Idiots Guide To Organ Registration

Pipe Organs and Composition: A simple treatise on registering the most complex in­ strument built in history by

Joshua Nichols [email protected]

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Starting Guidelines It is important to know how a pipe organ is built and organized. Tough know­ ing the specifcs is very useful, a general knowledge of how pipes are built is es­ sential. Tere are two types of pipes: •

Flue: Tis type of pipe is either open or closed in construction, and it res­ onates freely through the pipe when pressurized air fows through it. In 99.9% of all organs built with façade pipes (or pipes that you can see in plain sight) are fues.

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Reed: Tese pipes resonate the same as a fue, but utilize resonating reeds (like an oboe or clarinet) that 'color' the sound of the pipe by vibrating against the pipe or another reed or piece of metal. Generally speaking, these look like inverted cones (think trumpets).

In addition, pipes are arranged by rank and are grouped into divisions: •

A rank is a single collection of a color and length of pipe.

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A division is a collection of ranks controlled by a particular keyboard.

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Couplers are stops which can manipulate which manuals control which divisions.

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Ranks are usually organized by length frst, then color.

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Organs are usually judged in size by how many ranks of pipes are found in the organ. ◦ E.g. - 'X' organ is 56 ranks, and has three manuals.

Beyond these two bits of information, it is also important to understand what the numbers or roman numerals mean on an organ (as well as colors): •

Any arabic-style numeral displayed on a tab or draw-knob indicates the length of the lowest speaking pipe in that particular rank. E.g. '8' is dis­ played, which means the lowest speaking pipe is 8 feet long.

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Any roman-style numeral indicates how many ranks of pipes speak when engaging that particular stop. E.g. 'V' is displayed, which means fve diferent ranks of pipes are speaking at once.

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◦ Tese stops are generally regarded as “mixtures” or “mutations.” Tese stops never play by themselves in traditional organ literature; they are used in addition to “foundation stops,” or single ranks of lower pitch (such as '8,' '4,' and '2') for the purpose of adding color and expanding the sympathetic tonal spectrum. Finally, there is a physical component to how the organ is organized: •

Te keyboards that are played with hands are called manuals or manual divisions; ◦ Tey are organized in the following order: ▪ Te Great or 'I': comprises the loudest and most projected sounds coming from the organ. It houses the great-est sounds. Tink f and f dynamic levels (with modern variations). With exception to a couple of American organ builders, the division of pipes that corresponds with this manual is not enclosed (or under ex-pres­ sion). ▪ Te Swell or 'II': comprises stops that can be sof or loud, but are under expression; this means that the pipes are enclosed in a large 'box' which can be opened or closed with shuters to change the dynamic and (primarily) color of the stops. Tese stops can swell with emotion. Tink f to pp dynamics. ▪ Te Choir or 'III': comprises usually the sofest and sometimes more interesting stops of the organ, containing solo stops and/or mutations suitable for creating solo efects. It also is not necessar­ ily under expression (if it is not under expression, it is sometimes called the Positiv or Positif). Te church choir is most easily ac­ companied by this division of pipes. Tink pppp to mp/mf dy­ namics. ▪ Te Orchestral/Anything-Else-Unique or 'IV+': comprised usually of uniquely voiced stops that do not ft into traditional stop cat­ egories, or perhaps beter resemble the sounds of an orchestra or percussion instruments. Tey can also be under expression. E.g. First Baptist Church in Jackson, MS, has a beautiful Cello stop at 8' and 4' in the Orchestral division that pairs beautifully with the fute chorus on the Choir. Teater organs tend to have specialized divi­ sions of orchestral stops such as Timpani, Snare Drum, Xylo­ phone, etc. Tink pppp to ff dynamics. -2-

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Te keyboard played with the feet is called the Pedal division. It is not enclosed, and it also contains the lowest speaking pipes of the organ. It also usually doesn't have unusual sounds.

