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Pipe Organs and Related Topics <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 25 Jan 1993 23:12:25 EST
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Hello, OrganList:

I obviously don't know what to call this thing, OrganNet, OrganList,
whatever.  And 'hey, you' ain't polite.

**** BLOWERS

We have used Zephyr blowers, made by Schantz, in a couple of jobs.  The small
ones come in a nice muffling housing which also serves as an adequate
packing crate (with protection, so it looks nice in the job).  The only
thing we have had to do is put a felted intake labyrinth to cut down on
the noise.  (Watch your cross-sectional intake area, though.)

We used a 5hp unit on the 71rk Scots organ, and it is very satisfactory.  On
a little 9rk organ, we used a 1/2hp unit with an oversized impeller; the job
has a fair amount of borrowing/extension with sub- and super-couplers on the
Swell, 90mm wind pressure, and you can't make it sag.  In fact, Zephyr says
we could probably put another two or three ranks in without any problem.

They cost a LOT less than the Ventus units, which more than makes up for the
little bit more noise.  The 1/2hp unit runs about $950 including the cabinet.
Talk to Sank in the blower shop at Schantz, and he'll make sure you get a
blower which will do the job at the lowest cost.

**** REGISTRATION

> > One point seemed to be to make your registrations
> >fluid, constantly changing.  Even the tremulants should be used that
> >way, turning them on for a single note or a small section.
>
>Of course, some of us would rather spend our time on the music, instead of
> having to
>constantly concentrate on the mechanics of pushing pistons and stops. :-)

One of the skills needed to play an organ in this day and age is that of
registration.  Registration is not just the setting up of stops before one
plays a piece and then the cancelling thereof after the conclusion of the
piece.  Registration is the use of stops, pistons, mechanicals, devices,
etc. to mold the sound of the organ to the effects inherent in the music.

A case in point is the current fad of Bach playing.  Put on the plenum, play
the prelude, take off the mixture, play the fugue.  And, besides this, one
must play with what I call 'Chinese' phrasing (chop-chop...).  This does
a service to neither the music nor the listener, as it ignores accentuation
by means of stop change.  Why do you think Bach had people standing on either
side of the keydesk?  They were his 'pistons'.  And supervising a pair of
registrants is a lot more work than snaking a finger or toe over to push
a little button.

Does George Wright slight the music by using the pistons?  Does Michel
Chapuis?  Did Virgil Fox?  Did Biggsy?

Why do we organbuilders spill our guts trying to make colorful stops which
can be blended one with another in interesting and <musical> ways if it
is considered such an unmusical chore by many to have to 'concentrate on the
mechanics' of using them.

If you feel you can make more music without dealing with stops and pistons,
then why not just have someone build you a Blockwerk.  Or, better yet,
take up the piano.  :-)

That's my 'hot button'.  Bombardes cancelled.  (Manually, of course.)

See y'all later.

AJO

****************************************************************************
Allan J. Ontko                                      [log in to unmask]
Ontko & Young Co. Inc.                                   Pipe Organ Builders
Charleston, South Carolina                                OrganCADD Software
            Tradition and Innovation in American Organbuilding
****************************************************************************

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