How do serious classical organists practice at home these days?

[jonmyrlebailey]

What musical instruments and/or other training equipment are used by organists and organ students at home? What such means of practice is worthy of Bach, church and other classical organ practice? What practical, economical and space-efficient means best replicate a genuine pipe organ for organ practice at home? In Bach's time, the Baroque Period, pedal harpsichords were common for home practice, but nowadays they are extremely rare and expensive, tempermental and may take up much floor space still. These new Hammond electric organs are horrifically expensive rivaling new automobile prices in some cases. Many used electric organs might not suit the formal pipe organ repertoire. Are there any inexpensive electronic instruments worthy of serious classical organ practice? Is it best for the music student to buy, lease or rent an instrument for home practice? A piano certainly does not cut it for organ practice.

A classical organ hopeful should not have to rely on practice electric organs suited only for gospel, jazz, rock, blues, swing, boogie or other less-serious popular music.

What are your ideas and suggestions for home practice especially for organ students on a budget?

Yes, this post is about economical and practical yet formidable organ practice solutions for training to perform such grand works as Bach's Six Trio Sonatas, various organ concertos and the great toccatas and fugues.

[Havoc]

Well, anything goes really. If I look at other organ students that I know then there are 3 that have a small 2 manual pipe organ, like 2 manuals, coupled pedal and a couple of ranks. Some have a recent digital organ, Johannus is very popular around here. A few older analog organs are still around. Others practise in a church with whatever is available. Very rarely an electronic 3 manual organ. And some beginners use a piano or even a synth.

A lot about study is getting it in your mind and fingers, not about how your practise instrument sounds. Registration is the only thing where you really need a suitable organ. But then this depends soo much on each organ in itself that it doesn't matter. You need to understand how tonal buildup is done and listen to how that sounds on that particular organ.

Liszt had a mute keyboard when travelling.

EDIT: and there is one large Hautwerk setup that is a hobby on its own.

[indianajo]

Pipe organs can go for a song if you will remove it, but require huge amounts of work to install and get them working/repaired. The free ones require a lot of materials.
used Rogers and Allens show up, running $2000-$20000 for Rogers and free to $10000 for Allens. Three manual units run to the upper end of the range. Allen has a secret parts/schematic program, so unless you intend to live near a good allen authorized repairman, they are a bad deal. There is no official Rogers support where I live, they sent notice to our church, 10 years after the sale.
I'm learning P&F in Cmin, JSB, on a Hammond H100 worth between $50 and $150. It has some semi-classical presets, unlike the primitive sounding ones on Hammond A/B/C/D models. It has 2 61 key manuals and 25 pedals. It has more high overtones to get closer to classical sounds than the "Hammonds" you have heard on records. It take $150 in parts to get them really sounding good, but just need lube and $50 in parts to avoid self destruction due to old age electrolytic caps and power cord. Ones under serial #10000 seem to have some bad tube sockets, and crackle occasionally, requiring reseating the tubes in the back. The serial 11121 I haave seems to have good tube sockets. H100-200-300 will fit through a door but weigh 350 lb without pedals so it takes a good pair of men to move them. I use a 4 wheel cart like the one from U-haul.
There are a couple of classical baldwins in my town, one for $150 at Salvation Army and one for $190 at a really nice house up for estate auction. Both have 32 pedal AGO sets and 2 61 key manuals: neither has a speaker. Obsolete horn+15" woofer monitor speakers (wedge) go for about $80-100. Neither case will fit thougn my door. If you are a student, you have to think carefully about where you are going to live.
Other 25 pedal electronics are wurlitzer 4s00 and conns. Both can require tuning from time to time. The stops on many are more oriented to theater than classical.
Hammond Concords & Elegantes have even more sounds than the H100, the same number of keys and pedals, and a decent "piano" sound. They are not very repairable, however. Anything made after 1980 probably has custom parts available only from the (bankrupt?) manufacturer.
Look at the thread "where are the home organ youtube videos" under home organs here. There is a guy playing a chopped H100 Hammond in Hamburg on show tunes (paulus), and a guy playing rock songs (mambo-kurt) on an H100. bobmann107 has a couple of show tunes on his H100 on his youtube site. I can't record P&F in Cm for you on mine, I don't have a fancy enough computer. I can't even see these videos, I was at a friend's house in Fla recently. I'm happy enough with mine for classical that I don't intend to upgrade to something I can't repair like an Allen or Rogers. I may design some sinewave to triangle wave circuits, and pick up an obsolete wurlitzer or baldwin filter set of PCB, to add a "principal" stop to my H100. There is an extra contact dedicated to a stupid cymbal brush, that would be perfect for that. I'm also working on a $2 "chiff" mod for the cymbal and brush. The H100 already has "celeste" type vibrato. I'm working on a kick-piston stop sequencer for the H100, using relays for sound and a counter circuit for the sequencing. One would set the stop sounds with H100 drawbar sets in the back for stops 2-12. Stop 1 is in the front of the organ.

