The Nelsonian

Key takeaways

The Nelsonian belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Nelsonian to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Nelsonian from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Nelsonian is a 32-piece One-Man Band contraption, that Albert Nelson (1884-1964) designed, built and played. Nelson began building the device in 1915, because the Cello player in his band would often fail to show up. This led him to invent a device, that would allow him to play the Violin and Cello at the same time. His work on the machine concluded in 1957, when he added the 32nd and final instrument. The Nelsonian was a featured exhibit at Ripley's Believe it Or Not Odditorium during the 1933 World Fair in Chicago, Illinois.

Albert Nelson Albert Nelson was born November 14, 1884. He grew up in Sacred Heart, Minnesota, the youngest of fourteen children. As a child, Albert was interested in music. He could play violin by the age of seven. By age fourteen he could play fourteen different instruments. As an adult, Albert learned photography from his brother and started his own studio in Wheaton, Minnesota. Albert married Jennie Erickson of Evansville, Minnesota on May 29, 1912, when Albert was 28 years old and they ran the photography studio together. Albert worked more and more away from home working on putting more instruments into his band that Jennie and Albert separated. Albert left and moved to Buffalo, Minnesota and started another photography studio. He still experimented with his instruments and started performing at lodges, resorts and fairs. A couple years later he married Ida Nelson. On October 27, 1925, Albert's parents' house burned down, and on December 3, his mother died. In February 1962 Ida died. Albert was almost 80 years old he was four months and ten days away when he died. There was a memorial service held for albert in Tampa, Florida on Sunday July 5, 1964 prior to his funeral in Buffalo, Minnesota a fitting eulogy was read for him.

Nelsonian history The Nelsonian is on permanent display in the Wright County Historical Society, located at Buffalo, Minnesota. The truck which Nelson used to transport the device, has recently been restored by the museum staff. Gary Hukriede, grand-nephew of Albert Nelson, has published a 138-page book titled, "The Mighty Nelsonian: The story of Albert Nelson and his 32-piece One-Man-Band". Hukriede has also compiled a 2-disc CD of original Nelsonian recordings. The Nelsonian traveled to the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago. The fair attracted more than 27 million people. At the World's Fair, the Nelsonian was a feature of Ripley's Believe It or Not “Odditorium.” According to his five-month contract, Albert played the Nelsonian every hour the fair was open to the public and received $40 per week. In April 1936 Albert Nelson received a personal invitation letter from Jay Gould to join his Million Dollar Circus. He called it the Million Dollar circus because he said his kids were worth more than a million dollars. The circus traveled the Midwest and made stops in Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin and occasionally Nebraska and Indiana. Maynard Howe remembered the Nelsonian “ Was mounted on a truck, which served as a big stage at one end of the tent, which was set up over and around it. The walls on the sides and back of the truck, which protected the instruments from weather when moving it from place to place, were removable, and when taken down apposed to spectators three size of the Nelsonian. Inside the tent there were no seats. A person buying a ticket can remain as long as they desired and could walk around and watch...and operator and the many moving parts create music.” After the Nelsons moved to Florida in 1949, the Nelsonian continued to tour during the summer months. Albert spent the winter cleaning the instrument and making improvements. Albert continued performing on the road with the Nelsonian until 1959. Ida died in February 1962; Albert lost interest in the Nelsonian. Albert died July 4, 1964.

The Machine

List of instruments The Nelsonian's 32 Instruments include:

2 guitars 1 Mandolin 2 trumpets 1 Double bass 1 Trombone 1 Violin 1 Xylophone 1 Cello 1 Banjo 1 set of drums (bass drum, crash cymbal, snare drum, tom-tom drum, hi-hat)

References

Sources WCHS Nelsonian, The (32-piece one-man band) - Buffalo, MN - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com Program Albert Nelson: Founder, Inventor, and Performer on the "Nelsonian" One Man Band The Mighty Nelsonian: The Story of Albert Nelson and His 32-Piece One-Man-Band

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Nelsonian

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Nelsonian claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Nelsonian before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Nelsonian ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Nelsonian

In research: The Nelsonian appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Nelsonian in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Nelsonian is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Music hardware, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Nelsonian outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study The Nelsonian in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Nelsonian means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Nelsonian out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Nelsonian in simple terms?

The Nelsonian is a 32-piece One-Man Band contraption, that Albert Nelson (1884-1964) designed, built and played. Nelson began building the device in 1915, because the Cello player in his band would often fail to show up.

Why does The Nelsonian matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Nelsonian?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Nelsonian.