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Pipe Organs and Related Topics

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Pipe Organs and Related Topics <[log in to unmask]>
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Tue, 26 Jan 1993 17:27:59 PST
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> >           Hi.  I am a newbie to this list (a synthesist who was
> >           trained on an Allen organ some over years ago), but if I
> >           correctly interpret the phrase "chop-chop playing" to refer
> >           to that abhorrent sempre staccato style that some folks use
> >           all the time, even on hymns, then I gladly join the
> >           anti-chop hotheads.

Dear sir;

We are not hotheads, but rather we love music that has not been damaged by
ineptitude of its creation.

> I am sorry to hear that you trained on an A***n toaster, how many
> slices was it?  Two, three or four  ?

Shall we rate blower horsepower as blender speeds ?  (hhehehehehehe!)

> >           By the way, the current thread on expressiveness is doubly
> >           fascinating to me in that modern synthesizers are directly
> >           descended from organs.  Do any of y'all have opinions on the
> >           integration of MIDI with theater and church organs?  Do you
> >           see a place in organ technology for velocity or aftertouch
> >           as expressive aids (e.g., kick in a tremulant with a little
> >           extra pressure on the manual)?

This is the difference between organ and piano.  Second touch is only used
to alter registration of that particular touch.  Its not how hard you hit
the key, but rather how far you push it.

If you want velocity sensitive keyboards, there are these real old fashioned
instruments that do it.  Kinda dangerous to tune if you arent careful though,
you can blind yourself too, if you break one of the wires withg your face in
the case...  Grandad used to have one.  I think he called them....
pianos!  (hahahaha)

Course Hammonds (Electric mixers?) had this cute pedal you could kick to change
the speed of the rotating baffle in the speaker and that gave a similar effect
to what you speak of.


> MIDI, Yea, we've opinions here at Penn..We have a MIDI on our organ
> here for 162 ranks et al.. Designed and built in house.. full duplex
> installed 1988-1989
>
> To us the synth/midi stuff is nothing really new, it's just an electronic
> form of stuff already done on the organ. With regard to 2nd touch et al
> our dream console would have the trems assignable to 2nd touch. but real
> 'organ' second touch with a pluck point.
>
> The best part have been the times when we force 'organist' to listen
> to their own playing right after they've just played.. We did this to
> a gathering at a regional convention of the AGO in july of 1989 or so.
> OOPS - suddenly people became real scared of playing and hearing what
> they sounded like (loud, chop chop, bad phrasing et al).  Here we've
> been using it to set new standards for performance.  It is a really
> good tool to hear yourself via the pipes rather than the audio tapes
> Oh, yes it was a real shock to hear myself for the first time.  It forced
> me to rethink how I played the organ ...

Excellent use for MIDI!  Wish I'd though of it.  You sadistic dog you...(heh!)
So far, I've only seen MIDI used as a way to tie a synth into (and ruin) a
perfectly good organ concert.  Now if we could get MIDI to move the keys too.
Would make a terrific teaching tool.

As for using MIDI to play when the organist is absent... Roll players have been
around a couple hundred years.  Some darn sophisticated ones too!

On MIDI to allow you to play more complicated arrangements... Ever heard of
music for 4 hands?  Its a blast!  Pity no one does it anymore.  Music for 4
hands shows off not only music talent but teamwork with your buddy.


> anyway...synths will help a new generation of people become interested
> im music at what ever level, so, I would encourage their usage..

I fear not.  Synths will keep up the interest in keyboard music, but I seldom
See synths become pipe fans.
I am bombarded (pun?) by synth users who say
"What do you mess with those pipes for?  I can get anything I want outta
my Yamaha...."

Yeah...right!




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-texx

Robert "Texx" Woodworth

Wurlitzer Opus #1024

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                        WURLITZER FOREVER !!!

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