LL324 arrived!

The Allen LL324 arrived at Bristol Glen today. The sound fills the room nicely. I spent a while setting up the pistons. I will have to do some temporary balancing of the voices because of speaker placement until Walt Strony comes early next year.

The 324 layout is great. Everything is where you would expect it!

As I was playing it, some residents trickled in to hear it as they were coming back from dinner. Some of them were talking about my mom. That was nice since the organ was purchased in her memory.

Arrival of the 324

When my Allen Q-311 was delivered last January it was snowing and icy. When the Allen dealer came to see the location at Bristol Glen Retirement village for the new LL324 in October, it was snowing. Now when it is to be delivered tomorrow afternoon it is supposed to be snowy and icy in the morning. At least it is an easy delivery. All on one level with a nice entrance way with a canopy. Lee Stadele says that we are bad luck weather-wise when we work together. I am still VERY pumped about it arriving.

324 on Wednesday!

The Lyn Larsen Q324 should be arriving on Wednesday to Bristol Glen. It will be great to have access to such a nice organ.. especially in the large meeting room.

Little Red Monkey

I just looked at my copy of "Little Red Monkey" and noticed that it says to play it slowly and "grotesquely." I have usually heard it performed light and happy ... with the glock.. so that is how I have played it. I guess I will have to re-evaluate how I play it.

Freehand MusicPad Pro - Christmas

I have created a separate folder for Christmas music on my MusicPad Pro and have started the long process of loading all the Christmas songs I thing people might request.

Vista is here!

Vista is finally installed on my 311 and it is GREAT. I finally have:
a good 16' trumpet w/trem
a useful quintedena
extra strings (gamba + viola) which give a lush sound

There is more to explore.. but it was worth it just for that. The plain 311 is really missing a trumpet for topping off a decent ensemble sound. Now it sounds REALLY great.

Robert Hope-Jones book

I just acquired a used copy of Robert Hope-Jones biography (through Amazon - they may have more.) The first thing I looked up was his suicide because of Walt Strony's comment in his own book that Robert Hope-Jones invented many things, including some interesting methods for suicide. It was interesting. I have now started reading from the beginning of the book. He was very forward thinking... and his competition did not like him. Many of his ideas for organs flew in the face of traditionalists. He appears to have been considered in his time much like the "toaster salesmen" of today who sell digital organs. In face he envisioned an organ with all sounds electronically generated... close to 50 years before the Hammond organ. The author, David H. Fox was very precise and thorough in his research. It is an interesting book.

Allen Vista

I have been disappointed with the lack of a trumpet on my 311 and the Ensemble unit is just not doing what I want. After talking to some knowledgeable people, I have decided to trade out my Ensemble unit for VISTA. Yes, it is pricey... yes, it is complicated. With that complication though, comes more flexibility and possibilities. I have been concerned then when I start playing the 324 for the retirement village, I will become disappointed with my 311. I have to resolve that trumpet thing and the desire sometime for a Quintadena and maybe some other flutes that one could set up as celestes. I could also set up a 32' flute for the pedal... It will be interesting to see how my speakers will handle that.

Freehand MusicPad Pro

Over the last several weeks I have been loading sheet music onto my MusicPad Pro. The only problem is... I have so many, I forget what is there. I have to scan through the whole alphabetical list to make sure I don't miss practicing one. Before there was visual cues of the sheet music.

Also, I have finally figured out how to make a sub folder so I no can keep separate my Church Organ and organ exercise music. I think I eventually will make a Christmas folder so playing during the holiday season will be easier.

I have yet figured out how to make performance lists.. that will be next.

LL324 Progress

Lee Stadele of Allen organ is coming to Bristol Glen tomorrow to look at the installation location for the new Allen LL324 which I am donating to the retirement village in Newton, NJ in memory of my mother. He will look it over and talk to administration so he will be able to shortly install the 10 speakers and wiring in preparation for the arrival of the organ in late November or early December. Every step closer makes me more excited!

Rogers & Hart

In the process of looking for the verse to "I married an angel", I found an incredible Rogers & Hart collection (Rogers & Hart: a Musical Anthology.) Not only did I find the verse, but I found many lyrical pieces I did not know at all and others with which I was only slightly familiar. It will be a great book to work through.

