In James B. Jamison's book, Organ Design and Appraisal, he writes on page
115 that, in a Swell division in which the reeds are properly designed to
fit the Swell division rather than balance the Great, "The gap that
separates them from the Swell flues becomes narrow, and the utility of the
Trumpets is very much enhanced.  In this build-up the Clarion enters before
the unison.  It comes in with less of a 'bump.'"  By "bump," he means than
the crescendo is smoother.

The Clarion enters before the unison???  Although this goes against all that
I thought I knew about gradually adding reeds to a flue ensemble, in my own
experimentation with several organs, I've found that Jamison is, in fact,
quite correct.  My brain tells me that this isn't the way it should work,
but my ears tell me otherwise.

My question to the forum, then, is how often do you find yourself playing a
flue chorus and then adding a 4' reed for a stretch before adding the 8'
reed?  For that matter, what is it about a reed chorus that the 16' pitch
should be added to 8' and 4', rather than a 2-2/3' or 2' (both of which
barely exist)?  And if the rare reed mutation IS available, it's at 5-1/3',
part of the 16' series.  Why are flue choruses centered on 8' pitch, but
reed choruses center on 16'?

Jeff Nall

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