{"id":5742,"date":"2017-05-07T16:20:44","date_gmt":"2017-05-07T14:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sergiomessina.com\/fosforo\/?p=5742"},"modified":"2017-05-07T16:26:00","modified_gmt":"2017-05-07T14:26:00","slug":"heavy-metal-and-wood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sergiomessina.com\/fosforo\/archives\/5742","title":{"rendered":"Heavy metal, and wood"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the sonic features of Dutch historical centers has always been the Draaiorgel<\/em>, literally “Turn Organ” (it used to be crank-operated, today they are all electric). It’s a huge, multi-timbric instrument with a reed organ and various types of percussions (sometimes also pitched ones, like Xylophones or Glockenspiels). The instrument is automated: it plays long perforated sheets of solid carboard<\/a> that look (and act) just like MIDI files. In fact, according to the Dutch Wikipedia<\/a>, some contemporary models have a computer actually able to read MIDI files.<\/p>\n

\"draaiorgel\"<\/a>
Draaiorgel, front view (click to enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The instrument itself is completely acoustic, and it sounds like the gates of hell came down<\/a>. It’s not just the volume: the combined effect of multiple powerful reeds, hi-pitched snare drums, the reverb of the small Dutch streets, and the operator keeping the tempo shaking a brass box full of coins (the only human touch), creates a frenzy of sonic excitement. Standing close to a Draaiorgel<\/em> in a small alley is a very intense experience, definitely worth the coin it costs.<\/p>\n

\"draaiorgel\"<\/a>
Another Draaiorgel, rear view. On the left, the Organ Books (click to enlarge).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unfortunately, despite the digital innovations, the repertoire is a bit obvious: mostly traditional Dutch popular music, plus a few dance numbers. In the lascivious catholic South there is a dance version of the instrument, named Dansorgel<\/a>. The possibilities are endless, and frankly I would love to write music for this instrument, certainly a precursor of the ones I normally use. I might look into that: what better way to thank the lovely dutchies for their hospitality?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the sonic features of Dutch historical centers has always been the Draaiorgel, literally “Turn Organ” (it used to be crank-operated, today they are all electric). It’s a huge, multi-timbric instrument…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[123,47],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sergiomessina.com\/fosforo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5742"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sergiomessina.com\/fosforo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sergiomessina.com\/fosforo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sergiomessina.com\/fosforo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sergiomessina.com\/fosforo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5742"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sergiomessina.com\/fosforo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5747,"href":"https:\/\/www.sergiomessina.com\/fosforo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5742\/revisions\/5747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sergiomessina.com\/fosforo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sergiomessina.com\/fosforo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sergiomessina.com\/fosforo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}