Hanon and MacFarren

I am tired, coming back from my evening job at the college library, but I still did my Hanon and MacFarren finger exercises. I try to do them every day.

Music Pad Pro by Freehand

I finally got my Musicpad Pro by Freehand. It is a touch screen "e-book" for printed music. I have have been busy scanning and loading a bunch of my favorite music sheets on it and and very pleased with it once I finally figured out how to use it. The unit is a great idea except it is way overpriced! At least now I will not have to figure out which sheets or books of music I will have to bring when I go try out an organ somewhere.

Waiting for LL324

I am still waiting for the Allen factory to finish the LL324. I have been reading the Strony book on registration and Jelani Eddington book on arranging so I will be ready. Have also prepared a page to set up the pistons on the LL324. My memory of pistons will be patterned after the piston set up I have on the 311.. although it will take advantage of the extra ranks on the 324. Am having trouble sleeping because I am excited about it coming and how it will sound in the 40x40 room at Bristol Glen. I hope it will not take months to get Walter Strony here to voice both the 324 and the 311. He said it would take about 2.5 days to do the 324 and less for the 311..... still waiting.

MusicPad Pro

I just purchased a MusicPad Pro (from Freehand) which is like a Kindle for printed music. Supposedly one can store over 30,000 sheets of music on it. I have been busily scanning music to put on it and getting used to using it. It has a touch screen so to turn a page you just have to touch the screen. You can set up the repeats and whatever so you can go to pgs, 3,4,1,2,3,4 with a simple touch. You can also make play lists so you can put together a concert. It is cool.. but quite pricey.

Almost here!

I just got word today that the Allen Theatre organ LL324 that I will be purchasing in memory of my mom for Bristol Glen (the retirement community where she spent the last years of her life) is almost finished being constructed at the factory. It will be an exciting instrument with 10 external speakers and will sound great in the large "Town Hall" meeting room there. I have not been sleeping well, thinking about the various piston set ups I will use on it and the music I will play on it. It will be GREAT! I have a web page describing all the specs.

www.mullersreviews.com/or_324.htm

After it is set up, I will take pictures of the actual installation.

Heitz Wurlitzer - 2nd time round

I was really looking forward to the GTOS meeting at the Heitz home with her wonderful Wurlitzer. I played it last year (before I purchased my Allen) and it was my first shot at theatre pipes in close to 10 years. To say the least... it was not memorable. I was all ready this year but I had forgotten that the Wurlitzer had been fried by lightening in January. The poor guy who played the concert had to really struggle with it. I was all pumped when it was my time for open console. What a mess! Registrations changed indiscriminately, the swell shades would open wide suddenly and then close up. The trems would turn off when the stop tabs were still down. Because the meeting lasted so long, I was worried that I would not be able to play it. Well, they let me go first, but I finally gave up! Nothing happened at the instrument as I expected it to. The professional who played the concert was able to adjust mid stream... I finally gave up. It was a waste of the 1.5 hour trip each way. Oh well... better luck next time.

LL324 memorial organ

If things go as expected, I should be purchasing an Allen LL324Q theatre organ in memory of my mother for Bristol Glen, where she spent her last years. The Helen Muller Memorial Organ will go in their large meeting room, called "The Town Hall." It would have been great for me to purchase it for my home but it is just too much for my condo. It requires 10 speakers and the console is bigger than mine. It will be wonderful to have frequent access to playing such a wonderful instrument. It has 24 ranks... two tibias and two voxs.. WOW.

If you want to see it:
http://www.allenorgan.com/www/products/ll324qsp/ll324qsp.asp

Listen to a visitor

I am a friend come over today who plays theatre organ and I listened while he played. One thing I noticed that he used much heavier accompaniment and pedal registrations than I do. The other thing I realized is that I think it would be a good idea to change my speaker placement. One of the smaller speakers was speaking right to where I was sitting and it sounded great.. I can not really hear it it from the console. I will play around with speaker placement tonight.

Maybe another time

I tried to make arrangements to go out to Allen Organ in Muncungie, PA and possible play one of the big theatre organs in Octave Hall. Well, it appears that they have been selling so well, they don't have one there right now. Oh well, maybe another time.

