Pump organ
The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal strips mounted in a frame. Types include the pressure-based harmonium, the suction reed organ, and the Indian harmonium. Historical examples include the Kunstharmonium and the American reed organ, while earlier forms include the physharmonica and the seraphine.
More portable than pipe organs, free-reed organs became widespread in smaller churches and private homes during the 19th century, although their volume and tonal range were limited. They generally featured one, or occasionally two, manuals, while pedal-boards were rare. Higher-end pump organs offered a broader range of tones, and models intended for churches or affluent households were often housed in finely crafted cabinets.
Between the 1850s and the 1920s, several million reed organs and melodeons were manufactured in the United States and Canada, with some exported abroad. Major manufacturers included the Cable Piano Company, Estey Organ, and Mason & Hamlin.
In addition to the larger, furniture-sized instruments popular in the West, more compact designs also developed. The portable, hand-pumped Indian harmonium, adapted from Western designs such as the guide-chant in the 19th century, became a central instrument across the Indian subcontinent. Today, the Indian harmonium is widely employed by Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims for devotional music such as qawwali, ghazal, kirtan, and bhajan. It is also commonly used in Indian classical music and within Western yoga and kirtan subcultures.
History
During the first half of the 18th century, a free-reed mouth organ called a sheng was brought to Russia. The instrument attracted attention through its use by Johann Wilde. At the time, the free-reed mechanism was unknown in Europe, and the concept quickly spread westward from Russia.Christian Gottlieb Kratzenstein, a professor of physiology at the University of Copenhagen, is credited with the creation of the first free-reed instrument in the Western world, having won the annual prize in 1780 from the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg.
The first free-reed organ was built by Abbé Georg Joseph Vogler in Darmstadt after a concept suggested by Kratzenstein. The design of the harmonium, employing free reeds, derives from the earlier regal. A harmonium-like instrument was exhibited by Gabriel-Joseph Grenié in 1810, which he named the orgue expressif due to its capability for greater expression, including crescendos and diminuendos.
Alexandre Debain improved Grenié's design and patented his version under the name harmonium in 1840. There was concurrent development of similar instruments. Jacob Alexandre and his son Édouard introduced the orgue mélodium in 1844. Hector Berlioz discussed it in his Grand traité d'instrumentation et d'orchestration modernes, published in Paris in or , and reprinted in 1856. Berlioz also wrote about it in later journals and incorporated it into L'enfance du Christ, Part 1, Scene vi, where it was played off-stage. Franz Liszt performed the part during a concert conducted by Berlioz in Weimar on 21 February 1855.
A mechanic who had worked at Alexandre's factory emigrated to the United States and conceived the idea of a suction bellows, replacing the outward-blowing bellows. After 1885, the firm of Mason & Hamlin of Boston adopted the suction bellows, which soon became the standard construction technique in America.
The term melodeon came to be associated with concert saloons in Victorian-era America, named after the reed instrument. The word later became a general term for entertainment venues catering to men.
Harmoniums reached the height of their popularity in the West during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were especially favoured in small churches and chapels where a pipe organ was impractical. In the funeral in absentia scene of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapter XXVII, a "melodeum" is mentioned.
Harmoniums, generally lighter and more resilient than similarly sized pianos, were ideal for export to colonies where transport infrastructure was limited. Moreover, the harmonium maintained its tuning stability despite heat and humidity, unlike the piano. Special models impregnated with chemicals to deter woodworm and tropical pests were manufactured for export markets.
Image:Harmonium 20151009.jpg|thumb|right|Modern Indian harmonium with nine air stop knobs.
At the peak of the instrument's popularity circa 1900, harmoniums ranged from simple models with minimal stops to elaborate ones featuring ornate cases, multiple stops, and faux pipe displays. Some harmoniums were built with two manuals or even pedalboards, although these larger models required either an assistant to operate the bellows or electric blowers. Compact, folding reed organs were also made for missionaries and traveling evangelists.
