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66-469: It was an early evening BBC television programme. It started at 6.20, and Jimmy Shand composed a melody "The Six Twenty Twostep" as the theme tune. This was usually followed by Andy Stewart singing "Come in, come in, it's nice to see you...." The show always ended with Andy Stewart and the cast singing, "Haste ye Back": Haste ye back, we loue you dearly, call again you're welcome here. May your days be free from sorrow, and your friends be ever near. May

132-549: A crescendo and diminuendo . Alexandre Debain improved Grenié's instrument and gave it the name harmonium when he patented his version in 1840. There was concurrent development of similar instruments. Jacob Alexandre and his son Édouard introduced the orgue mélodium in 1844. Hector Berlioz included it in his Grand traité d'instrumentation et d'orchestration modernes , published in Paris by Schoenberger, [1843?] or [1844?], in an «Instruments nouveaux» section on pp. 290–92, and in

198-531: A harmonium on "The Garden" from his 2000 solo album Open the Door . Greg Weeks and Tori Amos have both used the instrument on their recordings and live performances. The Damned singer Dave Vanian bought a harmonium for £49 and used it to compose "Curtain Call", the 17-minute closing track from their 1980 double LP The Black Album . In 1990, Depeche Mode used a harmonium on a version of their song " Enjoy

264-586: A harmonium. Many other artists soon employed the instrument in their music, including; Pink Floyd on the title song " Chapter 24 " of their first album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn in 1967 , Elton John on his 1973 album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player , 1976's Blue Moves , the 1978 album A Single Man , and 1995's Made in England . German singer Nico was closely associated with

330-486: A job as travelling salesman and debt-collector. He soon acquired a van and drove all over the north of Scotland. He switched to the British chromatic button accordion , an instrument he stuck with for the rest of his life. Being a keen motorcyclist, Shand was also an enthusiastic supporter and spectator at the annual Isle of Man TT races. He also sponsored a motorcycle road racer from Errol, Perthshire called Jack Gow,

396-434: A more perfect system of tones." Using two manuals and two differently tuned stop sets, he was able to simultaneously compare Pythagorean to just and to equal-tempered tunings and observe the degrees of inharmonicity inherent to the different temperaments . He subdivided the octave to 28 tones, to be able to perform modulations of 12 minor and 17 major keys in just intonation without going into harsh dissonance that

462-568: A multiple Scottish Motorcycle Racing champion and later a motorcycle dealer in Dundee. Jack Gow was the son of Andy Gow who drove the bus which transported the Shand tour. Shand's interest in motorcycles began when a boyfriend of his sister had problems with his bike, which had broken down. Shand repaired it and was allowed to use it. He failed an audition for the BBC because he kept time with his foot. At

528-568: A pedal harmonium borrowed from lyricist Peter Sinfield on the title track of the progressive rock band's 1971 album Islands . More recently Roger Hodgson from Supertramp used his harmonium on many of the group's songs including "Two of Us" from Crisis? What Crisis? , "Fool's Overture" from Even in the Quietest Moments... , the title track to their 1979 album Breakfast in America and "Lord Is It Mine". Hodgson also used

594-600: A punishing life-style later adopted by rock bands. He would play Inverness one night, London the next night and still drive the van back to bed in Dundee . He took his trademark bald head, Buddy Holly spectacles and full kilted regalia, Scottish reels, jigs and strathspeys to Australia, New Zealand and North America, including Carnegie Hall in New York. Now on the EMI / Parlophone label, he released one single per month in

660-579: A time when gramophones were very much luxury items he made two records for the Regal Zonophone label in 1933. His career took off when he switched to making 78s for the Beltona label (1935–1940). Most of the Beltona recordings were solo, but he experimented with small bands. This boosted sales. He appeared in a promo film shown in cinemas. While the image showed his fingers moving in a blur, Shand

726-641: A wider range to modify the volume, depending on whether the pedaling of the bellows is faster or slower. In North America and the United Kingdom, a reed organ with pressure bellows is referred to as a harmonium, whereas in continental Europe, any reed organ is called a harmonium regardless of whether it has pressure or suction bellows. As reed organs with pressure bellows were more difficult to produce and therefore more expensive, North American and British reed organs and melodeons generally use suction bellows and operate on vacuum. Reed organ frequencies depend on

