Talk:Barrel organ

Power Source
The article seems to imply that the power source for the barrel organ is not c a crank turned by a man or his monkey,saying "the power source is commonly assumed to be a crank, turned by this gentleman or by his monkey." It then says "With a few exceptions, the organ grinders used one of the smaller portable versions of the barrel organ." and then says that since the 20's, "paper note rolls are also used for ruling street organs." The article does not ever mention definitively what the power source is, which is muc to the detriment of this article. Would anyone who knows what the power source is plese write it into the article?

Don 21:51, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

Organs small enough to be easily portable were cranked by hand. Larger instruments such as those found in public places and homes could be hand cranked as well but were also driven by gears and chains attached to a large weight- when the weight was wound up it provided enough power to play several tunes. Barrel Pianos were in production well into the 20th C. - there were many rural areas with no electric power. Some of these were powered by very large spring motors. Electric powered barrel pianos were also built.Saxophobia 21:25, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

Reed barrel organs?
Aren't there versions of the barrel organ that produce sound with a set of reeds (as in accordions and harmoniums, etc.? The article seems to mention only pipe organ types.  --Theodore Kloba 18:54, July 20, 2005 (UTC)

Yes, you're entirely correct. The pipe versions seem to be more popular with outdoor performers because pipes usually make a clearer sound and are more easily heard in the open air. The primary intent of an organ grinder was to attract attention and contributions.Saxophobia 21:18, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

Major cleanup required
The later part of the article is more related to mechanical organs in general than barrel organs. Barrel organs are a specific case where the istrument is played by a barrel and NOT by a paper roll (incorrectly called a piano roll in this article) or book music. The article also mixes up with Dutch street organ and Fairground organ. Some reorganisation and possible merging or seperation of these articles may be needed. PaulJones 17:51, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

I have started a generic mechanical organ stub and its offshoots, some of which already existed. More work will be required. PaulJones 20:11, 21 October 2006 (UTC)
 * There is a detailed description of the barrel organ's history in the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica, and that material can be used freely (so long as later research hasn't contradicted it). Currently there are free scans of the text available in Tim Starling's wikisource pages. I think someone who knows more about the topic should probably do the edits. I'm flagging this note page accordingly. David Brooks 06:48, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

I just did some cleaning up and rewording. I would also recommend that the image of the "Australia Grand Street Organ' be deleted (along with its accompanying sound file), as it's clearly not a barrel organ, as you can see by clicking on it, then clicking on the inset. It shows book music being fed into the works. There is no barrel. Mr Instamatic 18:16, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

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No discussion whatsoever about history
Who invented it? What year? Why? Failed article with no history section. --posted by User:69.143.56.37, 19 September 2017


 * (3 years later) For an article that purports to be encyclopedic, why is there absolutely no information contained in the current version of this article about this instrument's history? 173.88.246.138 (talk) 06:33, 3 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia is a collaborative project where editors can post content (supported by reliable sources and following other Wikipedia rules - WP:5P and WP:RS) in articles that are of interest to them. Rather than demand something be added to an article you can just be bold and do it yourself WP:FIXIT. If you don't know how check the links at the left of any page under 'contribute' or ask here I am happy to help. Robynthehode (talk) 08:38, 3 November 2020 (UTC)

What’s wrong with the Vienna picture?
Please indicate what it is that the Vienna picture “no longer meets our featured-picture criteria” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Austrian_BarrelOrgan.jpg). I could send you pictures and or videos of a friend and crank organ player here from Bonn, but I want to avoid “criteria”. I even have a recording of his very rare reed organ (Zungendrehorgel) at – horribile dictu – the most popular video patform, select qWUBEzY_8nY – Fritz Jörn (talk) 17:58, 12 December 2021 (UTC)