Organ matters - Organs matter!

Hi!

A quick perusal of Dr Burney's book was interesting as it was frustrating. I could not find any other references to current tuning in the 18th century. Can anyone track down anything else? Sorry for the quality of the photos of pages - was distinctly rushed

Best wishes

David P

Hi!

A console ripe for midi conversion has just arrived in my barn and is offered free to anyone who would like it.

61 note manuals, 25 note pedalboard, not ideal but usable

With it comes a two channel valve amplifier with good enough transformers for good bass, the normal downfall of valve amps.

Best wishes

David P

Hi!

Whenever I talk of unequal temperaments the response is that they are fine in the good keys and that one needs to change temperaments for those in "bad" keys in which other temperaments might be better. The thought that temperaments were used only to create greater harmonicity is a common misperception.

Unequal temperaments also created various forms of discomfort and harmonic emptiness, hollowness - absense of harmonic associations and harmonic meanings, all of which were intended emotionally and sometimes for special effects.

In http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPvHq8HvTKg on the piano further to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmCgZq6Lmm0 in which I explored audible products of hearing two tones together on the harmonic series, I showed how Chopin used the unequal temperament effects in his famous Funeral March.

The psychoacoustic effects of harmonic accordance are extraordinary. Looking at the wave peaks that pass the ears in a given time,
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | heard with
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |   
adds to produce
|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |


|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |heard with
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
adds to produce
|           |           |           |           |           |

which is either heard directly or "understood" in the brain. The combined coincidences of wavefronts make this pair of notes, especially when played with other relating notes, all adding up, all confirming the periodic peaks, make this sound "solid".

The ear and brain identifies a non-according pair of notes differently:

when
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | is heard with a detuned note
|    |   .|   |   |    |   |   .|   |    .|    |   .|   |   |    | (the exact peaks should be equally spaced but typographical limitations do not allow this) the wave peaks don't coincide in a way that relates to any harmonically related note. In fact there is only one point of coincidence in this series:
                                             | and therefore the notes within any surrounding chord do not have the same auditory meaning. The wave peaks don't coincide in any way or pattern that the brain can anchor onto any other surrounding note, and so the two notes, and other any notes with them sound hollow, meaningless, or simply confuse any other accordance that there might be. Equal temperament does this all the time - the "certainties" that the brain understands and recognises in perfectly harmonic chords are missing and in the unequal temperaments even more so in the black keys. There are times when pianistic composers arpeggiate in the remote keys, skating around with fragility as on thin ice. Here's an example of Liszt in B major: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6QT3e-Mqh0 and again, Liszt setting up a landscape: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov-8Dc0ireI

The following piece by Couperin is really interesting. In equal tuning, it's bland although a discord or two shows up. It's easy to play so worth playing, even if classical music isn't your thing - it's worth giving a go.

Try it in Meantone if you can, and use a basic Bourdon at 8ft and 16ft pitches, soft Diapasons at 8ft and 16ft (leave them out if you only have hard Diaps), a principal 4ft a flutish 2ft and as many high sparkling mixtures as your organ has, all coupled together. (If you have access to a Hauptwerk simulation of St Maximin use - Resonnance Petit Fourniture IV, Cymbale IV Grande Fourniture II Prestant 4' Montre 8' and 16' and Bourdons to thicken it if you  want, Positif Cymbale III Doublette 2 Montre 8 Prestant 4' and Fourniture III, both Positif and Resonnance coupled to Grand Orgue http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFTStijofmw for actual sound - although Couperin would have expected Meantone tuning rather than the beautifully mild well temperament in use at St Maximin).

In this piece, when all the chords have notes which accord harmonically, with perfect thirds and nice fifths, the sound is BRILLIANT. These sections contrast with areas where the notes discord and the temperament enhances the discomfort. It is intended to do that, and the meantone temperament is hideously unforgiving of mistakes:  http://www.organmatters.co.uk/couperinkyrie.jpg



As you go through this in Meantone, some chords are soothingly pure and express beautiful love - perhaps linger a shade on those chords which are wonderfully harmonious, and then sometimes but most noticeably in the 4th stave, second bar, first chord is excruciating crisis - Couperin goes from harmony to crisis and then resolves it. When playing this in Meantone, beyond playing the notes, I prefer to linger on those chords which have more meaning and don't simply rush through them. You can see the mark annotated after that chord to take a breath - the chord is hot so a breath is needed before we cool it down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj6mqEiSwr8 is a nice interpretation.

Best wishes

David P   

Hi!

