Callooh! and if I may be so bold to add, Callay!
Using my patented five minutes here, ten minutes there method, I have completed the pipes for the keyboard of my homemade organ! All 400+ of them! The organ I blogged about here and here!
Now I am faced with a decision: should I build the twenty five or fifty pipes for the pedal organ, or should i build a pedal board and just have it permanently linked to the keyboard? Those last fifty would be the biggest of the pipes, and each would take some time. Furthermore, the largest of the pipes will be very difficult to fit anywhere in my house. Those pipes would take me, minimum, a year. But without them, the bass of the organ would be very weak. O decisions, decisions. Still, I have reached a milestone in this project. Now to do some more work on the fifty other projects I still have lying around.
Showing posts with label organs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label organs. Show all posts
2 April 2011
26 October 2009
Caption Contest
I found a picture of a medieval organ at this site.
I saw this picture a few years back in Audsley's The Art of Organ Making, along with a few other pictures of medieval organs. This was my favourite, due to the monk on the left wagging a finger at the men pumping the bellows.
As you can see from the picture, what constituted an organ back in that era is rather different from what we consider to be an organ today. It is much smaller, with fewer pipes, yet it requires two men to play it. It also needs four men to pump the bellows. The pumping could cause the air pressure to fluctuate as the organ is played, and it is possible this is the reason why the monks are trying to correct the bellow pumpers. The nature of the playing mechanism is unseen and unknown, although by this period organs had stopped using the sliders of the original Greek and Roman Hydraulus and used large keys which the players pounded with their fists. The early organ players were hence known as 'organ beaters'.
At any rate, your mission, should accept it, is to come up with the dialogue of the scene, for either the monk on the left or the right. Here's the best I could come up with.
"One more time, and I revoke your baptism."
Monk on the right: "Stop whacking him in the head! He's already deformed and a foot shorter than you."
Sigh. "Three legged, two headed midgets just don't pump like they used to."
I saw this picture a few years back in Audsley's The Art of Organ Making, along with a few other pictures of medieval organs. This was my favourite, due to the monk on the left wagging a finger at the men pumping the bellows.
As you can see from the picture, what constituted an organ back in that era is rather different from what we consider to be an organ today. It is much smaller, with fewer pipes, yet it requires two men to play it. It also needs four men to pump the bellows. The pumping could cause the air pressure to fluctuate as the organ is played, and it is possible this is the reason why the monks are trying to correct the bellow pumpers. The nature of the playing mechanism is unseen and unknown, although by this period organs had stopped using the sliders of the original Greek and Roman Hydraulus and used large keys which the players pounded with their fists. The early organ players were hence known as 'organ beaters'.
At any rate, your mission, should accept it, is to come up with the dialogue of the scene, for either the monk on the left or the right. Here's the best I could come up with.
"One more time, and I revoke your baptism."
Monk on the right: "Stop whacking him in the head! He's already deformed and a foot shorter than you."
Sigh. "Three legged, two headed midgets just don't pump like they used to."
13 September 2008
Organs, Organ Report with a little Victorian How-to, and a Video
Jeffrey Tucker at NLM posted yesterday on an article written about the glorious history of the organ, the King of Instruments. Among the tidbits are stories of how a century ago thousands of people lined up to hear top organists play, such as this little story:
All of which brought me back to my own little organ project. Currently, I am sitting at about 140 pipes. My main rank of pipes, wooden inverted mouth flute pipes built to these specifications, is nearly complete.
What to do with these pipes when complete is the next question. I have thought of shortening the procedure by creating a single extended rank of pipes, most likely gedakt, and building an organ around the single rank but using octave couplers, which would effectively make a small three rank organ. However, the draw of a fairly large instrument with multiple ranks is very strong.
The main book I am using, Organ building for Amateurs by Mark Wicks, is rather vague on details, which is how I like it. Wicks' book is a Victorian how-to effort, and of all the how-to books out there, the Victorians are the best. The book made an effort not merely to be informative, but also to be aesthetic and edifying. It is utterly unlike most modern how-to books I know. Most of the modern books are written with a kind of industrial model in mind. The plans tell you to cut five hundred pieces, shape them, then start assembling. The idea that subtle errors creep into our work, or that one of their measurements might be off (and this happens all the time. I have many piles of firewood to attest to this fact.) does not seem to occur to them.
