You have been blessed with one of the best Allens ever built. I imagine it would sound spectacular properly installed in your church.
Ebay Classic organs
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ORGANS - Experiences that you have had or have playing in public, church, or home, your favorites
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That's good to know, andijah. I'm sure they were blessed!
I treated my congregation to a few "grace notes" -- quick burbles that came out of the organ when my fingers tripped over the keys as I was trying to make a quick registration change! I'm sure they enjoyed that!John
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*** Please post your questions about technical service or repair matters ON THE FORUM. Do not send your questions to me or another member by private message. Information shared is for the benefit of the entire organ community, but other folks will not be helped by information we exchange in private messages!
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Originally posted by jbird604 View Postquick burbles that came out of the organ when my fingers tripped over the keys
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That's one of my favorite treats to offer the congregation. Just recently, the pastor finished his sermon rather abruptly (I thought he still had more to say) and caught me off guard. I had to quickly mount the bench to play the communion hymn, and failed to notice that I hadn't canceled my registration from the previous hymn. As I ascended the bench, one of my feet landed on a pedal and croaked out a loud tone as he began his invitational prayer. I'm certain that it was taken as part of the prayer by most of the people!John
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*** Please post your questions about technical service or repair matters ON THE FORUM. Do not send your questions to me or another member by private message. Information shared is for the benefit of the entire organ community, but other folks will not be helped by information we exchange in private messages!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Birds...97551893588434
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It hasn't happened to me (yet), but I was told this story yesterday and wanted to share it with you: in a small congregation with no regular organist, an elderly lady sometimes plays the organ. She loves to use her own hymn book. It's in large print which she finds easier to read. However, the book falls down at least twice during the service, so she stops playing in mid-song and expects the congregation to continue without her. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. One of the younger people then runs up the stairs to the organ, helps her picking up the book, and off she goes again :)
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Originally posted by andijah View PostI have this "nightmare" that I might accidentally step on the pedals with one of the stops pulled and make noises during quiet moments in the service. But so far it hasn't happened. Will let you know if it does after I've now written it here :D
Speaking of nightmares.....do any of you have organ-playing dreams?? My most reoccurring one is that I am sitting at the organ, and all the stops have been changed/rearranged..and I have to sit there and try to figure out where everything is....Craig
Hammond L143 with Leslie 760
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Originally posted by musikfan View PostSpeaking of nightmares.....do any of you have organ-playing dreams?? My most reoccurring one is that I am sitting at the organ, and all the stops have been changed/rearranged..and I have to sit there and try to figure out where everything is....
However, I'm sure this is coming for me someday. . .“There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself.”
“What I have achieved by industry and practice, anyone else with tolerable natural gift and ability can also achieve.”
― Johann Sebastian Bach
(at Home) Conn 645 Theater Deluxe
(at Church) 1836 E. & G.G. Hook Bros, Opus 26
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I am not a real Organist so have little to contribute. However, there is one event that I relish. When our wonderful Klais instrument was being installed at our new church facility, I was on hand documenting the installation with photographs as the Voicer was working on the softest stop in the organ (which was being done first). He finished his run through the pipes (the 8' Dulciana) and noticed that we were the only 2 people in the building (was in the evening of a weekday). He turned to me and said "David, can you play?" He was wanting to hear how well that stop carried throughout the worship space. I responded that I could play a couple of hymns. So I played "FINLANDIA" over and over using that stop while he moved all over the Sanctuary, even into the corners and up in the balcony. He returned from his task and stated that our room was phenomenal, that the softest stop could be clearly heard everywhere. It then occurred to me that I had the honor of being the first person of the church to actually play our new organ! It is a memory I cherish. I had been one of the members of the Organ Selection Committee and thereby had a hand in selecting the builder and some say in the stop list. It turned out well.