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792-613: Is in the Scottish National Gallery , close to Niel Gow . In 1983, he released a retrospective album with the cheeky title The First 50 Years . At the age of 88, he recorded an album and video with his son, Dancing with the Shands . More than 330 compositions are credited to Jimmy Shand. He recorded more tracks than the Beatles and Elvis Presley combined. In 1985, British Rail named a locomotive Jimmy Shand . He

858-424: Is present with the standard octave division in this tuning. This arrangement was difficult to play on. Additional modified or novel instruments were used for experimental and educational purposes; notably, Bosanquet 's Generalized keyboard was constructed in 1873 for use with a 53-tone scale . In practice, that harmonium was constructed with 84 keys, for convenience of fingering . Another famous reed organ that

924-658: The Indian Subcontinent . The Indian harmonium is widely used by Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims for devotional genres like qawwali , ghazal , kirtan and bhajan . They are also commonly used in Indian classical music and in the Western yoga and kirtan sub-cultures . During the first half of the 18th century, a free-reed mouth organ called a sheng was brought to Russia. That instrument received attention due to its use by Johann Wilde . The instrument's free-reed

990-412: The ancestor of pump organs began as the types of pipe organs ( positive , portative ) using the resonance-pipes powered by the bellows ( i.e. pumped pipe organs). In the 17th century on the small reed-pipe organs called regal , these reed-pipes were replaced by the beating- reeds , and its form is closer to the later rocking melodeon , the early small pump organs or the early accordions. In

1056-513: The church organ , which may be played on a harmonium as well, because they have a small enough range and use fewer stops. For example, Bach 's Fantasia in C major for organ BWV 570 is suitable for a four-octave harmonium. Other examples include: Harmoniums have been used in western popular music since at least the 1960s. John Lennon played a Mannborg harmonium on the Beatles ' hit single " We Can Work It Out ", released in December 1965, and

1122-612: The 1856 reprint, found on pp. 472–77 in Peter Bloom's critical edition published by Bärenreiter, Vol.24, in Kassel and New York, 2003. Berlioz also wrote about it in several subsequent journals (Bloom, p.472, nn. 1 & 2). He used it in 1 work: L'enfance du Christ, Part 1, scene vi, where it is off stage. When he conducted it in Weimar on 21 February 1855, it was played by Franz Liszt (Bloom, p. 474, n. 3). A mechanic who had worked in

1188-431: The 1950s the crowd at Dunfermline Athletic F.C. have left the ground after the game to the sound of Shand's "The Bluebell Polka". Melodeon (organ) Hand-pumped: Regal , Indian harmonium , accordion The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ using free-reeds that generates sound as air flows past the free-reeds, the vibrating pieces of thin metal in a frame. Specific types of pump organs include

1254-536: The 1990s the Hindu and Sikh-based devotional music known as kirtan , a 7th–8th century Indian music, popularly emerged in the West. The harmonium is often played as the lead instrument by kirtan artists; notably Jai Uttal who was nominated for a Grammy award for new-age music in 2004, Snatam Kaur , and Krishna Das who was nominated for a Grammy award for new age music in 2012. The Indian harmonium , also known as

1320-489: The 19th and 20th centuries, the Indian harmonium became integral to Indian music, widely used in devotional genres such as qawwali, ghazal, kirtan, and bhajan. Its lightweight design, portability, and ease of learning contributed to its widespread adoption among Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims for devotional purposes. Notably, it also found popularity in the Western yoga subculture, thanks to figures like Krishna Das and Jai Uttal. In

1386-471: The 20th century, the harmonium faced controversy in Indian classical music due to technical limitations such as the inability to produce slurs , gamaka , and meend . Despite this, it became the instrument of choice for North Indian classical vocal genres, supported by its ease of learning and suitability for group singing. The harmonium's fixed pitches and limitations led to its ban from All India Radio from 1940 to 1971. However, it continued to be favored in

