The Organ gets an Airing

"The time has come the walrus said to talk of many things."

Not of sealing wax, but of how to get the organ out of the front (music) room, through the house, out the back door, down the side 'entry' across the front and into the car!

The reason for this unusual route, is that I have about eight steep steps from the front door!

The organ has its own 'playing' trolley which puts it at the right height but is not ideal for moving it around in the house. Why? It is too wide and won't go through the doors on its wheels.

I therefore have made a lower and narrower one to get the organ on this devious route.

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It is based on one I bought but with a wider base added and small strips to stop the organ sliding about.

Will it fit?

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Yes....."perfeck".

Now out to the garden.

I have just bought this 'cracking' tent from fellow organ grinder, Dennis, who has opted for a new smaller and lighter one, but this one should suit me down to the ground.

Well......there she is, out in the fresh air for the first time!

I had to give it a good cranking to see how it sounded. I have been told they sound quieter in open air compared to being indoors.

I was very pleased.....the old girl sounded great (to me.....I can't speak for the neighbours).

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And a closer look, now that I have the Henley painting in place.

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And a chance to see the plain(er) front in place.

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And its picture......this time of a pump mill on the Norfolk Broads.

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You will probably need to click on the pictures if you want a closer look.

But please......not too close!

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Automatic Punching

For years I've been arranging tunes, marking the position of the holes on the back and then punching them out manually. Oh, for an automatic system!

Well, a semi-automatic system actually. You see you still need a human at the front end to do the arranging.

John, a fellow organ builder, who lives just round the corner, has taken this step to automation and built himself a Midi controlled punch.

I arrange the tunes using Cakewalk (Midi software), e-mail them to John and "Bob's your Uncle".

I have just sent him over Mozart's 'A la Turca' and I am waiting to see what the punch thinks of this?

It can't punch 'half holes' so the software seems to round it up to the next whole number. OK for long notes but not so good on short quick runs.....we shall see.

Here's a set of pictures of John's punch....

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Organ Festival - Switzerland July 2009

Three is better than one?

Well, Three Raffins playing "ABBA - Mamma Mia" for my friend John.

Organs at Shabbington

It turned out a lovely day for Shabbington Rally. Of course I could have taken dozens of photos, but I have chosen to show just a few here which I found unusual. Of course there were rows and rows of vintage cars, tractors and motorbikes in addition to the traction engines.

However it was this amazing Showman's Living Van that caught my eye. (Note: a left click on any of my photos should enlarge them to show more detail.)

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There was so much decoration on every single part....hardly anywhere was left untouched.

However, the surprise here was to be found inside......

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A small organ. I couldn't get a close look but with 16 melody pipes up front, it seemed a rather unusual one. Most organs show a odd number of pipes, 11 or 13 etc. ...the largest in the centre and an equal number either side. But this little fellow had 8 on one side and 7 on the other side of the central pipe.

It is not part of the original van as it was used for living in. I expect the little organ was rescued from the centre of some fairground ride.

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I took this last photo of the Bruder Organ because the scroll work is very similar to the decoration on mine and I was looking for some ideas for colour schemes etc.

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Bruder Bros. Concert Organ

This video shows the Bruder Bros. concert organ (with this really inventive brass band!) of the GERMAN MUSEUM OF MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS BRUCHSAL in September 2004.
Found on YouTube the other day.
Fancy making all those little bandsmen!

Using MIDI

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A special request today.

Roseanne at Street-Organ,blogspot has asked if it was possible to arrange a tune called Tetris for her 20 note organ. I have to admit that I have not arranged any music for this scale. It is six notes short of my usual 26.

She has found a MIDI file of the tune and I have loaded it on 'Cakewalk'. This is the name of the software program that I use to modify (edit) the MIDI files.

Now I am sorry about the pictures. I used my camera to photograph the screen. I expect there are better ways of screen capture, but I am no expert in this field.

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This first shot is what you get when you load the file. It shows each Track, and the instrument associated with that track. You will see the Tetris theme is played by the Clarinet. This is the important track to look at first. That green 'blob' to the left shows that I have marked it SOLO, so that when it is played that is all you hear.

What I next do ...is to display this track in PIANO ROLL view'

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Now here we see the notes and their durations. If the view is compressed so that the whole tune fits the screen.....you notice that the theme is repeated so we only need to look at one half.

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Now if we condense it down a bit more you will begin to see that there are whole (horizontal) lines where there are NO notes. This is the important key (not musical key) to getting the tune to fit our scale. If we can align these 'gaps' with the notes we cannot play...hey presto...we have it!

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On this next shot below, I have, just for this example, added 'large green bars' against the notes we CANNOT play on the top melody pipes. (I was going to do them red, but couldn't find out how to). There are a few more lower down we can't play but they are in the acc/bass.