Modern organs are organized in this order; if there is only one manual, that manual is the Great; if there are only two manuals, then those manuals are the Great and the Swell (and so on and so forth). Tere are older instruments (espe­ cially those built in Bach's time) that were organized very diferently, and thus were referred to diferently. Unless you are composing for a specifc instrument of this nature, it will not be important to know the diferent names.1

Final Considerations It can still be overwhelming to register a work for organ, no mater how “simpli­ fed” the methodology might be, but keeping in mind the general layout of the organ will help with this kind of grief. Here are some good rules of thumb or general guidelines: 1. Avoid referring to the specifc names of stops in your registration unless you are commissioned or asked to write for a specifc instrument. Refer­ ring to the color, length, and general name of a sound is more useful for an organist (they will not generally listen to very specifc requests of stops anyway unless they are playing on the specifc instrument for which the composition is set). 2. If afer this guide you aren't sure what type of of registration fts what you want, describe what mood or atmosphere you want to project through the composition in postscript notes, or in comments. Commu­ nicating your desires and wishes with a fellow organist is also good (gen­ erally we are compliant if you ask nicely). Now, on to the guide!

Te Simple Treatise Remember how there are only two types of pipes? Well, there are major difer ­ ences even within each type of pipe. It is important to understand these difer­ ences so that embarrassing and naïve mistakes are not made. Tis comprises the majority of concerns with registrations. 1

Note: An organ does not need a pedal division to be an organ. -3-

Within Flues, here are the diferent colors (in all cases, these stops are classifed from loudest to sofest): •

Principal – [32], 16,2 8, 4, 2, [1], and Mix. (usually IV or V rank): Tese are the loudest speaking fue pipes, and they ofen overpower all other fues. Generally speaking, these pipes are not combined with any other fues in registration.3

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Mixtures – II, III, IV, V, VI, [VII], and graduated (e.g. IV—V): ◦ Te sounds that are emited from mixtures are generally shrill and “shiny” in color. A mixture must sound at least two diferent ranks of pipes. Tey usually never sound the fundamental pitch played, but upper harmonics above it (such as thirds, ffhs, and so on).

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Flutes – warm to hard; [32], [16], 8, 4, [2], [1], and Mix. (usually II or III rank): depending on the type of material used to construct this pipe, it could sound as warm and as sweet as an orchestral fute or possibly as harsh and present as a principal stop.

In the case of Reeds, there are far more diferences of tonal quality and loudness than in the Flue category. Here are the diferent colors:

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Trumpet – [16], 8, 4, [2]: Tese are perhaps the loudest pipes known on the organ, and cover a general family of sounds. Tese sounds closely re­ semble the sound of a trumpet, trombone, or tuba.

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Solo Reed – 8, 4: Tese are usually sofer reeds under expression used for 'solo voice and accompaniment' type works. Tey can be as loud as Trumpets, but generally are sofer and take on less harsh tonal character­ istics.

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Strings – [16], 8, 4: Tese ofen resemble the sounds that a string orches­ tra makes. Tey take on the most 'luscious' colors of the organ and be­ came quite pervasive in the Romantic era style of organ building.

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Miscellaneous Stops – [16], 8, 4: Tese stops vary from organ to organ, and have varying ranges of loudness, harshness, and other colors. Tey can be quite useful to form a specifc sound in mind. Generally, though,

'[]' indicate non-standard lengths of pipes. Tese types of pipes are found in larger organ installations. Te greatest exception would be the French Symphonic/Romantic organ building style, whereby the futes were ofen closer in sound to principals, so there was an implicit practice of using the futes with the principals. -4-

avoiding registering for this type of stop is suggested. E.g. Te 'Tuba' stop at 8' on the organ at First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, MS, is great for leading congregational singing in new or unfamiliar hymns, but this stop is not common in other churches. Tis introduction qualifes all rules of registration from here on out. Tere is a tonal precedent with the pipe organ, so understanding the dynamic interest of a composition and its character/atmosphere is key.

