Accordions that sound more like pipe organs

[Morne]

Firstly, I know organs can sound like a million different things due to the stops and that LMMH accordions have an organ register. I'm just thinking out loud here.

Were there acoustic accordions made to sound more like a pipe organ and less like an accordion? If so, what are examples of them?

Alternatively, and this is probably in the realm of theory, what could be done to an accordion to achieve this? I can almost imagine this bizarre contraption in my mind where the accordion has a bunch of pipes protruding from the body (practical or not). Obviously there's much more to the pipe organ's sound than just pipes.

Or is the accordion simply too small to imitate even a severely range limited mini pipe organ?

 

[dunlustin]

It might be called a Sheng:

 

[debra]

Dallape made the organtone which alas does not sound like an organ.
But the special instruments of the Russian Timbre ensemble are more organ-like.
Listen to them playing Erbarme Dich by Bach:
All I can say is Wow! what a sound!

 

[Deleted member 48]

A classical accordion or bayanist playing 4+16 register or a 4+8+16 combination can imitate some organ like sounds.


Western free reed music instruments dont really need pipes to sound out loud. Some tubes or pipes can help affecting sound or volume, but in (Western) metal free reed music instruments, the effect is limited.
The beauty of western free reed music instruments like the accordion, concertina, harmonium, melodica, harmonica, ... is you dont need the pipes or tube resonators.
You can make the music instrument in a very compact way, and at lowcost.

The history and evolution of reed organ and harmonium making shows the pipes were left out. Because they had only marginal effect on sound production.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pump_organ
Expensive harmoniums were often built to resemble pipe organs, with ranks of fake pipes attached to the top of the instrument

Asian free reed instruments do have pipes and tubes, and they have some limited influence on sound, but the revolution of free reed music instruments in the 1770-1830 period was that pipes or tubes are unnecessary in free reed music instruments.

In the sheng, the pipes traditionally are a poetic representation of the closed wings of a bird
The shêng was formed to imitate the shape of the tail of the Phoenix bird — fêng-huang — and the length of the pipes has no effect on the pitch; the shape is simply decorative. , a quote from this page:
http://www.ksanti.net/free-reed/history/sheng.html

It was the revolution by Friedrich August Reichstein (1794-1869) and Charles Wheatstone (1802-1875) around 1828-1829 to make mini free reed instruments without pipes or resonators, such as new sheng (Neu-Tschiang) or symphonium, much more compact than a large sheng, without the pipes.

The Asian sheng only keeps the pipes out of tradition, there is no reason to keep those pipes, only for some marginal sound effects. It does have some influence on the sound, but in a limited way.

The sound of the Russian Timbre group ensemble is much more influenced by specially shaped tone chambers and the shape and material of the reeds. There are no pipes inside.

Melodicas dont have pipes, idem for the harmonicas. Harmonicas with trumpet horns have existed, but more as collectors items.

Some Steirisch Harmonika accordions have on the bass side trumpet formed small horns or bells or whatever you might call this, but this is mere tradition and decoration.


If you want to experiment with variations in sound, loudness, rather look at the material, size, thickness and hardness of the reeds, and also the size of the bellows, the air pressure, the number of voices in a register.
If you like the sound of an organ, look for YT videos with organ pieces arranged for classical accordion or bayan. Many listeners often confuse classical accordion with an organ, when hearing a hidden accordionist/bayanist busking with Bach pieces.

 

[TomBR]

Dallape made the organtone which alas does not sound like an organ.
But the special instruments of the Russian Timbre ensemble are more organ-like.
Listen to them playing Erbarme Dich by Bach:
All I can say is Wow! what a sound!

Thats great, thanks. Whats the instrument on the right? Looks like a single action bass?

 

[Deleted member 48]

Inside pictures are shown here of these Russian timbre bayans and accordions:
http://ale07.ru/music/notes/song/bayan/spravochnik_garmoni14.htm

Its just a bayan/accordion having larger reeds and reed chambers, the reed blocks mounted in circular or other ways. To obtain special sound effects, mellower sounds, etc

 

[debra]

The Russian Timbre ensemble uses bespoke instruments, one of a kind. The bassoon instrument on the right is a bit like a basson accordion but only goes down to E, not C. But inside it is very different, with larger reeds and blocks. These instrument have a very "woody" sound, like an accordion with an extremely large tone chamber.

 

[dunlustin]

My 'sheng' comment was meant to be light-hearted.
On a more serious note, what amazing sounds from the Russian players.
In the West we seem to know so little about the breadth and depth of Russian music -- and its instruments.

 

[Morne]

It might be called a Sheng:

Haha indeed. I always thought the sheng was a tiny thing, smaller than even the ones on the right in that.

I now know why nobody thought about making an accordion with pipes - the players wont have working backs for long.