Ive put this topic here, because, really, these instruments cover pretty much all the catagories! News updates, videos, links etc will be posted on here. Any questions, ask, or any discussion.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rossmcneillie/sets/72157602455998626/with/1589923303/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/flickr4jazz/sets/72157604165326076/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-a1zp5WJrw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh25I6Br9qU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC3cZ-7-IoI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpUh81oNkww&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2mWgrz98Z8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaGeKYXy32I&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO5QPduN-2A&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wonLE3QZfnI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRpCVs3GvfY&feature=related
In one of the "related" videos you didn't list is some footage shot on what I believe would have been one of the ACCHOS tours of the instrument... from behind the console, whilst the Grand Ophiclede
was in play... 8) 8) 8)
I have viewed all but the Hess Collection... Too much to ask of a 28.8KBPS dialup connection... Will have to do that one when I can sneak the laptop out to a "hotspot" with better speed than the home
dinosaur computer for which I am composing this post upon..........
Eric
KB7DQH
The Hess Collection video has some of the music from the 1950s recordings of the instruments (which are on cd as bach on the biggest and boardwalk pipes). On the ACCHOS DVD it is "private" recordings of the midmer losh which were made on a home tape recorder in the 60`s that is put to these photos!
http://acchos.org/qtvr/full_screen/console-fs.html
http://acchos.org/qtvr/full_screen/main-hall_fs.html
http://acchos.org/qtvr/full_screen/chamber_fs.html
http://acchos.org/qtvr/full_screen/ballroom_fs.html
Quote from: KB7DQH on October 12, 2010, 07:24:46 PMa 28.8KBPS dialup connection
Hang on. You live in the country with the world's biggest economy - and they still have that crap?!
I'm in semi-rural, semi-suburban Surrey and I've got 20MBPS cable broadband... in fact, I think my ISP were going to be bumping it up to 50KBPS.
Well, in my current state of "financial embarrassment" I would rather spend the money on utility-supplied electricity ;D I am guessing about a third of the US population is still using dialup as their primary internet access... That speed quoted above is all my telephone line will manage.
Unless you spend the $ for two-way satellite service, the cable TV/internet provider has a monopoly on broadband service in my "neck of the woods"... Might have to talk to the neighbor about setting up a WAP and help as I am able with the expense of his cable connection... The CATV line ends just behind his residence, would need another 300 feet to get into the house following the overhead TELCO cable routing.
The local wireless 4G broadband provider doesn't have a site close enough to penetrate the vegetation here >:( so far as I can tell the nearest site is over 5 miles away on the other side of a hill... 2.7GHz doesn't talk through dirt, trust me ;) Sniffing with a high-gain downconverter hooked to my portable spectrum analyzer shows the strongest signals in that band come from the magnetron in my kitchen microwave oven ::)
Fortunately local businesses do have free wireless broadband "hotspots" where it is possible to
"surf at speed" so on one of my forays into civilization I dragged the notebook along... and had a look at some of the links above. Some great stuff there... 8) 8) 8)
Eric
KB7DQH
Hi
Parts of the UK also suffer - the telephone copper pair wiring was never designed for fast data transmission - and the real available speed reduces with distance from the exchange - so in some remote areas in the UK, the same problems apply. I'm fortunate here, as (now) I'm on cable - where the main links are fibre optic. That said, there are still issues with contention ratios with other users - but at least most things that I download are smooth and reasonably fast. (Nominally 20Mbits/sec)
Every Blessing
Tony
Would be nice to keep things on topic....:D
True, we did "stray from the path"... Speaking of electronics related to the organs for which this thread
is about ;)
As I understand it the rebuild of the console for the Kimball Ballroom organ included the addition of a MIDI facility...
And that with the cabling between the console and Left Stage Chamber cut in 1998 during the refurbishment of the Convention Hall, that this portion of the organ at least will employ a multiplexing scheme? Along with a modern solid-state combination system?
Curious...
Eric
KB7DQH
I think the Kimball does have midi now. The console is back at the hall on display for a short time (along with the 5 manual "mobile" console from the midmer losh) until a big enough gap in events in the hall allows for it to be gotten back into its space up on the "console balcony" in the ballroom.
The Midmer Losh, the cables from the left stage chamber to the console are fine as far as Im aware (the kimballs console was cut though), and they fired the left stage up earlier this year, or late last year, but it was mainly cyphers and VERY out of tune (like much of the organ is just now), and lots of dead notes too. That chamber has sat idle since...late 70s/early 80s, all got too much for one man to maintain on a very limited budget.
Unfortunatly, it seems another leak has developed above the Kimball organs chambers, further delaying the connection of the newly restored console.
A Math teacher, in an instructional blog series has charted the various divisions of the Midmer-Losh instrument and has produced a fascinating chart ;D 8) ;) as part of his series on "Size"...
http://excelmathmike.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-do-you-measure-size-large-organs.html (http://excelmathmike.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-do-you-measure-size-large-organs.html)
Thought this would be of interest...
