John Lowery has never played a musical instrument but, believe me, he’s an accomplished musician.
He does it all ó classical, big band, marches, polkas, church music.
Forever the romantic, Lowery hardly ever passes up a chance to play the song “Spanish Eyes.”
“He always starts out with that,” says Becky, his wife, who has heard it a hundred times.
The words are no sooner uttered when the 74-year-old Lowery loads the “Spanish Eyes” roll into the top of his concert trumpet street organ and he’s off, cranking continuously in a clockwise direction with his right arm while manipulating gold-plated stops with his left hand.
He carries the seriousness and flamboyance of a conductor in front of an orchestra as an amazing sound cascades from the cabinet of his German-made Raffin, a beautifully crafted organ of pearwood pipes.
“You can always hear us,” Becky shouts above the music.
There in the driveway of his home, Lowery’s Raffin produces a symphony, even with circus music ó the kind he’ll be playing Friday in Salisbury.
Lowery will be part of the entertainment and refreshments connected with the 4 p.m. unveiling Friday of a new History and Art Trail marker dedicated to the Sparks Circus, which wintered in Salisbury from 1910-1919.
The marker dedication will be held outside the Yadkin House at Depot and East Council streets. It will include the street organ, a calliope, Cheerwine, popcorn and peanuts.
If you just stop by to hear Lowery and nothing else, you won’t be disappointed.
“We have a lot of fun with it,” Lowery says.
As modern organ grinders go, Lowery may be approaching virtuoso status.
No two grinders sound the same because they differ in the rhythm of their cranking and the use of the organ’s stops, which add or subtract pipes for different instruments.
Lowery’s Raffin has stops that create bassoon, trumpet, flute, violin and oboe sounds.
In simple terms, the cranking of the organ pumps up a double bellows and advances the roll of paper across a tracker bar inside the organ.
The holes in the paper determine which pipes the air will be forced through.
Lowery can play a musical selection bright, dark, lively or melancholy ó whatever he chooses through his decisions with the stops and grinding.
The Raffin has 103 pipes and a 30-note scale. It weighs about 132 pounds and has a cart, also made in Germany.
The street organ’s cabinet is hand-painted (with some scenes from Lake Constance included) and signed by the artist. As it was being built about eight years ago, the company sent periodic e-mail updates to Lowery showing its progress.
Lowery’s concert organ cost upwards of $20,000 and took three months to build, paint and ship. Over the decade, he has purchased more than 75 rolls, and each roll plays some 10 to 11 minutes worth of music.
“It really makes a big sound,” says Lowery, a retired Department of Social Services supervisor. “A lot of people associate this music with children, but I’ve got Glenn Miller, Mozart, Bach …”
I even saw “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” Becky reports that his playing of “The Chicken Dance” usually draws a big crowd.
Without any real marketing of himself, Lowery has played his street organ in many venues, such as an Oktoberfest in Helen, Ga.; a church in Mountain City, Va.; Renaissance Festivals in Mecklenburg County; for 350 school kids in Kentucky; and for holiday events in Gatlinburg, Tenn.
He just returned from a Christmas store appearance in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. Lowery never seems to tire of the grinding, going hours at a time when required. At their various appearances with the street organ, he and Becky often dress in Bavarian attire.
Lowery’s interest in the street organ grew out of his love and collector’s passion for music boxes and Victrola phonographs. The things he has collected on those two fronts qualify for museum status.
Over the past 15 months, Lowery has fought small cell carcinoma and has taken heavy does of radiation and chemotherapy. His hair is just now growing back from his most recent treatment, but things look good so far that the cancer is in remission.
His hearing has taken a beating from both the cancer treatments and, he acknowledges, maybe being so close to the street organ.
But he knows he’s making beautiful music.