Hey, I have been watching the Europeans organist Fraser Gartshore's *ouTube videos (that are awesome; highly recommend them), where he goes around Europe playing organs. On most of the organs, there are these little switch things above the stops (refer to picture). Just out of curiosity, what are they and what do they do? I've never played a real European organ (I hope too soon!), so I am absolutely clueless. Thanks in advance, everybody!
-Philip
"I play the notes as they are written (well, I try), but it is God who makes the music." - Johann Sebastian Bach
Organs I Play:
- Home: VPO Compiled from Allen 2110 parts
- Church: M.P. Moller 1951 (Relocated 2015) 3 manual, 56 stop, 38 ranks (Opus 8152)
I believe this is the posting you are referring to. I remember reading about them too. It was posted for the Schoenstein organ in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. Posting #26. https://organforum.com/forums/forum/...-buttons/page2
No, not a similar situation.
The buttons in the post referenced in #2.1 are above the top keyboard and there aren't as many buttons as stops. Nor is there a direct switch-to-stop correlation.
In the situation that Philip Powell is talking about above in the picture in #1, there seem to be two switches for every stop. There is a definite switch-to-stop correlation.
I saw a console last week that had three rows of switches: a red row, a blue row and a green row. Below the lowest manual were four pistons: red, blue, green plus a white cancel button.
When you play mostly Bach-like music, you don't need many changes.
The switches on the organ you reference have no labels. It is a 2 manual organ and there are two rows of switches. Even in his videos explaining the stops on this instrument he does not address those switches but the stops do play even with all of those switches in the up position. What's even more interesting to me are the rows of white pushbuttons under his note pad and aqua clothespin on the left key cheek.
I was wondering the same thing about the switches on the Welte theater organ he played. In the past he has demonstrated some pretty wild electronically sophisticated consoles with a multitude of buttons, but he did explain and demonstrate most of them. Recently he has not done so, perhaps assuming we already know what they do - perhaps from a previous video on that organ.
Larry is my name; Allen is an organ brand. Allen RMWTHEA.3 with RMI Electra-Piano; Allen 423-C+Gyro; Britson Opus OEM38; Steinway AR Duo-Art 7' grand piano, Mills Violano Virtuoso with MIDI; Hammond 9812H with roll player; Roland E-200; Mason&Hamlin AR Ampico grand piano, Allen ADC-5300-D with MIDI, Allen MADC-2110.
Yes, that is one of the instruments that I was referencing. A good example of, "Just because you can (with the highly programmable console electronics), doesn't mean you should!"
On some simple combination actions, there are only 2 or 3 pistons, either generals or divisionals. As Hkleb mentioned, an organ with 3 different colors of tabs under or over each stop, would have 3 corresponding thumb pistons, plus a white (probably 'cancel' or 'hand register') piston.
To use it, you simply decide which pistons you want on green, or red or whatever color, then adjust the corresponding tab above or below each stop. The nice thing about this system, though it is often limited to how many pistons can be set, is that you can change combinations as you play.
It's been a while since I played an organ with a 'Hand Register' piston. I seem to recall, though I could be wrong, that the stops didn't move when you pressed piston 1 or 2. While you were playing on that combination, you could hand register the stops. When you pressed the white piston, it activated the stops you had just hand registered. It was nice because it allowed for a fluid registration in addition to a couple set-able registrations. If I am correct in how I remember that, the drawback is that when you press piston 1 or 2, you can't actually see which stops are engaged other than by noting the positions of the appropriate switches above the stops.
*** andijah *** if you read this, could you make any corrections? My experience was with German organs, but it's been at least 20 years since I played an organ in Germany.
Here in Canada, I know of a small, 2-manual Keates organ with something similar, though the labelled switches are mounted in a panel at the organist's back. There are either 2 or 3 piston options. The nice thing is that if you set up a particular combination on General 1, those same stops are also available one division at a time, as Swell 1, Great 1, or Pedal 1. The only difference is that General 1 will affect couplers. The divisionals don't affect any changes to couplers.
Can you find a video clip that shows how many pistons there are under the keyboards? That would help to confirm (or not) whether this is a possible explanation.
The reason why there are two rows of switches in Philipp's example is that there are probably two buttons or pistons somewhere on the organ, "free combination 1" and "free combination 2".
So, to set the "free combination 1" you would choose the registers/stops accordingly and then set the switches from row 1. Each switch belongs to one stop.
Of course this doesn't give you the flexibility of having hundreds and thousands of possible combinations but if you have two favourites that you use often, you can prepare the organ accordingly and don't have to do everything by hand.
And, yes, that helps a lot. I am not very good at adding stops as I play, so this "free combination" thing seems a lot more difficult than just 10 general pistons.
In the USA, the "freie kombination" would be called a setterboard combination action. Usually the setterboard switches are hidden away, but when there are just a few, placing them above the stops seems to be the most convenient.
Yes, his videos are good but also a wee bit longish and it's hard to find something like this if there's no explanatory text saying what will happen or be shown in the video.
In the case of missing descriptions, I turn on CC (for a laugh), and then change the playback speed to 1.5 or 2 (click on the gear next to CC). It only takes 1/2 the time to watch the video.
I think they're a nice length. It's like watching an episode of a TV show. And the longer the video, the more odd expressions he gives (my teacher compares my expressions to his)!!!
Thanks for all the interest in the stop tab things we have over here - you're right quantum, I have explained them in past videos, can't remember how often, but certainly a few times.
andijah has correctly described what's going on - they are basically general combination possibilities controlled by the thumb pistons under the lower manual. On "my" organ they are:
Handregister (the main stop row, i.e. with the stop names)
FK1 (freie Kombination): the next row of tabs
FK2: the uppermost row.
Tutti: everyone's favourite...
There is also a row of tabs controlling a "free pedal" combination (controlled by a toe piston) for quick changes between e.g. a solo pedal setup and a "normal" pedal registration.
To the right there are 3 reed cutoff tabs in case the tuning is so bad, you'd embarrass yourself playing. They keep the reeds out of all combination possibilities, even tutti.
The Welte theatre organ recently had coloured FKs - green and red. perfect for colour-blind organists in the dark. (And before you ask, no, I'm not colour-blind!)
Any questions?!
Why German-style organ builders went with the FK system as opposed to divisionals, I don't know. Why did C-C go with ventils and only pedal controls (no thumb pistons)? I dare say there are some experts here who can fill us in on the respective traditions.
When I moved to Germany 20 years ago, I had no idea what they were at first. I missed the manual pistons we have everywhere else in the world, but soon got used to the system and the fact that most larger organs only have a sequencer over here - much more practical than divisionals, especially for concerts.
Welcome to the forum, FraserGartshore :-)
I guess you're pretty busy with making new (nice) videos, but I'm sure people would appreciate your input to other topics here, too. I certainly would. O:-)
quantum Thanks - yep, we're busy working On new ideas for videos. Unfortunately the corona crisis has put a lot of traveling around to new organs on hold, but we'll get there! We have a few exciting instruments coming up over the summer months!
andijah Thanks, I look forward to keeping up with the forum topics here!
I never miss one of your videos. They are enthusiastic, irreverent and refreshing. Plus, you are not afraid to mix in some jazz or talk "highly" of theater organs, which no doubt has blacklisted you among the purests.. lol.
Welcome to the forum, Fraser. I've also watched and enjoyed many of your videos, usually in English but occasionally auf Deutsch to try to keep at least some German in my head!
Look forward to reading your contributions here on the forum.
It's not what you play. It's not how you play. It's the fact that you're playing that counts.
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