The Carousel Museum Hurdygurdy

This is a Hurdygurdy at The Carousel Museum in Bristol, Connecticut.

A bit of trivia for you. There is a difference between a Merry-Go-Round and a Carousel. Carousels only have horses and they can be fixed in position, or go up and down. Merry-Go-Rounds can have sleighs/carts for several people to sit in, and different kinds of animals, all of which are fixed in position. Grabbing at the brass ring (if the ring you pulled was brass, you got a free ride, the other rings were of tin -- and you had to give all of them back) was only on carousels.

The carousel horses that are looking upward are called stargazers. In general, if you really look at them, the traditional carousel horses have terrified looks on them and the bit is pulled painfully tightly against their jaws. They don't look happy. They look angry and frightened.

Carousels used to travel from city to city in the summer and announcements would be made weeks in advance. They were a big deal. People would come from miles around.

Most of the carousel horses carved during the height of their popularity were carved by one man.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• carousel
• horses
• museum
• bristol
• connecticut
• stargazer
• merry-go-rounds
• merrygoround

[Synith]

IT'S ALIVE!

[yvettegr]

@Synith Ha Ha! Someone knows their horror films.

[sethandbarnes]

This is not a hurdy gurdy. A hurdy gurdy is an instrument with strings and keys that stop the strings so you can play any tune you want. Barrel organs, band organs, and carousel organs play a fixed tune and do not usually have strings, although I have seen band organs with violins that are bowed with a mechanical arm and played with mechanical fingers. Interesting video. Thanks for posting.

[wurly164]

Thats a band organ

[thelarrydbrown]

Organology, the study of the structure, use, and classification of musical instruments, is the science used by museums to classify instruments. They can't just apply any name they want to a musical instrument. Might as well call a guitar a banjo! I've studied and played the Gurdy for years and I know of no countries that refer to band organs as hurdy gurdies. Barrel organs are sometimes called hurdy gurdies, although this is also incorrect. The museum is in error and needs to correct it.

[thelarrydbrown]

Organology, the study of the structure, use, and classification of musical instruments, is the science used by museums to classify instruments. They can't just apply any name you want to a musical instrument. Might as well call a guitar a banjo! I've studied and played the Gurdy for years and I know of no countries that refer to band organs as hurdy gurdies. Barrel organs are sometimes called hurdy gurdies, although this is also incorrect. The museum is in error and needs to correct it.

[yvettegr]

@1955thekeeper Yeah, language is not stagnant, and some terms mean different things in different parts of the country. The Carousel Museum referred to it as a Hurdy Gurdy. What museums did you go too? I'm always looking for new museums to visit.

[1955thekeeper]

@yvettegr I agree with you. I am 56 years old and in my youth I was privileged to be able to go to several museums which dealt with turn of the century modes of entertainment and every time one of these contraptions were present the term "Hurdy Gurdy" was applied. One I remember had a crank in the end of it like the old starting crank on a Model T. When you turned it it charged up a spring until the tension became too great then the device would begin to play until it wound down. TFP

[Wurlitzer157]

@sethandbarnes

The violin one would actually be a orchestrion.

[anglerfly]

@wurly164 WurliTzer 105

[anglerfly]

Thats a wurliTzer 105 band organ