The Victorians, on the other hand, work from an entirely different model. They give a few basic measurements, and after that every other piece must be cut to fit. Wicks is also sensitive to questions such as: How big is your house? What space do you have? Finally, he assumes a basic level of competence in his reader. He gives a few basic designs, and allows the reader to work the rest out, or adjust as circumstances require.
I still have no idea how long this thing is going to take. I have a bunch of other projects to do, so I will finish the last few pipes I have started, then box the whole thing so I can make:
2 desks
1 sewing table
1 dollhouse
various Christmas presents
and a commission I got a while ago.
The last question is, what do I intend to play on my organ when it is finished. Well, there is this piece I have been working on for a long time now, and can play about half of it semi-competently. As with the organ project, I like to aim big. That way, if I fail, I will have failed at something worth trying, rather than some miserable little thing that wouldn't have been worth the effort even if I had succeeded. At any rate, here's someone who can do the whole thing brilliantly:
This is easily one of my favourite organ pieces. There are many versions of it on youtube, some better than others. I chose this one because A. it is excellent; and B. I liked the title given to it: Ton Koopman and his Dancing Shoelaces. With a title like that, it simply had to be chosen.
And now, back to work. As you can tell, I am rather busy at the moment.
'As in England, in America the organ is King,’ wrote the French organ-composer Louis Vierne in 1927, following a phenomenally successful three-month tour of America and Canada. His 50 recitals had drawn in around 70,000 obsessed fans, including some 6,000 at the Wanamaker’s department store in Philadelphia alone, home to the world’s largest organ.In Toronto, 4,000 people crowded into St Michael's Cathedral to hear the dedication concert for the now silent Warren organ. According to the Cathedral website, this organ is slated for restoration. There is some interest in the organ community over this, as the Cathedral organ is the last intact Warren organ of this size.
All of which brought me back to my own little organ project. Currently, I am sitting at about 140 pipes. My main rank of pipes, wooden inverted mouth flute pipes built to these specifications, is nearly complete.
What to do with these pipes when complete is the next question. I have thought of shortening the procedure by creating a single extended rank of pipes, most likely gedakt, and building an organ around the single rank but using octave couplers, which would effectively make a small three rank organ. However, the draw of a fairly large instrument with multiple ranks is very strong.
The main book I am using, Organ building for Amateurs by Mark Wicks, is rather vague on details, which is how I like it. Wicks' book is a Victorian how-to effort, and of all the how-to books out there, the Victorians are the best. The book made an effort not merely to be informative, but also to be aesthetic and edifying. It is utterly unlike most modern how-to books I know. Most of the modern books are written with a kind of industrial model in mind. The plans tell you to cut five hundred pieces, shape them, then start assembling. The idea that subtle errors creep into our work, or that one of their measurements might be off (and this happens all the time. I have many piles of firewood to attest to this fact.) does not seem to occur to them.
The Victorians, on the other hand, work from an entirely different model. They give a few basic measurements, and after that every other piece must be cut to fit. Wicks is also sensitive to questions such as: How big is your house? What space do you have? Finally, he assumes a basic level of competence in his reader. He gives a few basic designs, and allows the reader to work the rest out, or adjust as circumstances require.
I still have no idea how long this thing is going to take. I have a bunch of other projects to do, so I will finish the last few pipes I have started, then box the whole thing so I can make:
2 desks
1 sewing table
1 dollhouse
various Christmas presents
and a commission I got a while ago.
The last question is, what do I intend to play on my organ when it is finished. Well, there is this piece I have been working on for a long time now, and can play about half of it semi-competently. As with the organ project, I like to aim big. That way, if I fail, I will have failed at something worth trying, rather than some miserable little thing that wouldn't have been worth the effort even if I had succeeded. At any rate, here's someone who can do the whole thing brilliantly:
This is easily one of my favourite organ pieces. There are many versions of it on youtube, some better than others. I chose this one because A. it is excellent; and B. I liked the title given to it: Ton Koopman and his Dancing Shoelaces. With a title like that, it simply had to be chosen.
And now, back to work. As you can tell, I am rather busy at the moment.
16 July 2008
I'm an idiot
I was working on a few more pipes for the organ last week, when suddenly I had a brainwave. "I'll bet the pipes would work a lot better if I did them like this," thought I. So I tried it, and they did.
