Hello all,</p>
It's been a while, hasn't it? My goodness. Since the last time I posted something on the forums, I've moved back from Michigan to Texas and have played more recitals than I can count to on both hands. But I've been mulling over a thought in the last few weeks, and I'd love to hear input from other organists.</p>
When I say "floating organ," the title is a little deceptive because I'm not referring to an organ floating out on a lake somewhere (hey, if we can put an organ outside in California, why can't we put an organ on a boat in New York?).</p>
We all know what "floating" divisions are. And in case you don't, I'll go ahead and explain. A floating division is a division that does not "reside" on any particular keyboard; instead, it is coupled to the keyboards in order to be used. Rodgers was (and to an extent, still is) seemingly obsessed with them. I can't tell you how many of those little two manual Rodgers I've seen with a floating Positiv division.</p>
My proposal is this: what if every stop on the organ was "floating"? In other words, instead of having stop knobs, you have (for a 3 manual instrument) 4 buttons for each stop - one button for each keyboard. Simply, the name of the stop is provided, and to the right of it are the four buttons, labeled "I", "II", "III", and "Ped". The stops are still grouped in divisions on the console, however, primarily because some divisions would be enclosed, and others would not. Within the division groups, stops are organized on the stop jamb top to bottom in descending order - starting with the flues, and then the reeds.</p>
What does this do? Well, I'm glad you asked:
</p><ul>[*]It eliminates "borrowing." Instead of having two identical stops located in two different places, you have a single stop (found on the primary division) that can be coupled by itself to any keyboard.[*]It eliminates unison couplers. Because any stop can be coupled by itself to any keyboard, there's no reason to have unison couplers. Sub and super octave couplers apply to any stop coupled to the keyboard that the coupler is for. In other words, if you turn the 8' Swell Trumpet on the bottom keyboard, and turn the 16' coupler for the bottom keyboard on, the swell Trumpet will also play at 16' on the lowest keyboard.[*]It extends the flexibility of the instrument. Organists often brag that the organ has the potential for practically an unlimited number of different combinations of sounds. Why not extend that? Suppose the 8' Flute on the Great worked poorly as a solo stop, but the 8' Flute on the Swell was wonderful as a solo stop. But the only strings on the organ are in the swell. With this "floating organ" setup, you could couple the strings to one manual, and couple the swell flute to another. And immediately, you've created a new sound that otherwise would have been impossible.[*]Much like the sub/super octave couplers, the Divisional pistons no longer work as divisional pistons. Instead, they function as "keyboard" pistons - only applying to the stops coupled to that particular keyboard.[/list]
Well, as far as I can tell, the only real downfall of such as system is that it becomes slightly more challenging to turn stops on or off individually while playing. But the advantages of having a considerably more flexible instrument seem like they would outweigh the downfall.</p>
I am aware that a (mechanical?) organ somewhere in France uses a system where every division is floating. But my proposal calls for every *stop* to be floating.</p>
Thoughts?</p>
[H]</p>
</p>
Comment