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The Original Jingle Bells

December 24th, 2015 by flanews

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way…you know the song. But did you know that the winter classic has some roots in Tallahassee. Our Matt Galka takes us to the church in Florida’s capital city that claims to have the organ the song was first composed on.

There’s no snow to dash through…but that wont’ stop the familiar tune of jingle bells from filling the air…and the jingle may have all started with this organ.

“Well it’s called the jingle bell organ. And it’s called that because it’s associated with James Pierpoint who wrote “one horse open sleigh.” And it’s the only instrument he had available when he wrote the piece,” said Betsy Calhoun.

Calhoun is the director of music at St. John’s Episcopal church in Tallahassee where the organ resides.  But before it got to the church, it was donated to Florida State University in the 1940’s

“Nothing was ever done with it and it languished in the basement for years,” she said.

Until a doctoral student found it and did some research and traced it back to Pierpoint in the 1850’s. Calhoun’s husband was the student’s professor.

“Michael Corzine, who is my husband, came home and said I have no place to put this organ because we have no room for it. Well I said “I have a great idea, what if you let us have it on permanent loan at St. John’s in our chapel,” said Calhoun.

FSU music students still practice on it. And as for the historical accuracy of it being the jingle bell organ…

“Whether or not really jingle bells was composed on it, we can’t say for certain, but we like to claim it that way,” said Calhoun.

And that story sounds just fine to me.

The song was published in Savannah Georgia in 1857…but Medford, Massachussetts also claims to be the origin of “Jingle Bells…they say Pierpoint wrote the song there in 1850.

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