daveycrockett
New member
I have a persistent question concerning whether or not it is likely that the organ I am trying to play is arranged oddly or it is "old school" or an organ set for church, a Baptist church, where I live. I note a pair of what one is supposed to call expression pedals, and a crescendo pedal, too. The expression pedals are for the Swell and Choir division each (nothing for the General division), and the way they are set is that the pedals have to be pushed down for softer tones, which: I cannot imagine how anyone can tell the minimal difference really. I thought that pipe organs have a way to set the volume off when the pedal is up, and really loud when it is down. The Crescendo pedal works that way. I know I have heard great variations in dynamics on all the organs I have ever heard on the radio. On the organ I am describing, up means that the boxes are closed, supposedly, a softer volume somehow, and down means the boxes are open, which is supposed to be louder. Anyway, I was wondering if this is similar to other organs on which artists actually perform. Also, I am confused as to how one follows the suggestions of arrangements which are designed by composers/arrangers for organ, especially while the organ I am describing has limited stops and couplers and three manuals. I realize, too, that some organists will have worked out dynamics just by pressing pistons and stop buttons, manually or automatically. Perhaps I have not gone the distance to "arrange" the many compositions for the organ I am playing. This leaves me unable to perform anything, while I am unsure how to regard dynamics as a challenge or impossibility on this organ. Obviously, hymns are able to be played adequately, by just changing combinations, but loud and soft in the same or any sort of composition seems quite tedious. It can also be someone else's simple idea that the only loud and soft pedal was a Crescendo-type pedal and other pedals are there without really being true to their purpose. I would appreciate someone's interest in how other organs are arranged as constructed. Also, you may note that it is my regard that I am not quite a rank amateur or beginner, while attempting the things I am trying to play on the organ I am describing. While I have the privilege to make my choices of registrations, I can ultimately work it out, I think, but if I have other composer's/arranger's suggestions, and for some composers it might be a tacet suggestion, actually, which still is impossible. and then I am somewhat lost. What is my actual work supposed to be?