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Hi all,</p>
This week I had a chance to briefly play the first organ that I ever played, not counting the Magnus play-by-number organ from my childhood. I will tell a brief background about when I first played it and how I came to play the organ.</p>
When I was 12 (in 1982), our house burned completely. Of course the Magnus organ mentioned above burned as well. I had been playing it a lot and had gotten reasonably good at it, especially after learning to read music in middle school band. Prior to the fire, my father had seen a demonstration of a Baldwin Fun Machine single keyboard organ (the precursor of the electronic keyboard) at a shopping mall. So, my parents decided to buy one of those as a replacement.</p>
However, my mother and I went to visit her sister after the death of my aunt's husband. She had an organ which she allowed my to play. I played surprisingly well for never having played an organ before. This was on a Friday. After playing it, I cried most of the rest of the weekend because I missing playing the Magnus. Thus, my parents decided to buy me an organ instead of the Fun Machine.</p>
A few weeks later, a local organist went with my mother and I to purchase an organ. I decided on a small Yamaha spinet (115D). It was a toss up between this one and a Hammond. The Hammond did not have drawbars but rocker tabs. (From what I have learned about the reliability of this type of Hammond on this Forum, I'm glad I got the Yamaha.) This was the beginning of my organ journey, and, as they say, the rest is history.</p>
Now, I will reveal the brand organ I first played at my aunt's home. It was a Thomas Californian 261. This had the "Color-Glo" feature. This is how I was able to play chords having never played chords before. (I did not play the pedals the first time. I was too intimidated by them!) </p>
The organ still plays relatively well for its age, especially since my aunt does not play it much. However, most of the B's don't play except at the highest pitch. The pedals are radiating wooden spinet pedals that Thomas used. Playing them was not terrible after a couple of songs. However, there is no pedal sustain on that model. So the pedals sound very "choppy" when playing left-hand and pedal accompaniments. All in all, it was fun to play that organ again!
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I just wanted to share my trip down memory lane with fellow forum members.</p>
Later,</p>
Allen
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