David
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Originally posted by davidecasteel View PostI am not a real Organist so have little to contribute. However, there is one event that I relish. When our wonderful Klais instrument was being installed at our new church facility, I was on hand documenting the installation with photographs as the Voicer was working on the softest stop in the organ (which was being done first). He finished his run through the pipes (the 8' Dulciana) and noticed that we were the only 2 people in the building (was in the evening of a weekday). He turned to me and said "David, can you play?" He was wanting to hear how well that stop carried throughout the worship space. I responded that I could play a couple of hymns. So I played "FINLANDIA" over and over using that stop while he moved all over the Sanctuary, even into the corners and up in the balcony. He returned from his task and stated that our room was phenomenal, that the softest stop could be clearly heard everywhere. It then occurred to me that I had the honor of being the first person of the church to actually play our new organ! It is a memory I cherish. I had been one of the members of the Organ Selection Committee and thereby had a hand in selecting the builder and some say in the stop list. It turned out well.
DavidCraig
Hammond L143 with Leslie 760
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The worst organ I ever played was the Lowrey TG-1 Magic Teenie Genie. Luckily for the rest of the world, I stuck to playing it at home, otherwise an audience would've sent me home, lol!
I got the TG-1 at my local music store in October of 1997. I was really looking for a Magnus 8200 chord organ to replace the one I had as a child, but the salesperson had nothing like that. She was going to suggest one organ and then realized it was for rental only. Then she suggested an old Lowrey TG-1. She played a few chords and a couple rhythms, and I thought it was the most beautiful-sounding organ ever, and I bought it. The store owner told me, when I asked him, that the organ was 20 years old.
I learned to play the TG-1 like a piano since it had only 1 manual, and I took piano lessons. I played that clunker everyday, thinking it was the organ of a lifetime! I even wrote the salesperson a letter thanking her for helping me pick what I thought was the perfect organ for me!
The volume was either too high or low...I had a hard time finding a happy medium since it'd go way up or way down as I tried to adjust it. Most of the sounds weren't even remotely realistic. The vibra harp was the nicest sound on there, and that's what I used most often for the right hand. Banjo was one of 3 sound choices for the left hand! It would work for country, especially if there had been a country rhythm, but I could only imagine how bad the banjo would sound for a love song like the theme from Titanic! The other choices weren't much better. To me, the strings sounded more like the buzz of a passing fly! There was a flute but no flute footages or presets, so I thought it odd that there was no full organ sound on that, uh, organ. I did enjoy the piano arpeggio though.
The tempo slider was also touchy, and I didn't know what "repeat" below the slider meant. There were a few buttons that had no effect when I pushed them.
The organ's colorful buttons were beautiful and the woodgrain design was pretty, but the moldings on the sides and music stands didn't do much for me. For the limited registration and creative options available, to me, the TG-1 was the size of a boat!
When I was introduced to Technics organs in 1998, I realized something: $100 doesn't buy you much of an organ, and it cost me $75 to have it delivered to my home! I sure got what I paid for!
The Lowrey TG-1 is certainly an old organ, even by 1997 standards, and it seems to be a very basic Lowrey model. So I shouldn't have come to be disappointed, after discovering Technics, that the TG-1 had no more than what it had. I like to laugh at the TG-1 for fun and it definitely was the most pitiful-sounding organ I ever played, I did have humble beginnings in organ playing, and the ability to move on to bigger and better organs, like my Technics EA1, and I'm not ashamed of that.Denise
You are never too young or old to enjoy playing the organ!
There's no right or wrong way, it's however YOU want to play!
Current Organs:
Technics SX-GA3
Technics SX-EA1
Magnus chord organ, model unknown
Lowrey TG-1 Magic Teenie Genie (recently given by a friend)
Past Organs:
Lowrey TG-1 Magic Teenie Genie
Magnus 8200 chord organ
Organ Lessons on Yamaha Electone HS6 in 1998-99
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Well, you certainly moved up from that Teenie Genie to a Technics! As poor as those little TG's were, they did serve to introduce the organ to folks who might otherwise have never played one. And perhaps many of them moved on up to "real" instruments after a while.
I've gone through a long series of organs that either belonged to me or were in my own church because I put them there. (I'm in the organ service business and I also rebuild and resell used organs. Thus I've been able to provide my church with better and better organs as time goes by.) Funny thing is that I used to be so crazy about a given organ that I had in the house or at church, I couldn't imagine wanting to trade up. I think a person gets accustomed to a certain organ's sound and begins to think of it as his "organ of a lifetime" as you said about the TG-1. That is until something else comes along!