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The trick is, to transpose the tune up or down to get our 'gaps' to align with the 'green bars'.

This comes with practice, and I noticed that a move UP of THREE lines would do it.

Three lines here represents three semitones.

How you transpose will depend on your software program.

Below you will see the finished result. The tune is now 3 semitones higher and all the 'gaps' match up with "notes we cant play".

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Had there been any notes, they would not be available and you would have to either, go back a stage and try a different 'shift', or decide whether you could miss the note out or choose an alternative. (Note: there is a low B natural that will have to be changed - that last note midi 59 )

It may seem difficult at first, but after you've done a hundred tunes or so, it becomes easy!

Those green bars I have added are not all the missing notes and are only there for illustration. What some people use is a card mask to hold up to the screen.

If you can get the tune (solo instrument line) to fit I recon you are 90% home and dry.

What I do next, is to add the bass line to this view (also 3 semitones higher) and make sure that those are also OK. There is a high chance that you will not have all bass notes....choose an 'alternative' bass note (from the chord).

Lastly you can 'fill in' between the bass and solo line with the accompaniment, which I think in this case were 'strings'.

Ignore and/or delete all drums, "bells and whistles"

Good Luck.

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"I must be off my Trolley"

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Well I've seen quite a few unusual trolleys in my time.....

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Like this....

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Or this.....

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Or even this....

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But never like this!!!

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No......It's not fair to laugh.

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Just a wee smile then

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Black Forest Flute Clock

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I was going to do another in the series on arranging....but have not found time this weekend, however, I have found another bit on Flute Clocks for Derek.

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Please don't think this is my clock, it is not. The following is taken from the description on YouTube.

"It is by an unknown maker (possibly Mukle of Neukirch) playing eight unknown tunes.
The thirty-nine pipes were missing when found in 1985, so all of them had to be reconstructed (using the holes in the windchest and the note names on the keyframe as a clue)"

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Pianoharpa

An automatic dulcimer....isn't it sweet?

D.I.Y. Arranging - Part 2

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Start by opening out the music and looking at the chorus. This is the part that most people will recognise and therefore will notice if you get it ‘wrong’.

By ’wrong’ I don’t mean mistakes, I mean changes we have deliberately made to the tune to make it fit into our scale. You may get away with a one note changed or omitted, but two or more notes changed will surely be detected.

The first ‘rule’ is always try to get the chorus sounding like it should.

Now with the ‘introduction’ and ‘verse’ it is a different ’kettle of fish’.

Here’s an example….there can hardly be many people in this country who cannot recognise, or even sing “Oh I do like to be beside the seaside”.

So if you change that chorus, everyone will know. But how about the verse?

Well I included the intro and verse on my arrangement…..and do you know, when I play this roll, nobody has any idea of the tune until I get to the chorus.

Firstly then, scan through the chorus looking for the highest note that is played.

This highest note must, nearly always, be included and will of course correspond to one of our highest sounding pipes.

I am therefore ‘planning’ to transpose the music so that the highest note is played on the highest pipe. I say planned because this will not always give a note-to-note match lower down the scale.

On the 26 note organ we only have one note (of the twelve semitones) of the octave missing on the melody pipes. This is B natural.

It is the third note down from the top C# that is missing. (Ignore my MIDI numbers for now).

So when we transpose the music, either up or down, we must make sure that the new key does not require a B natural.

A good choice would be the key of F, which of course uses Bb and is rarely likely to require a B natural. Other options include Eb, Ab, Bb and Db. None of which require B naturals except as accidentals etc.

Now it is much harder with the 20 note scale, as in addition to the B natural you are also missing A natural, F#, and E natural in the melody pipes.

How on earth do they get so many tunes to fit? ….I hear you ask.

Well, years ago, the people who devised these organ scales, knew what they were doing.

I expect they evolved over time to give an optimum balance between - the maximum of providing every pipe and the minimum of a very limited repertoire.

The above photo shows two strips of card. On the lower one is the 20 note scale and on the upper I have marked the 8 notes of the tonic sol-fa.

You will notice in the key of C we cannot sound three of the notes - 'me', 'lah' and 'te'. That is the 'third', 'sixth' and 'seventh'. Now by sliding the card along to the key note of Ab, we get a perfect match.

So if our highest note on the music is a 'doh', then the key of Ab would suit.

I have built myself a more versatile version of this cardboard transposer which I will explain next time. It is however designed for 26 notes.

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Champagne Time

The Organ.

And the Builder.

The winner of 'Best in Show' was Roseanne Wakely from the Arts University College at Bournemouth, who received a gold plated scalpel and a magnum of champagne.

Mozart - Rondo Alla Turca

For anyone interested in hearing the rondo