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1452-511: The Dixie Ingram Dancers, the stars of the show: Heather Hall, Heather Wright, Heather Roberts, and Heather Hobbs, who is known affectionately as "Hobbit". The Corries , who performed on location rather than in the studio, were also staples of the show and later they were joined by singers Moira Anderson , Jimmy Urquhart (singer) and Kenneth McKellar . Andy Stewart was the master of ceremonies. He also sang songs and told jokes. All

1518-527: The Sensations of Tone , in which he used the harmonium extensively to test different tuning systems: "Among musical instruments, the harmonium, on account of its uniformly sustained tone, the piercing character of its quality of tone, and its tolerably distinct combinational tones , is particularly sensitive to inaccuracies of intonation. And as its vibrators also admit of a delicate and durable tuning, it appeared to me peculiarly suitable for experiments on

1584-477: The Silence ". The Divine Comedy used a harmonium on "Neptune's Daughter" from their 1994 album Promenade . Sara Bareilles used the harmonium on her 2012 song "Once Upon Another Time". Motion Picture Soundtrack , the closing track to Radiohead 's 2000 album Kid A , makes heavy use of a harmonium pedal organ in a stark contrast to many other tracks on the album that are almost entirely electronic. During

1650-459: The US and Canada between the 1850s and the 1920s, some of which were exported. The Cable Company , Estey Organ , and Mason & Hamlin were popular manufacturers. Alongside the furniture-sized instruments of the west, smaller designs exist. The portable, hand-pumped Indian harmonium, adapted by Indians from Western designs like the guide-chant in the 19th century, soon became a major instrument on

1716-551: The Victorian American West because of the use of the reed instrument. The word became a common designation of that type of resort that offered entertainment to men. Harmoniums reached the height of their popularity in the West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were especially popular in small churches and chapels where a pipe organ would be too large or expensive; in the funeral- in-absentia scene from Mark Twain 's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ,

1782-537: The band used the instrument on other songs recorded during the sessions for their Rubber Soul album. They also used the instrument on the famous "final chord" of " A Day in the Life ", and on the song " Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! ", both released on the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band . The group's hit single " Hello, Goodbye " and the track " Your Mother Should Know " were both written using

1848-476: The bands met, and it became natural for the bands to include a harmonium in their setup. A typical folk band then—particularly in Western Finland—consisted of violin(s), double bass and harmonium. There was a practical limitation that prevented playing harmonium and accordion in the same band: harmoniums were tuned to 438 Hz, while accordions were tuned to 442 Hz. Some key harmonium players in

1914-482: The bellows is difficult and fluctuation of the pitch often occurs as a result. In the generation of its tones, a reed organ is similar to an accordion or concertina , but not in its installation, as an accordion is held in both hands whereas a reed organ is usually positioned on the floor in a wooden casing (which might make it mistakable for a piano at the very first glimpse). Reed organs are operated either with pressure or with suction bellows. Pressure bellows permit

1980-416: The blowing pressure; the fundamental frequency decreases with medium pressure compared to low pressure, but it increases again at high pressures by several hertz for the bass notes measured. American reed organ measurements showed a sinusoidal oscillation with sharp pressure transitions when the reed bends above and below its frame. The fundamental itself is nearly the mechanical resonance frequency of

2046-658: The demand for instruments with a greater tonal range, but also due to patent laws (especially in North America). It was common for manufacturers to patent the action mechanism used on their instruments, thus requiring any new manufacturer to develop their own version; as the number of manufacturers grew, this led to some instruments having hugely complex arrays of levers, cranks, rods and shafts, which made replacement with an electronic instrument even more attractive. The last mass-producer of harmoniums in North America

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2112-506: The end of the harmonium's success in the West, although its popularity as a household instrument had already declined in the 1920s as musical tastes changed . The Hammond organ could imitate the tonal quality and range of a pipe organ while retaining the compact dimensions and cost-effectiveness of the harmonium as well as reducing maintenance needs and allowing a greater number of stops and other features. By this time, harmoniums had reached high levels of mechanical complexity, not only through