[jonmyrlebailey]

I was interested in organ practice for BACH, not rock.

No instrument over $5,000 that can be worthy any Bach/Couperin/Handel organ work
provided the player is of the same level of virtuosity.

The practice instrument should emulate all the pipe organ controls well.

[indianajo]

I was interested in organ practice for BACH, not rock.
No instrument over $5,000 that can be worthy any Bach/Couperin/Handel organ work
provided the player is of the same level of virtuosity.
The practice instrument should emulate all the pipe organ controls well.

You want pipe controls, you pay. There is a 3 manual Allen with lots of piston control & couplers, , no schematics or parts available to ordinary mortals, Dothan AL craigslist, $18000.
People talk about Hauptwerk, which is another expensive tool but supposedly has all the sonic quirks of the pipe organ. Converting a free allen case to midi to play Hauptwerk is doable in a winter of work, but leaves you nothing functional to play on while you are doing it, assuming the electrolytic caps are bad after twenty years (which is a pretty sure bet). Baldwin 32 pedal donor organs are much more affordable, but lack the piston type controls. However, most of the pipe organs in Southern Indiana have rocker tab controls, not pistons. I think I can add midi to my $400 ($200 in new capacitors) Hammond H100 without destroying any of the sounds already there, and practice right through the conversion.
As far as music style, I like the greatest hits of the last 1000 years. P&F in Cm JS Bach is only 350 years old but is based on a gregorian chant. I'm up to page 4, Peters ed. I'm also working on Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies, 1860, Autumn Leaves, 1940, Blue Danube, 1870, Inna Godda Divida 1969, & Gimme three Steps, 1976. The last five are by ear, something I started when I bought the Hammond in 2010. If you only play memorized stuff off the printed page, and only play stuff 0.1% of people want to hear, you are a quarter trained musician. You should hear Michael Dirk start a pipe organ concert with JSB, do the Vidor sym #5, then end up with themes to Star Wars & the Simpsons TV show. I liked it all. And he got paid to fly into town and play for us. But then, the Simpsons is not serious, it is a comedy.

[MikeDC]

Well, for what it's worth, Daniel Cook, organist at Salisbury Catherdral, England practices on a DIY 3-manual console using the Salisbury sample and Hauptwerk software from Milan Digital Audio. That's pretty serious :->

[Momboc]

What musical instruments and/or other training equipment are used by organists and organ students at home?
What practical, economical and space-efficient means best replicate a genuine pipe organ for organ practice at home?
Are there any inexpensive electronic instruments worthy of serious classical organ practice?
Is it best for the music student to buy, lease or rent an instrument for home practice?
What are your ideas and suggestions for home practice especially for organ students on a budget?
Yes, this post is about economical and practical yet formidable organ practice solutions for training to perform such grand works as Bach's Six Trio Sonatas, various organ concertos and the great toccatas and fugues.

There are several approaches.

1. Buy yourself an intact older AGO spec church organ such as an Allen (e.g the one pictured will cost less than $2000 US) , Rodgers or Johannus etc. This will have suitable manuals, pedalboard, controls and voices for the type of music you want to play. See ebay or Craig's List etc to source one. Take your time to wait for the right one at the right price. Do your research into various models to determine what is suitable for you. You might even get one free if you are willing to go and collect the organ and take it away




2. Create a virtual organ using stacked discrete MIDI controllers or a set of MIDI capable manuals plus a pedalboard, or an old MIDI converted/capable console (see example photos below)

Team this up with a PC/Mac (equipped with a touch screen or two) running Hauptwerk http://www.hauptwerk.com/learn-more/overview/,
buy a Baroque sample set, http://www.hauptwerk.com/index.php?xsearch[0]=Baroque+Organs&xsearch_id=Instruments_style&src=directory&srctype=Instruments_lister&view=Instruments&submit.x=19&submit.y=7
reuse an old home amplifier and speakers, and away you go.







Type 'Hauptwerk Organ Console' into Google and select images to see many more photos.