John Robinson

Hear, hear. John

No, that was a series of rotating glass bowls, working on the same principle as stroking the rim of a wine glass with a damp finger! A shame that this instrument is not used any more - it is a very haunting, yet pleasing sound. John

I hadn't heard of this either. However, at a recital at York a few years ago, Carlo Curley brought along his own 'Nachtigall'. This was a twittering mechanical bird in a cage which he placed on the choir console to accompany parts of his recital. It was surprisingly effective heard from the choir stalls, I seem to remember. John

At the last rebuild a nave organ was mooted, subject to available funds. Nothing yet, however. There is a narrow gallery under the west window which is crying out for some Mander Royal Trumpets! John

Sorry, just been on holiday in spain over the last week - Granada, Cordoba, Seville - impressive cases but, sadly, no recitals! Possibly this is what might have happened, but it doesn't explain their ignoring my two e-mails. No, I don't think they deserve my continued patronage! John

I DO teach them the correct use of apostrophes, I really do! Unfortunately, parental and peer influences seem to be more powerful these days. It's also a sad fact that many teachers cannot punctuate or spell correctly, naming no names of course. John

One wonders how convenient these six manual consoles are to play. Presumably, the more manuals, the more difficult it is to reach the top one. I would be interested to know some key dimensions, overhangs, etc., and how these differ between three and four manual consoles and those of five or six manuals. Can anyone oblige? John

I recently received a reminder to renew my subscription to 'The Organ'. I followed their instructions to renew online and attempted to include my membership number, only to find there were no facilities to do so. Despite two e-mails querying this, I have received no reply. I think this is an opportune time to allow my subscription to lapse unless, of course, they can get their act together! John

Yes. Quite correct on both counts. However, I often don't bother to log in when I just want to keep up to date. Obviously, to post/reply I have to. I must not be lazy... I must not be lazy... I must not be lazy. Thanks John

Only a minor point, I know, but why is the forum clock (see RH side of page at the very bottom) STILL one hour behind? We 'sprang forward' in March. This is a little confusing when I visit the site each day. I have to remember the time on the previous day when I last visited - minus one hour - when I want to pick up from where I left off. With my ageing mind, this is not as easy as you might think! John

We shall see...

As no-one here seemed to know, I contacted Klais. Their response: "The two Tubas in Cologne are different in tone color. One is rather on the dark side like an English Tuba - in the direction of a dark Willis. The other one is much brighter, rather like a bright Skinner. The two high pressure reeds in the transept organ are again brighter than the two new horizontal ones. So we have four Tubas in the entire instrument ranging from very dark to very bright." So far, so good. Now, what does a 'bright Skinner' (tuba) sound like - compared to English tubas? The only American sounds I am familiar with are what I hear on The Simpsons! John

No, they were quite specific: 32' + 21 1/3' from the 32' reed. The word 'resultant' was my inclusion. John

I have just discovered that it is intended to insert a stop by the name of 'Donner 64' at Altenberg Cathedral, Germany. I have been informed by the builders (Klais) that this is to be a resultant derived from the (also prepared for) Contraposaune 32'. I was rather astonished to hear this, as I thought it was not possible/effective to make a reed resultant. I think this must be a unique concept but, of course, I stand to be corrected. John

Could it possibly be a short-compass 32'? - (Insufficient space/money for full length?) John

Or direct from Priory. John

This got me thinking. How DO you get to a 32' reed/shallot without lifting the resonator? Perhaps the boots should have little doors! John

You got it! I found the only way to get them to respond was to write to Qualitas and my local Trading Standards Dept. My apologies, everyone, for abusing this organ forum. I shall say no more! John

Not an organ issue, but don't you find these days that no-one seems able to read what you write to them? Certainly I have found this with a well-known DIY store I have been having problems with. John

Many thanks to all who responded. This has been most enlightening. From the information you have kindly supplied, I assume that 'steppers' move through the generals as set whereas 'sequencers' provide a series of combinations completely independent from the generals. I had previously thought that they were the same thing. One question that remains, if you will excuse my persistence, is how do the Germans manage so well without (usually) the benefit of divisional pistons? From your responses, divisionals seem to be the most useful option on most occasions. John

As a non-playing member of this forum (my interests are mainly design and history), I would be grateful if anyone with practical experience could advise me of the comparative usefulness of different types of piston. As I understand it, there are basically three methods of rapidly changing combinations of registers: divisional pistons general pistons sequencers I assume that sequencers have great value when preparing for a recital, where one can step through an entire programme of music using only one piston, but what are the merits of divisional pistons as opposed to generals? The consoles of most English 'cathedral-sized' instruments always seem to include divisional pistons whereas the Germans appear often to avoid them, many consoles having general thumb pistons beneath the lowest manual only, presumably to allow the manuals to be placed closer together. Can anyone explain this difference in approach to accessing combinations? What are your personal preferences? With the potential of programming thousands of general combinations (using modern digital systems), are divisional pistons redundant? On a similar theme, what are your opinions of thumb pistons duplicating the stop controls for individual couplers? John

Most interesting. This clarifies the diagram on the Cologne Cathedral web site (which I quoted earlier). I would be grateful if anyone could enlighten me as to how the two stops differ in sound. I am dying to know Klais's perceptions of how to represent the Archbishop and the Cathedral Chapter using tubas. As someone said earlier on this thread, I wonder which one is the fatter! (No disrespect intended, of course). John

For any who found it hard to believe: http://www.dombau-koeln.de/index.php?rub=5.1&eintrag_id=102 Sorry, it is in German. (I used http://babelfish.altavista.com/)

Excellent! All organs should have one!

Yes, I'm pretty sure they are not a figment of my imagination(!), and will be made by Klais. I understand that they will rejoice in the names of: - Tuba Episcopalis 8' (which I can make sense of), and - Tuba Capitularis 8' (the meaning of which I have no idea!) John