2178-491: The factory of Alexandre in Paris emigrated to the United States and conceived the idea of a suction bellows, instead of the ordinary bellows that forced the air outward through the reeds. Beginning in 1885, the firm of Mason & Hamlin , of Boston made their instruments with the suction bellows, and this method of construction soon superseded all others in America. The term melodeon was applied to concert saloons in

2244-465: The hand harmonium or vaja, is a small and portable hand-pumped reed organ that gained popularity in the Indian subcontinent. It arrived in India during the mid-19th century, potentially introduced by missionaries or traders. Adapted by Indian craftsmen, the harmonium was modified to be played on the floor, in alignment with the traditional Indian music style, and to be more compact and portable. Throughout

2310-461: The hands of enthusiasts, but the Indian harmonium remains popular in South Asia. Modern electronic keyboards can emulate the sound of the pump organ. The acoustical effects described below are a result of the free-reed mechanism. Therefore, they are essentially identical for the Western and Indian harmoniums and the reed organ. In 1875, Hermann von Helmholtz published his seminal book, On

2376-425: The harmonium is riveted from a metal frame and is subjected to airflow, which is pumped from the bellows through the reservoir, pushing the reed and bringing it to self-exciting oscillation and to sound production in the direction of airflow. This particular aerodynamics is nonlinear in that the maximum displacement amplitude in which the reed can vibrate is limited by fluctuations in damping forces , so that

2442-610: The harmonium using pressure system, suction reed organ using vacuum system, and the Indian harmonium ; the historical types include the Kunstharmonium  [ de ] and the American reed organ ; the earliest types include the physharmonica and the seraphine (for details, see Types ). The idea for the free reed was derived from the Chinese sheng through Russia after 1750, and the first Western free-reed instrument

2508-413: The harmonium, using it as her main instrument, during the late 60s and 70s, on albums such as The Marble Index , Desertshore and The End... . Donovan employed the harmonium on his 1968 album The Hurdy Gurdy Man where he played it in droning accompaniment on the song "Peregrine", and where it was also played on his song "Poor Cow" by John Cameron . Robert Fripp of King Crimson played

2574-486: The instrument be made, but that the first organ with free reeds was made by Abbé Georg Joseph Vogler in Darmstadt . The harmonium's design incorporates free reeds and derives from the earlier regal . A harmonium-like instrument was exhibited by Gabriel-Joseph Grenié (1756–1837) in 1810. He called it an orgue expressif (expressive organ), because his instrument was capable of greater expression, as well as of producing

2640-494: The instrument out to where it was needed, but it was also easier to transport overland in areas where good-quality roads and railways may have been non-existent. An added attraction of the harmonium in tropical regions was that the instrument held its tune regardless of heat and humidity, unlike the piano. This "export" market was sufficiently lucrative for manufacturers to produce harmoniums with cases impregnated with chemicals to prevent woodworm and other damaging organisms found in

2706-432: The male dancers, and Andy Stewart, wore kilts , and the women dancers wore long white dresses with tartan sashes. However, in the first show Stewart wore trousers and in the second he rented a kilt before having them tailored. In 1965, Fontana Records issued an album called The White Heather Club , featuring Hall and McGregor. The duo issued dozens of folk albums, and even had a hit single " Football Crazy " (1960) during

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2772-714: The mid 1950s, including his only top 20 hit in the UK Singles Chart – "The Bluebell Polka" (1955). It was produced by George Martin . He was awarded an MBE in 1962. This period is remembered affectionately by Richard Thompson , who played Shand tunes on his Henry the Human Fly and Strict Tempo! albums. Thompson's Scottish father had been a keen Shand collector. In 1991, Thompson paid tribute to Shand with an original song, "Don't Sit on My Jimmy Shands", from his 1991 album Rumor and Sigh . Call me precious I don't mind 78s are hard to find You just can't get

2838-540: The mines. He played at social events and competitions. His enthusiasm for motor-bikes turned into an advantage when he played for events all round Fife. In 1926, he did benefit gigs for striking miners and was consequently prevented from returning to colliery work. One day Shand and a friend were admiring the instruments in the window of a music shop in Dundee . His friend said: "It wouldn't cost you to try one," so Shand walked in and strapped on an accordion. The owner, Charles Forbes, heard Shand play and immediately offered him