Following discussions about the interference of "beat frequencies" which we hear when tuning, in pipe chambers at high sound pressure levels, and on electronic organs with loud stops, it's apparent that temperament and frequency differences, heard directly or unconsciously perceived are greatly interrelated and significantly important to the character and spirit of the tonalities of what we hear in music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WajSWTLtqE is a particularly interesting video. It shows how higher sounds resonate in the bass strings, but because in equal temperament the notes are not harmonically tuned, they resonate less. In Unequal Temperament some notes are wide of their harmonic counterparts and won't resonate at all, giving a skating on thin ice to those keys, whilst notes which are on the harmonic series of their counterparts in the bass will be beautifully resonant and "solid", "firm", "sure" and certain.

I have put together a video in which, if you play it through your computer speakers at high enough volume, you might be able to hear these beat notes and how they coincide, or otherwise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPvHq8HvTKg

Looking at the opening bars of Chopin's Funeral March, we can see how he was concurrently using two effects - both the disconcerting effect of following a Rooted chord (one where the notes all interrelate back to a root harmonic fundamental note) by an Unrooted chord (one where the difference frequencies of the notes are so wide of the fundamental note that they have no harmonic foundation and are perceived as sounds without meaning in their interrelationships), as well as using a chord which has a bell-like inharmonic aliquote or "partial" tone, actually heard in a vibrating ringing way to represent the bell tolling for the funeral.

This is possibly the most startling example of use of temperament and the effect is always to add emotion, often subliminally. In the case of the piano, perhaps being nearer to the instrument and therefore the higher sound pressures necessary to catalyse the perception of beat notes, the performer is more directly aware of the resonances, harmonies and rootlessness. If sensitive to them the performer will react to them. But the audience too, although not necessarily hearing the beat frequencies directly will be aware of a fullness or an emptiness in the chords which will therefore be thrown into three dimensions, some harmonies coming to the fore or receding.

The instrument and the performer through the composer can therefore be compared to projecting a hologram through to the audience, of which the performer and instrument tuner may be more aware of the patterns of waves on the holographic plate than the members of the audience. Just because the audience aren't directly aware of those wave patterns on the holographic plate does not mean that they won't receive the image of the hologram. In fact they do, and, both in theory and from tests by Adolfo Barabino and myself in making recordings in unequal and equal temperaments, music projected in unequal temperaments leaves a more emotional imact on the audience than when equal temperament is used.

When students have the opportunity of playing an instrument in unequal temperament, sometimes it can be very revealing as to the composers intentions and conveyed meaning. An example of this is in Chopin's 4th Ballade in which the waves of arpeggios focus and climax in a series of bar long chords in the centre, these chords having particular effects, harmonies leading to consonance in unequal temperament.

People often argue as to the "correct" temperament to use, but "well temperaments" in general followed on from Werkmeister who modified away from Meantone where all white note keys from C-A are essentially harmonious and all black note keys were on the basis of "venture here if you dare".

(From this historical perspective only a singular very recently proposed temperament is the odd man out and should not be included in the academic repertoire)

Best wishes

David P

Hi!

Elsewhere there has been much recent controversy as to how many channels an electronic organ should have. It has been asserted often that it's better to organise an instrument so that different notes come out of different speakers on account of "beat notes", the difference of the frequencies between the notes. It has been said so often that people have believed it, including myself, that the beat note resulting from two notes would be more prominent when the notes came out of one speaker rather than coming out of seperate speakers.

This evening I did the experiment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntPblldKpBw

Best wishes

David P

Hi!

Some friends going to Antibes write:

QuoteThe Mougins Organ Festival runs each Sunday from the last weekend in September until end October. We plan to visit on Sunday 10th and stay over at the village.

Programme is Ben Joseph Steens from basilique St Remi de Reims includes Buxtehude,
Pachebel and Bach.

http://www.cote.azur.fr/actualites/info_festivals_musique_10835.htm gives more information for this year http://www.mougins.fr/fr/Accueil-Culture-Patrimoine/13eme-festival-dorgue.html

Mougins organ is interesting - it's built by the organ builder Yves Cabourdin at Carces (a delightful place http://www.info-france.co.uk/provence/carces.villa.rental.php )  who restored St Maximin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSf7-4t_SWc and so would clearly know how to build an interesting organ. http://orgue06.free.fr/orgMougin.html gives details about the organ

Another organ worth hearing is Villefranche Sur Mer, built by Grinda, pupil of Isnard at St Maximin, http://orgue06.free.fr/orgVillefranc.html and it's a pleasant place to stay - http://www.info-france.co.uk/riviera/villefranche/waterside.rental.apartments/ where the reality actually matches up with the photos . . . The organist at Villefranche is Claudine Grisi, a true lady and wonderful enthusiast for her instrument. A recording is available from the Tourist Office and is well worth buying.

North of Nice, a 20 minute drive beyond the town http://www.info-riviera.co.uk/rentals/nice.php is L'Escarene, http://orgue06.free.fr/orgEscar.html built by Grinda the next year. Concerts there are worth going to.

