By Vidas Pinkevicius (get free updates of new posts here)
I hate when people ask me to tune the organ before they even had practiced on this instrument. Maybe no tuning is needed. Beside most often organists who ask, actually don’t notice that it’s tuned. All they care about is what do other people think of them. The other day of my organist friends had to play a recital in our church and asked me if I can tune some reeds. I said yes. So I asked one of my students to press the keys for me (he had a nice long practice afterwards) and went to church. Here’s what I learned: 1. In winter, reeds need to be lowered. It’s quite cold in the church right now. 15 or 16 degrees Celsius. Above freezing. It’s cold to me because the church is actually heated yet when you sit for hours on the organ bench, your butt gets cold anyway. When they built this organ, the organ builder tuned it at 440 Hz when it was 18 degrees. So now in the winter the pitch level dropped a bit. Last time I checked it was 437 Hz. And it’s tuned in Kirnberger III. Metal principals react to temperature changes more than reeds. So now the reeds for the most part are too sharp. I had to check each of them and many needed to be flattened. After a while you get used to this. And don’t even check the tuning machine. They’re sharp. Not too much but enough to cause unnecessary vibrations. 2. Some reed pipes need to be raised. But once in a while I heard that a few pipes sounded flat. That seemed strange. Maybe those pipes caught a cold? So I had to be careful and spot those pipes and raise their pitch level a little. 3. Check the pitch level of middle A before tuning. Do you know what was the biggest mistake I once made while tuning the reeds? I tuned some stops but didn’t check the A and some other metal pipes. So I got it all wrong. Cost me 3 hours of work. But a good lesson, I think. 4. When pipes don't speak, clean them. You can find so many strange things in the pipes that clogs them from sounding. Mice poop, bat and bird poop, insects, dust from construction. I once found a mummy of a fly trapped in the shallot. Took a picture as a souvenir (see above). Didn’t want the fly, though. I found a few reed pipes that didn’t sound. So I took them apart, tested how clean they were and sure enough, some of them had dust in them. When I cleaned them they started to speak. With big pipes it’s a fairly difficult work to take them apart. You have to be careful and lift them, turn the resonators gently so that the blocks would separate from them. After that you have to look at the tongue and see if anything has stuck. Then you need to take the tongue apart and with a soft brush gently clean them. Finally, put it all together and test how the pipe sounds. 5. The tongues need to be in the exact position with the shallots. Strange thing happened the other day when I was tuning the reeds. One of the pipes didn’t sound but when I took them apart, I didn’t see any dust, insects or dirt. This got me thinking what else could have been wrong with it. Suddenly I realized that tip of the tongue was not leveled with the shallot. It dawned on me that if I remove the wedge, press a tongue a little bit inside, and put back the wedge, then the sound would magically reappear. What a clever idea! It worked. Now I know that the secret to the good speaking reed pipe is not only removing the dirt but also leveling the brass tongue with the shallot. 6. Tune C side first, then C# side. I had to tune the most often used pedal reeds which were positioned diatonically because of pedal towers. It didn’t make sense to tune these pipes chromatically C, C#, D, D#, E, F and so on because on the one side were the C pipes: C, D, E, F#, G#, and Bb and on another C#: C# D#, F, G, A, and B. So it was quicker for me to tune the C side first and only then do the C# side. Since pedal compass is about twice as narrow as that of the manuals, it took me not too much time to work on the pedal pipes. To my surprise, Posaune 16’ was more out of tune than Trompette 8’ in the pedals (maybe because I use it more often). 7. When there are central towers, tune in major thirds. The pipes of the Great and Positiv on my organ have central towers which means that not only there are C and C# sides for symmetrical design but in each side there are symmetry around the largest central pipe. In this way the pipes are positioned in major thirds. Because I didn’t want to be jumping from one side of the tower to the next, I asked my student to press the keys in the following order: C-E-G# etc., D-F#-Bb etc., C#-F-A etc. and D#-G-B etc. As I expected, Bombarde 16’ was more stable than Trumpet 8’ which had to be flattened most of the time. 8. When pipes are positioned in a row, tune chromatically. When I went inside of the Swell division, I knew that the pipes were positioned from the tallest to the smallest pipe chromatically. This is because they are not visible from the outside and no symmetry of design is needed. Because of enclosed Swell box, the temperature inside of it is a little higher than the rest of the organ and the Trompette 8’ usually needs to be tuned quite a bit. This time, however, I was surprised - it was more or less stable with just a few adjustments. 