wheezing organ

[oopsorganist]

Yes , there was a way of stopping it by puling out the stops before I started or something like that, I can't remember but I have written it down on a post it and stuck to a pipe in case anyone else has the same problem in the middle of a funeral or other service. Maybe it got better because it was serviced but there is no entry in the notebook for that happening. It hasn't happened again. Now just got a problem with the main fuse blowing out from time to time, especially if I turn it off during the service. (The hum annoys Father during Eucharistic prayer)

I managed to fix the music holders with some blue tack after rescuing the peg from the foot pedals with a torch, coat hanger and the blue tack. Chewing gum wasn't strong enough.

I am not sure if I imagine things but sometimes the whole instrument sounds different depending on the weather/time of year.... in the winter the choir manual sounds very quiet and in the Summer it sounds loud. Or it can be different from week to week. Maybe it is all affected by the damp.

And sometimes people leave it in the wrong key. Well, that's my story anyway.

[gwyn]

I am not sure if I imagine things but sometimes the whole instrument sounds different depending on the weather/time of year.... in the winter the choir manual sounds very quiet and in the Summer it sounds loud. Or it can be different from week to week.

Quite a common occurrence - I suspect a humidity/temperature combo to be the cause.

[jonathanlane]

It sounds like it needs a major maintenance job, how old is the organ and who built it.

[oopsorganist]

Fred Flinstone built it.

I believe it is very old indeed. Certainly looks it. There's something about the way the manuals are encased in rough timber screwed together that is very endearing. It's got some impressive gold painted pipes around the manuals 5 foot tall and 8inches in diameter..... but for decoration only..... I hope.......and a lovely rose traceried ornament (window) at the top!

[pirate]

I remember arriving in the choir loft (not that we sang from there) one Christmas morning to find the organ with its innards all over the floor and our student organist, the fantastic Matthew Butchers, fixing it, because it had apparently ciphered (?) during Midnight Mass. Matt had a holiday job at an organ builders - now, there's handy! - and by the time the bell rang we had a working organ with no funny stuff. The lad is worth his weight in gold.

[RobH]

A pipe organ is most complicated and expensive item in a church building It are also the least understood. I "look after" over two hundred of these on a regular basis and, believe me, there are so many things that can go wrong. However, if you have an experienced professional firm to deal with them, problems should be kept to a minimum. It is worth getting to know your organ tuner and keeping his phone number handy, as long as you don't phone him in the middle of the night, you will find him always ready to help.

[dunstan]

A pipe organ is most complicated and expensive item in a church building.

Fortunately, with the exception of one or two items, it is a large machine which usually fails a little bit at a time. Hence, like a steam locomotive, it can still be mostly fit for purpose even when quite a few components are broken.

My nearest Anglican church, where I have permission to play/practise, has a lovely 1869 Walker which has just been tuned for the first time this century. Before that the gamba couldn't be used, and a couple of note had a very uneven touch, but it was still a pleasure to play and listen to.

[oopsorganist]

Happy Easter

I know it is Easter because the organ was naughty tonight. Maybe it was sulking because it only got to do the final hymn.

G got stuck again on Great, seems to to be when I use the Open Diapason stop. It was hard to spot because the key did not look depressed, but it stopped when I lifted the key up a bit. It made Thine Be the Glory in E more interesting.

The organ is I am fairly sure tracker action although the church is 1895. Perhaps we should have put the heating on.

[musicus]

Happy Easter, everyone!

I am tempted to start a new topic: Great Ciphers I have Known (pun intended). But I won't. I shall just recall the occasion when I played the organ at St Aloysius' in Oxford. Bishop Crispian Hollis was PP at the time. Anyway, the final hymn was O praise ye the Lord (in B flat) and the organ started ciphering on B natural! As I left the church, the Bishop said something along the lines of "Would I be correct in thinking that our organ needs some attention?"

Not every priest would notice.

[oopsorganist]

Oh!
Is that what a cipher is? Oh dear, thought it must some part inside the organ. It didn't happen on Sunday .. we did have the heating on.

[dunstan]

Heating rarely helps and usually makes things worse - it causes the relative humidity to fall.

[contrabordun]

I once had - just down the hill at the Oxford Chaplaincy - the exact opposite problem. Top Eb stuck off (an anticypher?), which rather spoiled the playover of Laast uns Erfreuen.

Was it cowardice or kindness not to have made them sing it in E?

[Peter]

Was it cowardice or kindness not to have made them sing it in E?

Playing it in E would not have helped, as you'd have lost your D# as well! D would have been both kinder to the congregation and easier for you.