The first organ I had was a Wurlitzer 4300, not a bad organ for its day but certainly way down the list from the large Rodgers and Allen church organs I acquired later in life. A dealer gave it to me because it was worthless to him. But I loved that Wurlitzer so much I had dreams of enlarging the keyboards to 61 notes each, and jacking up the console and putting a 32-note pedalboard under it! I guess I thought it would be easier to juice that one up than to find something better. That was in the early 90's, before used organs began to be freely available everywhere, before churches right and left were giving away perfectly good organs. So I thought I had a real treasure!
Subsequent organs were steps upward, and each time I thought I was moving up to the ultimate organ, and often had plans to enlarge and "improve" each one, until I had a chance to trade up. I went through, over a period of 15 years or so, after than Wurlitzer, a Conn 700, a Conn 720, a Baldwin C-601, a Rodgers 660, Rodgers 890, then an Allen ADC4000 and finally an Allen Renaissance. Those were the organs I had at church. At home I went through a Hammond 8100 spinet, then a huge Baldwin D-422, then a Conn 651, followed by a Baldwin 626, then a Rodgers 791. I enjoyed each one, but in some ways nothing ever thrilled me as much as that first Wurlitzer had done.
I had to leave the Allen Renaissance behind when I left that church, and now play an Allen MDS-45 at church and have an Allen ADC2160 at home. I think I've sorta gotten over thinking my present organ is the ultimate, either at home or at church. After having been exposed to so many organs of my own, and servicing all manner of organs in churches, including the latest models from Allen, Rodgers, and other major builders, I simply don't know what I like best any more, and unfortunately I tend to hear the shortcomings and flaws of most organs that I play. Perhaps I've become cynical and jaded in my old age.
I hope you'll enjoy that Technics organ for a long time to come. If you do get the "itch" for a newer and larger one, make sure you try it out thoroughly before you let your present one go!John
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*** Please post your questions about technical service or repair matters ON THE FORUM. Do not send your questions to me or another member by private message. Information shared is for the benefit of the entire organ community, but other folks will not be helped by information we exchange in private messages!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Birds...97551893588434
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Now first off I must confess to being a non-player but do manage to get a few chords one after the other if I set my mind to it. Fact is I cannot relate to a personal experience relative to the thread topic however, I feel to relate the following might be appropriate:
Recently our church took delivery of our brand new Allen chapel organ. The church fathers thought it appropriate to celebrate the occasion with a fittingly prepared singing service. We allocated an hour one Sunday early afternoon for the program. The very talented Allen distributor representative was roped in to do the honors of playing the organ, to really show the congregation what they are getting for their generous contributions to the organ fund.
The program consisted mostly of hymns with wording and melodies demonstrating our worship and thanks. Some hymns had different words but the same melody so there was one occasion where the hymn number was changed to allow another hymn's words to directly follow the preceding one, but not indicating the music. This brilliant organist realised there is another hymn coming but missing the music and while still playing the preceding melody, with one sweeping grab of the hymnbook which was closed on the music stand, he frantically paged through it to find the next hymn number. (The program itself was in a separate file with music and words neatly arranged in order). He brilliantly continued to play with his left hand and feet so that anyone who could not see this what I thought was a desperate paging, did not even notice anything was amiss.
The organist found the next hymn music in time and quickly said: "Oh, its the same melody..." before anyone sitting close enough to assist - and a few quick ones tried. (The organ is located in the main hall next to the the first few pews, close to the congregation).
I thought that was a display of brilliancy and concentration equalled by none - and he was not even fazed at all, did not even mention it afterwards. Well done Peter!!
Nico"Don't make war, make music!" Hammonds, Lowreys, Yamaha's, Gulbransens, Baldwin, Technics, Johannus. Reed organs. Details on request... B-)
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Oldie but goodie thread. Having read the experiences as well as experiencing many of these myself, did not have any new experiences that thought would be appropriate for this thread UNTIL yesterday......playing a quiet hymn, was building swell when somehow the chimes kicked in, and as the various stops I was using started dropping out, ended up with 4 part chimes...ugh!!!!.....after a few notes, switched to Great...chimes would not stop... thankfully our pianist saw my "predicament" and jumped in finishing the hymn while I had to turn organ off (no choice...the church already had a church bell :-P.....the chimes would not stop!!)
A first !!!!!:o
Jim
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