Best wishes

David P

Hi!

After having seen destruction of organ by bulldozer documented by the photos on the front page of this site, I wanted to raise public appreciation of the organ outside conventional boundaries.

On that scale, http://www.bobrichardson.com/desert_organ_1.html must take first prize in truly pioneering spirit. However, I was unaware of that when I bought the Londonderry Cathedral Makin and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOAbmIOU-Ek
was the first concert nearly three years ago. This was recorded with the impoverished camera recorded sound so please don't judge the sound quality.

Here's the high quality sound:
http://www.jungleboffin.com/mp4/organ/hugh-potton-1/mp3-6-1st-encore-beware.mp3
Beware your speakers!

This was the unaltered unimproved Makin, since enlarged to 5 manuals and vastly improved:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W2QdAOwhjY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe_eJ60PmtM
but the reason why I am drawing attention to it here are the comments:

BRAVO! LOVED IT!!!
The idea was brilliant, the execution suffered somewhat in the timing however!
That wasn't the absolute best performance of Lemmens that I've heard, but it was still quite good. The ballon trick was funny. When I finally figured out what was happening, I started laughing. They sounded like some electrical fuses that I've heard blow out.
The whole point is to have fun here - well done hammerwood!

Whilst one should not turn the organ into a circus, we clearly succeeded in conveying the idea that the organ is FUN! Can we provide more inspiration like this? Elsewhere? Here?

If any organist fancies playing at a venue where FUN is allowed, I'm game for anything in the spirit of promoting the King of Instruments . . .

Best wishes

David P

Hi!

In addition to the open console afternoon at 4pm I realised that we might be able to do a little more . . .

I am doing a standard house tour at 2pm (for which there is a charge) and over tea at 3.30, I will be playing French Baroque repertoire inspired by St Maximin registration and soundscape. This will include
Corette - duo for Trompette and Basse de Trompette
De Grigny - duo for Cornet dessus and Cromorne en Taille using Grand Tierce in the pedals
Couperin items from Masses des Couvents demonstrating Plein Jeu, Cornet, Cromorne, Tierce en Taille
Lasceux - Symphonie Concertante using Cromorne, Cornet, and Grand Jeu

If you've been tempted to try Hauptwerk's St Maximin sample set and perplexed at how to approach registration or trying some Couperin and thinking that it's bland, then this introduction might be useful.

It's often said that History is a Foreign Language . . . the French Baroque certainly falls into that category for us Anglo Saxons, but it's exotic and wonderful. However, rather than using the St Maximin temperament, which I beleive is akin to D'Alembert, I'll be using straightforward Meantone as I like the pungency.

Imagine 200 years ago, akin to Delhi's Olympic experience, a hot town with the smell of horse shit (possibly nice but pungent) and possibly worse (not nice) in the streets, and coming into a cool basilica smelling of insense . . . The music is a combination of heaven with the pungency experienced outside. . .

If anyone has any items on which they'd like to try the Seize Pieds Septieme on the pedals, it's available here.

By the way, I'm aware that certain French organists, composers and builders liked Septieme on the pedals - can anyone tell us more about that?

Please ring 01342 850594 if you'd like to come and all you need to do is to plug RH19 3QE into Google maps . . . or those confounded devices that people have in their cars with bossy robot women telling you what to think and what to do and which direction to do it . . .

Best wishes

David P

http://sites.google.com/site/bachtuning/introduction

Hi!

The other day whilst researching how tuning your instrument to the wrong temperament might have got you burnt at the stake - see the Atheists' Corner - I revisited Charles Francis' site. Charles Francis re-examined the squiggle that Lehman turned upside down (getting a back-to front result) and came out with a tuning scheme that is substantially similar to Dr Kellner's excellent temperament.

His site
http://sites.google.com/site/bachtuning/introduction
gave me a clue to something that I had suspected for a long time. In the Meantone, Kirnberger and Kellner unequal temperaments the keys with one or two flats are slightly purer than those with one or two sharps. This accords with the pure harmonics of trumpets in Bb or horns in Bb or F which might accompany an organ. With French pitch, certainly at St Maximin, tuned to 392, C is effectively Bb (causing the YouTube recording of the St Maximin Bach D minor to receive comments that it sounds in C) the instrument is there ready to be accompanied by a battery of natural trumpets . . .

Surprise surprise, the pitch is known as Cornet Ton - Horn Pitch!

Cammer Ton - Chamber Pitch - said to be 415Hz - but mathematical pitch is 425Hz - C at 512ft pitch being 1 cycle per second ? from memory at 15 degrees Centigrade. This moved up higher when concert halls were heated to 20 degrees.

Best wishes

David P

Hi!

