> From: Joseph Downing <[log in to unmask]>
> that it can sing.  I remember one particular organ (the large
Aeolian
> -Skinner at Northwestern) where the eight foot has a large scale,
but
> little harmonic content.  The builders idea was that the 8 would
rarely
> be used alone, and that it needed to be big to support that plenum.
The
>...
> A few years ago I discussed this with an organ builder whose
instruments
> misquoting, but, as I recall, he said that his 8 foot principals
needed
> to be warm *and* harmonically developed so that they could be used
alone
 
In many respects, the two different ideas quoted above respresent the
welcome change in approach, especially in American organ building,
toward the 8' principal. Back in my student days (late 60s-early 70s),
the 'practice' for trying out a new organ was to throw on the SFZ
first, try that out, and then maybe go to the reeds and flutes. I
don't remember any organist (including old pros) I hung around with,
trying the great 8' principal alone as the first thing played! It
usually was the most uninteresting sound on the instrument -- if it
ever got tried by itself.
 
Then I went to Europe, and European influences came to America, and we
discovered that if an organ doesn't have an 8' principal (or 16' if
that is the organ's pitch basis) that can stand on its own, the organ
ain't very good (in general). It's a pretty good rule of thumb, I've
found.