The invention of the electronic organ in the 1930s marked the beginning of the harmonium's decline in the West, although its popularity as a household instrument had already waned in the 1920s. The Hammond organ offered greater tonal versatility, reduced maintenance, and compactness, making it an attractive successor. Additionally, harmoniums had become increasingly complex mechanically, with intricate networks of levers and rods owing to diverse patent-driven designs.
The Estey company was the last major North American manufacturer, ceasing production in the mid-1950s. A few Italian firms continued manufacturing into the 1970s. As harmoniums aged and spare parts became scarce, many were scrapped or modified, with electric blowers frequently retrofitted, often in an unsympathetic manner.
Today, most Western-style harmoniums are preserved by enthusiasts, while the Indian harmonium remains widely used across South Asia.
Modern electronic keyboards are capable of emulating the sound of the traditional pump organ.
Reed organ in Japan
The foot pump organ was first introduced to Japan during the early Meiji period, brought by foreign Christian missionaries as part of their evangelisation efforts. Initially used in churches and schools, the reed organ quickly became an important tool for music education, offering Japanese people their first widespread exposure to Western musical instruments.The first domestically manufactured reed organs were produced by Nishikawa Organ Company in Yokohama. Shortly thereafter, Yamaha founder Torakusu Yamaha, originally a medical equipment repairman, began manufacturing reed organs in Hamamatsu following his successful repair of an imported American model. These efforts helped establish Hamamatsu as a major centre for musical instrument production in Japan.
Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, reed organs were installed in schools nationwide and became central to public singing education. Their affordability, durability, and relatively simple maintenance compared to pianos made them ideal for widespread use. By the early Shōwa period, reed organs were a familiar fixture in most Japanese elementary schools, contributing significantly to the spread of Western music literacy.
Domestically produced reed organs ranged from simple, affordable models with 39 or 49 keys to larger, more elaborate designs with multiple stops, swells, and even pedalboards, primarily intended for teacher training colleges and music schools.
Although the popularity of reed organs declined after the mid-20th century with the rise of more accessible pianos and electronic instruments, they remain fondly remembered by generations who grew up with them. Today, institutions such as the Hamamatsu Museum of Musical Instruments preserve and exhibit historical reed organs, celebrating their cultural and educational significance in Japan's modernisation and musical history.
In several Asian countries, particularly former Japanese colonies such as Taiwan and South Korea, the use of treadle-operated reed organs became widespread under Japanese influence.
Reed organ in China
In China, the reed organ was introduced around 1897. Following the Opium Wars, the spread of Christianity and the increasing presence of European expatriates contributed to the broader dissemination of Western music. Church schools, in particular, played a major role in introducing European musical forms, such as hymns, salon music, and elementary piano pieces.In 1872, Christian missionary J. D. Collins published the Hymn Book through the American Presbyterian Mission Press in Shanghai, featuring over 360 religious hymns with musical notation, alongside an introduction to Western musical theory, all employing the five-line staff notation system. In 1883, British missionary Timothy Richard published the Supplement to Hymns, which incorporated familiar Chinese folk melodies to facilitate religious outreach.
The activities of these missionaries contributed positively to the early development of Western music education in China.
It is beyond doubt that, at one point, the People's Republic of China was very likely the country where the pump organ was most widely used. Following the establishment of the People's Republic of China, treadle-operated reed organs gained renewed popularity as affordable tools for mass music education. Factories were established in various cities to produce reed organs, such as the "Danfeng" Organ Factory in Shanghai and the "Baihua" Organ Factory in Sichuan. It became common for primary school teachers, particularly female teachers, to be trained in reed organ playing to support classroom music education.
By the 1990s, however, reed organs were gradually supplanted by pianos in Chinese primary and secondary schools as the primary instrument for music instruction. Today, many treadle-operated reed organs in mainland China have been dismantled, although a small number of artisanal workshops continue to produce new instruments, primarily for enthusiasts who collect and perform with them.