I noticed on the 100 stop specification on a Hauptwerk simulation sample set
http://www.silveroctopus.co.uk/prod02.htm
a Sesquialtera with 3 ranks at 17 19 22

One normally thinks of a Sesqualtera as just two ranks, a sixth apart, comprising the Nazard and Tierce 2 2/3' and 1 3/5', so that's 12 and 17 without the 2ft in the middle. The addition of the 2ft in the middle converts it, with the 4ft and an 8ft, into a Cornet. However, 17 19 and 22 is the Tierce, Larigot and 1ft. What should such a mixture be classified as?

Best wishes

David P

Hi!

In the old days of analogue organs, generator frequencies were used double up in variations for all the different stops, just like unit or extension pipe organs. Of course the Tuttis would not satisfy. Many brave members of the EOCS made analogue instruments with individual oscillators for every note of every stop and achieved remarkable results.

Digital instruments theoretically overcame the problem but so called toasters have always been renowned for disappointing on full organ.

I became involved in electronics for the reasons documented on
http://www.jungleboffin.com/mp4/organ/
I wanted to put the instrument on the concert platform as an inspiration and therefore it became essential to use a really top rate instrument.
http://www.jungleboffin.com/mp4/organ/hugh-potton-1/
was our first concert - I'm not at all sure about the MP3 compression so the recordings there are not entirely representative of what the performer and 3 instrument achieved. Since then the instrument has improved significantly in every way and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9usBggyS5Nk
and more recently with further improvements
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe_eJ60PmtM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W2QdAOwhjY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi2pdYou-Rs
give an idea of the results achieved.

The other day a bad connexion on an amp taking the 16 ft open wood of the original instrument off to the "self destruct" low-frequency sub-woofer caused me to look at the original instrument again and its voicing.

With digital organs, we pull out the stops and each sounds as it should. But without the expertise of pipe organ voicing, the stops do not speak in the right ratios and so on full organ, they simply don't add up. It's partly on account of dynamic range of which the speakers are capable also.

I pulled out the Bourdon, then the Open Wood on the pedals - and there really wasn't enough difference between them. And the Choral Bass 4 did not sing through above the Violone and Octave. Then on the Great, the Posaune was not greatly above the Open Diapason and on the Swell there simply wasn't enough progression from the Violin Diapaison to the Oboe to the Trumpet and nor did the Clarion sing out boldly above. Having now given attention to all of these, the whole original instrument, without my further additions, is transformed. The next concert should be exciting!

http://www.jungleboffin.com/mp4/organ/hammerwood-rscm-hunter/
are arpeggios on each stop of the pipe organ here
http://www.jungleboffin.com/mp4/organ/harrison-and-harrison is a 1920 vintage Harrison and Harrison
and
http://www.jungleboffin.com/mp4/organ/makin/ are arpeggios on each stop of the then three manual Makin before improved speakers and voicing.
http://www.jungleboffin.com/mp4/organ/ahlborn-202
http://www.jungleboffin.com/mp4/organ/content-220
are two rather useful extension units.

Best wishes

David P

Hi!

I recommend very much to readers the work of the Dutch historian Van Loon and in particular his book "The Liberation of Mankind", and upon reading this, no doubt his book on the Life and Times of Johannes Sebastien Bach may well be illuminating to organists.

"The Liberation of Mankind" is subtitled "The story of man's struggle for the right to think". It details how the Roman Empire adopted Christianity - and I suspect brought elements of the Christ story and teachings into line with all the disparate religions of the Roman empire, bringing a unity in faith throughout an empire materially falling apart at the seams. As an aside and not documented by Van Loon, requiring 60 ships of wood per day to keep them fuelled, the Roman Baths were unsustainable and it is obvious that when the wood ran out increasingly throughout Europe, the trade relationships that kept the empire together disintegrated. Accordingly, Christianity was seen as capable of keeping the bureaucratic networks together.

For instance the story of the virgin birth brought forward the followers of the old worship of Mithras into Christianity and the roman soldiers converted their allegience wholesale.

Whilst vested interest authors in the net deny that the Council of Nicea and years leading to it in 325-321AD did not meddle with the bilblical texts handed down to us, Van Loon points out that the supervisoin of the written word became a routine duty of the clergy and that some books were absolutely forbidden.

It is pretty obvious that there were processes of significant vested interests which coincided to make Christianity a common demoninator throughout an Empire riven by corruption and visibly falling apart. The adoption of Christianity was seen as the solution to keep the show on the road. It's no coincidence that Christendom centered upon Rome and it's no coincidence either that those who through near two millennia have pointed out the ways in which perhaps post Nicean Christianity might not have accorded entirely with what really happened between Bethlehem, Nazareth and Jerusalem in the first three decades Anno Domini have been seen as a threat and been progressively discriminated against and put to death.

