Why did home organs disappear?

[darditti]

Having just got interested in home organs again and started looking at the state of them today, I am puzzled.

I last had one in the 1970s. At that time everyone seemed to have one, and shops were full of them. Today they seem to have disappeared to such a total extent that it seems virtually impossible to buy one new in the UK. I am aware that Yamaha still make them, but don't sell them here, only in Asia, and there seem to be very expensive current Hammond and Roland models that, could with difficulty, be obtained (but I am not in the market for them).

In shops they have been replaced by a vast range of digital pianos and keyboards. These are great (I have 3) but they don't do what organs do. They are fundamentally limited by the single keyboard, whatever sounds they can produce. They are more a replacement for pianos. But then, of course, traditional pianos are still going, though on a reduced scale compared to yesteryear. They haven't disappeared.

So why did the domestic organ die out so completely? Fashion, changes in the whole music environment, music education, or other factors?

Could it come back?

[tobeycat2007]

The home organ as such is dead as the dodo, sales dropped, manufacturers stopped making them, and in the end very little left. Roland now pulled out and hammond stopped making home models. Amazing what a difference to just 30 years ago, the keyboard took lot of sales, much cheaper to buy and takes up less room.

Doubt the market will ever come back, the new ringway organs are nice and inexpensive but thats about it. On a positive there are lots of used organs for sale at bargain prices, so its not all bad news.

[andyg]

Darditti. Rather than open this one for discussion (yet) again (and there's nothing new to say), have a search through the forum and you'll find our previous (very long and often rambling!) threads on the subject.

To answer your final question directly. No, alas not.

[toodles]

I think those who had home organs and learned to read music found traditional classical, theatre, and full-sized Hammond organs more fulfilling; those who relied on easy-play features get almost as much effect with much less expensive keyboards, and were pretty much using the organ as a toy. Lowrey is still making "easy-play" models for those who can afford them.

Interestingly, the home organ market volume mirrored the pipe organ market that peaked in the late 1920's driven by theatre pipe organs. Sound movies/cinema came along and the pipe volume reverted to about 10% of its peak.

[Organfella]

So why did the domestic organ die out so completely? Fashion, changes in the whole music environment, music education, or other factors?

Didn't die - I have most of them in my garage....:->

Nico

[thewizardofoz]

I think the younger generation, of musically inclined younger aged people, are influenced by the pop groups of today, all have keyboards backing the lead guitar/ drums. Organs were used, at times, in hit parade music of the 50s thru to early 70s. Home organs were marketed by several large names thru to early eighties, when interest faded, keyboards came to the fore, and cheaper in cost. Credit to Lowrey/Kawai, they still are manufacturing home organs.

[andyg]

We're going over old ground guys. Here are just a few of the old threads, nothing's changed. :(

http://www.organforum.com/forums/sho...e-organ-market

https://www.organforum.com/forums/sh...e-organ-market

http://www.organforum.com/forums/sho...e-Organ-Market

[jbird604]

A slight new wrinkle on home organs I might mention -- now that a lot of churches (at least here in the southern US) are letting their digital organs go, or even putting them on the curb, more people are able to have pretty decent classical-style organs in their homes for practice. Not that it's a huge trend or that we're seeing hordes of people bringing big organs home, but it is now quite possible and affordable to have a full-size AGO Allen or Rodgers or other fine brand church organ at home.

This isn't something that gets everybody excited, of course. Not even every organ enthusiast wants such an organ, as many would prefer to have a Hammond or a Roland Atelier or other organ more associated with theater, jazz, or popular music. (And those organs, alas, are not yet being given away as freely.) But it is a significant development for folks (like me) who dearly longed for a good home practice organ 20 years ago but couldn't find anything affordable.

So, these days, if you are interested in having a rather good full-featured premium-brand classical organ at home, that could be well within your reach. Even a refurbishing shop like mine has to reduce prices in a day when free or nearly-free organs are flooding the market. We're down to offering certain refurbished self-contained organs for about $2K. Same organ would've sold for $3K just a couple years ago.

[toodles]

We're going over old ground guys. Here are just a few of the old threads, nothing's changed. :(

...

Andy, if all posts have to only contain new information the traffic volume will dwindle down to a trickle, users will get bored and stop coming here! ;-) Anyhow, the OP is a Newbie and it seems an OK way to get to know us. The topic hasn't been beaten to death like a few other topics like the subwoofer thread.

[andyg]

Maybe I'm getting crotchety * , or even quavery, about it! But it has been beaten to death a few times and there's a lot of input in the older threads from people who have disappeared from the forum or, sadly, are no longer with us. And looking through old threads is a good way for a newbie to find their way around - it's what I always do when I'm new to a forum or group. Pity the forum's search engine isn't the best. For the benefit of the OP, and anyone else for that matter, if you go to Google and type what you're looking for, then a space and this - exactly: site: www.organforum.com you will find that Google does a god job of finding the subjects. And then, using the 'Similar Threads' box will find yet more.

* The advantage of using the 'proper' terms for note values! :D I'm getting quarter notey doesn't have the same ring to it!

[seamaster]

Three reasons, I reckon.

1. Greed on the part of dealers — the margins over trade pricing on new organs was absurd.

2. The calibre of automatics from the Roland E-20 onwards made keyboards a much more compelling proposition for mediocre home players at a fraction of the price.

3. The demise of “easy listening” as a popular musical genre.

[tobeycat2007]

The dealers will say they had large overheads hence the profit margins on organs.

[jbird604]

And some of them got "burned with fire." ;-)

Andy, I too have noticed that Google does a right good job of finding topics on the forum, as you point out. Without even appending the site directive, if you google something like "Allen organ power supply" the second item returned will be a comprehensive list of Organ Forum threads about that subject.

Of course, something more specific, such as the decline of home organs, might have to be teased out of our native search engine here.

[darditti]

Thanks for the contributions. This seemed to strike home for me most:

I think those who had home organs and learned to read music found traditional classical, theatre, and full-sized Hammond organs more fulfilling; those who relied on easy-play features get almost as much effect with much less expensive keyboards, and were pretty much using the organ as a toy.

Perhaps what made Home Organs vulnerable to changes in fashion was that they developed as too much of an in-between concept, too difficult to learn to play for lazy people, once cheaper digital keyboards were available, but too much of a compromise for more serious musicians interested in what an organ could really do. Also, perhaps there was a certain image problem with being very associated with 'easy listening' music as that became less popular. Related to this, and this is a point not before made here or in similar earlier threads I have seen, a lack of repertoire dedicated to the instrument that was not arrangements. Any instrument is vulnerable if there is no repertoire written specifically for it, that plays to its strengths, and is not just an arrangement of music originally for something else. If there is such a repertoire, there is a reason for devotees and manufacturers to keep an instrument going through changes of technology and fashion; without it there is not. I have looked through earlier threads, and people are often asking for music for the Home Organ, and being told basically: 'There is none. You have to look for the books in second-hand shops'. Of course there is a chicken-and-egg situation here, the music disappeared because the organs disappeared. But it was all only arrangements anyway, so no great loss to the world.

I feel this split personally. At the moment I am not sure what I want from an organ. I am more of the serious classical bent in music generally (I am a pianist and composer), but I like the style and sound of the theatre organ, and especially when playing 20th C light music. So I don't know whether I want a classical organ that has enough keys and pedals to play actual organ repertoire, or an organ that has a lot more sounds and 'gadgets', but limited keys and pedals. The dichotomy seems a bit of a problem to me at the moment.

David

[seamaster]

The dealers will say they had large overheads hence the profit margins on organs.

I worked for one. The margins were obscene. Still are.