I found a time warp on my organ
  • FidemInFidebusFidemInFidebus
    Posts: 611
    This was a pretty crazy weekend, with an out of town gig and all the selling our house nonsense, my mind was in many places and something like this was bound to happen. My organ has two memory presets, both of which can hold
    twelve settings. I have one that I made and set, and used it for the offertory today. It's setting "1" in the "memory 2", ok no problem-except that when it came time for the doxology I hit setting "2" in "memory 2" instead of memory 1,which is what I needed. The result was a vaguely old timey gospel-like sound with a terrible tremulant, likely programmed by someone forty or more years ago. I thought to myself good LORD what IS this?!? LOL! I quickly realized my error and got things back to normal. I plan to delete that setting so that no one ever has to hear it again!
  • francis
    Posts: 10,825
    digital will get away from you quickly. mechanical action... what you see is what you pull and what you pull is what you hear.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,980
    digital will get away from you quickly. mechanical action... what you see is what you pull and what you pull is what you hear.


    Other than the distraction of a registrant moving around you and getting in and out of your field of vision.

    The problem with digital is that it does exactly what YOU told it to do. LOL.
  • FidemInFidebusFidemInFidebus
    Posts: 611
    LOL yes, and even worse when I told it to do something without having a clue what would happen. I need to go through ALL of those old presets and know for sure what is in them...it was beyond awful lol
  • francis
    Posts: 10,825
    I pull my own stops. it is an art unto itself.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,415
    I may get stoned for this inconsistency in 'purism' (well, maybe at least pebbled) but I do like combination actions on my organs, tracker or not. This, I think, is a legitimate use of modern technical advances. Registrants would bother me, as do page turners, the which to avoid I make copies that don't need 'turning'. Ken Cowan played Dupre's Chemin de la croix this afternoon on the Fisk at Palmer Episcopal. Just imagining the time it must take to prepare such scores for two registrants and rehearse with them and co-ordinate with them in performance is rather astounding. I would never attempt anything with such complicated registration without a combination action. (But I am in awe of those who do.)
    Thanked by 3CHGiffen CharlesW canadash
  • francis
    Posts: 10,825
    tsk tsk mr Osborn!
  • francis
    Posts: 10,825
    the demand for registration at a concert is one thing while liturgy is entirely another
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,415
    Dear Francis -
    You are so correct in what would seem to be a commonplace observation.
    Indeed, registering for liturgy can be even more daunting than registering for a 'concert' -
    even a profound Spiritual Concert such as I heard this afternoon played by Ken Cowan.
  • FidemInFidebusFidemInFidebus
    Posts: 611
    I would LOVE to have a page turner sometimes...like when there's ten million pages, or the air conditioning is blowing my pages around wildly, or anytime really. I guess I'm used to having them and also being one for others. I have trust issues though so having someone pull my stops might be my limit...what if they mess up, or sabotage you!?!? Trust no one...lol
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,415
    ...blowing my pages...

    Yes, that can be a problem.
    I once lost a page that went flying right over the gallery rail when I was too carefree in turning it. It came loose from the book and flew right out of my hand. Although a parishioner came running upstairs with it, I had no need of it any more - for, fortunately, I had had that page memorised.
    ...or sabotage...

    Hmm. That would be pretty awful.
    I suppose, knowing of the jealousy (and outright envy) that some musicians indulge themselves in, such a musical saboteur is not altogether unimaginable. A good reason to ask only trusted friends and colleagues. (Actually, page turning is an art.)

    I once turned pages for a Valparaiso professor recitalist when I served my Lutheran friends. After turning a page in his rather old and shabby book a small piece of half-rotten paper and a loose stapler fell out of the book onto the keys. No harm was done because it was on the swell and he was playing of the great - but it did distract him... radiating anger, he muttered 'oh sh...', nervously flicked the offending particles away and went on playing. All told, it was an interesting program - a repeat of an all Bach recital that Mendelssohn once played.

    How many here have ever forgotten to cancel the organ after a recital's finale and stood up on the pedal board? I did, once. I might even have done it after church once or twice.
  • MBWMBW
    Posts: 175
    Sal Soria, now organist at the Los Angeles cathedral, played the Reubke, with full romantic dynamics, on the four manual Flentrop at Holy Name in Chicago WITH NO REGISTRANTS! The organ has no conventional combination action, just some foot activated ventil-like levers.
    Thanked by 1M. Jackson Osborn
  • MBWMBW
    Posts: 175
    or sabotage you!

    I believe I was the victim of such a sabotage when, in the Guilmont Organ Concerto, my page turner (an organist who knew the piece very well-he was not lost) turned a system early and startled me into a few clunkers. It also made me very angry which I hope gave added fire to the last movement.

    Spoiler: If I ever write a Catholic church organist centered murder mystery (something that I have often threatened to do), you all know who the victim will be!
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,980
    With life-long vision issues, I don't want anyone moving around me unnecessarily. Technology is good and I make good use of it. A good question to ask when dealing with some of the mechanical clunkers is WWWD - What would Widor do, or perhaps Dupre when confronted with available technology that made manipulating the instrument easier. They willingly embraced it. So do I.

    I have never aspired to write an organist centered murder mystery, but have entertained pleasurable thoughts of murdering some musicians. LOL.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,093
    Ah, memories of the annual high school musical pit orchestra opening night prank on the conductor: inserting distracting material into somewhere deep in the score.
    Thanked by 2CharlesW Aristotle Esguerra
  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,933
    When it comes to trying to play the organ, it's the pelvic thrust that really drives me insane . . .

    Wait, am I thinking of the same time warp?
    Thanked by 2CharlesW Daniel Bennett Page
  • francis
    Posts: 10,825
    actually, registration for liturgy for me is a moment by moment decision... far easier than concert demands
    Thanked by 1MBW
  • FidemInFidebusFidemInFidebus
    Posts: 611
    @Francis: pretty much the same here, although my "standard" presets for the hymns are what I mostly use, and then just throw on a few extra stops for different verses if they need it or it makes sense to add one.

    Technology is a good thing, but my first experience with a pipe organ happened recently, beautiful little chamber organ built in early 1800s. It was alive, breathing, didn't have a million stops or even pedals, but that sound just can't be duplicated, at least not on the modern organ at my church. I look forward to spending more time with such instruments...
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen M. Jackson Osborn
  • francis
    Posts: 10,825
    I absolutely love the tracker hands down. I'd rather have a 25 rank tracker than a 100 rank EP any day of the year
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