Davy Jones Plays His Mason & Hamlin Organ

This is me having an attempt at playing "Davy Jones Plays His Organ" from Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest. It is a rough improvisation that then goes into one of the other tunes from the films. Complete with silly head movements, largely caused by exhaustion from pumping the organ's foot bellows! This was part of an epic pedal organ session after an afternoon at the legendary Whey Pat Ale Festival in St Andrews.

Please note that this was jus a bit of fun, not an attempt at doing an amazing recital or anything!

Filmed by Jamie who went artsy-fartsy with the camera.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Davy
• Jones
• Plays
• His
• Organ
• Mason
• Hamlin
• harmonium
• reed
• Pirate
• Caribbean
• music

[GPOTOM]

Wow, yes I remember this. The harmonium lives in a University halls of residence and has done for about 5 years now. I did go and visit a couple of months back and it is still there and working. It actually belongs to me and it is my plan to eventually re-claim it and restore it, if I ever have the space to do so. The bellows are in dire need of attention and there are a few ciphers to sort out. Also need to get the Vox Humana stop working - I reckon it would sound pretty special on this.

[GPOTOM]

This video really doesn't do the Mason and Hamlin justice - the sound that comes out of it is just amazing. With the knee swell levers open it sounds like a fully-grown pipe organ!

[canadianman000]

Ummm, is yoru organ running. No but i think you are!!!! Ive never seen someone pump so fast.

[GPOTOM]

That's what she said! ;-)

The bellows in the organ have seen better days so it is necessary to pump the pedals pretty fast in order to maintain a decent level of pressure. That and it's a pretty large reed organ, so it does require more physical exertion than smaller organs.

[CapieMan]

thats... uh not really even the correct melody

[GPOTOM]

Yeah I know, it was a first-attempt improvisation to be honest. I don't profess to be particularly musical, given I've never had lessons or the likes.

[rodneyjantzi]

Despite the leaky “bellows”, this organ still sounds magnificent, and especially after attending an ale festival you handled it very well. Thanks for posting this!

[crustylion123]

whats this organ called and how much it costs

[svenjoel]

you just play to fast

[nazihitler666]

sorry but i must say this sucked ass!

[MorkaGraven]

Get a proper organ stool, they seat you up higher..

[blossompossum]

It still looks and sounds pretty magnificent, though!

The funny thing is that I stumbled upon this after looking around for stuff to play on a harmonium--I bought a small one, the sort you see played mainly in India. Coming from a (albiet half-arsed) pianist point of view, there's not much I can do other than melodies or drones seeing as how one hand has to be used for pumping the bellows... Ah, well, I'll have to start experimenting.

[Greensmurf]

Hmm.  That view out the window looked so familiar to me...

Anyway, nice playing

[warholnblake]

I've been to the WPT Ale Fest too! Didn't win a shirt though...