English Fair Organs vs. American Band Organs, A Musical Difference?

Dear MMDers,  I'd like to make a couple comments on the sounds of
various organs.  Tim Trager and Douglas Bush have written so well
about it.  Tim says:

> When one thinks of the American Band Organ sound, one usually
> thinks of a Wurlitzer Band Organ... When one thinks of a Wurlitzer,
> one thinks of a Wurlitzer 153 or 165 playing on a carousel.  Yet the
> skating rink market shaped the sound and musical arrangements of 125
> and 150 rolls and even influenced the arrangements of 165 rolls...
> Since these rolls were made for both brass and wood organs, the
> melody of the music was carried in _both_ the trumpet and melody
> pipe sections... Sometimes the music is a bit predictable; but,
> all in all, the Wurlitzer arrangements for this scale are great...
> He or she gave a definite American quality to a European design.

As Tim Trager put it so well, the Wurlitzer 165 arrangements generally
suffer from the "regularity" of beat and duplication of melody in both
the melody sections and trumpets.  After listening to the BAB arrange-
ments compared with the Wurlitzer arrangements on Mark Elbasani's CDs,
it is clear that it is the arrangements and not the organ that gives
the 165 its "Wurlitzer sound".  The BAB arrangements play individual
registers one at a time rather than all at once and have clear and well
arranged countermelodies.  This is more like European concert
arrangements, rare on American organs.

To my ear there is a distinct difference between the Gaviolis favored
in the UK which feature saxophone, clarinet and baritone pipes and the
German organs which used trumpets and trombones.  Trumpets and trom-
bones are reed pipes with tapered wooden resonators (they may have
brass resonators but these are less common) while the baritones and
saxophones are reed pipes with straight resonators.  To my ear the
trumpets and trombones have an "aaaahhhhh" sound while the saxes and
baritones have an "rrrrrrrrrrr" sound.

Regarding the drum beaters, I have found that only the smallest con-
tinental organs use a single key for the snare drum.  The majority use
two keys.  Also organs larger than 70 keys often have the trombones
on separate keys even though they are almost always used together with
corresponding bass pipes.  One reason for this is to allow a forzando
where the bass plays the note but the trombone allows a quick "hit" of
the note to give the effect of a sudden attack.  Also the trombones are
added to the bass during forte passages.

"Band organ" rallies today in the US generally include a large
number of Wurlitzer and other American band organs but also a fair
number of European fair organs, Dutch street organs, German and other
street organs (busker or "monkey" organs) and almost any other type
imaginable.  Rarely, a dance or cafe organ will be in attendance.

Bob Conant
Endicott, NY