home practice instrument
  • henry
    Posts: 241
    Just curious as to what others do. Have a Hammond A100 at home, but after 30+ years feel like I want a new electronic. Limited on space - organ is in a tiny spare bedroom. Considering a new Allen - cheapest is about $12K. Church is 15 minutes away, but nothing like the convenience of home for practicing. Drawback is that it will make my home seem like a "church" or funeral chapel (rolltop locking cover, etc.). Would anyone like to share their solutions to home practice? Thanks and Happy Easter.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,934
    Some time ago, I tired of driving to practice in churches that were either cold, or so over-scheduled it was difficult to find practice time. In the late 1980s, I bought the best Rodgers model I could afford. It has served me well and has had no maintenance. However, the speakers are degrading and will need work this summer, but that's not bad for 20+ years of service. I find the Rodgers console to be similar enough to the Schantz console at church, that I can easily move from one to the other. As for space, a friend remarked that I have a house built around an organ. But that's fine. I live with it happily.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    Ok

    Are you a techogeek?

    MIDI will let you configure inexpensive keyboards to a computer loaded with Hauptwerk. It can get involved, but go out and do some research.

    Hauptwerk.com
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,368
    I would rather have two ranks of real, breathing, organ than any electronic substitute which, no matter how sophisticated, remains nothing more than a pretentious set of tuned buzzers - a hopeless ontological fraud. Yes, there are varieties of these fakes which, given the right acoustics, can (to quote scripture) 'fool the very elect'. This, however, makes them no more than what they are, and not, even if they have four manuals and are 'built' by A or R, what they would pretend to be.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    I totally agree with you, M. But many of us cannot afford real breathing pipes for our houses. Keyboards and pedals (electronic) still allow us to work our technique.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,934
    Pipes are always better. However, if I had pipes, I would have to move into the front yard. The electronic allows me to practice at home, and doesn't take up much space.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,368
    I sometimes wish I weren't so understanding. Still, one would stress (though, no doubt, everyone here is aware of this) that a small two or three rank instrument (with pedals) takes up hardly more room than the electronic & its speakers. Such a real, breathing, work of art can be had for $30-50,000 - not that much more than the electronic pretender - and lasts centuries instead of 2 or 3 decades.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    M

    I was thinking more like 5k tops.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,368
    F

    I must admit that I'm not up on current prices; but, I thought that the better of the electronic devices now ran to $20-30,000 and up for two manuals. Am I mistaken here? A friend of mine bought a beautiful little instrument from Wahl Organbuilders within the last two years. It has two 8' ranks on two manuals and pedal with coupler. It was $32,000. I, myself, do not own an organ. I cannot afford one and would not consider having an electronic gadget in my house. Going to the church to practice is, to me, just part of being an organist.
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,605
    "I would rather have two ranks of real, breathing, organ than any electronic substitute which, no matter how sophisticated, remains nothing more than a pretentious set of tuned buzzers - a hopeless ontological fraud."

    Bach did not consider the lowly clavichord to be a fraud, nor the pedal harpsichord. They are just instruments that can be played when a pipe organ is not available. And all that they and the pipe organ do is move air.

    If an instrument moves air in such a way that creates beautiful sounds, it matters not whether it comes from centuries old organ pipes or toilet paper rolls sloppily strung together with duct tape. It has been said that there as many bad pipe organs as there are bad electronic organs in the world. I believe it was my old friend Larry Phelps who used to say, "Remember, before 1928 [the date the Hammond Organ was introduced, the first commercially successful "electric/electronic" organ] ALL the bad organs in the world were pipe organs."

    http://www.petersontuners.com/index.cfm?category=124 Click on the music notes below to hear it play.

    M. Jackson, I am not sure why you think you are so understanding. Your response is totally off-topic. The question that was asked was not answered.

