Positive organ

It was common in sacred and secular music between the 10th and the 18th centuries, in chapels and small churches, as a chamber organ and for the basso continuo in ensemble works.

From the Middle Ages through Renaissance and Baroque the instrument came in many different forms, including processional and tabletop organs that have profited relatively less from the renewed popularity the type in general has enjoyed from the Orgelbewegung onwards.

A well-known instance of an early positive or portable organ of the 4th century occurs on the obelisk erected to the memory of Theodosius I on his death in AD 395.

Among the illuminated manuscripts of the British Museum there are many miniatures representing interesting varieties of the portable organ of the Middle Ages, including Add.

In the Renaissance and Baroque periods, positive organs were used at many kinds of civil and religious functions.

Many positives, both of the box and 'cupboard' types, can be divided into upper and lower parts to be more easily moved.

Wheels, casters or a custom-made hand truck are other aids to mobility, which have become vastly more common in modern times.

Laukhuff positive organ in Yokohama Minato Mirai Hall ( ja ), Japan, 2011, with portative-like pipe and bellows arrangement. On the portative, however, the bellows were operated directly by one of the player's hands.