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Improvisation, Sophie Véronique Cauchefer Choplin on Vierne-Sym.prelude 1

John Watt

Member
Can I ask why this organ works like a combination player piano and organ?
If you want to trade font, I'll describe how a Guitorgan is built and functions.
A Guitorgan, built in Texas in the early seventies, cost over $2,000.
That's if I remember, only seeing one in Niagara Falls.
I'm a lefty, so I didn't have a chance to try it.
I definitely can't remember the name of the solo performer.
 
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wljmrbill

Member
Not sure what you mean "like a player piano" it is played manually with 2 guys pilling register stops ...no rollers etc involved.
 

John Watt

Member
I'm seeing keys depressing on different levels of keyboards,
while she is playing her own.
A Guitorgan had pickups like an ordinary guitar,
but the frets were wired separately and played different sounds.
It also had a Hammond rhythm section inside the body.
I think it cost $7,500, each one a custom order.

I couldn't begin to appraise this organ.
 

wljmrbill

Member
I'm seeing keys depressing on different levels of keyboards,
while she is playing her own.
A Guitorgan had pickups like an ordinary guitar,
but the frets were wired separately and played different sounds.
It also had a Hammond rhythm section inside the body.
I think it cost $7,500, each one a custom order.

I couldn't begin to appraise this organ.

Oh I see.. that is because of coupling between manuals.... with this system when you play on a manual and have coupled it to another manual the keys will be activated as if you were actually pressing them down.. which lets you know the pipe for that note has been activated and sounds also.
 

John Watt

Member
I know I can understand Proper English, but I'm out of pressure here.
Thanks for answering so far, but,
"lets you know the pipe for that note has been activated and sounds also".
Is this something someone other than the keyboardist is doing,
something to do with the stops,
or is there a link so that another note, or key, is making a sound,
that the keyboardist didn't do?

I can imagine that if you were pre-programmed for the same song,
but organs aren't built just for one song.

When I saw Deep Purple in 1970,
Jon Lord would stick a knife into the keyboard to depress a note.
Unfortunately, for the big Hammond B3, it got so depressed,
Jon would stand back and throw it so it stuck into the side.

If I remember, it looks like everyone is just sitting around watching and waiting,
while the organist kept playing.
It looks like a big, clear plastic sheet music holder in front and above her,
but it looks empty.
 

wljmrbill

Member
It looks like a big, clear plastic sheet music holder in front and above her,
but it looks empty. IT IS THAT: BUT SHE ISN'T USING MUSIC. DUE TO DISTANCE FROM ORGANIST IT SLIDES FORWARD OR BACKWARDS TO ADJUST BEST READING DISTANCE.

Is this something someone other than the keyboardist is doing, NO .SHE IS IS PLAYING ON THE ONE KEYBOARD(SENDING THE MESSAGE TO OTHER [COUPLED NOTES] AND THE NOTES/STOPS THAT ARE COUPLED PLAYS AS YOU SEE IN VIDEO. THIS IS CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED BY AN ELECTRIC TYPE RELAY SYSTEM{ELECRO-PEUMATIC} FROM NOTE TO NOTE TO PIPE OR ON OLDER TRACKER ORGANS AS A SERIES OF LEVERS PULLING AND PUSHING FROM NOTE TO NOTE TO PIPE( VERY COMPLEX SYSTEM). THIS IS A VERY SIMPLE EXPLANATION.

THE GUYS ON THE IMMEDIATE RIGHT AND LEFT OF HER ARE PULLING OUT STOPS/COUPLERS/ETC AS SHE ASKED FOR THEM TO ADJUST THE STOPS FOR THE SOUND SHE WANTS. ON INSTRUMENTS OF THIS SIZE IT IS VERT DIFFICULT TO PLAY AND STILL MANAGE TO CHANGE STOPS EXCEPT FOR THE LITTLE WHITE BUTTONS YOU SEE WHICH SHE CAN PUSH WITH HER THUMB AND CHANGE SOME OF THEM THAT ARE PRESET.

Hopefully this helps..Also maybe google for interesting reading on tracker organ construction.
 

John Watt

Member
All right! Seeing "tracker organ" replaces thinking player piano in my mind.
And who would have thought this, uh, key technique could be pre-electronic?

But please, wljmrbill, you don't have to be so polite with me,
defending this woman's use of younger men to pull her stops, and push them in.
She wouldn't last one minute on a rock stage, unless she pumps up her muscles too.
I can't even imagine her wearing a keyboard like a guitar, and throwing that around.

Maybe she does, at the end, stand up and kick her seat back and play some stand-up,
even reaching out with her arms as she dances between different keyboards,
but I didn't see that.
If you over-transcribed some early Billy Idol, I can see her getting into it.
That's because Billy Idol sings about getting his girlfriend up off the floor,
so she can go to a 7/11 to buy him some cigarettes,
almost like asking the men sitting around you to pull and push your stops for you.
Now I'm wondering what would happen if some heavy smoke got up into those pipes.
Pumping and puffing, without pulling out all the stops,
that just doesn't sound right.
 
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John Watt

Member
Thank you... wljmrbill, for teaching me something.

Implanting new ideas into my brain is not always a good thing.
Now my guitar wants me to get one of those floor pedal string de-tuners,
to simulate steel guitars even more than I can now.
It's always a never ending thing, in the non-traditional rock world.
If you're a Prince of Pop it can be a Neverland way of life too.

The next time I'm around a grand piano,
I'll play a Cm and reach inside to strum the strings, just for you.
 
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