My beef with Em chamades

[Ben Madison]

So i finally going to come out as to why I despise Em Chamades. lets be clear first I do like my loud reeds. The reason why I do not like these things is because to me these things are not artistically expressive.

It irks me to shreds to not be able to have my loud reeds under control. When I look at a pipe organ to me, I consider it a complete ensemble in the sense that each division should have independent expression not tonal expression but volume.

I will admit i have laid out a postiv that was reed less but was not expressive. The point is to me, is that loud solo reeds have their place but if i am faced with an option of not allowing expression in soloing then what is point of having a dynamic.

Am i wrong is their something i am missing.

[toodles]

Artistic registration practice would have such reeds used in very few instances--such that if they were under expression, they would be used with the expression wide open. In other words, they are not for use with every piece calling for a reed--only those demanding the maximum. They have a place, but are no substitute for more standard chorus reed.

You don't often see them placed in a small or medium sized instrument for good reason.

[voet]

Toodles, gives a good description of the use of the En-Chamade reeds. However, I am really impressed with what Schoenstein did with the organ they built for Christ and St. Stepnens in New York. They have the big chorus reed in a double swell box for the ultimate in control. In this way, it can be used as a chorus reed or even a quiter solo stop. There is an excellent video that showcases the versatility of this small organ. Here is the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhLbcKeVQK8

[jbird604]

Some en chamades have been built that are simply too loud for anything. This of course is not good practice, but as with any other product, there are examples of organs poorly conceived and poorly executed on various fronts. When I hear an en chamade that is so loud that one cannot bear it for even a few notes, I have to judge that the builder simply didn't scale it properly for the room. Such a reed should of course be commanding. No use having one if it doesn't immediately get your attention! But if it hurts your ears and makes you want to run from the room screaming, how can anyone enjoy it at all?

I think the point of laying such a stop horizontally and out in the open is to allow it to speak forcefully, to have its harmonics fully projected into the room without the softening or rounding of the tone that would take place if the pipes were in a box or even facing upward at the ceiling. So it's gonna be crisp, but it shouldn't inflict pain.

The same can be said for other stops, or for an organ in general. I know of one otherwise very fine organ in my area that is simply far too loud for the room in which it is placed, and I would've thought the normally thoughtful builder of this organ would've known better. But there it is. I have attended programs there, and just had to scrunch up my ears and hope they weren't damaged before I could get out of there. Not going to be rude enough to actually plug my ears with my fingers, but I have wanted to do just that!

[Ben Madison]

cant disagree with you their.

[davidecasteel]

Wear some in-the-ear ear plugs?

[voet]

I know of one otherwise very fine organ in my area that is simply far too loud for the room in which it is placed, and I would've thought the normally thoughtful builder of this organ would've known better. But there it is. I have attended programs there, and just had to scrunch up my ears and hope they weren't damaged before I could get out of there. Not going to be rude enough to actually plug my ears with my fingers, but I have wanted to do just that!

John, you make an excellent point. This is indeed an unpleasant experience. However the opposite can also be true. There are a number of organs that I have encountered that sound exciting when you hear them in an empty church, but when the nave is filled, they can be underwhelming. Many of you may have this experience this coming Sunday when the normally sparsely attended service is filled with "Christmas and Easter" communicants. Since organs are voiced when the nave is empty, the voicer may not be aware that this will occur. Obviously some rooms produce this effect more than others.

[Ben Madison]

maybe companies should have voicing parties, where they invite people to come in and the company can do tonal finishing while people are downing pizza and sitting in places.

[samzer]

[QUOTE=jbird604;n654964]Some en chamades have been built that are simply too loud for anything. /QUOTE]

Have heard them affectionately called "hair parters".

[davidecasteel]

The Antiphonal/Solo Division in our church's Gallery (Balcony) was originally intended to have 7 stops, 2 of which were horizontal reeds--an 8' Fanfare Trumpet and an 8' Tuba. By the time that Division was built, the specification had been whittled down to just 4 stops, including just the Fanfare Trumpet. The horizontal Tuba had been moved into the Main Organ down front as a Hooded Tuba, and positioned on its own little wind chest located behind the Great and in front of the Swell chamber. That stop is able to be individually selected in 3 of the organ's 5 Divisions: Great, Antiphonal/Solo, and Choir and our Organist loves to use it. It is the roundest, most beautiful Tuba stop I've ever heard and is a wonderful addition to the instrument. (It really sings in Lang's "Tuba Tune"!)

Getting back to the OT, the en chamade Fanfare Trumpet in the balcony is quite demanding. The first time it was used in a service, the congregants in the balcony practically had heart attacks (I was watching), but it really isn't loud enough to cause ear damage. It does make itself known when added to a registration, though!

En chamade stops are not intended for common use--they are there to provide bombastic (even shocking) support to majestic music. To accomplish this they need to be both loud and a little raucous. Like hot peppers in a recipe, they should be used sparingly and with understanding.

David

[jbird604]

Haha! Yes, those big en chamades can certainly induce heart attacks and other physical ailments! I don't play a real pipe organ of course at church, but a good Allen. For a Festival Trumpet I use the "Spanish Trumpet" sound on the Allen Expander. The expander has its own volume control, and if I happen to get it too loud there is one kind gentleman in the congregation who will (graciously) let me know after the service! No heart attacks yet, but hearing aid troubles have indeed happened!

[APipeOrganist]

The big organ that I regularly play (4/61, Mechanical) has a "Royal Trumpet" on the solo that is just hellishly loud. I never use it for much, because there's already a massive bombarde chorus up there, but when you do need it it's there. It's not the only reed stop on the organ, so it's fine not to have it under expression, because what is the point? It's designed to be loud, and it's designed to be used sparingly. Anyway, I've heard organs with enclosed En Chamade style reeds, and they just end up sounding trash because they are so thinly voiced that dulling it down just makes them sound weak. I suspect this is because even though the swell shades are open, the shades are still physically blocking the sound, and are more likely to block the higher frequencies of the sound, but because they are such small scale, there's not really any fundamental, so it ends up really weak. It works on the Schoenstein because the massive fanfare reed is a tuba, which are much larger scale and have much smoother, fundamental-heavy sound.

[Ben Madison]

Lets be clear here I love powerful reeds. I slowly warming up Em Chamades but I would like the option of some of the solo reeds enclosed.

[regeron]

Please note: the correct spelling is "en chamade", not "em chamade."

The two words seem to have been originally used to indicate how a stop is voiced and mounted in the organ, hence "Trompette en chamade." As such, it does not need to be capitalized. Since then, however, and because a Trumpet stop is the most likely to be mounted en chamade (I personally don't think I've ever seen anything but Trompettes en chamade) we often refer simply to the "en chamade", assuming that it is a Trumpet stop that we are talking about.

[davidecasteel]

Our Klais instrument has some enclosed reeds: an 8' Corno di Bassetto and 16' Dulzian in the Choir, and 4 in the Swell--16' Basson, 8' Trompette and Basson-Hautbois, and 4' Clairon. The power in the reeds is in the Great and Pedal, though. The 8' Fanfare Trumpet (horizontal) is in the Antiphonal/Solo Division in the Gallery.

[St Josaphat]

The church where I take organ lessons in Manhattan has a Hooded Trumpet and a Tuba Mirabilis in the Gallery Solo, and a 32' Ophicleide in the Gallery Pedal. Luckily the console is in the Chancel, so with the Tuba under expression, it's manageable, but the Hooded Trumpet is another story...