9. Double check each pipe after tuning. When you tune the pipe, sometimes it slips back to the previous state, especially with shorter tongues. Therefore it’s a good idea for my tuning assistant to hold the note while it’s being tuned and repeat it shortly when the tuner says “Next!” Before I knew this rule, I had a few cases where the organ pipes were tuned just before the recital but in the actual event some pipes were still a little off. So double check just to be sure. 10. Tune to Principal 4' of that division. One last advice is to traditionally tune the reeds to the Principal 4’ of the division on which they are positioned. Yes, I know sometimes this particular division might have principal 8’ or even 16’ as the foundation but somehow it seems to be a custom among organ builders to use Octave 4’ in this case. Oh, and by the way, my organist friend didn’t notice the tuned reeds at all. He just played almost everything loud and fast. That’s how he is. Not really a friend. More like a tank. If you want to learn to maintain the instrument, getting to know it from inside out is the first thing to do. So make sure you spend a considerable amount of time inside the organ checking all of the windchests and the mechanical details of the stop handles as often as you can. Of course you will need to know how to handle the ciphers and regulate the mechanics of the organ. You will also need to know how to tune the pipes or the stops that get out of tune easily, such as reeds and stopped flutes. So get some basic tools for maintaining the instrument such as a screwdriver. But I strongly recommend that you get help from an expert organ builder who has lots of experience and who can teach you what you need to know. Trying to learn it on your own might seem like an easy way out but it might be pretty dangerous for the instrument. If you have no experience in maintaining an instrument and you are blindly learning from your own mistakes, you can make mistakes in the situations that can make damage to the organ. And damages can be quite costly especially if it is a historic instrument which is protected by the state. And even an organ builder who advises you and teaches you how to maintain it, has to have formal and official qualifications to work with historical instruments. But don’t be afraid to open the panels of the façade and to look inside the organ and see how it functions but dry not to cause the damage by touching things in a way that it’s dangerous for the organ. What I'm working on:
Writing introduction for the tomorrow's SOP Podcast #1 with the organ builder Gene Bedient. Writing fingering and pedaling for the Toccata by Charles-Marie Widor. Editing Part 3 of Sonata No. 1 by Teisutis Makačinas. Assisting Gianluigi Spaziani at his recital „Vater unser im Himmelreich“ at VU St. John's church. Transposing hymn setting "Jesus Sinners Doth Receive". Practicing 12 Technical Polyphonic and Rhythmic Studies Op. 125 by Oreste Ravanello and adapting them to fit Dominant 7th chords and their inversions. Practicing "Virtuoso Pianist" by Hanon in C Ionian mode (only white keys). Playing Office No. 34 from “L’Orgue Mystique” by Charles Tournemire. Improvising with Dominant 7th chords and their inversions. Composing "A Morning in the Countryside". Reading "A Beautiful Constraint". If you constantly practice on an old organ, I can say you are very lucky because old organs have this historical taste and smell and most likely mechanical action. Mechanical action helps you to be more precise and so it is more pleasant to play with tracker or mechanical action than on any other type of action. However, old organs constantly require taking care of them so here are my few recommendations on how to maintain and take care of your old organ.
First of all, keep in mind that the temperature and humidity level of the room has to be steady and consistent. If you keep them constant throughout the year, your organ will be in much better shape. The next thing is to maintain the reed stops regularly - especially before important performances. Whenever you have to play in public with reeds, try to tune your reeds. This way your old organ will sound much better. Finally, whenever you encounter a sticky note or a cipher, you have to go inside and fix it. Keep in mind that sometimes you will need screwdriver and sometimes you will be able to regulate the action with your fingers. However, be very careful because that is an old organ and especially if that is a historical organ. Every adjustment you make will be very important so your every movement has to be precise, very small and elegant. If you are not careful with your fingers, you can produce much damage to the organ and later a major restoration will be needed. It's better to consult an experienced organ builder who has a license to work with historical materials than to do it yourself and cause problems in the future. Apply my tips when you have to maintain an old instrument and your organ will be in good shape throughout the year. When your organ sounds out of tune, you naturally call the organ technician to check and fix the tuning problem. But remember, normally they are needed for large seasonal tuning sessions in the fall and spring.