2904-501: The new rise of Nordic folk have been Timo Alakotila and Milla Viljamaa . In the Netherlands, the introduction of the harmonium triggered a boom in religious house music. Its organ-like sound quality allowed Reformed families to sing psalms and hymns at home. A lot of new hymns were composed expressly for voice and harmonium, notably those by Johannes de Heer . The harmonium repertoire includes many pieces written originally for

2970-539: The overwhelming power and strong accents of wind instruments". Harmonium compositions are available by European and American composers of classical music. It was also used often in the folk music of the Appalachians and South of the United States. Harmoniums played a significant part in the new rise of Nordic folk music, especially in Finland. In the late 1970s, a harmonium could be found in most schools where

3036-405: The paths o'er which you wander, be to you a joy each day. Haste ye back we loue you dearly, haste ye back on friendship's way. Robert Wilson , who in 1957 had been leading The White Heather Group , was an early presenter of the club and recorded with them. The show was so successful that in the early 1960s there was a company touring Scottish theatres, containing many of the performers. The show

3102-540: The period that show was broadcast. Andy Stewart had several hit singles, and The Corries albums continue to sell well today. The Penguin TV companion in 2006 voted The White Heather Club one of the 20 worst TV shows ever. Jeremy Paxman , who gave the James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture at the 2007 Edinburgh International Television Festival cited The White Heather Club as evidence that there

3168-420: The physical size or volume of such an instrument. For missionaries, chaplains in the armed forces, travelling evangelist etc., reed organs that folded up into a container the size of a very large suitcase or small trunk were made; these had a short keyboard and few stops, but they were more than adequate for keeping hymn singers more or less on pitch. The invention of the electronic organ in the mid-1930s spelled

3234-471: The protagonist narrates that the church procured a "melodeum" (a conflation, likely intended by Twain for satirical effect , of the names "melodeon" and "harmonium") for the occasion. Harmoniums generally weigh less than similar sized pianos and are not easily damaged in transport, thus they were also popular throughout the colonies of the European powers in this period not only because it was easier to ship

3300-412: The reed. The overtones of the instrument are harmonics of the fundamental, rather than inharmonic, although a weak inharmonic overtone (6.27 f ) was reported too. The fundamental frequency comes from a transverse mode , whereas weaker higher transverse and torsional modes were measured too. Any torsional modes are excited because of a slight asymmetry in the reed's construction. During attack, it

3366-462: The reformed classical music of the early 20th century. The harmonium is popular to the present day, an important instrument in many genres of Indian , Pakistani , and Bangladeshi music . For example, it is a staple of vocal North Indian classical music and Sufi Muslim Qawwali concerts. In the view points of preservation of cultural properties, maintenance and restoration, the pump organs are often categorized into several types. Historically

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3432-431: The resultant sound pressure is rather constant. Additionally, there is a threshold pumping pressure, below which the reed vibration is minimal. Within those two thresholds, there is an exponential growth and decay in time of reed amplitudes . The harmonium was considered by Curt Sachs to be an important instrument for music of Romanticism (1750s–1900), which "vibrated between two poles of expression" and "required

3498-456: The shellac since the war This one's the Beltona brand Finest label in the land They don't make them like that any more. from "Don't Sit on My Jimmy Shands" by Richard Thompson In 1972, Shand went into semi-retirement. From then he played only small venues in out-of-the-way places for a reduced fee. He was made a freeman of Auchtermuchty in 1974, North East Fife in 1980 and Fife in 1998. He became Sir Jimmy Shand in 1999. His portrait

3564-412: The top of the instrument. Small numbers of harmoniums were built with two manuals (keyboards). Some were even built with pedal keyboards, which required the use of an assistant to run the bellows or, for some of the later models, an electrical pump. These larger instruments were mainly intended for home use, such as allowing organists to practise on an instrument on the scale of a pipe organ, but without

3630-439: The tropics. At the peak of the instruments' Western popularity around 1900, a wide variety of styles of harmoniums were being produced. These ranged from simple models with plain cases and only four or five stops (if any at all), up to large instruments with ornate cases, up to a dozen stops and other mechanisms such as couplers . Expensive harmoniums were often built to resemble pipe organs, with ranks of fake pipes attached to

