TC ???

[saudade]

What does TC mean in descriptions of ranks of pipes?

Thanks,

Jesse

[Clarion]

Re: TC ???

TC = Tenor C, the octave below middle C, i.e. the bottom octave is a repeat of the one above.

[saudade]

Re: TC ???



So, pardon my ignorance, but when I see a description of a rank like the one below, that means that the lowest octave is derived somewhere else?

	Great			Swell
	Bourdon T.C. Flute Salicional Dulciana T.C. Flute D'Amour Violina Piccolo	16 8 8 8 4 4 2		Bourdon T.C. Quintadena (synthetic) Stopped Flute Viola Dulciana Flute Dulciana Nazard Oboe (synthetic) Tremolo (to whole organ)	16 8 8 8 8 4 4 2 2/3 8

[Guest]

Re: TC ???



It has also been indicated as "Treble C", sometimes. Like that matters...[;)] Usually, a TC stop will not have a common bass or separately registration-able bass. Some instruments from the 19th and early 20th century actually had stops of just 12 notes that would fill in for the bass of TC ranks. Usually they were of stopped pipes and called "Stopped Diapason Bass" or "Unison Bass". They would fill in the bass of stops that either were too big or too expensive for the situation, most commonly an 8' Clarabella in English organs and an 8' Melodia in the American breed. Sometimes this occurred in reeds, too. An 8' Clarionet or 8' Hautboy (Oboe) might have a separate 8' Bassoon Bass of just 12 pipes.

Violoncello

[soubasse32]

Re: TC ???



[quote user="saudade"]So, pardon my ignorance, but when I see a description of a rank like the one below, that means that the lowest octave is derived somewhere else?[/quote]

Sometimes the lowest octave is derived from another rank, sometimes it is not. If it is not, then you are left without any speaking pipes when you play the bottom octave!

But in some ways, I almost like that better than deriving pitches from various & sundry places. It seems more 'honest' ... just a tiny bit.

[Guest]

Re: TC ???

Generally my experience of TC is that the bottom octave doesn't sound at all. Of course, I'm used to trackers, so that's not surprising.

[saudade]

Re: TC ???



Thanks all, that explains it exactly.

Jess

[Clarion]

Re: TC ???

[quote user="Violoncello"]


It has also been indicated as "Treble C", sometimes. Like that matters...[;)]

Violoncello [/quote]

Like . . . . that would serve to clarify the matter! [:|]<giggle>

[tumult_in_the_praetorium]

Re: TC ???



I remember hearing a story of a church in Britain, where a visiting organist had left a note in the tuner's notebook:

"Very nice organ to play, but the bottom octave of the Voix Celeste doesn't seem to be working".

[soubasse32]

Re: TC ???

[:D] ... Although some organsdo have full-compasscelestes.

[NYCFarmboy]

Re: TC ???

my two cent observation on TC stops:


Very useful for 16' stops...reason:
You can play a BIG TC 16' on the manuals and not muddy things up TOO much as the bottom octave is not there overpowering everything.

Depending on your switching system you can do this with a simple programming procedure to have your stop not play the bottom 16' octave on the manuals if you wish, even if you have the pipes there (obviously this doesn't apply to a tracker!).


My home organ is going to have 3 celeste stops....they are all TC: I have the slots on my chest for a complete 61 note celeste for my Spitsflute celeste...I don't have the pipes for it, but I'm going to use the extra bottom octave of a Dulciana 8' to complete the rank so I will have one full compass celeste......and by using a octave coupler I'll be able to have a TC 16' Celeste! :)
I hope anyhow! lol

[jbird604]

Re: TC ???



Speaking of "cents" (and dollars), TC is a way to save a lot of money. The bottom octave of pipes represents almost half the cost of a given rank, so if money is tight or one wants to maximize the number of pipe stops at a certain price level, deleting the bottom octaves is attractive. In the pedals, the same holds true of 16' stops, even more so for 32's.

Of course that's what Rodgers was doing back in the 80's with their pipe-augmented instruments, letting electronics fill in for the bottom octaves of all the 8' pipe stops. (And worse yet, using that single set of 49 pipes to supply perhaps 6 or 8 unified voices.)

If an organ is mainly going to be used for playing hymns and very light service music, obviously the bottom octave of the manuals doesn't get much playing, so it would seem acceptable to use electronics down there, at least for the 8' stops. If the 4' stops and higher go on down to C1, they tend to disguise the lack of real pipes in that octave.

{Put down the flame-throwers before igniting. I'm not talking about organs in concert venues, large churches, or where the music often includes real organ literature. Just saving money so that even small chuches and home settings could have at least a few stops of real pipes!)

John

[saudade]

Re: TC ???



I just bought and installed a Wicks 3 rank 1935 pipe organ in my house. My original post was before I went and got it, I have it playing but the TC ranks, Dulzian and Salicional don't sound below TC. I think they are supposed to switch to the gedackt rank at that point automatically, asthe Gedacktdefers to the free reeds for 16' at the bottom octave. I got most of this info on the web by a website of Wicks opus 2007, in Scotland. The site seems to be down now. http://www.nieminski.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/houseorg.htmlWondering if anyone knows the answer. I do get that some prefer that the rank ends and doesn't sound below TC, I'd just have to be careful, since the only choice would be the 3rd rank, the gedackt. It's a great little organ, and was fun to put together.

Jesse