I am in agreement with much that has already been discussed.  The young
employees complain, "The band organ is too loud?"

Hey kids, are you sure it isn't, "The band organ is too sissy?"

Just because the instrument isn't a grindy guitar or beat box playing
what's on Top 40 Radio?  Yes, these same kids will also go to loud
concerts or crank up their CD players in their cars, and you can hear
it a block away.  With a few exceptions, it isn't a question of "loud".

Setting that aside, there's another issue that comes into play.  If the
band organ only has a 2-octave range, few ranks of pipes and couple of
plainly-arranged music rolls (seldom rotated), it may be a question of
"monotony to the ears".  I have visited the Griffith Park carousel in
Los Angeles several times.  They have a Stinson 165 and a large North
Tonawanda (188?).  Between the two, the Stinson is more listenable for
longer periods of time (although being a band organ fan I enjoyed
both).  Also, the Stinson was far from being "too loud".  If a carousel
has a smaller band organ, the music should at least be rotated often.
The same holds true for a sound system: rotate the tapes played!

Potential carousel employees should be given a clear job description
before being hired.  It should be made clear that part of the carousel
experience _is_ the live band organ.

Perhaps the younger generations should be educated in what a band organ
is.  In their heyday, they were the jukeboxes and "sequencers" playing
the Top 40 of their era.  They were hip, new cutting-edge technology --
an antique version of today's beat boxes.  If explained under this
light, maybe kids will learn to appreciate band organs.

Sharon Marie