The J.C. Deagan Memorial Room

A few days ago I went over to Deagan building in Chicago at 1770 West Berteau Avenue. This former home of the J.C. Deagan Company was once entirely a mallet instrument factory home to the J.C. Deagan and his master tuners. While much of the space in the building has been leased to other tenants, Gilberto Serna (a former employee of the Deagan company) now runs Century Mallet Instrument Service out of the second floor. I often rent extra chimes outside the range of a standard set of rack chimes, and while picking up a low B-flat chime for a performance of Benjamin Britten's Four Sea Interludes from 'Peter Grimes', I visited the J.C. Deagan Memorial Room. Here's a few highlights of that historical space:

How about a nice dinner chime? Gilberto says this was often used by salesmen to sample the tone of J.C. Degan's dinner bells.

Here's a Deagan marimba made specifically for bowing. Note the convex outside ends of the bars. The upper manual also tilts downward for easier access with a bow. In the background, one of the 102 King George marimbas created in 1934 for the International Marimba Symphony Orchestra.

Above is what I believe to be Gilberto Serna's favorite instrument in the Memorial Room. This instrument is played by depressing keys on they keyboard. Each key carries an electrical current to a mechanism which, in turn, strikes each key rapidly in a tremolo fashion by the hammer. The literature surrounding this instrument shows that it was often used on the back of a truck, probably during parades. It is a very loud instrument!

My favorite instrument out of the lot. Here is a set of Deagan Shaker Chimes (or the Shake-a-phone). The instrument is played by shaking each "key" (which is sounds four notes at once!) to produce a beautiful rich sound.

I hope you enjoyed the photographs. Incidentally, the day before I was there was Gilberto's 40th year having been in the space (first with the J.C. Deagan Company, and then with his own company). Congratulations to Maestro Serna! Be sure to give Century Mallet a call if you need any mallet instrument repair or refurbishing work performed.