Reed Organ - Structure and Method of Sound Production

Structure and Method of Sound Production

In the generation of its tones, a reed organ is similar to an accordion or concertina, but not in its installation, as an accordion is held in both hands whereas a reed organ is usually positioned on the floor in a wooden casing (which might make it mistakable for a piano at the very first glimpse).

Reed organs are operated either with pressure or with suction bellows. Pressure bellows permit a wider range to modify the volume, depending on if the pedaling of the bellows is faster or slower. In North America and the United Kingdom, a reed organ with pressure bellows is referred to as a harmonium, whereas in continental Europe, any reed organ is called a harmonium regardless of whether it has pressure or suction bellows. As reed organs with pressure bellows were more difficult to produce and therefore more expensive, North American and British reed organs and melodeons generally use suction bellows and operate on vacuum.

Read more about this topic:  Reed Organ

Famous quotes containing the words structure, method, sound and/or production:

    With sixty staring me in the face, I have developed inflammation of the sentence structure and definite hardening of the paragraphs.
    James Thurber (1894–1961)

    I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution.
    Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885)

    Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.
    Bible: New Testament Jesus, in Matthew, 6:2-3.

    From the Sermon on the Mount.

    The production of obscurity in Paris compares to the production of motor cars in Detroit in the great period of American industry.
    Ernest Gellner (b. 1925)