The French protestants, the Huguenots were discriminated against after the Edict of Nantes promising them freedom in 1598 but merely resulted in a fleedom, thus circuitously bringing the family of Benjamin Henry Latrobe to England and America. Their family motto "Qui La Cerca La Troba" - "he who searches finds" would have been poignantly relevant to them as protestants having searched beneath the surface of what Roman Catholic doctrine had enforced upon them. Of course, of the ancestors of these generations, many dissenters had come back from Crusades having experienced greater mercy at the hands of their Muslim "enemies" than they would have shown as "Christians" to their enemies, and in this way been impressed at how more Christian spirited the followers of Islam were than they as Christians themselves under the Roman Christian banner and doctrines. The Crusaders returning from entering Toledo in 1180 had discovered that the Arab muslim libraries had preserved the Greek myths and that these, although polytheistic, accorded with the story of Genesis. This had been the catalyst of the Renaissance and the translation of Genesis 6 and Job 1 and, of course, the wandering minstrels who sang playing Citern and Tambour, akin to the Citar and Tabla, were the Troubadours - the people who had Trouba - Troba - Trova - found.

Finding what others don't want you to find is  :D troubling! So whilst heretics of the Catholic church were put to death and burned at the stake, especially for instance at Albi, where later the Cathedral was to house one of the greatest organs of our time, such activities were considered quite normal by the Calvinists and Anabaptists too - so for instance, one could not visit Geneva uttering unthinkable things to Calvin without being put to death. If you were Servetus, one did not not want to receive a letter from Geneva from Calvin inviting you to visit. Meanwhile as a free thinker such as Giordano Bruno you could not expect to be invited by Giovanni Mocenigo to Venice without subsequently an unwelcome visit to Rome to be burned.

So it was that were you to travel through Germany where some towns were catholic, some protestant, were you to express the wrong opinion in the wrong place, your travels would be cut short.

In researching temperament I came across
http://sites.google.com/site/bachtuning/theology
where it is apparent that in defence of Meantone tuning the perfect thirds were considered to be symbolic of the Trinity and any other tuning was heretical. To tune to anything but Meantone would send you to the stake.

For once I quite agree that Equal Temperament must be the work of the Devil  ;) and that therefore all proponents of Equal Temperament should be burned at the stake.  ;D

However, if Christianity is to survive, it is upon the teachings of Christ and not the edifices of religion that have been built around it. The arguments over "the trinity", virgin birth, death and resurrection and a few other things have hardly led to the creation of Heaven on Earth intended by the doctrines of Love thy God with all your heart and your neighbour as yourself, love your enemy and turn the other cheek to be slapped again should your enemy slap you.

All the arguable tenets of doctrine are only there as meditational focii or as carrots to induce unthinking people to follow in the promise of better things ahead.

"Love thy God" - what is God? Not in hard fact the Trinity - that is only a meditational focus - but The Immortal, The All Powerful, The Invisible, The All Knowing - in fact the all around us, all connected by the invisible strands of spiders' web in the dimensions beyond the here and now and the seen.

Many Christians of the indoctrinated sort have really forgotten their foundations. When asked "what is God?" they will answer "The Trinity", forgetting the real definition of God in terms of the "All around us". Telling them that God is more than "The Trinity" undermines the comfort of their doctrine on which they have built the edifice of faith in a God made in their image, and they will glare daggers no different to the fire with which Calvin had Servetus burned or as he wished Godspeed upon Sozzini upon his way to Zurich.

There are many that think that what is invisible does not exist.  For the past 100 years such people have not been supported by the findings of modern physics which relies upon dimensions beyond the three and time, and indeed it was by plugging in a fourth and fifth demension into Einstein's equations of General Relativity that Theodor Kaluza found Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism emerged spontaneously, so demonstrating the physical existence of the invisible dimensions of which users of computers on WiFi connexions rely all the time.

So users of WiFi cannot deny the existence of God - the Omipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient and Invisible. Not even Stephen Hawking could deny that. Perhaps it's God that he has been studying all his life even without realising it. The Omipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient and Invisible all result from the physical laws from the moment of inception of the Big Bang, from which by cause and effect and within which all have to work and comply. There are no escapes from these laws. In the beginning was the law . . .

Can we not see how "law" and "word" to a disconnexion of physicists, theologians and the man in the street? By the mistranslation and loss of meaning, and especially with the resulting disconnexion with the physical universe, argument has been brought into the world.

This loss of meaning in translation and transmutation through similar words is the curse of the Tower of Babel. From my studies of the Parthenon Frieze, according with the concepts of Job 1, this is the work of Hermes (Mercury) himself, the figure representing communication - rather miscommunication, lying, deceipt and thieving. He is one of the number of cynics, Hephaestus, Artemis, Aphrodite and Ares, who try to persuade the Chairman of the Homeric assembly of Gods, that humankind is not worthy of support.

