A curious instrument & church singing

[Robert Vaughn]

I realize that the following is somewhat off topic, but I know that a lot of people here know a lot of things about music and related things. The following I found to be a very curious story, almost comical in my mind. Can anyone tell just what was going on with this instrument in this church?

    "The first pastor I remember to have met and heard at Hickman Creek was a tall, gray-headed gentleman by the name of Durham. It was under the ministry of this aged servant of God I first witnessed the exhibition of instrumental church music. It was very simple and primitive in its order. The instrument was not an organ, nor melodeon, nor violin, nor flute, nor drum, nor horn. It was a cheap and portable concern, that the pastor carried in his pocket, which at the proper tune he played himself, thereby saving the expense of a salaried performer.

     "When the hymn was announced Father Durham drew from his pocket a lady's tucking comb, to one side of which a piece of brown paper had been adjusted. While the congregation struck the air of the tune, he sung the same notes through the comb, which being reflected by the paper, and broken into diverging and crossing volumes by the intervening teeth, produced a monstrous jingle of sounds, that supplied the place of bass, treble, alto, and all the imaginary notes. Whether scientific or not, the primitive church instrument sent out a novel clatter of sounds, which to my uneducated ear seemed wonderfully melodious."

The full context can be found here:

http://baptisthistoryhomepage.com/tn.hickman.creek.bc.html

Thanks.

His glories sing,

Robert Vaughn
Mount Enterprise, TX
http://baptistsearch.blogspot.com
Ask for the old paths, where is the good way
http://mtcarmelbaptist.blogspot.com
For ask now of the days that are past...
http://oldredland.blogspot.com
Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land.

[NICHOLAS PASQUAL]

There is an explanation of how to play the musical comb on wiseGeek & a demonstration with explanation (long-winded) on YouTube.  The story of how the Baptists of Hickman Creek moved away from a capella is an interesting glimpse of this moment in church (& musical) history.
 
Nick Pasqual
Chicago
 

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Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2012 16:25:01 -0700
From: rl_v...@yahoo.com
Subject: [fasola-discussions] A curious instrument & church singing
To: fasola-di...@googlegroups.com

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[Leslie Booher]

Seems to me that, in the dark ages when I was a child, we used waxed paper folded over the teeth of the comb, rather than just on one side.  Is this kin to a kazoo?    Leslie

 

 

"Oh give me tears for others' woes, And patience for my own!" 
                (from 'Christian Harmony', p. 67b, Dundee) 

[NICHOLAS PASQUAL]

I believe so.  NP
 

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From: lbo...@charter.net
To: npas...@msn.com; rl_v...@yahoo.com; fasola-di...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [fasola-discussions] A curious instrument & church singing
Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2012 23:40:04 -0400

Seems to me that, in the dark ages when I was a child, we used waxed paper folded over the teeth of the comb, rather than just on one side.  Is this kin to a kazoo?    Leslie

 

 

"Oh give me tears for others' woes, And patience for my own!" 
                (from 'Christian Harmony', p. 67b, Dundee) 

[Robert McKay]

I've heard of people playing a comb before - IIRC with toilet paper, but it's been ages since I witnessed the thing - but never in church.  Personally, I'd as soon sing a cappella.    :)

 

Robert McKay (goffsca...@juno.com)
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Among the Americans who served on the Iwo island, uncommon valor was a common virtue.    --Admiral Chester Nimitz.
[Taglinator 4.0 unregistered - www.srtware.com]

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[Robert Vaughn]

I got sidetracked from this, but I want to thank all of you who responded on the list and off list about this curious music in this old Baptist church. This type of musical instrument seemed incongruous with my picture of the stern old Calvinist Thomas Durham. I don't really know anything about him, it was just a picture in my mind's eye. His son came to Texas and started churches here, and they remain firmly on the a cappella path of singing.

Thanks again to one and all.

His glories sing, 

Robert Vaughn
Mount Enterprise, TX
http://baptistsearch.blogspot.com
Ask for the old paths, where is the good way
http://mtcarmelbaptist.blogspot.com
For ask now of the days that are past...
http://oldredland.blogspot.com
Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land.

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From: NICHOLAS PASQUAL <npas...@msn.com>
To: robert vaughn <rl_v...@yahoo.com>; "fasola-di...@googlegroups.com" <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, October 5, 2012 7:47 PM
Subject: RE: [fasola-discussions] A curious instrument & church singing