Hi, paullongball! Most Wurlitzer band organ rolls have 10 songs per roll. Early rolls are generally around 30 minutes, while later ones are generally a little over 20 minutes. From 1934 on they only had 6 songs per roll. When those were recut later they were combined into 12-tune rolls.
(continued) Believe it or not, the current Griffith Park organ was actually built and installed in 1987. The Stinson Band Organ Company started in 1965 and still builds organs today. They have added MIDI systems to some of their organs and now build them that way. It makes it easier and quicker to operate and change music, and one MIDI disk can hold over 50 tunes (5+ rolls). Most rolls have been scanned for MIDI disks, which sound exactly like the rolls.
Hi, phunnie99! Changing the rolls can actually be done in just a couple of minutes. This organ has dual roll frames. When one roll starts, the one that just finished rewinds, so the music is continuous. You can change the one not playing so the music isn't interrupted. Some carousels with organs change the rolls each day, others less often. As for who does it, depends on who they have working there. It's probably often the "lead" carousel operator.
Excellent production.Mind yer toes at closing time. Loved the footage of children being trained to be astronauts. Watchin it made me so tyred.Love ya;)
(continued) Recut rolls were steadily available from a California operation until about 1994. Today they're available from a roll cutter in Indiana. They can last for decades if they're handled carefully, stored well, and don't get damaged while rewinding.
(continued) This carousel has had a succession of great band organs, and many fans of the music have enjoyed them over the years. The current Stinson organ looks and sounds much like previous organs there and plays the same Wurlitzer 165 music.
The first tune sounds really familar. It is a raggy one-step song from the 'teens. I swear I've heard it before. Sometimes it is easy to identify a tune by the quotes. As you mentioned, this does quote both "La Paloma" and "My Country 'Tis of Thee", and so if I find a song that quotes BOTH of these tunes (I haven't found one yet), then it is probably the right one! Slowing down the roll A LOT would help me hear the tune better. The second tune sounds like a waltz song with added trio.
(continued) As for how the organ works, the roll passes over a brass tracker bar that has, in this case, 75 holes. A hole in the music roll lets air through a hole in the tracker bar, each of which has a tube going to a valve, which opens to activate a wooden pipe, drum, etc. It's true that Walt Disney was inspired by this carousel (and the one at Lincoln Park, no longer there) to create Disneyland.
Nice video of a great carousel and band organ. The Stinson band organ plays Wurlitzer 165 rolls. There are well over 1,000 tunes on these rolls. Only 11 tunes remain unidentified, and the two tunes on this video are two of them. The roll playing has three unknown tunes (more than any other roll) and these two are the only place where there are two unknowns in a row!
I do have a recording of the first tune at a better tempo, but it's from a Carrousel Music recording that's available for purchase,which is why I didn't post it (same thing with the second tune).
@darvozz A oringinal red Wurlitzer paper roll was played on the north tonawanda organ. So I think maybe Centuries if really taken care of. Of course the tracking was off though.
Gosh I feel like we have to make up tune. (Fake) 1. The battle begun 2. Waltzing through the night That's not really the titles. I am starting to wonder if these were specifically arranged only for the Wurlitzer scale. The songs are fantastic!
Hi, phunnie99! The Wurlitzer 165 rolls this band organ plays are paper rolls like player piano rolls. If anybody wonders, "What are the names of these two songs," the answer is "Nobody knows what either one is." These two songs that happened to be playing when you recorded this are the only two unknowns in a row on any roll of this type. So you could not have recorded two songs in a row, both unidentified, from any other roll! And there are over 100 of these rolls known!
Thanks, Darvozz! That's fantastic! I feel like I won the lottery, what are the odds! ;D May I ask; how many songs does each roll contain, how many minutes per roll? Any details on the mechanism? It sounds so incredible! I read that Walt Disney, while bringing his grandchildren here, came up with the idea for Disneyland!
Kennywood's band organ sounds different than that. Their band organ is out of tune.......kind of. This one, on the other hand, sounds nice, like Chattanooga's band organ. Yep. :-)
Hi, paullongball! Most Wurlitzer band organ rolls have 10 songs per roll. Early rolls are generally around 30 minutes, while later ones are generally a little over 20 minutes. From 1934 on they only had 6 songs per roll. When those were recut later they were combined into 12-tune rolls.
