Recommended Posts

Well I finally got around to making a short video of recent progress on the organ for those of you who might be interested.

Actually made over 45 minutes. Edited it down to 20. That should tell you something. :blush:

One point I forgot to mention for those who might be curious. On the stop tabs you may also notice numbers. 8, 4, 2 16 etc.

In a pipe organ those numbers refer to the length of the pipes. An 8ft pipe playing middle C is the same frequency as you would find on a piano. A 4ft pipe would play an octave higher, 2ft an octave higher yet. I just mention that for the musicians among you. Although their are no pipes in an electronic organ the same rules are followed.

Anyway I hope you will not throw any digital tomatoes. I'm doin' me best.

Edited to add. Sounds best on headphones if you want to hear much pedal

  • Upvote 6
Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for that Dave,it looks very difficult and I admire you for mastering it!!

The mellotron I also love,with 3 things on the go..I would get confused!!

I noticed Jake keeping tabs on yer.

Your accent is great..just the odd bit of Georgia... but old Nottm is there mate.I am the same..24 years here..but still have the Bulwell twang.

Your tutor should be proud,well done!

Take things easy,ianx

Link to post
Share on other sites

I haven't mastered it yet, Ian. I probably don't have enough years left to do it. It's definitely harder at 71. I get jealous of some of the youngsters I see on Youtube.

If you want to see a master check out Gert Van Hoef on Youtube. As the name suggest he is a young Dutch guy. He started organ at 13. He was pretty good then playing some Bach I wouldn't even tackle yet. Now 20 and making CDs, videos etc. He's good.

Jake no longer leaves the room when I play. He used to. :unsure: so it must be getting a bit better. Lol.

Thanks for your encouragement.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Great stuff Loppy........and you seem quite a nice chap............lol.............

  • Upvote 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Thank you for our update LL. How ever you manage to do something different with each hand and foot, I will never know, but you are doing a great job. We can certainly see and hear how you are gaining confidence in your playing. Even Jake approves; gotta be good. Well done Miduck. We look forward to your next update.

  • Upvote 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Lovely, Dave. I have a couple of questions:

Were you a pianist before taking up the organ?

Do the pedals have their own stave of music?

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks Dave.

No, I never played any instrument except the harmonica a little bit. I have an electronic piano, left by my late wife. One day I thought that rather than let it gather dust I would learn to play it. I took piano lessons from a local lady for a year. She. Was o-k but I think she was happier teaching kids than adults. I think she felt uncomfortable telling an adult what to do so she let me meander along rather than saying, you need to work on this. My organ teacher will tell me to work on this before next week. He's a good guy and we laugh and joke, but I think he'd fire me if I didn't do my homework. :-)

Anyway, one day I went to our church to practise. They have a grand piano. One of the keys was sticking, so rather than fool around with it and maybe break something I turned on the old Baldwin electronic organ, which never gets played. I was hooked. I always liked the organ anyway. So long story short. I sought out an organ teacher and here we are today. I bought the Allen organ about three years ago. It came out of a church. It is AGO standard. That means American Guild of Organists. So any AGO standard instrument is the same. Thus the one I take my lessons on is like my home organ except it has three manuals and more switches and buttons to play with.

Organ technique is very different. I liken it to driving a car with power steering, brakes etc. you do not need to strike the keys and the sound sustains as long as you hold the key down, unlike a piano. One tends to glide from key to key, called 'legato'. playing rather than staccato.

Yes, the pedals do have their own stave of music. Keeps your eyes constantly scanning over three staves. That's why I seem hesitant at times. I don't read the music fast enough and catch up with myself. It really shows up to me on the video. I don't notice it so much in practise. Video is very unforgiving. I also notice other errors that my teacher gets after me about and I didn't think were so bad. :-)

Thanks again to all for your encouragement. I know the organ is not everybodies cup of tea, maybe one day it will come back into fashion.

  • Upvote 6
Link to post
Share on other sites

Loppylugs........I thought you were doing great, as long as your enjoying yourself, and that's the name of the game. I am a Cornet player and I even tried to learn to play the piano many years ago, but found out that there were too many black and white things to press down, and gave up.

  • Upvote 4
Link to post
Share on other sites

I'd probably have trouble with a Cornet. :-)

I think it was J.S Bach who said something to the effect of. " Anyone of average intelligence should be able to play. (The organ). Just press the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself."

Easy for 'im to talk he was a bloomin' genius.

  • Upvote 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...