    People used to argue about the best kind of oats to feed their horses to get the best speed and mileage out of them. But those good oats were more expensive, unless you were patient enough to wait to buy them...until they had already been through a horse.
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,605
    Henry,

    Do a google search on Suzuki Organ Sweden and you will see an affordable organ console...also, I was able to assist local physician in the MIDI conversion of an old Klann console (from a Saville organ)....she learned to solder and installed the MIDI interface so that her 12 year old daughter would have two manuals and 32 pedals to practice on at home, utilizing Walmart MIDI keyboards for the sounds.

    All manufacturers of digital organs have less-expensive models for home and chapel use....otherwise many funeral homes would have midi keyboards instead. The European builders seem to have more in this range, possibly because organs in many of those countries are purchased by the state for churches, and government organ committees tend to be very, very conservative. So digital builders over there tend to concentrate on having appealing organs for home practice.

    If you have the space and are handy, you can always get a pipe organ for your home for less than a new digital. The main expense in a pipe organ is labor, including the labor to install. So old pipe organs have very low selling prices. And, when the sellers get frustrated, are sometimes even free. An old tracker organ can be a very enjoyable and easily reinstalled in a new location with just a little professional guidance.

    But don't fall into the trap that some do...getting an old pipe organ and becoming immersed into keeping it running and tuned so that you spend more time tuning and tinkering than practicing. (trackers DO require less maintenance than electrified action organs, so they are excellent choices)
  • eft94530eft94530
    Posts: 1,577
    http://www.organclearinghouse.com
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    It's ugly, but quite a rig for practing, and very affordable.

    http://www.midiworks.ca/gallery/PedalboardWHauptwerk.asp

    http://www.midiworks.ca/gallery/gallery/Claire1.jpg

    this one is quite odd looking and a bit on the commical side.

    http://www.midiworks.ca/gallery/GilHauptwerk.asp

    a bit more civilized?

    http://www.midiworks.ca/gallery/Scott3CMKMPD0.asp

    and another

    http://www.midiworks.ca/gallery/MiditzerAtATOS20052.asp

    wow

    http://www.midiworks.ca/gallery/BuiltInPhases1.asp

    for you natural wood enthusiasts.

    http://www.midiworks.ca/gallery/Hauptwerk1.asp
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,934
    For what it's worth, check out the Johannus website. It looks like they are having a sale.
  • Steve CollinsSteve Collins
    Posts: 1,021
    I second the Johannus suggestion. I have personally worked on some installations, especially fairly large church pipe/digital hybrids. I spent a large part of my life building pipe organs - even about 100 trackers with one company over the period of 20 years. They are nice, and will always be with us. But not every church, much less every organist can afford one. Nor is it necessary. I would grant that it would be more important if your practicing included repertoire, especially Baroque, but not for normal church work. What is important is that the organ console be to AGO standards, i.e. comfortable to play, and hopefully similar to your console at church!

    Check with Allen, Rodgers, and Johannus dealers for used models. While my church has an EP pipe organ (with 2 pedal digital stops!) the Parish Hall houses the old Rodgers, and I play it quite often either for Mass or to practice. (People come quite early to the TLM, and I don't like to warm up while they're trying to pray.) The organ is quite reliable - I have been playing it for over 5 years without even a service call on it. I have no idea what price to put on it, but it's certainly cheaper than today's state-of-the-art systems.
  • ghmus7
    Posts: 1,465
    My plan if ther Lord allows, will be to buy a harpsichord. Then later, a pedal unit for it.
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,605
    I just had to sell my harpsichord...yuck. Not something I wanted to do. Adding a pedal pull down division is mainly mechanical.
    The best I have ever played the organ was when I had a harpsichord and time to practice. You cannot gain the precision and control, even on the piano, which the organ provides.

    Very good decision.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    Ghmus

    Do you have any info on pedal harpsichords? I would like one of those myself.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,934
    Time to practice? Oh that would truly be heaven on earth.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    CharlesW
    Planning an all Bach concert this summer. Been a loooooooong time since I have had the luxury of doing anything like that!
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    wow.

    could you imagine!

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/24789668@N03/2348133588/

    these are the coolest shots ever.

    http://www.claviersbaroques.com/JLHTDblPlusPedal.htm

    anyone got a spare 30k they can lend me?
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