Listen to the barrel organ
Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.
How the barrel organ makes its sound
In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the barrel organ belongs to the flutes (edge-blown): an air jet is split on a sharp edge, setting the air column vibrating – flutes, recorders, whistles and panpipes.
More broadly it is one of the aerophones (wind instruments), where sound comes from vibrating air.
Press play above and watch the spectrum: the evenly spaced peaks are harmonics, and their relative strength is what gives the instrument its character.
From Wikipedia
A barrel organ (also called roller organ or crank organ) is a French mechanical musical instrument consisting of bellows and one or more ranks of pipes housed in a case, usually of wood, and often highly decorated. The basic principle is the same as a traditional pipe organ, but rather than being played by an organist, the barrel organ is powered by either a person turning a crank, or by clockwork driven by weights or springs. The music is encoded onto wooden barrels (cylinders) using pins. The pins strike levers which are analogous to the keyboard of the traditional pipe organ. A person (or in some cases, a trained animal) who plays a barrel organ is known as an organ grinder.
Other flutes
More instruments from France
Accordion
Free reeds and interruptive aerophones
Hurdy-gurdy
Lutes
Ophicleide
Brass (lip-vibrated aerophones)
Tambourine de Bearn
struck string instrument; zither
Luthéal
hybrid piano with an attachment for changing timbre
Cannone da 75/27 modello 11
1912 Italian 75 mm field gun
Selmer guitar
acoustic guitar manufactured by Henri Selmer Paris
Quinton
Lutes
Frequently asked questions
What does a barrel organ sound like?
Listen to 1 recording on this page. As one of the flutes, its sound comes from the way an air jet is split on a sharp edge, setting the air column vibrating.
What type of instrument is the barrel organ?
It is classified as flutes (edge-blown) (Hornbostel–Sachs 421.222.11-9).
Where does the barrel organ come from?
The barrel organ originates from France.
Sources & credits
- AF Street organ by Original uploader was Peter Ellis at en.wikipedia – CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Wikidata Q752638 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Barrel organ – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Image by ZaxosKantadoros – CC BY-SA 4.0