Registration on the fly

While it is nice (and needed) to have well worked out arrangements with specific pistons, it is also useful to be able to set the stops while playing (especially when playing a unfamiliar instrument.) As a result, I have been sitting down and playing single songs with many repeats, changing stops while I play. It is good practice.

Musicnotes

If you are in need to purchase sheet music and want instant gratification with no shipping cost and a little discount, you should check out the several digital music suppliers online. Because of agreements individual distributors may have with different publishers, you may need to frequent several. I find the one I keep going back to is www.musicnotes.com.

Shadow Waltz

I recently was listening to a Lyn Larsen cd and was enjoying "The Shadow Waltz" by Harry Warren. Waltzes work so well on the organ and this one has the two things I look for in a waltz: a smooth flowing melody and also a rhythmic section to contrast with the smooth part.

Goody Goody

After hearing it once again on a Sidney Torch recording, I decided to pull out the music for "Goody Goody" and work on my own arrangement. It is a fun bouncy number instead of the many slower ballads that I usually play. I may even work out a place to use my special tuned bird whistle stop on my Allen in the song. It is not a sound you can use a lot but it is a fun surprise in the middle of a novelty number.

I Love to hear you Singing

After a long search, I finally got the printed music for "I love to hear you singing." Now I will work on an organ arrangement of it. Many people have recorded it.. mostly likely because of Jesse Crawford's recording. There are several on youtube - including Crawford's. I will listen to them but will make my own take on it.

Second Touch

I have not really used the second touch on my 311 effectively at all until now. I have worked two two short counter melodies in "Sunny Gets Blue" and it sounds great.

YouTube

I was going to make some videos of myself playing some older tunes (but not in public domain) and place them on youtube. I have decided against it because of copyright problems.

OMG.. it makes me cry

I have been working on an arrangement of "Johanna" from "Sweeney Todd." It is such a lovely and haunting melody it makes me cry when I play it.... not because I play it so well.. just because of what the music is. It is not a piece I would play for everyone... but Sondheim lovers will eat it up!

My first recording at home

Today I used my Zoom H2 recorder to record some songs at home on my Q-311SP. They sound pretty good. What surprised me... out of the 6 songs I recorded, 4 of them I took the first recording, one I had to start over once and another I had to start over twice. I guess the music lessons are paying off. If you are interested in hearing my setup, let me know.

Be My Love

After listening to Simon Gledhill's playing of "Be My Love" on youtube many times, I decided to work on my own arrangement. I can't even think of copying his. What is incredible is using a full lush registration with 16, 8, 4, and 2s and playing a chord melody. When you hit "love" in "be my love" you have a G chord with a C on top for the melody. When played that full registration, it just sends chills up and down my spine. What a great sound!

Boy Next Door

It is interesting how my "favorite songs" change. Now when I sit down I almost always play "The Boy next door." It sounds great with 16" vox and tibia in the solo. The moving harmonies in the left hand sound great and are fun to play

Pedaling problem

As my teacher has told me, I have started practicing using the pedals with the inside of my foot. This is an adjustment has been a challenge after doing the outside of my foot for close to 30 years. Since I have been doing this I have been getting cramps in my toes. I have been bunching up my toes. I noticed when I went to my lesson this week, my toes did not hurt and realized that I had the bench to close to the organ. Things are going much better.

Final voicing

The voicer for my 311 finished this past week and wow what a difference. Some of the ranks had a lot of variants in volume and tone.. especially the oboe. Now that everything balanced nicely, I have been readjusting all my pistons. The organ is a beauty to play.

Jelani Concert

I went to the Jelani Eddington concert at Octave Hall at the Allen Headquarters last Friday. It was very good. I enjoyed myself. Unfortunately I will not go to another concert there. When they end at 9:30 at night... I still have a 2 hour drive home. It is too much after a days work. So now I have two season tickets to give to someone for the last two concerts.

Acoustic Portrait Epiphany

I have not been totally pleased with the sound of my Allen 311 in my small space. No matter what I did, adjusting the total volume or upping the gain the Acoustic Portrait, it still had the bright in-your-face chamber sound of the George Wright recordings which I don't like. Today while listening to one of those CDs I realized what I needed to try. I went to the Acoustic Portrait and selected a much larger room and turned down the gain so there was not such a prevalent echoing reverb. It worked! The larger room Acoustic Portrait absorbed some of the high frequency in-your-face type sound. Acoustic Portrait does so much more than control reverb. The organ sounds really great now.

