The following are some
notes I compiled relatively soon after the instrument was built in 1988
and which summed up my thoughts on the design considerations and
general aims for the instrument. In hindsight some of what I wrote is
simplistic and even a little naive but it represents my thinking about
a project
which still gives me a great deal of pride and
pleasure.
So we've all seen residence pipe organs
before. But in all honesty, as effective instruments - some work very
well indeed whilst others are not infrequently disappointing even if
their
owners will not say so publicly. What makes the difference. Since I
have now
spent a good deal of hard earned dollars on such a project, it was
important for me to be
clear on the factors involved.
People want to fit organs in all sort of unlikely places
- possibly due to a spouse who declares ‘that
!@#$%^ thing
can't go in my living room” . But the bottom line
is that any
attempt to fit an organ in a small spare room , attic, broom
cupboard or
such like will not produce a satisfactory result. If the potential
organ owner is
in that position, then the project should be regarded as dubious.
As you will have seen elsewhere
in this site, my instrument is placed in a reasonable sized music room
- this
was specifically added to the house at a cost of a little under
¼ of the cost of the instrument. It was well worth it.
Back 2.
Choosing a builder is just a case of getting the best deal, isn't it?
This is probably the major issue to faced
- unless of course you are one of the intrepid people who will build
the instrument yourself. This course is of course the cheapest and will
provide a great deal of enjoyment and satisfaction.
Regrettably however I must
say that I have seen few instances of finished instruments which I
personally would wish to play myself. But good examples do
exist and I admire
their builders immensely.
For the rest of us, I would
suggest that they key is (like all choices of organ builder) to be
comfortable with
the style and sound of the builder concerned. And you need to be
particularly sensitive to what will and will not work in the
necessarily smaller
house environment. I deal with this aspect below.
All of us will be conscious of
the cost. But I would strongly suggest that to engage a builder merely
on the
basis of price is to court utter disaster. And this is not an issue
confined
to house organs - many churches have found out to their cost what a bad
idea such thinking can become.
The first thing is that a house
is smaller.
And that will, as is the case in any small space, place a greater onus
on the builder to provide voicing which blends well when heard at
reasonably
close quarters. This certainly places difficulties in the way of those
who seek instruments voiced according to extremes of national style.
Much
depends on the individual environment but overly bright Germanic sounds
will for example struggle to sound appropriate in your average carpeted
lounge room. Ditto for any attempt to place the French Grand jeu in the
attic.
Part of the problem is that
residence
organs often need to be quite small, both for space and financial
reasons.
And yet owners naturally wish to ensure that their instruments have
integrity
and character. This seems to lead to schemes involving such things as :
divisions having
fractional length
reeds as the only 8’ stop
pedal departments
without flue 16’
stops - often a buzzing reed is substituted
schemes
which
generally lack warmth
and presence simply because the scale of the 8’ ranks are
inadequate
I must say that I have always found
that the best residence organs I have played are characterized my
moderation
in voicing with great attention to good blend. Seek this virtue first
and
the rest will follow.
For me the answer had to be
tracker.
The integrity of this sort of action seemed essential to the
sort
of instrument I had in mind. I do not see much virtue in extension in a
small room and I have found that the natural feel of a tracker adds so
much to the joy of the organ.
Others may come to a different
view
- but I would always make the same decision again.
Allied to this is the need to
ensure
that your instrument is one which can be played with pleasure without
the
need for constant tuning or maintenance. Consider carefully how you
will
cope with this aspect.
Personally I elected to forgo
reeds
- I have no wish to be constantly fiddling with the instrument.
Others
will take a different view. But do ensure that the scheme you decide
upon
will not involve issues which you will later find troublesome.
I found it very important to be
clear
about precisely what I wanted the organ to achieve. Your instrument
should
be an artistic entity in itself and for this to be the case its role
needs
to be well thought out.
Some will seek an instrument to
provide
specific effects -possibly for repertoire practice purposes. This is
fine
although I would always caution that such aims be in keeping with what
can reasonably be effective in the room concerned . I have found
that
ineffective
residence instruments I have heard are often so because schemes
were attempted which really had little chance of being effective in the
space.
In my case, the aims were
limited viz.
reasonable
choruses for JSB
solo colour for
CP’s
reasonable balance
for trio sonatas
And the scheme chosen achieves that
and more. But I believe the key was to have simple aims and choose a
scheme
which could achieve those aims. Too many projects appear to me to be
compromised
by seeking to achieve too much with too few stops.
I should not have left this
until last.
Far too many organs (residence or otherwise) I have heard have been
ruined
for the player by the closeness of sound being unendurable. I was
determined
that this would not be the case with my instrument.
I managed this in two ways:
keep the height of
the soundboard
as high as the room will allow to have the sound pass over the player's
head
Arrange the order
of stops on the
soundboard to avoid the common practice of having the higher pitched
stops
in front and therefore blasting straight at the player
My instrument sounds much quieter
to the player than at the other end of the room. That's as it should
be.