play. We called it "the organ"; my parents thought the name "harmonium" pretentious.) Many a decent harmonium was put into storage and forgotten; more were sold off, given away or thrown out. It's now difficult to find a worthy harmonium in decent working order.

However, I've never heard the term pump organ in speech, logical though it might be! yoyo (talk) 00:13, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

Melodeon

The last paragraph of the introduction is unclear in a number of aspects:

"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."

I think the first sentence is attempting to elaborate the difference between the instrument being described and the pump organ but other than saying that it is "another...instrument" the difference isn't made clear. Assuming it's not the same instrument, it should also clarify the difference from the other instrument commonly known by the name "melodeon", the diatonic button accordion.

In the second sentence, the use of the term "concertina accordion" is, to my knowledge, incorrect as they are distinct instruments and the instrument in discussion can only be one or the other. If the sentence is saying that the name "melodeon" refers to the diatonic button accordion, there is nothing particular about this use to India. That "harmonium means the smaller hand-pumped variety" does not clarify as to whether this is a variety of pump organ (the intention I'm guessing), accordion or concertina. Mutt Lunker (talk) 18:18, 9 March 2015 (UTC)

No mention of Nico?

Yeah, I thought that Nico was pretty much the face (and sound!) of the harmonium/pump organ in western popular music? Should she be mentioned in this article? Thanks. -84.51.162.182 (talk) 01:22, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

It's obvious that she is, added! I'm tired of the Beatles nonsense.Filas312 (talk) 22:44, 3 January 2017 (UTC)

Western Popular music

I've marked as "dubious" the claim that:

"Harmoniums have become widely used in western popular music ...".

All of the examples given are from The Beatles, and their use of the Harmonium was both rare and sporadic. Examples of other bands and performers would bolster the claim somewhat. Further, no secondary source was given for the claim of "wide use".

It would be truer to say that:

"Harmoniums have been used occasionally in western popular music ...".

yoyo (talk) 00:21, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

Reed organ with bells

I found this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SqCiD22wt0 an 1887 B. Shoninger Reed Organ w/bells. I'm not sure how this would comply with the external links guideline or if the "Reed Organ w/bells" is relevant to the article. One of the comments says "there is a lever underneath each key that runs back into bell action and trips a hammer that strikes each bell" and that may not have been my own words, but if I can find a better source (and if this instrument is somehow relevant to the article) maybe I'll add this information. I guess these bells are kinda like the Maas-Rowe chimes of the early post-WWII era that many church musicians attached to their organ consoles (church organs with this modification are identified by the small keyboard attached to or integrated with the organ console) only the Maas-Rowe chimes sound a bit more like real church bells and so are essentially keyboard-operated tubular bells (that discussion would be more relevant to the Electronic carillon article) but I think there should be some mention of this "Reed Organ w/Bells" thing and I'll see if I can find a better source and/or a more appropriate external link.--73.128.145.64 (talk) 22:48, 4 May 2017 (UTC)