Jelani's book

Jelani's book on theatre organ arranging arrived today. It is a well designed book with a great deal of information. The arrangements look nice with plenty of "meat" in them. It is nice how explains all the things he has in the arrangements. I initially thought the book was pricey but it is well worth the money. Stroney may have to rethink he new edition after seeing this book.

My 311's software

The man came to voice my organ on last Saturday. It sounds so much better after he balanced the ranks the way they should be. Unfortunately, it appears that my new organ has a super new software update. They guy did not have the DOVE addon to be able to do the fine tuning, so he will have to come back again. The organ does sound 100% better though. Hopefully it will all be done soon.

Jelani Eddington's book

Jelani Eddington's book I on theatre organ is available for sale now. It is $34.95 plus $6.00 shipping. It includes a discussion of registration, some theatre organ arrangements, plus access to recordings of these arrangements on the web.

For more information see:
http://www.theatreogranarrangements.com

I just ordered mine and they say that they will start shipping on March 9.

Coming along

Lee Stadele came the other night and set up the digital toy counter to work with the toe studs, adjusted the headphones, and set the ensemble unit so the accompaniment pistons work correctly with it. It is nice having the headphones.. now if I get an urge to play, I can play away at 5 in the morning or 10 at night. Now all that needs to be done, is the final voicing.

A visit from Lee

Today Lee Stadele showed up at my house and installed my digital toy counter, my midi assistant and the two additional small speakers. Wow those two small speakers add so much to the sound! The voicer was also supposed to come today but he caught the flu. I will have to wait for him to arrive to voice the organ, adjust the headphones, and the ensemble unit. Things are moving along!

My first Organ lesson

Saturday my piano teacher showed me some things on the organ since it had finally arrived. He started me with theatre pedal technique and I found out I had been using my feet incorrectly for the last 30 years on the organ. I had been pedaling with the outside of my left foot when I should do it with the inside. I started practing that way.. and now my ankle hurts.. put I feel there is more precision when I get used to it.

It is here finally!

The organ was delivered yesterday. Four guys lugged it from their truck up the stairs in the front of my house and up some stairs inside to get it to the required room. They had to take my front door off and partially disassemble the organ. It is here!

For the last few days I have been adjusting the balance between the ranks, adjusting the trems and setting up the pistons. It is a lot of fun to play. Unfortunately, the headphone attachment is not adjusted properly yet so when I woke at 5 a.m. this morning and wanted to play.. I couldn't.

Since the specs on the organ do not include a trumpet (only a tuba and post horn), I have been setting up the 8 and 16' trumpet off the ensemble midi device.

The pedals are definitely too loud. That will be on the list of things to be adjusted on the next visit.

At last!

I got a phone call today that they are definitely delivering my new Allen q-311sp tomorrow. It has been like waiting for Christmas but not knowing the date. Well.. they jolly man will be coming down the chimney tomorrow!

If you are interested in what I am getting and all the specs, click here

A visit!

The Allen dealer, Lee Stadel, payed a visit to my house to see how he will work out getting the organ in. He said it would be fine if we did not get more snow as it has to be carried around the condo and in the back sliding glass door. The organ is still at the factory, having some final tests. He thought it would be a good idea for me to come to his shop for the initial voicing since it is easier there. We will do the final voicing after it gets here. Each step gets more exciting!

Digital Toy Counter

My digital toy counter arrived today all loaded with the sounds I selected. As instructed, I tested it with a pair of headphones and it worked fine. Now I REALLY can't wait for the organ to arrive. It looks like the dealer for the organ will show up in a couple of days to look over the place so he can better prepare for the delivery and installation.

Exciting step

Tonight I wrote the check for the downpayment on my Allen Theatre Q-311sp and will mail it tomorrow morning. While the estate is not settled yet, it should be shortly. I already spoke to my credit union to get a personal loan for the balance of the cost of the organ until I get the money from my Aunt's estate.