Hello!  Ingmar Krause wrote:

> What I am not going to tell you is that there is a secret non-verbal
> and non-written agreement between all arrangers for small scales.
> We do not want to copy the tune, but make it recognizable in a
> variation that fits to the scale. ... For competition I would suggest
> something different than "Over the Waves"; how about "Rondo Alla
> Turca" by W.A. Mozart?"

Let's put it this way: It's all about creating an illusion, using
whatever tools you have.  Some tunes are best avoided using the 20er
scale, particularly those written in a minor key.

To be personal, I did my first arrangements in 1974, using a most
bizarre 15-note scale.  Soon I got on friendly terms with the miniature
carousel-maker, Frederic Keller (now living in France building "full
scale" fair organs).  Frederic used the 20er scale with two additional
G sharps.  When constructing a barrel organ, I added the bass notes
A and B, thus "creating" a 24-note scale.  (Oh yes, you could play
a most convincing "Rondo Alla Turca" with that!)

But I was still more satisfied with a flute clock organ using the
sharps F# and C#, making possible the keys C, G, D major and D minor
(just the thing for "Over The Waves").

See and hear those organs at http://w1.131.telia.com/~u13101111/organs/

I do have an Ariston and a very rare Swedish disc-playing organ using
the same discs (no, it's not the Nystroem which uses its own disc
format), and I wouldn't take those arrangements of classic and
lighter-classic pieces (such as "The Champagne Galop" which almost
gets suffocated by the compression) as examples worthy of imitation!

How did you put it, Robbie?  "Cheers and beers?" ?

Christofer Noering
Stockholm

 [ Or in German, "Sonnenschine und Wine!"  ;-)  When we corresponded
 [ several years ago about arranging for the street organ, Frederic
 [ Keller told me, "It's impossible to play like an orchestra; one
 [ must make a cartoon -- a caricature -- in music."  The smallest
 [ musical box movements also demand ingenuity in arranging.
 [ -- Robbie