The only problem is that all the other pipes are obsolete. I now have 80+ pipes that I either need to take apart and reassemble in the new way, or simply replace altogether. In short- back at square one. A better informed square one, but square one nonetheless. I need to stop having ideas.
The only problem is that all the other pipes are obsolete. I now have 80+ pipes that I either need to take apart and reassemble in the new way, or simply replace altogether. In short- back at square one. A better informed square one, but square one nonetheless. I need to stop having ideas.
12 June 2008
Organ report
Not much going on, so I'll give a quick hit on my organ project.
I've started work on another 30 pipes. When completed, that will bring the total number of pipes to one hundred and twenty, or thereabouts. And yet, I will not be even halfway through.
The project is insane, yet it is an insanity that delights. Perhaps I am deluding myself in believing that the project is possible, but it is a pleasant delusion and I harm no one in thinking it.
I've started work on another 30 pipes. When completed, that will bring the total number of pipes to one hundred and twenty, or thereabouts. And yet, I will not be even halfway through.
The project is insane, yet it is an insanity that delights. Perhaps I am deluding myself in believing that the project is possible, but it is a pleasant delusion and I harm no one in thinking it.
13 January 2008
Because Sheepcat Asked for It
My interest in homemade pipe organs was piqued when I found a link at Canticanova to this site. The fellow here, named Matthias, according to his profile, did something odd: He designed his own organ completely from scratch, with no research. But he also had a link to this fellow, Raphi, who researched and built his own organ, one much more complicated and elaborate. There are also links to others who had done the same feat.
So apparently and organ was something one could make in a garage. Oddly enough, this makes perfect sense to me. Ctesibus had minimal tools at his disposal when he made the first hydraulus. His followers had little more. For centuries craftsmen laboured in simple shops producing incredible works by virtue of their labour and skill. Many home shops today have more tools and more material than the workshops of old. So replicating the work of the craftsmen of old is not outlandish. (well, not that I would compare my work to an old master... maybe a journeyman) All that is lacking is the skill, the knowledge and the will.
Today we mainly use machines in the place of skill. As a galoot, I tend to use fewer machines. Lacking a master I have been forced to learn through experience (which in my case is mainly in the Oscar Wilde sense.) Experience is a harsh master, but a useful one. Still, I have found the the skill involved (so far) is not beyond an average woodworker. If you can saw and plane a board, you are a fair distance on the way.
The knowledge is available mainly through the internet and through books, of which there are quite a few. The main standard work is Audsley's The Art of Organ Building, published in 1905. Raphi found another book, one which I bought, by a fellow named Wicks, called Organ Building for Amateurs, published in 1875. These books are really quite useful in spite of their age. Not much has changed in organ building since 1905 (or 1805, for that matter) so the age is irrelevant. There are also a large number of websites, including the Encyclopedia of Organ Stops, which has descriptions of most of the known stops, (and sound samples of many of them); there is also webrings such as this one and articles like this one detailing a simple method for building flue pipes. So the information is out there to help one build. Unfortunately, building an organ is also an exercise in Art, and not everyone is an artist. There is always that elusive something that one can never find in a book or a website, but must provide from within oneself. But still, knowledge can go a long, long way.
Which leaves will. By "will" I mean the ability to see a project through to its end. And this can be difficult. Any long project I have done has a beginning, a middle and an end. It is exciting to begin a project, to start and be able to see how you are progressing from the nothing you started with not so long ago. It is also exciting to come to the end, to see all your hard work coming together. The deadly part, where will alone can carry you, is the long middle. This is where the worker toils away, yet it is hard to tell the difference between today and yesterday, where all the work seems to just go nowhere. The beginning is past and the end is not yet in sight. This is where the work lives or dies.
I don't know if I'll go through to the end. I am just satisfying myself right now about the knowledge I have acquired. In building the pipes I am asking a question- is it really possible? When I saw the design for the wood flue pipes my reaction was "No way. It can't be that simple, can it?" So I made one, and it worked. I built a second because I wanted to see if I could replicate the experience, and it worked too. I made one for the lower octaves, and a few for the top. So far, they all worked.
But the woodpipes are slow to make, and will be costly in the end. Furthermore, they take up a fair amount of space, and are quite heavy. Wicks claimed to have an alternative: imitative pipes made out of rolled up paper. Now when I read that my reaction was really "No way!" But my curiosity was piqued. It's the kind of ludicrous idea that really appeals to me. But in practical terms, they would be cheaper, lighter and take less space. I would try.