(continued) Believe it or not, the current Griffith Park organ was actually built and installed in 1987. The Stinson Band Organ Company started in 1965 and still builds organs today. They have added MIDI systems to some of their organs and now build them that way. It makes it easier and quicker to operate and change music, and one MIDI disk can hold over 50 tunes (5+ rolls). Most rolls have been scanned for MIDI disks, which sound exactly like the rolls.
Hi, phunnie99! Changing the rolls can actually be done in just a couple of minutes. This organ has dual roll frames. When one roll starts, the one that just finished rewinds, so the music is continuous. You can change the one not playing so the music isn't interrupted. Some carousels with organs change the rolls each day, others less often. As for who does it, depends on who they have working there. It's probably often the "lead" carousel operator.
Excellent production.Mind yer toes at closing time. Loved the footage of children being trained to be astronauts. Watchin it made me so tyred.Love ya;)
(continued) Recut rolls were steadily available from a California operation until about 1994. Today they're available from a roll cutter in Indiana. They can last for decades if they're handled carefully, stored well, and don't get damaged while rewinding.
(continued) This carousel has had a succession of great band organs, and many fans of the music have enjoyed them over the years. The current Stinson organ looks and sounds much like previous organs there and plays the same Wurlitzer 165 music.
These two tunes are tunes 7 and 8 on roll 6521. They are both unidentified, as is tune 2 on the same roll.
The first tune sounds really familar. It is a raggy one-step song from the 'teens. I swear I've heard it before. Sometimes it is easy to identify a tune by the quotes. As you mentioned, this does quote both "La Paloma" and "My Country 'Tis of Thee", and so if I find a song that quotes BOTH of these tunes (I haven't found one yet), then it is probably the right one! Slowing down the roll A LOT would help me hear the tune better.
The second tune sounds like a waltz song with added trio.
(continued) As for how the organ works, the roll passes over a brass tracker bar that has, in this case, 75 holes. A hole in the music roll lets air through a hole in the tracker bar, each of which has a tube going to a valve, which opens to activate a wooden pipe, drum, etc.
It's true that Walt Disney was inspired by this carousel (and the one at Lincoln Park, no longer there) to create Disneyland.
Nice video of a great carousel and band organ. The Stinson band organ plays Wurlitzer 165 rolls. There are well over 1,000 tunes on these rolls. Only 11 tunes remain unidentified, and the two tunes on this video are two of them. The roll playing has three unknown tunes (more than any other roll) and these two are the only place where there are two unknowns in a row!
Never to old :)
I do have a recording of the first tune at a better tempo, but it's from a Carrousel Music recording that's available for purchase,which is why I didn't post it (same thing with the second tune).
@darvozz
A oringinal red Wurlitzer paper roll was played on the north tonawanda organ.
So I think maybe Centuries if really taken care of.
Of course the tracking was off though.
If you can get past the cacophony, and the grinding metal, the solution to world peace is contained within.
Gosh I feel like we have to make up tune.
(Fake)
1. The battle begun
2. Waltzing through the night
That's not really the titles.
I am starting to wonder if these were specifically arranged only for the Wurlitzer scale. The songs are fantastic!
Hi, phunnie99! The Wurlitzer 165 rolls this band organ plays are paper rolls like player piano rolls. If anybody wonders, "What are the names of these two songs," the answer is "Nobody knows what either one is." These two songs that happened to be playing when you recorded this are the only two unknowns in a row on any roll of this type. So you could not have recorded two songs in a row, both unidentified, from any other roll! And there are over 100 of these rolls known!
Years later:
0:00 "Good-bye, Old Mexico"
1:27 "Muriel Waltz"
@phunnie99
This was built in 1985
The organ.
does anyone know the second tune's name, it's quite a beautiful piece.
Thanks, Darvozz! That's fantastic! I feel like I won the lottery, what are the odds! ;D
May I ask; how many songs does each roll contain, how many minutes per roll?
Any details on the mechanism? It sounds so incredible!
I read that Walt Disney, while bringing his grandchildren here, came up with the idea for Disneyland!
ooops! his children...;D
The whole pavilion is very unattractive when the Merry Go Round is closed. A glass enclosure would look more enticing.
Kennywood's band organ sounds different than that. Their band organ is out of tune.......kind of. This one, on the other hand, sounds nice, like Chattanooga's band organ. Yep. :-)