A first for me ...

[Contratrombone64]

I attended "TOSA's" (theatre organ society of Australia) 50th anniversary concert yesterday, at Campsie Civic Hall.

I have to say, the Tibias make me cringe with all their wobble, and I know very well they are designed to be a one man orchestra, but I really enjoyed myself. My partner's mother is a member of TOSA, I even thought about joining up.

I was especially interested in the monster at Campsie as the pipework is held exclusively below the stage (think moderately large community hall stage), with the three divisions spread out more or less evenly between the two sides. Obviously there's an area in the front where the Wurlizter sinks that doesn't have pipes below.

The organist, whose name escapes me, came up to Sydney from Melbourne to play. Interesting pedal technique: with his left foot doing most (but not all) of the work and his right foot working the swell box(es). A lot of light footed tapping, or so it seemed, on the beat with the left hand doing a lot (but not all) of the rhythmic work. He played mostly "nostalgia", music from the 20s, 30s and 40s but finished the recital off with a transcription from the Act 1 walz, from Eugene Onegin, by Tchaikovsky (no mean feat, I can tell you).

I'm now thinking I'd quite like to have a go on a Wurlizter!!

[wljmrbill]

I played one of them(restored 3 manual) in a PIZZA resturant in Ausin, Texas for awhile I did serveral concerts on electronic theater organs since. I really enjoyed playing there. Actually it gets complicated with configuration of stops and the rthymns to use. When to use them as well as all the other toys they carry. We even did slient movies backgrouds there. A week ago I downloaded the midizer theater organ NO. 216 from the virtual organ.com .. It surely brings back memories and works quite well with my set-up. It also has has player organ function which is neat to hear and watch stops and piston moving about . I think you would enjoy playing a theater organ and you can play some good classical work on them too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS58NC1Gx5g

[Krummhorn]

That's great, David . Never hurts to expand ones horizons. Theater organ music will grow on you in time ... I took a liking to it many years ago. Here in Arizona, we have the world's largest working Wurlitzer IV/79, which I go listen to at least 3 times a year.

In the hands (and feet) of a master, these wonderful instruments truly come to life.

[Corno Dolce]

GrandMaster Krummhorn,

I bet that IV/79 in your neck of the woods can produce a deafening roar if the artisan so chooses Here in Moscow there are new pipe organs being installed. Of course, not in Churches mind you but in the various Concert Halls that are springing up like mushrooms. I guess that pretty soon there will be an Allen TO-5Q installed, if not already so. Are you a member of ATOS? Maybe there will one day be a Russian Theatre Organ Society - Probably after I am pushing up daisies

Cheers,

CD

[dll927]

Corno Dolce, I take it you don't mean Moscow, Idaho. I'd like to ask a question: Do Russian organs have the stops engraved in Cyrillic?? If so, how does an English-speaking organist doing a concert get along??? Ought to be a rude awakening.

As for theater organs, yes they are a different breed, and anything around nowadays has probably been restored and moved half a dozen times. There seem to be several organizations in the U. S. given over to them. Try Google.

The high school auditorium in Fullerton CA reportedly has a theater organ. Their story is that in 1930 Alexander Schreiner did a concert on it. At that time he was tooling round UCLA part of the year. He supposedly played organ repertoire, which means he probably taped all the Tremolos in the off position!! It can be done, I suppose, with a bit of ingenuity. At least Allen, and maybe Rodgers, make theater organ versions.

[Krummhorn]

GrandMaster Krummhorn,

I bet that IV/79 in your neck of the woods can produce a deafening roar if the artisan so chooses

It does ... especially the full length 32's, which have their own separate chamber and run on 25" of wind ... when employed, one can certainly feel it. The other set of 32' pipes is a capped stop - still quite evident when being used.

. . . The high school auditorium in Fullerton CA reportedly has a theater organ.

Fullerton High School, to be exact ... I had heard that organ many times when I lived in that area years ago. The organ still exists today and is maintained by a local chapter of the ATOS there.

. . .
At least Allen, and maybe Rodgers, make theater organ versions.

I know Allen has had a "theater" division for years ... originally headed up by Dwight Beacham. I know for a fact that the late George Wright had an Allen Theater organ (digital) in his home - I was the service tech for Allen in Los Angeles/Ventura county area and had been there once. Treated to a private mini-concert by Mr. Wright after I completed the repair work there.

[Corno Dolce]

Hi dll927,

When I was at the Cavaille-Coll organ in the Great Hall at the Moscow Conservatory I saw French Nomenclature on the stop-knobs.

Moscow, Idaho - Thanx for tickling my funny-bone...

[dll927]

At least French or German don't throw things off much. Just a little brushing up on the terminology works. For instance, "Hautbois" is French for "oboe". And a "tirasse" is a manual-to-pedal coupler. But let's face it -- Cyrillic is a totally different alphabet, with some letters we don't have at all.

I can imagine some organist showing up a couple of days before a concert, seeing the console, and throwing up his/her hands. One would need some time to figure out what was what.