Figuring it all out with dignity Short of writing 'something churchy' or 'not loud' as a registration, it is useful to know how to put together a registration that you understand. Tis allows more efective communication when/if an organist contacts you for clarifcation, or to ask for permission (!) to amend/change what you have suggested. Not only is it important to understand what you have writen, but also that what you have writen is sensible and dignifed.4 Below you will fnd (much like tonal harmony) rules that help you to understand what you write in relationship to registration, and to communicate efectively with your future collaborators.

Rule 1 Less is more. Why? Te beautiful thing about modern technology and digital organs is that you can simply play around with it underneath a pair of headphones and fnd sounds that you like. Tis has led to many problems, however, because real organs and larger installations of digital organs are unanimously much louder than their small counterparts in practice rooms or home organs, even with “sofer” stops. Contrary to haircuts, it is always easier to add stops in a registration as an or­ ganist than it is to take liberty to take away registrations. Tis is because listing complex stop combinations (other than the fact that it might break one of these rules) adds ambiguity. Take these examples:

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Organists will take your compositions more seriously, and you will gain respect more naturally. -5-

1. I: Flutes 8, 4; Ped. Flutes 16, 8 •

Okay, I know what this person wants-“sof, with a body”-but my or­ gan's futes need a litle more body, so I'll register with a Principal 8 in addition.

2. I: Flutes 8, 4, Principal 8, 4, Strings 8; Ped. Flutes 16, 8, 4, Principal 16, Ped/I •

I'm not sure what type of sound they want... it seems the futes confict with the character of the principals, what sound did they have in mind? What are the strings doing for the color of the sound?

Rule 2 Mutations (and mixtures) must mutate (or mix) something. Why? Something that hasn't been explained in detail before is the nature of mutations and mixtures. Tese stops are only designed to expand a foundational tonality, because they utilize harmonics containing multiple ranks of pipes sounding at consecutive octaves and ffhs (and in some cases, thirds). Tey require founda­ tional stops (particularly 8', 4', and sometimes 2') because they use higher har­ monics which, without the foundation stops, obscure the tonality. If you were to just use a mixture rank without any foundational stops, you would not hear the actual pitch dictated in the score when you played that note, because you would be hearing ffhs and thirds above the writen pitch, but not the writen pitch it­ self.

Rule 3 Loud stops always overpower soft(er) stops. Why? Te rule of thumb is precisely this; don't even try to register strings with prin­ cipals. Principals are the louder stops, and thus it should be expected that one will never hear the strings if the principals are present. Same thing goes for futes and principals; just don't do it.

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Below is a table of some of the most common stops: pp

p

Wood futes Metal futes Vox Humana Strings

mp/mf

f

Super5-Flutes Mixtures Solo Flutes Super-Prin­ Principals cipals Sof Reeds

ff Loud Reeds

fff Super-Reeds Solo Reeds Trumpets

One exception is the tuti (or all) type registration. In this, generally reeds are combined with principal chorus. Tis registration is a “hair-blower” and is gen­ erally meant to signal large and grandiose passages of organ music (so, basically, the opposite of delicate).

Rule 4 The speed of the music must take the inverse in registration. Why? Busy music takes time to speak with pipes. If you have fast moving music, avoid using reeds (of any kind), especially louder ones. Reeds have an extra interface (the vibrating reed) which means it takes a litle more time to speak. Couple this with fast moving music, and the registration will take on a “muddy” sound, a sound which no professional organist can compensate in terms of articulation to make clearer. Have slower moving music? How about grandiose passages? Tose are great for mixtures, lots of high-pitched principals, and reeds. Use dis­ cretion.6

Final Thoughts Tese rules should go a long way to bringing light to what seems like a daunting or mysterious task. However, if anything remains unclear even afer seeking counsel, then the best thing to do would be to study the real thing; fnding (or buying) recordings and sheet music of the Greats makes understanding registra­ tion a lot easier. Of course, if something remains unclear, or if you need personal clarifcation, the best way to reach me is by email. Happy registering! 5 6

“Super” is a term used on some French organs that refers to stops which are foundational at foot levels higher than 8'. Of course, if you are having trouble, try it out on a real pipe organ, pass it on to another organist, or ask an organ professor. -7-