Suggested modification to transport device

(Via Twankle & Glisten) Other news: I started drawing stuff, talked to a couple of engineers, and am looking forward to meeting a French organ man, basically to see if he can do me some kidneys)

Paper roll punching

I’ve been genuinely surprised by how many people are still using paper rolls to control their organs, and how many organs are still being produced for this technology. The means used to bridge the gap between electronic composition and paper device control are interesting–they remind me of what I think happened in (Italian?) textiles in…

Castlewood busker organ

Rather taken with Castlewood = 20 note (which notes?) (MIDI file on site). 375mm (15″) wide x 300mm (12″) high x 290mm (11.5″) deep – ie wee bit bigger than my Dell opened up. Photos of kit & construction. 2008/6/16 complete kit price 1420AUS = 860EUR, possibly plus 3.2% European tariff. US 810€inc PP Profile…

Hans Grüsel’s Kränkenkabinet

The redundant (heavy-metal) umlaut and the missing t in Kränkenkabinet seem like reasonable grounds for wondering whether “Hansel Urnst Grüsel” has ever been further east than New Jersey, never mind Neubrandenburg, and the stage show is similarly fantastic. Check out the video of Tea for two at the end of this post (the MP3 audio…

Mike’s Flying Bike hits Google Earth

Not really relevant, but good dreamy stuff while I talk to people about building the barrel organ and puppet theatre onto the tricycle: (Via Google Earth Blog and Ogle Earth)

My dream barrel organ sound

La Java Viennoise played at Les Primitifs du Futur: That looks like Fay Lovsky on musical saw, and yes, that is Robert Crumb in the background. You are going to do something by Ms Lovsky, asks S. Well, of course. I tend to prefer what I imagine are her B-sides, and unfortunately they don’t seem…

The Sultan’s organ

Howard Goodall runs a good organ miscellania page here, of which the Sultan and Elizabeth I organ donation anecdote was one of the few useful pieces of information I learnt as a child. Peter English over at Aramco has more: The Grand Signor then commanded for silence. All being quiet, the clock struck twenty-two hours followed…

5500 whistles?

We do not aim to follow in the tangled path of “the Evangelical-Lutheran town church pc. Jakob in Rothenburg whether that deaf ones” (via Transblawg) Further news: an advisory panel is being formed. Apparently the next Archbishop of Canterbury is too busy, but there will be big names in there. And we are getting closer…

Armin Raso-Katz takes his organ on a tour of Northern Ireland

Nice little video here from this sparsely documented international artist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dxLNts4Phg I don’t know what its specification is, and I don’t know the Kassel maker, but this is probably the kind of thing I’m interested in. The mini-pram-type carriage is interesting, but a trike will give me speed and flexibility.

Barrel organ and musical saw duet

I’m not much good with chordophones, so the closest I’ll get to this is on my fine collection of Swanee whistles. Here’s another musical sawyer playing Vie en rose: For some peculiar reason it makes me want to urinate. I believe 17th century transverse flutes had the same effect on some contemporary French theorist. I…