Tracker Action

[pcnd5584]

Edited blank - duplicate.

[pcnd5584]

I'm not sure quite what the point is of a stop knob that can't be reached.

 

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This is also the case at Sint Bavo, Haarlem and many other Dutch and German organs. For that matter, a similar arrangement currently obtains at Stavanger Cathedral - although this organ was constructed a few years ago, in a consciously archaic Dutch style.

[Pierre Lauwers]

This is also the case at Sint Bavo, Haarlem and many other Dutch and German organs. For that matter, a similar arrangement currently obtains at Stavanger Cathedral - although this organ was constructed a few years ago, in a consciously archaic Dutch style.

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Same at Riga with the Walcker.

It was considered the registration changes had to be done by assistants.

 

Pierre

[pcnd5584]

Same at Riga with the Walcker.

It was considered the registration changes had to be done by assistants.

 

Pierre

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So, does the player have to pay them - or does the church undertake this task?

[Guest paul@trinitymusic.karoo.co.uk]

So, does the player have to pay them - or does the church undertake this task?

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I was told once in Holland that this is a Protestant thing. The keys are not light and the stops are not convenient because you're not supposed to get pleasure from the actual act of playing!

 

Whatever the truth of this, laying everything out in a very generous way, using great baulks of timber instead of dainty little slices does have the advantage of ensuring that the only thing that can destroy an organ built along these lines is a subsequent ambitious organist!

[Pierre Lauwers]

I was told once in Holland that this is a Protestant thing. The keys are not light and the stops are not convenient because you're not supposed to get pleasure from the actual act of playing!

 

Whatever the truth of this, laying everything out in a very generous way, using great baulks of timber instead of dainty little slices does have the advantage of ensuring that the only thing that can destroy an organ built along these lines is a subsequent ambitious organist!

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And though.....Soooo little remains!

Heavy actions must have been a problem troughout all periods

since the Barker lever was invented; not for english baroque

organs, but for the bigger ones on the continent, and this for

obvious reasons. It seems Bach, for example, criticised the Casparini

giant organ in Görlitz because it was "an organ built for horses"!

 

Pierre

[Colin Harvey]

I was told once in Holland that this is a Protestant thing. The keys are not light and the stops are not convenient because you're not supposed to get pleasure from the actual act of playing!

 

Whatever the truth of this, laying everything out in a very generous way, using great baulks of timber instead of dainty little slices does have the advantage of ensuring that the only thing that can destroy an organ built along these lines is a subsequent ambitious organist!

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I suspect some Dutch humour here...

 

I like your second point.

 

The stops on the organ at Alkmaar are sprung loaded and you need to hitch them down, otherwise they shoot back in. This makes it nearly impossible to change stops while seated at the console and it's a 2 handed job to pull out one stop. This really must be a particularly unpleasurable organ to play.

 

But who would change it?

[pcnd5584]

I suspect some Dutch humour here...

 

But who would change it?

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Ummm.... I can think of a certain Midlands cathedral organist who would probably try....

 

[Guest paul@trinitymusic.karoo.co.uk]

Ummm.... I can think of a certain Midlands cathedral organist who would probably try....

 

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Dear pcnd,

Awfully sorry! Somehow I never realised that you were both female and a follower of the prophet Mohammed. This incongruity goes some way to explaining why you've never revealed your identity here. That is a burkha you're wearing, isn't it? How awfully oecumenical of you to play for Anglican services in the shires! An example to us all.

 

Re. your comment, you're not thinking of a cathedral organist who lives about half an hour south-west from Birmingham, are you?

[pcnd5584]

Dear pcnd,

Awfully sorry! Somehow I never realised that you were both female and a follower of the prophet Mohammed. This incongruity goes some way to explaining why you've never revealed your identity here. That is a burkha you're wearing, isn't it?  How awfully oecumenical of you to play for Anglican services in the shires!  An example to us all.

 

Re. your comment, you're not thinking of a cathedral organist who lives about half an hour south-west from Birmingham, are you?

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A propos your second comment - quite possibly.

 

As for your first: I fail to see any humour, here. Actually, I am sure that you know that I am neither female nor a follower of the prophet Mohammed.

 

For the record, it is a hoody with a balaclava helmet.

 

I note that Vox Humana has also chosen not to reveal himself to us - this is, of course, his choice - as it is also mine.

[Vox Humana]

:~X

[Vox Humana]

it looks to me as if it would be impossible for anyone to reach all of the stop knobs while seated on the organ bench. I'm not sure quite what the point is of a stop knob that can't be reached.

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I was looking today at a photo I took of the Kenneth Jones console of the choir organ in Great St Mary's, Cambridge, and the same thought occurred to me. Can you actually reach the top stops there easily?

[Barry Jordan]

Just for the record, I've now experimented sitting on the bench in front of "my" new console, and I can reach everything, even the tuba, and I'm about the smallest organist I know, being just 5'7" on a good day.

 

One of the reasons for wide spacings is of course the size of the switching units. Here in Germany, builders have basically the choice of Laukhuff or Heuß; Heuß have the reputation of being slightly more reliable and quick. But they don't let themsleves be packed any closer than mine are without being impossible to maintain or even to get out again in the case of failure.

 

Incidentally - at least the stop knobs themselves in the Sydney pictures certainly didn't come from Hradetzky - I've never seen anything as English as those on te continent!

