This site is dedicated to the Nameless Arrangers and the wonderful
music they created...
**** Latest Update
11-02-05 ****
MasterPerforator's Virtual Wurlitzer 165 featuring
The Lost Tunes
A little bit of "almost lost" Musical History
-- from the 1929 Wurlitzer catalog --
Hellooooo Everybody! I know, I know! It's been a long time between updates, but hey, I've
been very busy, so you'll get your money's worth this time! New samples,
and new tunes for your enjoyment and amusement. I've arbitrarily chosen
tempos for each one. If something is playing too fast or too slow for your
taste, just remember that people in Hell want a drink of water...
Soooo, On With The Show!
- All of these sound files are in MP3 format - These first ten represent a "10 Tune Roll", but were taken from a number
of roll lists. They are in the order they appeared on their original roll.
File sizes are given for each, so you folks with a dialup will know what
you're getting into. Sorry, there's not a lot of waltzes, I'll make up
for it next time...
In the "Golden Age" of mechanical music instruments,
Wurlitzer was the Microsoft of it's day. The 165 was for years the largest
production model that Wurlitzer made. A catalogue from the late 20's states
that the 165 is designed for the "largest type stationary Carouselles,
Roller Coasters and other Park installations. Used with great success in
Park Dance Pavilions.". Back in the Hey-Day of Amusement Parks, many uses
other than merry-go-rounds were pushed to anyone with enough capital to
purchase one of these instruments. It was over 8 feet high, and 12 feet
wide, and weighed almost 3000 pounds, with 256 pipes. It was also pretty
pricey for it's day, commanding a hefty $4250 in 1926, when a dollar was
still worth a dollar! The rolls weren't cheap, either! Wurlitzer rolls
were some of the most expensive around, but their aggressive advertising,
sheer mass of production, and seemingly unlimited choice of tunes, made
Wurlitzer THE dominant band organ (and for that matter, theater organ)
builder, putting most everyone else out of business in fairly short order,
until the Great Depression took it's toll on everyone.
The Tracker scale has 75 holes, with 52 actual playing
notes for Bass (6 notes, 3 sets of pipes), Accomp (10 notes, 2 sets of
pipes), Melody (22 notes, 8 sets of pipes + bells), and counter-melody
(14 notes, 3 sets of pipes), the rest for controls and drums. There's lots
of missing notes in the scale, and it's a wonder the Wurlitzer staff arrangers
didn't revolt (they probably did, and Farney said "NO"), and insist on
a D# in the Trumpet, and just one more Bass note! It would've made so much
difference. Still, they cranked rolls out for many years, and I've used
this same scale in composing my 165 MIDI arrangements.
I've been arranging 165 style
music on a computer for many years now, so this is just the state of where
I am today, but it's been only recently that I've started working on these
LostTunes. And now, it's my pleasure to share with you these mostly (very)
obscure tunes done in an almost extinct style.
"Lost Tunes" are ones that
no longer exist on any 165 style roll (as far as anyone knows). Wurlitzer
(and subsequent others) cut about 400 different 165 rolls between late
1914 and today. About 200 are still around, so that leaves a lot of
music that could be lost to history. I've "searched the world", and used
the original Piano Sheet Music for these arrangements, just as the Wurlitzer
arrangers did, and had to deal with the awkward missing notes in the scale
as they did, too. I have one big advantage that they didn't have, and,
I dare say the one Nameless Arranger with the "Tin Ear" would've loved
working with a PC. But true punishment is trying to arrange for the 150
or 125 scales (not for the faint of heart)!
These are my own arrangements,
done in "Wurlitzer" style, played as a MIDI file through a specially
configured set of samples consisting of real band organ pipe sounds, and
recorded. The samples are only "rough tuned" so as to be very slightly
off from each other, to effect a more realistic sound. I've tried to create
as true a representation of the real instrument as possible, using the
same pipe registers and types, including the Wood Trumpets and Wood Trombones,
and the two double sets of Violins, which give the 165 it's musical character,
plus the same Percussion compliment as the original. I've chosen to include
the "Timpani Roll Device" as featured on some 165's, and the "Snare Drum
Action" is set somewhat fast. After I finished these arrangements, I found
a (very) few "mistakes", but unless you're really good, you can't hear
'em (you're welcome to try and find them, though). I DO question the integrity
of the person(s) that originally chose the music to be arranged, as some
songs are best left obscure, and some are flat out impossible to squeeze
into the scale without substantial changes. This must've drove the arrangers
MAD! But indeed, there are some great arrangements that have survived,
and I have endeavored to emulate this classic style.
Why not present MIDI files
and/or my sound samples instead of MP3's, you may ask? Here's why... Only
the notes of the original instrument are represented (i.e. I didn't "fudge"
on any notes that shouldn't be there), so my sample set would only be of
use to play my (or maybe yours...anybody interested in this?) specially
arranged MIDI files. I originally set these files up for General MIDI Instrumentation,
but GM instruments are anemic at best, plus, these files are heavily
"layered", and most cheaper soundcards "choked" at the number of notes
trying to be played at once. Doing it this way allows me to present the
tunes as they might sound on a real 165, and almost every PC can play MP3's.
Also, you COULD "take apart" one of my MIDI's and use it on your own MIDI
capable band organ for free, and I know for a fact that Wurlitzer didn't
just GIVE it's rolls away, unless you BOUGHT an instrument! And then, they
were the same rolls everyone else got, too! If you ARE interested in MIDI
files for capable Instruments, contact me at the e-mail address at the
bottom of this page, and we'll talk.
I've arranged over 60 of these Lost Tunes so far,
with more coming, and I'll be rotating the tunes on occasion, so please
feel free to come back more than once.
For (very) detailed information on this and related subjects, please
visit these fine Web Sites...
Matthew Caulfield's
Wurlitzer 165 Site My Mentor. The most COMPLETE listing of 165 Rolls by Number and Title.
This is the list I used to compile these Lost Tunes.
Wurlitzer
165 Specifications Great info on 165 specs and MIDI implementation by Robbie Rhodes.
Band Organ
Music Chris Carlisle's great site dedicated to Paul Eakins' Gay 90's Village.
Rare band organs playing rare music. A Missouri tradition continues...
Stinson
Mechanical Band Organs So you want your own Band Organ, eh? Here's a place to get 'em!
Mark Chester's
Wurlitzer 165 Page 165 photos, information, and Carousel History. Help Mark
repopulate a classic Merry-Go-Round.