In contrast to arguing over words, "law", "word", the intimate relationship with the physical world, focussing on the fundamental meaning of God as the physical universe can bring universal understanding.

Best wishes

David P


Postscript - Equal Temperament is 11th comma meantone, but the point of Baroque meantone was the 8 pure thirds. Even today I'm aware of an organ voicer who bemoans his boss not building an organ tuned with 8 perfect thirds and accepting an impure compromise

Hi!

It seems really absurd, and very unfair, that Peter Collins was so severely censured in the UK for having experimented with an electronic extension when churches in USA are taking advantage of services such as
http://www.ahlborn-galanti.com/Pipes.html

The pipe organ industry is shooting itself in the foot by allowing electronics manufacturers to take the lead, and thus control, whereas if pipe organ builders took the lead, the boot would be on the other foot.

I have the direct experience of managing an analogue of an unfashionable English cathedral style instrument of the sort that have been meddled with and are now endangered and rare in original condition, as they don't provide great and obvious "classical" facilities, which has been extended overtly and electronicly very successfully in a way that overcomes all the shortcomings of the original instrument without affecting its integrity. In this way, electronic tools can serve well the cause of conservation.

One of the reasons why I did what I did is because I am aware of a 1920s vintage Harrison and Harrison, which I regard to be more pleasurable and special, in a much better acoustic, than St Marys Bristol. Because its current curators despise it with a passion, it's endangered. But by adding a fourth manual, possibly with floating stops and couplerable to the existing three manuals, the original instrument could be preserved in tact and cherished.

In historic building conservation, certain principles apply which have not been applied in organ building. These include the concept that any alteration or addition should be identifiable as such and incapable of confusion with the original, and that the integrity of the original should be preserved. Certainly, removable electronics can do just that, but at the same time add greatly to the tonal resources required for artistic purposes in styles otherwise not permitted. Furthermore, a midi output on the console, without being difficult to add, would enable some sort of musical provision to be maintained when the pipe instrument springs a leak or a cipher.

Best wishes

David P

Hi!

Ewbank Clark Gammon Wellers' Autumn sale on 16th September includes an 18th century mahogony case bentside spinet by Baker Harris London of 1760. 5 octaves and is on its original stand and music cupboard.

Oh how nice it would be to be able to curate such an instrument . . .

Best wishes

David P

Organ associations in Alsace
http://decorguesalsace.free.fr/associations.php

Organs in France
http://www.uquebec.ca/musique/orgues/orguef.html

Best wishes

David P

Hi!

Ebay item
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290463722347
didn't sell and it looks like a competant instrument.

I contacted the seller remarking on the 16ft and 4ft Choir and Swell to Great couplers probably making the instrument rather rich in sound and commenting that I could possibly help any purchaser with speakers to make it sound really superb and he later bemoaned the fact that it had not sold. George1231 at hotmail.co.uk  is the email address if anyone is interested.

Quote3 Manual Digital Organ with 20 Channel Speaker System



Organ



The Organ was originally a Rodgers 330 American Classic although it was updated to a new Digital system by the Organ company Musicom. After the conversion the original stop list was kept the same although they were updated with new sounds allowing the instrument to produce a higher quality Voices. The Organ is equipped with a fully motorised Drawstop system and Piston Memory allowing you to save your desired specification to each one of the individual Pistons and Toe Studs.  The Organ is fully illuminated and has rolling cover to protect the inner console from dust.



MIDI



The Organ transmits MIDI messages via MIDI outputs. All the Keyboards, Pedalboard, Stops and Pistons send MIDI Messages. The Organ works very well with Hauptwerk Virtual Pipe Organ Software.





Sound System



The Organ also comes with a 20 channel sound system which consists of 18 Celestion speakers, 2 Bass Speakers, 2 Alesis Reverb units and 5 amplifiers (one for each section of the Organ). Altogether with this system the Organ produces magnificent sound.



