Hammond organ
Electromechanical organ with tonewheel generators and drawbars (Laurens Hammond, 1935).
What it means
The Hammond organ is an electromechanical organ presented in 1935 by Laurens Hammond in the United States. Its tones arise in tonewheel generators: rotating metal discs with a toothed edge alter a magnetic field and thus produce electrical oscillations, which are amplified. Instead of pipes and wind system, a motor, tonewheels, and an amplifier are used.
Musical use
The sound is mixed with drawbars with which players add overtones stepwise and thus shape the tone color. The Hammond organ is often played through a Leslie speaker with rotating sound elements, which produces the typical swirling. The Hammond B-3 became famous in jazz, soul, and rock, for instance through Jimmy Smith in jazz and the band Deep Purple in rock. In small churches and bands it often replaced the pipe organ.
The Hammond organ should be distinguished from the pipe organ, which produces sound with air and pipes, and from digital keyboards and synthesizers, which synthesise the sound electronically or digitally. It is an electromechanical instrument and counts among the electrophones.
Performance practice
Use the drawbars deliberately: few overtones give a soft sound, many a cutting, assertive one. Play with a springy touch and heed the Leslie effect, which enlivens the tone by rotation and changes the effect strongly when the speed is switched.