Eric
KB7DQH
I was just reading through an old copy of "The Grand Ophicleide" (the ACCHOS 1/4rly magazine) about the various organists who have been known to play the Midmer losh organ. Ive always wondered about the organist William H Jackson who was the Atlantic city organist from 1926-1936, of which there is abit about in this edition of the newsletter http://www.acchos.org/pdf/GO28.pdf
Does anyone have anything more of him? Surely there must be recordings of him somewhere?!
Quote from: KB7DQH on January 22, 2011, 07:24:02 AM
http://excelmathmike.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-do-you-measure-size-large-organs.html (http://excelmathmike.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-do-you-measure-size-large-organs.html)
Hi!
Sorry to take something from this off topic - it links to
http://www.excelmath.com/BLOG/Clerambault.mp3
which is most excellently voiced - but one can tell it's not French because it doesn't have the slightly nasal tonality which one would expect from the effects of the temperament. This should have jagged edges to the sound which are not possible on the equal tempered instrument . . .
Perhaps this post should be moved to the temperament category . . . but in view of the link it's appropriate for the first entry to be here perhaps . . .
Best wishes
David P
QuoteSurely there must be recordings of him somewhere?!
Maybe in Emmerson Richards' personal collection... Or maybe in an archive held by ACCHOS or possibly privately...
There have been surprisingly few recordings of this instrument which have been publicly released...
and even those would be "out-of-print" if it wasn't for the ACCHOS...
Eric
KB7DQH
Id assume theres something at least in private. Emerson richards collection was sadly all lost in a fire in the 50s if i remember correctly, including the large skinner organ which he had in his house.
There is 4 reel to reel tapes of Barbara Fesmire and Lowell Ayers playing the Midmer Losh, and the Kimball, but, they havent been released yet, mainly because they mostly contain snippets of the whole peices of music. I find this abit of a silly reason to hold them because, they let people hear the instrument as it was in the 60s, entire peices of music or not!
Still William Jackson is said here to have moved on to play at Radio City music hall, as well as being Pierre Du Pont`s "private organist"....and hes said to have been a child prodigy, and would play any peice of music requested...surely there must be something, but if there is, why hasnt it been found yet!
http://www.acchos.org/7man.php
some nice bedtime reading? ;p
The 55 rank Kimball is now on wind again, and work is starting on the console being connected back up!
http://www.acchos.org/ballroom.php
HELLO!
WILLIAM JACKSON WAS THE FIRST CITY ORGANIST AT CONVENTION HALL IN ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY. THE MIDMERLOSH IS STILL TODAY THE WORLD'S LARGEST ORGAN WITH MAGNIFICENT SOUND. DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IMFORMATION OR AUDIO OF MR. JACKSON PLAYINGNTHIS ORGAN? THANKS SO MUCH!
Quote from: Midmerlosh on June 20, 2014, 04:50:46 AM
HELLO!
WILLIAM JACKSON WAS THE FIRST CITY ORGANIST AT CONVENTION HALL IN ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY. THE MIDMERLOSH IS STILL TODAY THE WORLD'S LARGEST ORGAN WITH MAGNIFICENT SOUND. DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IMFORMATION OR AUDIO OF MR. JACKSON PLAYINGNTHIS ORGAN? THANKS SO MUCH!
Welcome to the board - but please avoid typing entirely in uppercase characters.
Does anyone know what is happening with this behemoth? I went to the Association website only to find the domain had become a vendor of e-cigarettes!
Out of curiosity, are there any organists with arms long enough to reach the seventh manual or turn pages? Has it ever been played? I've often wondered. (I recall an article some years ago in Organists' Review about the Wanamaker organ in which the console was described as very comfortable and surprisingly easy to reach the sixth manual, but seven?)
As far as I know, no one who has played it considers that the seventh manual is out of reach. The manuals are inclined - the top ones steeply - to bring them into easier reach. I remember seeing one account which suggested the organ would be easier to play if it had eight manuals rather than seven! Significantly, virtually all reports of the sound of the instrument seem to be favourable, some making particular points about the principal choruses and the general effectiveness in a building which is large enough to have had a helicopter flown in it. Now that there looks to be a good chance of the whole beast being restored and playable, it will be interesting to see what people think of it. Emerson Richards was, after all, a very knowledgeable and imaginative person and it is unlikely that his plan would have resulted in an intractable monster. I believe he later regretted using so much extension and duplication, but the basic scheme appears to be a brilliant essay in dealing with a vast space.
Incidentally, there is another seven-manual console, if not actually built yet but at least in the final design stages.
http://racolby.com/pages/instruments/castro-theatre.html
Hello Again,
Please reply with any information, photos, audio, etc. of William Jackson, the first Atlantic City Convention Hall organist. Mr. Jackson was city organist for 10 years. My wife is the daughter of Mr. Jackson. The magnificent Convention Hall organ is being played Monday - Friday at 12 noon. This half hour concert is followed by a 1/2 hour tour of the rooms of pipes. Concert and tour are both free. 20% of the organ has been restored and another 15% hopefully by the Fall. 10 million dollars is needed to complete the restoration. The sound is truly magnificent! Thanks so much.