Specification:



PEDAL

32' Contra Violone

16' Principal

16' Subbass

16' Lieblich Gedeckt

16' Violone

8' Octave

8' Flute

8' Violone (SW)

4' Choralbass

Mixture II

16' Bombarde

8' Trumpette (SW)

4' Clarion (SW)

GREAT

16' Gemshorn

8' Principal

8' Bourdon

4' Octave

4' Spillflote

2 2/3' Twelfth

2' Fifteenth

2' Piccolo

Fourniture III

SWELL

8' Geigen Diapason

8' Hohlflote

8' Voix Celeste II

8' Flute Celeste II

4' Prestant

4' Flute Harmonique

2' Flautino

Plein Jeu III

16' Contra Fagotto

8' Trompette

4' Clarion

Tremulant

CHOIR

8' Gemshorn

8' Gemshorn Celeste II

8' Gedeckt

4' Principal

4' Nachthorn

2 2/3' Nazard

2' Blockflote

1 3/5' Tierce

1' Sifflote

8' Krummhorn

Harp

Carillon

COUPLERS

8' Great to Pedal

4' Great to Pedal

8' Swell to Pedal

4' Swell to Pedal

8' Choir to Pedal

4' Choir to Pedal

16' Swell to Great

8' Swell to Great

4' Swell to Great

4' Great to Great

16' Choir to Great

8' Choir to Great

4' Choir to Great

16' Swell to Choir

8' Swell to Choir

4' Swell to Choir

16' Choir to Choir

4' Choir to Choir

Choir Unison Off

16' Swell to Swell

4' Swell to Swell

Swell Unison Off

Pistons:

Great 4x

Swell 4x

Choir 4x

Pedal 4x (Accessible via Toe studs and Pistons under Choir)

Generals 6x (Accessible via Toe Studs and Pistons under Great)

Transposer

Cancel

Accessories:

MIDI

Illuminated Music Desk

Bench with storage

Rolling wooden Protection Cover

Hi!

Two things happened yesterday which crystallised thoughts which have been in solution for some time.

I went to a funeral and the grand-daughter's boyfriend was very newly born again, possibly a trainee priest. He was unable to accept that Christianity and Islam share the same God. He focussed on the mantra: "There is no way other than through me . . . ." and I explained that this was actually in a way a parable and that "through me" could be interpreted as "the way I show" as in "what I teach". He could not see a way in which this could be perceived through the perspective of his being boxed in by the literal authority of the text that brought him comfort through absolute and unquestioning belief. Whilst Deists might believe that we were created by god in His image and Atheists might believe that we descended through a process of wonderously unique evolution, one wonders whether this trainee priest's God was an invention made in his image for his own comfort. Any challenge to such a safety zone becomes a threat to his own persona as a result, and cannot be contemplated.

When happening to be talking to a lady about the root of the Renaissance being the discovery by the Crusaders moving into Toledo in 1180 and discovering that the Arabs had preserved the Greek myths and that they corresponded with the story of Genesis resulting in aspects of the Authorised Version of the bible, the young man challenged me as to whether I should be discussing such heresies in Church. To many, God is an invention of man in man's image for their own comfort.

I explained that all religions say "Follow me, this is the only way", and therefore are mutually exclusive, this exclusivity being an invention of mankind to promote and retain power in appointed lines of men. This process promotes the religion, and arguably is a route to God, but is not an injunction by God himself. He could not understand that there is only one God and that the God of Islam is the God of Christianity, nor could he understand the concept that the seed of God rests in each one of us, leading to the process of finding God through interior meditation.

He was disturbed by the analogy that he had known the lady who had died by way of her daughters but that there were many there who had known her themselves.

We do not take enough notice of the story of Babel. We know that before Babel humankind was united, afterwards being scattered to all parts of the world and having disparate languages.

These languages create great cause for argument - "Our Father which Art in Heaven" is in French "Notre Pere qui est dans le ciel" - which comes back into English "Our Father who is in the Sky". It's not a surprise therefore that Claude Vohrillon Rael wrote a book entitled "Let's welcome our Fathers from Space".

Having come away from Babel with different slices of cake, we are persuaded that our cake is the whole cake. People then argue as to whether strawberry cake is the true cake rather than chocolate or coffee. Personally I prefer a few nuts to make me chew, or even better, Fruit Cake. But in fact the original cake was Vanilla.

The reality is that Christ gave instructions to do two things

• :Love thy God with all thy heart.
       Of course this causes argument in literality but at a deeper level, it works, and we ignore the spirit of the injunction at our peril. It depends on our perspective and definition of God. To a Big Bang theorist, to anyone who believes that our universe, planet, life and environment were created in some way by an Invisible, All Powerful and Sentient force (All forces are sentient - Newton's law - all force produces an equal and opposite force - so all forces know the nature of opposing forces), then this injunction to love our God translates into loving our environment. To an Atheist who appreciates the uniqueness of our evolution, in effect, the processes or forces of evolution are their god, and we end up simply arguing about the same thing from different sides of the mirror. To love thy God therefore is translated into loving all that surrounds us and in particular all that has arisen out of the process of natural forces.
• (2) Love thy neighbour as thyself - this equates to the human form of the relationship between masses, which without Gravitation, would otherwise fall apart.

Christ was teaching the fundamental laws of the universe.

God teaches Unity. Man teaches Division - Divide and Rule.

