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© 2021 Jan Bender

Bender Melodies

The Organ Grinder Plays Rags, Marches, and Dances

Terry's new CD was professionally recorded, mixed, and mastered in 2004. He is proud to feature the music of two outstanding arrangers of music for the 31-note street organ. The CD is available at his performances or by mail.

CD Cover

The music selected for this recording has been specially arranged for this type of street organ. The two arrangers, one American and one British, have both the musical sensibility of arrangers and the creative ability of composers.

They easily work within the limitations of the instrument, yet produce melodies, counter melodies, and bass lines that fully utilize the sound the organ can produce. Sometimes the music is remarkably true to the original instrumental score and other times innovative melodic variations have been added. You can read more about each of the arrangers below.

 

Semper Fidelis
Bugler’s Holiday
National Emblem
Pennsylvania Polka
Saloon Bar Rag
Dizzy Fingers
Whistling Rufus
Entry of the Gladiators
Florentiner
Beer Barrel Polka
Mandy’s Broadway Stroll
Peaches and Cream
Hungarian Rag
Silver Bell
Thunder and Lightening
Blue Skirt Waltz
Meet Me in St. Louis
At a Georgia Camp Meeting
Washington Post
Operatic Rag
Clarinet Polka
The Cascades
The St. Louis Rag
Barnum and Bailey’s Favorite

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Bruce Kane,
Sterling Productions, Sterling, Virginia
Cover design and photography by Jan Bender

To purchase the CD

US and Canada:

Send your name, mailing address, and a personal check for $13 US (this includes the CD, shipping, and any applicable taxes).

Make your check out to Terry Bender.   Send to:

Terry Bender
PO  Box 20
Great Falls, VA 22066

Foreign Addresses:

If you are reaching this website from Europe or any other address outside the US, please e-mail us for payment instructions: terry@bendermelodies.com

The price for mailing to foreign addresses is $20 US.


We are not able to accept credit cards at this time, and we apologize for any inconvenience.


About the Arrangers...

Wayne Holton was born in 1972 and lives in Texas. Although he had formal piano lessons, his arranging and composing skills are largely self taught. He is well known for his arrangements for large band organs and European fairground organs that play using heavy cardboard folding books with punched holes. Wayne began creating music for these organs as a teenager, hand punching the holes. He is able to use mental imagery to picture the sound he wants and then make marks for the holes and slots directly on the strips of paper or cardboard without first creating a written musical score. He has recently begun arranging for smaller street organs giving them the grand sound of their larger cousins. He may be contacted at: 6960 Brace, Houston, TX 77061 Tel. 713-644-6824

Ian Alderman had been interested in music and instruments from a young age and was introduced to piano repair and restoration by London craftsmen. He set up his own business and soon antique dealers were sending him all manner of musical items. For the past 17 years he has spent some months each year in Germany making harpsichords and chamber organs. His interest in street organs began with repinning an old barrel organ. The discovery of the German street organ tradition led him to begin to construct these instruments and then to punching paper rolls. He always uses a music score when arranging music rolls. His arrangements fully exploit the organ both musically and mechanically, so that it sounds larger than life. His previous works for street organ have been primarily classical music. Introduced to ragtime years ago by an itinerant pub piano tuner, he incredibly renders ragtime with the technique of Liszt. One of his most appreciated rolls is of American patriotic music.
He may be contacted at: Old St. James, Chedington, Beaminster, Dorset DT8 3HY, England. Tel. & Fax. 01935 891 437

 

 

 

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Listen to the Sound

[Be sure the volume on your computer is turned up so that you can hear the sound.]

Hungarian Rag
[Arr. by Ian Alderman]
30 sec. / 472 KB

Caution: If you have a phone line modem connection, these MP3 files could take up to 2 minutes each to download.

Clarinet Polka
[Arr. Wayne Holton]
30 sec. / 476 KB

Dizzy Fingers
[Arr. Ian Alderman]
20 sec. / 328 KB

Entry of the Gladiators
[Arr. Wayne Holton]
20 sec. / 324 KB