 

The console has obviously been tarted up in the last few years, so that the Ahlborn-type rocker switches over the top manual look even more horrible than they must have done originally......

 

Straight pedalboards are simply continental standard. They are not uncomfortable, actually, you just have to get used to them! As long as the lengths of the "black" keys are arced, there are no problems, especially if the board is not flat. The standard is in fact known as the "doubly arched" board, whereas the English / American version is "triple" so..........historical pedals are another matter, of course. These can be problematic!

 

Cheers

B

[pcnd5584]

Are these the same units that were used at Chichester Cathedral?

[Guest paul@trinitymusic.karoo.co.uk]

I was looking today at a photo I took of the Kenneth Jones console of the choir organ in Great St Mary's, Cambridge, and the same thought occurred to me. Can you actually reach the top stops there easily?

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IMHO Yes.

[MusingMuso]

Just for the record..........I'm about the smallest organist I know, being just 5'7" on a good day.

 

 

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Oh God! One downmanship here......I'm 5ft 6" (and a half)....small but perfectly formed.

 

 

MM

[Barry Jordan]

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Oh God!  One downmanship here......I'm 5ft 6" (and a half)....small but perfectly formed.

 

 

MM

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Are you still growing, or shrinking already? Yes folks, it's that time already....

 

Do you have tall hair? Not that it helps when reaching the stops.

 

Barry

[David Coram]

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Oh God!  One downmanship here......I'm 5ft 6" (and a half)....small but perfectly formed.

 

 

MM

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If only Sarah Baldock were a member... she could thrash the lot of you shorties into a cocked hat, or thimble, or something.

[MusingMuso]

Are you still growing, or shrinking already? Yes folks, it's that time already....

 

Do you have tall hair? Not that it helps when reaching the stops.

 

  Barry

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I don't have much hair, I'm afraid.

 

I'm not sure that I'm shrinking yet.

 

I'll know when I'm on the slippery slope to eternity when I am obliged to use elbows rather than feet to push stops in when there's an emergency, and I forgot to do it earlier.

 

I once witnessed my nephew (then 15) when he launched himself at a shopping-trolley, and hurtled across the supermarket at about 30mph. We got barred from the premises!

 

"What were you thinking of?" I asked.

 

"I just wanted to experience 'extreme' shopping," he replied.

 

Well, now you've heard of 'extreme' organ-playing!

 

 

MM

[Frank Fowler]

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Oh God!  One downmanship here......I'm 5ft 6" (and a half)....small but perfectly formed.

 

 

MM

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I know a very accomplished lady organist who is only 5'2".

 

FF

[david_forde]

Peachtree Road, Atlanta and St Ignatius Loyola, NYC are both detailed on this Mander site at 72 and 68 stops repectively. Not as big as Sydney Opera House but certainly much larger than Chichester. I didn't realise Sydney TH hadn't had its action "improved" 

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Uk - Symphony Hall 82 stops, though of course several sections are on electric action, and electric coupling I think, Bridgewater Hall 76 stops (with electric coupling?), Eaton Square 65 stops (mechanical coupling), Bath Abbey 63 stops....

[Stephen Dutfield]

I know a very accomplished lady organist who is only 5'2".

 

FF

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... but does she have eyes of blue?!

 

S

[nfortin]

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Oh God!  One downmanship here......I'm 5ft 6" (and a half)....small but perfectly formed.

 

 

MM

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For myself, I'll match you on height, but in view of the increasing girth I'm not sure I can match your second claim.

 

There is a (perhaps only to midgets) interesting side topic to this, in proportion to my less than imposing height I have very small hands. I may well find it difficult to be objective about this, but I really do believe a small hand size imposes its own technical limitations. I'm not for one moment suggesting that, had I bigger hands, I might otherwise have been the new Fernadno Germani, but it is none-the-less a practical limitation that some of the vertically challenged among us have to contend with.

[pcnd5584]

There is a (perhaps only to midgets) interesting side topic to this, in proportion to my less than imposing height I have very small hands. I may well find it difficult to be objective about this, but I really do believe a small hand size imposes its own technical limitations. I'm not for one moment suggesting that, had I bigger hands, I might otherwise have been the new Fernadno Germani, but it is none-the-less a practical limitation that some of the vertically challenged among us have to contend with.

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My harpsichord teacher (years ago) had very small hands but was still able to cope with most things, even piano pieces with left-hand tenths. I have no idea how this was achieved.

[Guest hill1866]

While the Sydney Opera House organ is said to be the largest tracker organ in the world, there are a couple of things about it which may mean it is not. To start with, all divisions are tracker action but all coupling is electric. Some pipework on off note chests (such as some pedal 32's notes in the facade and a few other ranks - perhaps the Kronwork Ophicleide?) are on electric action. Mark Fisher who maintains the instrument now could tell you exactly what is what. He has also made some ranks playable on more than one division. This is why the stop number is now 131 whereas it was originally 127. I understand there are over 200 ranks.

 

I have heard that there is a larger 6 manual tracker organ in South Korea. Perhaps someone can confirm this. It may not have as many stops or ranks as Sydney.

 

As far as Sydney Town Hall is concerned, it is all pnuematic action with mechanical couplers, including Barker lever to the Great. It is not a tracker organ. When it was restored, it was restored as it was built - it had never been changed over the years.

 

Thanks James for uploading my photos...

 

Cheers,

 

Mark