But of course, your organ can't wait that long if it sounds out of tune - the reed stops are known to be very sensible in terms of tuning. In a normal situation, the tuning of the reeds is the responsibility of the resident organist (if he/she has the necessary qualifications and experience, of course). Imagine playing a church service with the reeds out of tune. How would your congregation react? Or how about having to play a recital but knowing that the reeds need to be tuned? Your registration choices would surely be much more limited if the reeds are out of tune. So the question is this: how often should you tune your reed stops? From the experience with the organ at Vilnius University St. John's church I can say that reeds with the shorter resonators (Vox Humana, Krummhorn etc.) tend to go out of tune more easily than the ones with the longer resonators (Trompette, Posaune, Bombarde etc.) I recommend tuning the out of tune reeds before the any important public use of them. Not before every public use of the organ, though. Just tune the reed if you really know that it is going to be used on that occasion. You may want to plan your registrations ahead of time for church services. Or consult with the guest organist which reeds will he/she need for the recital? It also depends on the size of your organ and the number of reeds it has. If it is a small organ with only 3 or less reed stops, you can easily tune them all before the performance (if you know how, of course). But if it is a large organ with, say 12 reed stops (like the one at St. John's in Vilnius), then chances are not all of them are going to be used in every occasion. In situations when all of the reeds needs tuning, then you might want to split your tuning sessions in two several parts and tune only a few of them in one sitting because of the impact of the sound on your hearing. And don't forget to wear protective heavy duty headphones when you tune any organ stop. By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide. Many organists need to regulate pedal couplers when they are practicing. Unregulated coupler will either not work at all or will cause ciphers which make your practice quite challenging. In this article, I will give my advice on how to regulate the pedal coupler on the mechanical action instrument.
1. Engage the coupler. Usually the couplers on the mechanical action organs are located next to the pedal board. Depress the coupler pedal and leave it in the fixed position. 2. Find the note that is sticking or isn't working properly. You either will hear the cipher right away or you will need to play every single pedal note one by one to check if it needs regulation. 3. Locate the tracker of the problematic note. In order to do this, you will need to open the panel above the pedal board. Check if you need a key to get inside of the organ. Once you have taken out the panel, try playing several times the desired note and locate the coupler mechanism of this particular pedal. 4. Take a screwdriver and try to regulate the tracker of the coupler. To make the mechanics of the coupler easier to understand, try playing the neighboring pedals and see how it works. Then adjust the tracker of the problematic coupler. On some instruments you will not need to use any screwdriver. Instead, they have special screws which can be adjusted by hand. 5. After the adjustment, try how it sounds and feels when you play it. You see, in the process of regulation, you might make it a bit too tense or too loose. It is best to check how it works when you play this pedal. If you need more adjustment, go back to step 4. Remember to use these steps next time you sit down to practice organ and discover that the pedal couplers need adjustment. Note that in order not to cause any damage to the instrument, you have to be very sure of what you are doing, otherwise consult your organ technician or organ builder who takes care of your organ. By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my FREE Organ Practice Guide. Or if you really want to learn to play any organ composition at sight fluently and without mistakes while working only 15 minutes a day, check out my systematic master course in Organ Sight-Reading. Isn't it frustrating when you sit down on the organ bench for practice just to find out that some of the notes are sounding all the time or ciphering? If the organ has mechanical action, this problem usually is quite easy to fix. In this article, I will show you how to fix sticky notes and ciphers on the mechanical organ.
1. Locate the tracker which is sticking. In order to do this you will have to get inside of the organ. Check if you need a key to get inside. If there is a second person nearby, ask him/her to press several times this key which is sounding so that you can locate the particular tracker. If you have to do this step by yourself, engage some quiet stop from this manual and try to locate this tracker on the rollerboard by pulling several trackers and checking until the sound co-insides with the sticking note. 2. If the key itself is lower or higher than others, check and adjust the mechanics on the other side of the keyboard. This means that the tracker does not need adjustment, and only one particular key needs some regulation. This usually happens during autumn and spring because of the humidity changes in the room. 3. If the key position is normal, but there is a constant sounding pipe, check and adjust the mechanics higher (possibly bellow the wind chest). In this case, the key itself is fine but the valves might be too tense. You just need to relax them a little. 4. Be careful to do only very minor adjustments as the screws are very sensitive. If you are not precise in your movements and make large-scale regulations, the results might be quite shocking. The key might be quite noticeable out of place so you have to regulate in fine movements only. Use these steps next time you discover ciphers on your organ. Usually locating the particular tracker of the sticking note takes longer than the entire process of adjustment. Remember, that in order not to cause any damage to the instrument, you have to be very sure of what you are doing, otherwise, consult your organ technician or organ builder who is taking care of your organ. By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my FREE Organ Practice Guide. Or if you really want to learn to play any organ composition at sight fluently and without mistakes while working only 15 minutes a day, check out my systematic master course in Organ Sight-Reading. |
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Drs. Vidas Pinkevicius and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene Organists of Vilnius University , creators of Secrets of Organ Playing. Our Hauptwerk Setup:
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