The Hat Trick Of Cool: MAGNUS Chord Organ, Clarinet, Accordion
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00The hat trick of cool. Magnus chord organ, clarinet, accordion.
00:05Before synthesizers named Korg or Yamaha took the stage, there was the wheezy breezy home version
00:10called a Magnus chord organ. An electric motor blew life into the machine as young instrumentalists
00:17plunked out public domain songs like After the Ball and The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo.
00:23The keys were numbered for our playing convenience and the tone was positively asthmatic.
00:28The next logical progression was the clarinet, beginning with rudimentary fourth grade music
00:33lessons. You would think the first tune would be the timeless Mary Had a Little Lamb,
00:38but before you can sail, you must learn to lightly row. I spent a few years trying to
00:44master the swizzle stick, but rented instruments had a shelf life. I did manage to transition from
00:51the paint by number school to actual sight reading, so it wasn't a total loss. In Ohio
00:57during the 70s, if you didn't have an accordion, the state issued one. A Pentecostal minister
01:02loaned me his accordion so I could play in the church orchestra. We learned all of the songs
01:09in the hymnal, plus dozens of contemporary choruses and special music. Today, I'm the
01:15organist for a small Methodist church. I still haven't broken the bank at Monte Carlo, however.