The paper pipes turned out to be trickier and more fiddly. I can build them faster, but a fair number don't work as they should. Still, they can work. Whether or not I can successfully build a rank using this method, I don't know: that's something I'm trying right now.
I don't know if I'll ever build an organ. It is a fascinating idea. It's something that can grab my imagination (and that's something I'll blog about tomorrow). What I have right now is about thirty pipes, parts for about another fifty, and some (minimal) experience. I have a vague idea of what I'd like to do, plus some vague ideas of what I could do if the main vague idea doesn't play out. I'll leave that here for tonight. I'll say a few more things in the coming weeks, but I'll leave you with this last link: It's a very good overview of the basics of the pipe organ.
So apparently and organ was something one could make in a garage. Oddly enough, this makes perfect sense to me. Ctesibus had minimal tools at his disposal when he made the first hydraulus. His followers had little more. For centuries craftsmen laboured in simple shops producing incredible works by virtue of their labour and skill. Many home shops today have more tools and more material than the workshops of old. So replicating the work of the craftsmen of old is not outlandish. (well, not that I would compare my work to an old master... maybe a journeyman) All that is lacking is the skill, the knowledge and the will.
Today we mainly use machines in the place of skill. As a galoot, I tend to use fewer machines. Lacking a master I have been forced to learn through experience (which in my case is mainly in the Oscar Wilde sense.) Experience is a harsh master, but a useful one. Still, I have found the the skill involved (so far) is not beyond an average woodworker. If you can saw and plane a board, you are a fair distance on the way.
The knowledge is available mainly through the internet and through books, of which there are quite a few. The main standard work is Audsley's The Art of Organ Building, published in 1905. Raphi found another book, one which I bought, by a fellow named Wicks, called Organ Building for Amateurs, published in 1875. These books are really quite useful in spite of their age. Not much has changed in organ building since 1905 (or 1805, for that matter) so the age is irrelevant. There are also a large number of websites, including the Encyclopedia of Organ Stops, which has descriptions of most of the known stops, (and sound samples of many of them); there is also webrings such as this one and articles like this one detailing a simple method for building flue pipes. So the information is out there to help one build. Unfortunately, building an organ is also an exercise in Art, and not everyone is an artist. There is always that elusive something that one can never find in a book or a website, but must provide from within oneself. But still, knowledge can go a long, long way.
Which leaves will. By "will" I mean the ability to see a project through to its end. And this can be difficult. Any long project I have done has a beginning, a middle and an end. It is exciting to begin a project, to start and be able to see how you are progressing from the nothing you started with not so long ago. It is also exciting to come to the end, to see all your hard work coming together. The deadly part, where will alone can carry you, is the long middle. This is where the worker toils away, yet it is hard to tell the difference between today and yesterday, where all the work seems to just go nowhere. The beginning is past and the end is not yet in sight. This is where the work lives or dies.
I don't know if I'll go through to the end. I am just satisfying myself right now about the knowledge I have acquired. In building the pipes I am asking a question- is it really possible? When I saw the design for the wood flue pipes my reaction was "No way. It can't be that simple, can it?" So I made one, and it worked. I built a second because I wanted to see if I could replicate the experience, and it worked too. I made one for the lower octaves, and a few for the top. So far, they all worked.
But the woodpipes are slow to make, and will be costly in the end. Furthermore, they take up a fair amount of space, and are quite heavy. Wicks claimed to have an alternative: imitative pipes made out of rolled up paper. Now when I read that my reaction was really "No way!" But my curiosity was piqued. It's the kind of ludicrous idea that really appeals to me. But in practical terms, they would be cheaper, lighter and take less space. I would try.
The paper pipes turned out to be trickier and more fiddly. I can build them faster, but a fair number don't work as they should. Still, they can work. Whether or not I can successfully build a rank using this method, I don't know: that's something I'm trying right now.
I don't know if I'll ever build an organ. It is a fascinating idea. It's something that can grab my imagination (and that's something I'll blog about tomorrow). What I have right now is about thirty pipes, parts for about another fifty, and some (minimal) experience. I have a vague idea of what I'd like to do, plus some vague ideas of what I could do if the main vague idea doesn't play out. I'll leave that here for tonight. I'll say a few more things in the coming weeks, but I'll leave you with this last link: It's a very good overview of the basics of the pipe organ.
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