Striking the keys of tracker instruments

[jhnbrbr]

A few years ago the UK TV programme "The South Bank Show" featured Dame Gillian Weir (for whom I have a lot of admiration). At one point she was shown teaching a US student and encouraging them to strike the keys of a tracker action organ quite hard in order to accent notes. I hadn't come across this before, it went against everything I thought I knew about organ playing, but I could see how it might work (the impulse temporarily throws the pallette open a little wider than normal?) Even so, I still don't like the idea. Just wondered if any other members here have come across this, or use it themselves?

[Soubasse]

Yes, I remember her teaching me exactly the same thing.

The principle is fair enough in that, for certain types of pipe-voicing, palette construction, etc, it can provide a sharper attack. On some tracker organs, it's a little too obvious when the player is pressing the key down slowly as one can clearly hear the pipe speaking with an upward pitch bend (what one of my old teachers used to call the "bagpipe effect"!). Therefore, a sharper strike of the key will open the palette much quicker.

In more recent years however, I've discovered that striking the key too hard can cause other problems. The two most annoying are (1): the palette staying open because sections of the tracker mechanism travelled too far too fast and become lodged in other parts of the overall mechanism (eg, rollerboard or adjacent trackers) and (2): broken tracker rods!

[Krummhorn]

Could it be that this harder 'strike' was required when coupling manuals? On the trackers I've played in Europe, more effort was required when the mechanical couplers were in use as the other keys were also physically moving, too.

[Soubasse]

What?! No Barker Lever??!

Seriously, you're right of course, the action always gets heavier the more one couples. However, what I can recall of the masterclass with Dame Gillian (one of many things I can recall!), was that she advocated a more aggressive touch regardless of coupled or uncoupled manuals.

I have seen an analytical arguement somewhere (probably wikipedia ) that the organ was originally a dynamically sensitive keyboard instrument due to the tracker action, because of the very fact that if you pressed the key gently and slowly enough, it would admit a small amount of air through thereby producing a softer sound. What they obviously failed to take into account is that this is not only very difficult to do at anything faster than Molto Molto Largo, but also that it completely buggers up the pitch!

[jhnbrbr]

Yes, you expect rock guitarists to smash up their instruments occasionally, but not organists as a rule! I don't like the idea at all, but I remain a great fan of Dame Gillian, I'd even go so far as to say she changed my life because my abiding love of Cesar Franck began when I heard her play Fantasie in A live at Solihull parish church c 1980. A few weeks later while after she did a series of lecture recitals on BBC Radio 3 covering all his organ works, and I was hooked for life!

[Soubasse]

Yes, she's certainly one of a kind Dame Gillian. I played some Messiaen Livre d'Orgue pieces for her in the aformentioned masterclass and after one hour of her input, felt as though I'd had a years worth of lessons!