3696-545: Was "The Bluebell Polka". James Shand was born in East Wemyss in Fife, Scotland, son of a farm ploughman turned coal miner and one of nine children. The family soon moved to the burgh of Auchtermuchty . The town now boasts a larger than life-sized sculpture of Shand. His father was a skilled melodeon player. Jimmy started with the mouth organ and soon played the fiddle. At the age of 14 he had to leave school and go down

3762-672: Was broadcast from Glasgow, at that time the only large TV studio in Scotland, and produced by Iain MacFadyen, who went on to become the Head of Light Entertainment for BBC Scotland . By the Spring 1961 the series was given a wider audience when the series started broadcasting across the UK. During the same period (1957–68) a New Year's Eve television programme, also called The White Heather Club ,

3828-512: Was disappointed to hear the sound track playing a slow air. He was prevented from joining the RAF by a digestive disorder, and spent the war years in the Fire Service . On New Year's Day morning in 1945 he made his first broadcast with "Jimmy Shand and his Band". This was the first of many such BBC radio and television appearances. Soon after the war he became a full-time musician, and adopted

3894-554: Was dissatisfied with the chromatic button-key accordions available on the market in the 1940s so he designed his own one. The Hohner company manufactured the "Shand Morino" until the 1970s. He is the only artist worldwide to have his name used by the Hohner company as a model name for a musical instrument. There is a biography The Jimmy Shand Story: The King of Scottish Dance Music by Ian Cameron (2001). A number of his older recordings have been re-released by Beltona Records . Since

3960-435: Was evaluated was built by Poole . Lord Rayleigh also used the harmonium to devise a method for indirectly measuring frequency accurately, using approximated known equal temperament intervals and their overtone beats . The harmonium had the advantage of providing clear overtones that enabled the reliable counting of beats by two listeners, one per note. However, Rayleigh acknowledged that maintaining constant pressure in

4026-565: Was made in 1780 in Denmark. More portable than pipe organs , free-reed organs were widely used in smaller churches and in private homes in the 19th century, but their volume and tonal range were limited. They generally had one or sometimes two manuals , with pedal-boards being rare. The finer pump organs had a wider range of tones, and the cabinets of those intended for churches and affluent homes were often excellent pieces of furniture. Several million reed organs and melodeons were made in

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4092-409: Was no " Golden Age " of British television . Although popular in its day, and in some respects competently made, it put forward a tartanised view of Scotland that was becoming very dated by the late 1960s. Jimmy Shand Sir James Shand MBE (28 January 1908 – 23 December 2000) was a Scottish musician who played traditional Scottish dance music on the accordion . His signature tune

4158-435: Was shown that the reed produces most strongly the fundamental, along with a second transverse or torsional mode, which are transient. Radiation patterns and coupling effects between the sound box and the reeds on the timbre appear not to have been studied to date. The unusual reed-vibration physics have a direct effect on harmonium playing, as the control of its dynamics in playing is restricted and subtle. The free reed of

4224-475: Was the Estey company, which ceased manufacture in the mid-1950s; a couple of Italian companies continued into the 1970s. As the existing stock of instruments aged and spare parts became hard to find, more and more were either scrapped or sold. It was not uncommon for harmoniums to be "modernised" by having electric blowers fitted, often very unsympathetically. The majority of Western style harmoniums today are in

4290-520: Was unknown in Europe at the time, and the concept quickly spread from Russia across Europe. Christian Gottlieb Kratzenstein (1723–1795), professor of physiology at Copenhagen , was credited with the first free-reed instrument made in the Western world, after winning the annual prize in 1780 from the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg. According to Curt Sachs , Kratzenstein suggested that

4356-541: Was used to herald in the Hogmanay celebrations. The show contained many of the same performers plus special guests such as Jimmy Logan and Stanley Baxter in comedy sketches. From 1957 to 1963 there was another programme called The Kilt is My Delight , along similar lines. The performers were Jimmy Shand and his band, Ian Powrie and his band, Robin Hall and Jimmie Macgregor , Scottish country dancers: Dixie Ingram and

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