BLOOMFIELD- In 1855, Joshua Stoddard took some brass pipes, a manifold, tubing and some piano keys, and put them all together in a musical instrument. The result was a "calliope," which produces musical notes through steam whistles.
The calliope was popular in the days when circuses traveled from town to town, hauling the instrument by horse-drawn wagons. Another place where calliopes were popular was on the riverboats which cruised up and down the river, the loud tones of the whistles carrying far across the water.
Today, it's rare to find a calliope anywhere. But there's one right here in Southeastern Ohio, built by a man who enjoyed the music of the instrument so much that he decided to build himself one.
Although he never had any musical training, Laysel Pitts of New Concord had what it took to build the unique instrument. He can't play it, but he built it.
Building the calliope from scratch took "all the brains I had and more too," Pitts joked about his efforts. "I don't have any musical training, but I have a drill press and a lathe. That's what I need to build it."
Pitts' calliope is a little different from the ones built in the 19th century by companies called Langley and National. He didn't like the fact that their calliopes had the manifold under the keyboard, because the person playing the instrument couldn't sit with their knees under it. So he refined it, putting the manifold under the whistles.
"You can put your knees under the keyboard like a piano. It makes it a lot easier to play," he said.
Pitts' calliope has 43 keys, with the middle C in the same place as on a piano. The brass whistles on the instrument range from 3/4-inch to 3-1/2-inches. The biggest whistle is two feet high and the rest stair-step down from there, he explained.
Being able to play a piano doesn't guarantee one can play a calliope, altough Pitts said his daughter is pretty good on both instruments. Two women- Mary Ryan, a teacher in New Concord, and Barbara Hansen, the principal at Perry Elementary- play the calliope when it's taken to parades or other events.
Hauling the 450-pound instrument is another obstacle. Pitts spent last winter building a wagon from scratch. The wagon even has wood-spoke wheels, because Pitts wanted to make it representative of the wagons of yesteryear. The wagon is pulled in parades by two Belgian horses.
Pitts' calliope will be rolling into Zanesville this Saturday as part of the entertainment during the Muskingum River Locks and Dams Celebration. The whistles of the calliope will be filling the air with music from 1 to 4 p.m. at Papa Chuck's, 357 Muskingum Ave.