The curse of Babel was to put obstacles in our way to getting too close to Heaven and finding God. Divide them and make them argue was the curse.

So in the interpretation of texts, if we see any reason for division or discord in texts, we should bear in mind that if we see a textual cause to lean to division or discord, either our texts conveyed through the eyes of men and translated through the tongues of men carry the underlying curse of Babel or our interpretation is wrong. The divisions are simply a structure to keep lines of authority in men in power.

Alice Bailey went as a missionary to India. She came to realise that there is no fundamental conflict between Christianity and Buddhism, Buddhism giving us the injunction to exclude "Deceit, Desire and Hate" from one's heart in order to achieve Nirvana, Heaven, Enlightenment. This accords so much with the Christian view of sins which prevent our entry to Heaven.

Many people see the needless arguments between the Factions of God as reason not to believe in God. God tests us as to whether we pay lip-service to the words that come out of mens' lips or whether we obey God's laws of universal harmony in our actions.

So when we read yesterday that Anglicans have allowed women to be Bishops in the Church ministering unto humankind and then we read that the Pope's Church has equated the ordination of Women as being as sinful as Child Abuse, we have to observe an organisation self promoted by men rather than anything to do with God.

Ice Cream is wonderful. Flavour is a luxury and a matter of personal choice. Flavour is wonderful for enabling people to develop a liking for Ice Cream. But Flavour itself is not Ice Cream. And Flavour cannot exist alone without the substrate of Ice Cream to carry it.

Perhaps saying that Fundamentalism is evil is a little strong - Fundamentalists carry the seeds of the teachings of God - but in ignoring the convolution of texts with the parable of Babel, they simply miss the point, simply going into orbit in constant danger of collision with other satellites.

The closing organ voluntary to this lady's funeral was Wachet Auf.

Sleepers, Wake!

Best wishes

David P

Hi!

For some time I have been considering brain function.

The brain operates upon multidirectional switches called neurons which can fire (turn on) in any of some thousands of directions to connect up with any of the thousands of neighbouring neurons. I believe there are two essential rules:
1. Neurons have a preference to firing in the same directions as they have fired before. (This means that drugs which cause neurons to fire in new and odd ways can do permanent damage)
2. There is a feedback mechanism which registers pleasure/displeasure success/failure

From when we are babies, the brain is blank but by successive experiences of pleasure and displeasure learn good and bad behaviours, habits and knowledge, patterns are built up, the neurons firing in directions that result in pleasurable and successful brain activity transformed into physical actions.

It's therefore essential academically for the brain neurons to be fired up in the most diverse and complex ways to programme flexibility into the brain by the time at which the rate of neurons dying exceeds the rate of creation of new cells in the late teens and early twenties.

From the baby, the pathways of communication through the brain grow as if exploring the rooms within the house, the garden, the local street, the local village, the road to the local town, the route to the Town Hall and the shops and then the motorway to the next city and airports to international places.

These fast express routes become ever more used and trodden pathways within the brain so that when we are used to doing something we can almost do it in our sleep without having to think about it (apply the feedback checking mechanisms along the way). When we lose our memory and go senile, our motorways are so broad and the concrete walls at the side so strong that we find it difficult to find the exits to the motorway, and we know that the routes we need are down below those bridges, under the flyovers that we can't seem to reach anymore.

When we die, our brains shut down. Our knowledge is gone. For some in senility that happens before we die. When we see someone whose brain is not functioning as it was before, are they the same person? What is the person? Where is the soul? Does the soul, does the good person enure beyond the realms of the brain having ceased function? When the brain does not function can we experience the soul?

It's easy to see the brain as a biological computer in the mere mechanics of life. Yet is there something more? Perhaps thought is not limited merely to the brain - there are documented cases of people having been given heart transplants for instance from a musician and then, not having been interested in music before, take an interest and liking to music. In areas of telepathy we see something more, unless our thoughts can simply mechanically interact with matter and other brains. Is prayer a form of telepathy or merely brain training to envisioning something happening so that the neurons are opened up towards that result and open their paths towards it? In the phenonomae of ghosts or provable reincarnation when people recall demonstrable detail of past lives do we experience something more than the biological computer theory of the brain allows?

Best wishes

David P

Hi!

I'm coming to find a lot of organists who proclaim themselves atheists. But the funny thing is that a good paid up member of the atheist party is often as good a member of any church as any who proclaim belief in God, in just the same way that Marxism and Nazism meet. Of course this is not comparing beleif in God or anti-belief to either of those man-made systems . . .

But the point is that atheists believing in the uniqueness of the wonder of evolution which has produced us often feel bound by a moral code representing respect for that uniqueness of chance which has resulted in us. Whether created by evolution from nature, or from God, the result is the same. Is God Nature?

Best wishes

David P