nazard wrote:To be serious for a moment, does anyone have any good recipes for wooden iguana?
See Crocodile Dundee! In his words, you can eat them, but they taste like beep.
My sister has a similar wooden frog, it has quite a nice timber... er, timbre.
I did once own a newt to similar design but it was tiny- in fact it was mynewt (minute?... I'll get my coat)
Thanks, Musicus - I was beginning to wonder if the iguana was a little code among the more established users meaning "we've covered all this before - let's talk among ourselves until these newbies go away" (javascript:emoticon(':)')
Smile (You can see what I was trying to do with that emoticon thingy - if it finally appears as it shows in the Preview screen I've totally failed. Any clues?)
To add a practical point to Nazard's view of the organ, IMLE I've found that two things are needed to encourage the people to sing - a strong and sustained melody and plenty of "bottom end" to give the men (especially when they are few in numbers) confidence to join in - it just makes them not feel that they are embarrassingly audible. An organ does precisely this while a group of guitars rarely achieves it, unless combined with either a strong vocal line (preferably amplified (tastefully!)) or strong melody instruments, and essentially an amplified Bass guitar ( - ideally acoustic/amplified - cf Dave Pegg in Fairport.) Sadly, even those who are enthusiasts for bands seem to draw the line at that. I wonder why.
Makes me wonder why the good old-fashioned piano is not more fancied. Any ideas?
I recall a few years ago,a contributor to this forum made points regarding the superiority of organ accompaniment, and had a rather hard time as a result. is history going to repeat itself? I seem to remember that the contributor in question withdrew from the forum....... ?
asb wrote:I recall a few years ago,a contributor to this forum made points regarding the superiority of organ accompaniment, and had a rather hard time as a result. is history going to repeat itself? I seem to remember that the contributor in question withdrew from the forum....... ?
I think this thread is fairly civilised (if you ignore the iguana stuff ), but if anyone feels they are getting a hard time, just send me a private message (click on the PM button) and I will endeavour to help.
I think that Quaeritor is right when he points out that the organ's advantage is that it has a good range of notes available and so can provide a good bass line. This does depend on the organist being able to pedal. Bass lines in hymns tend to leap about a lot, and if you have to use your little finger for the bass line it can get very staccato. On a piano you get away with this for two reasons:
1) piano notes are fading away from the moment they are struck, so their ends are not as obvious,
2) pianos have sustaining pedals.
It does help if the organ has a decent pedal department. The ubiquitous 16' stopped diapason + coupler doesn't give much excitement.
I am lucky in that I have an organ and a piano to use. I use the piano for somethings, but the organ far more often.
A lot of material suits either, especially RVW's work like Down Ampney and Kingsfold. Some definitely belongs on the organ, like Jerusalem, which often sounds as if we have strayed into the pub on a piano. Some modern material sounds a bit silly on an organ, at least with my very limited rearrange on the fly capabilities.
Has anyone any ideas for unusual accompaniments? A long time ago I was part of a choir doing "Christus vincit" in a market square accompanied by trumpets, trombones and a set of timpani. Perhaps you could try that at summer school?
If you do things properly, new organs are specified and designed to suit the building they are in. The final stage of building, called "voicing" actually adjusts each pipe to match the acoustic of the building. Such an organ can sound utterly thrilling.
Not many catholic churches have an organs of that calibre. Many were limited by lack of funds. Some are neglected to the point where they are choked with dust or the wind pressure control no longer functions, or they just leak to the point of being asthmatic. I have a horrible feeling that this describes the average catholic organ.
Some churches have "off the shelf" package organs. Most digital organs fall into that category. They are obviously a compromise.
Others have second hand organs, which can be successful, but does give scope for horrendous mismatches.
Obviously, if you do something to a church which changes the acoustic, eg extending, carpeting, hanging tapestries or banners, removing rood screens... you need to think in advance about what it will do to the acoustic.
Pianos are a bit easier, but I think a big church needs a big grand piano. A little upright is lost in a 500 seater.
nazard wrote:If you do things properly, new organs are specified and designed to suit the building they are in. The final stage of building, called "voicing" actually adjusts each pipe to match the acoustic of the building. Such an organ can sound utterly thrilling. ...
Some churches have "off the shelf" package organs. Most digital organs fall into that category. They are obviously a compromise.
A custom-built digital organ can be voiced for its building just like a pipe organ. Ours is like that.
), but if anyone feels they are getting a hard time, just send me a private message (click on the PM button) and I will endeavour to help.
