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First of all, I am so upset I didn't think to take pictures. I spent so much time playing this Organ today, my body hurts.. and I was nearly late to a final exam. So sorry about that guys.
Anyway, I am a sophomore at SUNY Fredonia. I have always known about this "practice" Pipe Organ in a classroom in Mason hall. Actually the campus had more of them when Organ used to be a major. But most of them were removed, and not only is Organ no longer offered, it's nearly forgotten about. There are Organ lessons available if you are a Piano major, but space is limited.
So today I had a huge gap of time in between two final exams. I finally worked up the courage to ask if I could play the "practice" Pipe Organ. At first the secretary was weary, but I showed her that I had my Organ shoes in my backpack, and she let me free in the room. No instructions, just me and a Pipe Organ. It was the first time I was alone with a Pipe Organ, so I could really play and explore myself. What a great experience!
It is a 1976 Schlicker, 3 manual. Seems pretty large for a "practice" instrument.
At first I did not realize it was a tracker. It's a pretty interesting set-up. The chests and pipes and such are located against one long wall. It is seperated into three sections. On the left, great Organ. Center, Positiv with the larger pedal ranks on either side. To the right is the swell. There are glass swell shades, which were pretty cool. Something I had never seen before. In front of the Positiv is a glass piece that exposed the action for the Positiv, which was VERY cool.
The Organ console is situated facing the pipes, about 8 feet away. There is a large raised "stage like" platform that connects from the console to the Organ. I assume the action is underneath that?
FYI, my total pipe Organ playing experience is roughly ten minutes, supervised on a huge historic instrument in Buffalo, so I was excited to sit down.
I turned it on, and the first thing I noticed was how quiet it was. I could only hear a blower faintly start, then it was as if all noise stopped. The keys are all wood, light wood naturals, and dark wood sharps. There are rocker tab stops. Unfortunately I don't have a stop list. There were three manuals. One thing of note, the great keyboard was fairly well worn, with groves in the wood on the keys, showing it has been played a lot over the last 32 years. I noticed that the key action is tracker, but the stop action is not.
I have never played a tracker before, so it was amazing to feel the way a tracker action feels. I can't believe it. You can actually feel somewhat of a "pop" as the pitch is activated. While playing around with EVERYTHING, I noticed the feeling as you activate the couplers. When I had all of the "to great" couplers activated, it was almost difficult to play. It was very cool watching the action work in front of me on the Positiv, and playing with the swell shades.
There were some horribly out of tune notes, and a cipher when coupled, but other than that it plays great. I was so surprised at the sound of this "little" Organ. My only complaint is that the pedals were a bit weak. The only powerful pedal stop was a 16' Fagott. Part of the issue could be the really dead acoustics. But it was still cool. I opened the windows in the classroom, and people walking through campus would stop and watch and listen. Overall, it was an amazing experience I wanted to share with you guys. My first "real" Organ experience, uninteruppted. A professor came knocking on the door to speak to me at one point.. She was just wondering who was playing, because "no one ever plays that old Organ" anymore. She told me to treat it well because it was a "Gem."
I played for nearly three hours, and easily could have spent the rest of the day at that console. Unfortunately starting next semester I will have transferred to another school, which as far as I know does not have a Pipe Organ. However I'm hoping that I am granted permission to come and play it occasionally.
Any comments you have are appreciated.
:-)
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